I don’t want to spam OP’s post too much so this will be the last reply from me, mainly because: the original message and concern may not even be specifically targeted at the debate about Ben Solo’s redemption. It could be about, as I mentioned, the resurgence of Zuko discourse or about the many villain characters in She-Ra that were redeemed, or Killing Eve or who knows what other stories that are utilizing (or possibly utilizing) redemption arcs at this moment. I know that I’m coming from a multifandom perspective, as I’ve seen this issue (the one I raised, along with yours) in various spaces. I’ve seen people post “ding dong the witch is dead” in reference to a villain character whose final redemption came in sacrificing her life for the cause in She-Ra, a children’s show, which just… really encapsulates some audience members’ inability to actually understand and/or retain redemption arc narratives and main messages of media for forgiveness and healing.
However, since your immediate thought was Ben Solo when reading the OP’s post and mine, let’s talk about what you brought up. It’s a sincere concern, and a valid viewpoint. However, there are some things to point out:
1) redemption arcs are not earned. They are completed, or not completed. The whole point of a redemption arc is that, even though the person did something deemed “unforgivable”, that person can still become a better person. Forgiveness is earned, however someone’s redemption does not rely on the other party forgiving them. No one owes anyone their forgiveness (though it is an ideal for a better world in general), but no one needs another’s forgiveness in order to become a better person. Have I forgiven my mother for the abuse she has committed in the past? No, I wish I could and I’m working on it- but no. However, I’m not going to stand here and say she isn’t a better person now. She is. Her redemption and healing is not dependent on me. If redemption relied solely on someone else forgiving the person, that would be a selfish endeavor and puts the weight of the redeeming on the person who was initially harmed. However, it is something that can be earned and, in an ideal world, is.
2) Zuko was a child, yes, but if we’re going by “how long” someone was wrong… Zuko was an imperialist for 16 years (clearly I’m aware he was a baby for part of this time) while Ben Solo, stated by DLF storytellers as being a symbol of adolescence, joined the First Order at 23 and remained a soldier for 7 years. He was not “still a fascist” and it becomes pretty clear that his motives were not in line with Snoke but (like with Zuko) to earn familial belonging after being exiled.
3) the main issue I’m seeing with the whole “did he check the marks of redemption arcs” in regards to Ben has a lot to do with the script’s failings to incorporate information given to us in comics (how Ben was manipulated and mentally abused into joining Snoke, did not ‘mass shoot’ his school, and was convinced his family did not want and especially would not want him after the incident at the temple that resulted in Luke’s “death” and a group of students chasing him across the galaxy with mixed intentions and beliefs about what occurred) and what was given to us in the novelization. In the novelization, Ben’s thoughts on Exegol are revealed to us and demonstrate how sorry he is, how he knows he wasted his life and has to break out of Snoke’s mental conditioning, and how he knows the galaxy needs Rey if the new Republic is to have hope and survive.
Though, even with this context removed, we have the scene at the Death Star ruins where Ben says “it’s too late, [Leia’s] gone” and his father (a projection of Ben’s conscious) says “but not what she fought for” or something to that effect. And this is when Ben decides to go to Exegol and fight alongside Rey. Yes, it is to show Rey that he will fight beside her specifically to ensure she is not alone, but it is also to fight for his mother’s cause. The symbolism of Ben holding and fighting with the Skywalker saber is meant to communicate this as well. And as for him being “personally wronged” (which you’re right, he was and his whole family was), I’m pretty sure the narrative punished him for that- either purposefully or not- by literally throwing him into the pit and denying him the ability to actually fight Palpatine. He is, however, allowed to fight and rid the galaxy of The Knights of Ren and that should be seen as him trying to set things right as well- as he should have done in the final installment of The Rise of Kylo Ren. I would also note that Darth Vader also redeemed himself not by fighting against the entire Empire but by defeating Palpatine, which was both a personal thing (saving what he loved, as Ben did) and also symbolic of destroying the Empire. I think JJ was attempting to “ration out” the responsibilities in this final film- Ben to fight for Rey, Rey to fight Palpatine, and the Rebellion to fight the First Order. The execution, as I’m pretty sure most people in fandom (on either side) will attest, is pretty… abysmal.
Personally, though, I feel at peace with his redemption arc. Was it the most well-written arc? Nope. I felt TROS as a film seemed to go back in time to TFA and made the redemption arc feel like it had no time to breathe, and that Ben Solo’s death limited the possibilities of his arc pretty permanently, but his journey checked off all the bullet points. I’m not going to spite the character for poor executive choices, or because others interpreted it differently. And as I said before, whether or not people forgive this fictional character does not decide whether his redemption arc was earned; and Ben having a redemption arc doesn’t mean he must earn people’s forgiveness or that anyone has to forgive him. His arc was completed, quite permanently.
vaporwave
areudirty
kianamaiart
dededos
janainaart
blakekathryn
pixelskylines
dailybridgerton
