al-cantrez replied to your post: Okay, I know there are other people who said this,...
YES. I think the only good thing is that in the end he died (for Rey even), which to me is the story saying that no matter what he does he cannot be redeemed even if he has a moment of regret and does some good things afterwards. The ONLY way for him to even start his redemption arc was to die for the rebellion. Bc like seriously how do you redeem a genocidal fascist. I also lowkey hated the kiss but I digress.
The fact that he died in the end is a direct mirror of Vader’s arc, who also died for a loved one, proving in the end that he values love over power. So I actually think the fact Kylo died for Rey shows that he probably could have been redeemed? Both Rey and Luke had faith in both Kylo and Vader and were shown to be right in the end - Kylo says at one point it’s “too late to come back now”, and his turn at the end shows that it was not ‘too late’.
To say either Vader or Kylo had a ‘redemption arc’, though, is taking things too far in the sense that, no, they merely had a starting point that showed they maybe, possibly could have redeemed themselves. Which is really more about Rey and Luke respectively than about them, imo... I think that’s the way I see it, although clumsily worded. :D
Is it lazy writing to do the same thing twice? Sure it is. A lot of plot points in the NT mirror the OT - Death Star vs Planet Destroyer. Obi-Wan facing down Vader with no chance of winning to buy time vs. Luke facing down Kylo with no chance of winning to buy time. Obi-Wan lying to Luke abt Vader to mask his own guilt vs. Luke lying to Rey abt Kylo to mask his own guilt. Luke being lied to about his family and then told about it by Vader vs. Rey being lied to about her family and then told about it by Kylo. I’d find more. It’s almost comedic at this point.
I personally would have found an actual redemption arc much more interesting for Kylo, especially seeing how he came from a fairly privileged and loving background, as opposed to Anakin who grew up as a literal slave and kept receiving mistrust by pretty much everyone once he left Tattooine.
I can actually empathize with people who feel screwed over by Kylo’s ultimate arc... I just probably have other reasons for it. :D
(Hot take: y’all are just mad at Kylo dying for Rey bc she was his het love interest (for whatever twisted plot reasons) and not his child.)
