Just Think Of It...Ben...with FRIENDS.

Day five: healing

Our darkest demons, the deepest wounds... those are the ones we can’t see.

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Eywa gave you back to me - AonuNete minicomic

and thats how the movie actually ends, everyone. thanks for reading ❤️

I just rewatched the prequel trilogy for the first time in YEARS and I have to say, they were nowhere near as bad as I remembered.

I mean, yeah, the direction was shit and made the actors seem like they’re awful (which they aren’t, most of the cast is made of very decent actors) and the writing was kind of ridiculous but the story? The story is amazing.

And it really just reminded me how horribly everyone in Anakin’s life failed him, with the exception of Padmé.

Obi-Wan did love Anakin like family but he should have fought harder to keep Anakin more distanced from the Jedi and from the Senate when it became abdundantly clear that he was too unstable to handle it. But he, and the rest of the Council, just saw this unbelievably powerful young man and they used that power.

Most of all, they (and Padmé) should have opened their eyes and seen that he was being manipulated by Palpatine. But instead, they encouraged him to get closer and closer to Palpatine to spy on him and report back.

And they left him in the clutches of Palpatine who gave him everything he wanted - someone who believed in him, who didn’t exclude him without reason, who didn’t discount his feelings. They failed Anakin in exactly the same ways that Ben was failed so much later.

Watching the prequels again also really cemented why I hated how the sequel trilogy ended. Anakin’s life was nothing but pain, loss, failure, and disappointment. He never had a chance against everything that happened to him.

Anakin’s tragedy continued through the original trilogy where we see him truly stripped of his humanity, always abused by his Sith master.

And despite that, we see Anakin redeemed at the end, but only through death. At the very least though, his death is genuinely mourned. His loss is felt deeply by his son who, despite it all, still loved him. Anakin is forgiven and he is allowed to come back as a Force ghost. And he comes back as Anakin, not Vader. The young, vibrant man he once was who died as soon as Vader was truly born.

And therein lies one of the many ways that the sequel trilogy was so incredibly unjust to Ben Solo. Like Anakin, he was tormented his entire life. He was manipulated and abused. Everyone who should have protected him failed to do so and Ben was lost, giving rise to Kylo Ren.

But, unlike Anakin’s change into Vader caused Anakin to die, Ben was simply lost behind Kylo Ren. He was torn between the two sides rather than entirely lost to the dark side. He was more primed for redemption than Anakin could have been.

Kylo Ren actually tried to shake loose the things that kept him bound to the light, unlike Anakin who had everything ripped away from him. And despite Kylo Ren’s efforts to sever the light that was causing him so much pain, he was NEVER able to succumb completely.

So strong were his innate ties to light and goodness that he could not give in even if he tried. He wore a mask trying to convince the world and himself that he was solidly evil, but it was a facade that no one entirely believed.

Palpatine was able to fairly easily bring Anakin into the darkness. But even with all his efforts, all his desire to possess this last Skywalker, he could never own Ben Solo.

So strong were his ties to the light that he could never bring himself to harm Rey. He didn’t even kill Finn when he easily could have - why? Was it his innate goodness? Was it that he knew killing Finn would hurt Rey deeply?

His lightsaber was the perfect way to express his anguished personality. Unstable, over heated, unusual. Always shimmering with a passion and energy not typical for a lightsaber, whether it was a Sith saber or a Jedi saber.

Like Rey, he was neither a creature purely of light or darkness. Both were perfect mixtures of grey.

And then, we lose Ben Solo.

It is beautiful because he saves the woman he loves so much.

It is also abrupt, unexpected, and unceremonious.

He is not mourned.

He is not remembered.

He is just gone.

He was made to be mourned and remembered less than even the most evil characters we see. His loss is treated with less concern than anyone ever gave to a red shirt in Star Trek.

His life and his death are both devoid of meaning.

The boy, lost and broken, who was failed by everyone who should have protected him. The boy who crawled from the pit of death to answer the call of the light. The boy who so desperately wanted to be free of pain that he was willing to break his own heart.

The Skywalkers - all of them - deserved better. But especially Ben Solo. His life was reduced to nothing. His death was reduced to nothing. His redemption was reduced to nothing.

And that is my biggest beef with the end of the sequel trilogy. I loved the prequel trilogy because it humanized Anakin in preparation for his redemption. The sequel trilogy humanized Ben Solo in preparation for ... nothing. Just an unceremonious death and to be forgotten by everyone.

He deserved better.

The Rise of Kylo Ren

Okay so, just read the last issue of The Rise of Kylo Ren and here is everything we have learned from this comic:

1. Ben did not destroy Luke’s temple. Palpatine did, and somehow he gaslighted Ben into thinking he was responsible.

2. Ben thought he killed Luke but it was in self-defense, but he still feels enormously guilty about it.

3. Ben did not kill ANY of Luke’s other students that night. He was instead relentlessly hunted by a small group of them across the galaxy, including one (Voe) who had a particularly large chip on her shoulder wrt to Ben and feeling inadequate in comparison to his Force-abilities.

4. Ben wanted to go home to Leia but felt he couldn’t because he didn’t think she would believe him.

5. Snoke was just casually in his head having full-on conversations with him when he was at least 11 or 12 years old, feeding him lies about his family and how they didn’t really give a shit about him.

6. Ben killed one of the Jedi students hunting him by accident.

7. He turns to the Knights of Ren because he literally feels like he doesn’t belong anywhere else.

8. He openly acknowledges that even Snoke only cares about his legacy and not himself as a person.

9. HE DOES NOT WANT TO KILL ANYONE. Even after he joins the KoR, he goes out of his way to avoid killing if possible… until it’s no longer possible.

10. He did not “fall to” or “choose” the dark side – he was gaslit and pushed into it. Treat someone like a monster long enough, they will start to believe it.

11. Ben doesn’t think he’s “special”. He just wants to be treated like a normal fucking person.

12. The first person that Ben killed on purpose was Ren, the leader/founder of the Knights of Ren, thereby facilitating his fall to the dark.

13. Leia felt his fall…

14. … AND SO DID LITTLE BABY REY

15. Ben finally killed Voe after he killed Ren.

16. Ben’s preferred mode of drawing his saber was from over his shoulder, like at the end of TROS.

17. He bled his kyber crystal while shirtless, and he squeezed it so hard that it cracked.

18. He never did anything wrong, ever, in his life, and they still let him die.

Lauren Ridloff as Makkari in ‘Eternals’ (2021)

The Real Story.

A gentle reinterpretation of the end of The Rise of Skywalker.

Stucky

In my brain they are together ༎ຶ⁠‿⁠༎ຶ

Reality...(I love to cry)

Sketches

Well, this was the most depressing, most horrible experience ever. A complete mess. I still believe I’m in an alternative universe.

 It goes against everything what this saga represents

I cried my eyes out..I feel empty…

My 8 years old sister adores Ben Solo and just like me, she was hoping for a happy ending with him and Rey being together. It was supposed to be her Christmas gift….

So…I had to take her to the cinema..I had to be the strong one….We had to leave the room, because she started crying when she saw Ben Solo’s death. 

I couldn’t see, because of my tears…

She constantly asked me “ Where is he now? ” “ He’s alone without Rey” “ Maybe he’s afraid alone there ” “Is he happy there where he is now? ” “ Will they see each other in Heaven? ”……

I’m sobbing…my sister cried her eyes out…she’s sleeping now with her Kylo Ren doll….

I saw myself in her, because I felt the same way when I saw ROTS at her age in the cinema…I was confused and heartbroken…

I was hoping…I kept hoping they re-created the Skywalker saga to give a well deserved happy ending to this tormented family…but no….they treated Ben Solo like trash, as if this abuse victim wasn’t even part of the family….life was ahead of him, he never felt beloved…he got rejected…..

All I can say..is thank you Disney, thank you JJ Abrams…you did great…just ruined everything! With a horrible message! Fuck you! You will regret this! It will have consequences! Ben Solo was the most beloved character of the sequels! You sicj fuck!

I’m asking you to not to be silent, and voice your opinion on this disgusting horror show. They have to know what they did is unacceptable…I thought I was watching Game of Thrones when Rety stabbed Ben…my sister didn’t understand what she just saw….this horrow show is not for children…and not for compassionate people.