The truth is out there…
One of my favourite elements of The Last Jedi was the unreliable narration provided by Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren as they recounted the events of the evening in which Luke’s Jedi training temple was burnt to the ground.
We’ve been presented with three versions of the story. One in which Luke is attacked by Ben, one in which Ben is threatened by a maniacal Luke, and one which we believed to be a close approximation to the truth, as Luke rolled out a narrative combining the two.
Rey seemed happy that this was the truth of the story – we had no reason to doubt her judgement – but what if there’s more. Masterful Star Wars writer Charles Soule is to release a series entitled The Rise of Kylo Ren in the coming months, and yesterday unveiled the cover for issue #2 of the run.
And what a bombshell of a cover.
Wait a second – Luke Skywalker fighting the Knights of Ren ALONGSIDE Ben Solo!?
Details regarding the Knights of Ren and their origins are thin on the ground, with The Rise of Skywalker seemingly set to plug at least some of the gaps in our knowledge. But this cover undermines the slim details that what we thought we knew.
The suspicion has been that the Knights of Ren were a group of Luke’s students who turned to the dark side along with Ben – at least, that’s been my take. The name has served to suggest that they are loyal to Kylo Ren, but what if that’s not the case.
After all, Luke has never said that the Knights of Ren are his former students. He simply said that some students joined Ben’s cause while the rest were slaughtered during the temple’s destruction. However, Luke was underneath a pile of rubble when the carnage ensued, which means that this story of Ben’s turn can only be an assumption or, at best, a force vision.
What if the Knights of Ren are Snoke loyalists, who fulfilled their master’s wishes by helping to complete Ben’s turn to the dark side, drawing him into their fight at his lowest point following his uncle’s apparent betrayal?
He could have become the Master of the Knights of Ren based on his force sensitivity and bloodline rather than ‘time with the company.’ He might not be a director after all – simply the guy with the most employee of the month plaques.
More importantly, Ben might not have had any part in the murders of Luke’s loyal students. And that is a delicious subplot to add a new layer to Ben Solo’s story.
That is, of course, some wild speculation. But Soule’s cover does suggest that what we already know about that fateful night as Luke’s temple burned to the ground might be challenged in the coming months.
Talos More 