Torn Apart

The Force Awakens

Kylo Ren is my favourite Star Wars villain. Well, maybe Director Orson Krennic deserves a share of that particular pie. Kylo Ren is, at the vest least, my favourite villain of the Skywalker Saga. And, after all, that’s the deck we’re playing with in this monster countdown.

Unsurprisingly, there is plenty more Kylo coming later on in this list but #14 on my list of the saga’s greatest moments is the biggest turning point in his story so far.

Han Solo has come face to face with his son again – (quite literally after Kylo takes off his mask). The two stand on a rather perilous looking bridge inside the main reactor of the First Order’s planet killing super weapon Starkiller Base.

Now, sometimes when you’re watching a movie, your real world knowledge can infiltrate your narrative perception. And going into The Force Awakens, it was a pretty safe bet that it would be Harrison Ford’s last outing as Han Solo. This is the same guy that they carbon froze at the end of The Empire Strikes Back to cover themselves in case of a Ford-less Return of the Jedi.

With Han facing off against the lead villain, his perpetually furious son, on a rail-less bridge to knowhere in the final act of the movie as the light fades and an evil super weapon is charged. Yeah, this was probably going to be Han Solo’s last rodeo.

And despite all of that, Kylo Ren igniting his blade to kill his father was one of Star Wars’ strongest bait and switch moves and it actually caught me off guard.

That’s largely thanks to Adam Driver, whose performance in the scene was exceptional. Every inch of his face told the story of a conflicted sole. His words were strained, as if he was winded, and the dialogue was written inch perfectly. Han and Ben are talking cross-purposes; “I know what I have to do but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it.” Kylo knew that in order to prove his loyalty to Snoke and kill the light within him, he had to destroy his father.

But Han doesn’t see it. Just as Qi’Ra told him and as the Original Trilogy proved, Han is the good guy. He might want to be a scoundrel, a smuggler and a swindler but at his core, he is a hero with a heart of gold. He dies a noble death, while trying to save his son from the darkness.

And, do you know what, he might still have been the catalyst for his son’s return to the light.

Kylo has never been the same from that moment forward. As Snoke pointed out in The Last Jedi, the deed of killing his father split Ben Solo to his core. His imbalance meant that he was beaten by Rey on Starkiller base. He fails to torpedo the bridge of the Raddus when he had the chance to fire. He makes emotional decisions while trying to crush the Resistance on Crait.

This isn’t the same Kylo Ren that was stopping blaster shots in mid-air or drawing thoughts straight out of the minds of his prisoners. He has never been the same since he murdered his father and it’s one of the most fascinating narratives heading into The Rise of Skywalker.

If it is to be Bendemption, then I guess it’s been coming since that fateful moment on Starkiller Base.