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I remember hearing a rumor that Leia’s role in Ep9 would be to beckon Kylo Ren back to the light side of the force, that she would be his path to redemption.
With Carrie Fischer having left us, I wonder how it would work to still have that point be the thematic core of his arc, but to focus on her absence. At the end of TLJ, Kylo Ren is left empty and alone with a great deal of power. He decided to spare Leia from death when he had the chance early in the film, and the act of Rey closing the Falcon door on him to me spoke a message something to the effect of, “You are captive to the decisions you make, and you cannot count on others to hold out hope for you forever; there is a point at which it is too late.”What if Ep9’s story related to Kylo Ren explores that idea? Part of Kylo assumed that Leia being alive would always allow for an “out,” but now she is gone and he is totally alone and self-absorbed. It could be a way to address Leia’s real-life absence in a thematically meaningful way, whether he is redeemed and/or dies or not.
I’ve had similar thoughts. It is a true shame that we’ll never have a scene of them together, but there is still a way to delve into that relationship. If Leia dies before a face to face encounter with Kylo, I could easily see how that might impact Ben emotionally in ways he didn’t expect. The lack of closure there could be a powerful motivator in making him realize the emptiness and loneliness that he has in his position with the First Order on the dark side.
I’ve probably said it here before, but if Kylo’s going to turn to the good, he’s going to have to be proactive and do it himself. The Vader method of Luke meeting up and lending a hand hasn’t worked, we’ve seen Han, Rey, and Luke (kinda) make that effort with him, and he’s rejected. They can’t keep trying, if Ben’s going to go that way, he’s the one who’s going to have to put that effort in, and he’s going to have to see for himself that that’s what he really wants.