Yeah, arguably one of the biggest themes of the entire saga is redemption. And I think with redemption also comes to question of forgiveness.

Both Darth Vader and Kylo Ren have done terrible things, but I think a big part of Vader’s atonement was his son forgiving him for what he did. Leia struggled with ever being able to forgive her father for what he did, and now she is ironically having to come to terms with that in the form of her own son.

I think an optimistic theme of these films is that it should never be too late for someone to do the right thing. To turn back. Obviously the question of forgiveness has been debated for ages by politicians, philosophers and religious leaders. But I think for Star Wars, it definitely does take the route of even the most evil people are capable of being forgiven for their sins.

And regardless of your own opinions regarding forgiveness, we have to acknowledge that the evil acts committed by those who are later redeemed in these films are sort of exagerrated for drama. Darth Vader murdered countless people, even children, but this is a fairy tale, so we shouldn’t equate his atonement to that of a mass murderer in real life. These horrible acts within the story are meant to be analogous to the common mistakes people make in everyday lives.

I don’t know exactly how they will portray Ben’s redemption, but I definitely see it happening, and I think Rey will play a part of it. It was romantic love in the prequels that tore the galaxy apart. And I think it will be romantic love that puts the galaxy back together.