Star Wars is for 12-year-olds. It’s a fairy tale. Most kids don’t have genocidal tyrants as parents, but a kid that has a rocky relationship with his dad might relate to the struggles between Luke and Vader. The physical scar of Vader cutting his own son’s hand off is meant to reflect the emotional scars a parent can deliver to their child (perhaps some physical ones as well). I don’t know if I could forgive my dad if he literally cut my hand off, or if he killed my own mother, or tortured my sister, or was a literal serial-killer but seeing Luke forgive his father, and still have faith in his inner good, could help me be able to forgive my own father for things he’s said and done in the past.

It’s the exact same thing with Ben Solo. Ben Solo is the kid that has gone down the wrong path in life. They’ve lost their way. He’s hurt or disappointed the people who love and care about him. Ben Solo represents the idea that even if you’ve done bad things in life or have disappointed your loved ones, you can still come back from that and make amends. This message would be much stronger if Ben Solo actually survived and had to continue his life on a better path. Paying for your actions through self-sacrifice works for a paternal figure like Vader, but the same ending for a coming-of-age character like Ben is, in my opinion, weak and lazy writing. Paying for your actions through death is a rather pessimistic resolution for a character that younger audiences are meant to relate to. I’ve seen so many people get hung up on this idea of Ben Solo being a war-criminal or mass-murderer in-universe, but it seems to me many Star Wars fans forget what purpose Lucas always intended for these stories to serve. They measure Star Wars on the standards of reality rather than allegory.