Just spent a few hours reading this thread, and so many great things here. Just fantastic.
Hal9000 since you’re doing another edit, Rey Nobody, I have a request (plea)… would you consider Kylo lives? I haven’t seen anyone do that. And I think it (a) is what George Lucas would have wanted, (b) brings the saga full-circle, © makes sense, (d) can be done!
Lucas believed in hope and redemption. What we saw in TFA is that Ben was not involved in the destruction that was wrought by Snoke/Hux, he even argued against it. And, yes, he did terrible things as Kylo Ren, but he was Kylo Ren not Ben Solo. He was under the influence of the Dark Side, and was mentally, emotionally, and physically tortured by Snoke from his teen years until Snoke’s death. He is also someone who was literally manipulated by Palpatine since he was in Leia’s womb! And he fought against the Dark Side for decades before finally succumbing because he was literally groomed by Snoke (and Palpatine).
As for the idea that Rey/Ben are toxic, they were actually presented as the opposite of it because Rey rejected Kylo Ren. She rejected him and chose herself. She was all ‘you need to save yourself; I ain’t doing that for you.’ She chose the good man, not the dark a-hole. That is the opposite of toxic. Which brings us to the saga coming full-circle, and it making sense. Ben said he wanted to do what his grandfather never did. What did Anakin truly want to do? Save the woman he loved. Ben did that, by saving Rey. What he got in return should not be to experience only ten seconds of happiness and then die in a fantasy saga spanning nine films.
Because again, Ben was literally mentally tortured by Palpatine his literal entire life. So he had like just those ten seconds of true happiness with Rey. That was it. His whole life. That’s not hope. That’s terrible. As for Rey? Ben Solo is her other half. Her soulmate. Her dyad, she will be miserable, missing the other half of her self her entire life. That’s terrible. So let the man live for both their sakes!
Finally, how it can be done: Don’t show him dying/fading away. Cut from the kiss. Then during the celebration after the battle, after Rey hugs Poe/Finn, have a slow reverse of the hug and then a serious look at them with some dialogue (voice-overed with the angle on Finn and Poe) that can be AI’d, along the lines of: ‘I have to tell you about Ben Solo.’ So that covers them knowing about Ben.
Then you’ve got the group on the Falcon, cut to Rey on Tatooine. After she sees Luke and Leia, she looks over her shoulder, and there is Ben walking up (as we saw on Pasana) and then VXF the twin suns behind him (it would be absolutely gorgeous.) Ben showed up on Exegol on his own after all so we don’t have to see him leave there. Then back to Rey, she smiles.
Cut to ramp going up on Falcon, their theme fades into the SW theme as the Falcon flies off. So viewers can assume that Ben joined them or that he left on his own and he and Rey just had a talk. It’s ambiguous, depending on preference. Still, voila, #kylolives! And that way the saga comes full-circle with Anakin’s grandson having a chance to live a full life of hope and redemption after saving the woman he loved instead of him dying just dying.
I would try and do this myself but ya’ll have way, way, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more editing skills than I do. And have achieved so much awesome already with the rest of TROS that is amazing! I just would love, absolutely love, to see a version done by your amazing self that is a #kylolives version.