Do any of the Episode IX cuts spare...

…Ben? I genuinely hate that Rey, as Palpatine’s grandchild, ends up taking the Skywalker name while the actual Skywalker bloodline dies with Ben. I generally don’t mind Rey herself at all, but in an evolutionary sense Palpatine wins. His (extremely powerful) bloodline gets to continue. It also felt somewhat underwhelming having his redemption and then death all occur within around half an hour of which he was in maybe five minutes (hyperbole?). Also I secretly wanted him to live so he could go on exiled Knight-Errant adventures.

I’m not sure how one would even go about it, other than cutting away with the kiss and then leaving things ambiguous, but I’ve also noted a lot of impressive changes people have made and so I wondered if anyone had shared my feelings.

Yes I share your feelings, Ben should have been the one to go into the desert at the end. Since he’s basically the only character with a full arc. Too ambitious for a fan edit though.