THE DARK SIDE

The first page of my webcomic, is now live!  The Offcuts is a slice of life series revolving around a group of queer young adults that meet online and move in together.

Leia also indicates that she thought she could shield Ben from Snoke.  She knew he was there.  She knows who he is.  And the increasing darkness in Ben is what led her to send him to Luke for training–Luke, who also failed to do anything about Snoke.  It’s also worth noting that Ben would have been very young at this point.  He’s not an adult.  He’s a child.  (I touch more on this in my post above, which is more Kylo Ren/Ben-centric.)  Now obviously we don’t know a lot about what in the hell Luke was doing but what we do know is that he completely and utterly failed to do anything about Snoke.  Yeah, sure, he had other Jedi to train, but this is his nephew and one of the strongest Force-users in living memory, and I have a hard time believing Leia wouldn’t have mentioned “hey btw watch out for Snoke” or something, and even if she didn’t I also find it hard to believe that Luke wouldn’t have sensed it himself.  Obviously, again, we don’t know the full story of what happened + the final catalyst that pushed Ben over the edge, we only know that the Jedi Massacre happened (when he likely wasn’t any older than fifteen, it’s worth noting), which in and of itself means that Luke failed to do anything about Snoke–and no, no, you cannot put all the blame on Ben’s shoulders like this fandom is so fucking fond of doing, because when Snoke started manipulating him he was a child.  Snoke literally took advantage of Ben’s (canon) feelings of abandonment as a child to start grooming him for the dark side.  This is literally child grooming.  And Snoke was able to do this because the adults in Ben’s life didn’t provide an adequate support system.  They failed to deal with Snoke (again, the onus was not on Ben–it’s never a child’s fault when they’re being abused and groomed and I can’t believe this fandom makes me feel like I have to state that). (Oh, and by the way, it’s also worth noting that, after the “fall”, Snoke forbids that Kylo Ren’s birth name ever be spoken.  He also applies a combination of praise & punishment to win Kylo’s loyalty.  He knows that Ben felt abandoned as a child and even as an adult you can see how Snoke preys on those feelings of abandonment by heaping praise on him–”you are my most gifted apprentice” etc–and how scared Kylo Ren is of disappointing him.  He won’t act against Snoke, either, even when he doesn’t agree with Snoke’s decisions, which you see with the use of Starkiller Base, which Kylo was arguably against.  Kylo Ren literally is incapable of making decisions independent of what he feels will please Snoke.  He may not think that’s what he’s doing, but he is.  Regardless of what Kylo Ren himself thinks, it’s very likely that he has no real sense of free-will, self-worth, or agency, and Snoke encourages that by making Ben completely dependent on him.  “I am the only one who cares about you.  I am the only one who sees your potential; your power.  Without me you have nothing; without me you are nothing.”  This is conditioning, and keep in mind that Snoke has likely been indoctrinating Kylo Ren since he was possibly as young as five.  Maybe even younger.  This means Kylo Ren is dealing with over twenty years of indoctrination and grooming.  It doesn’t matter if he’s thirty now, you can’t just decide one day to not be brainwashed.  Snoke saw Ben’s loneliness, his abandonment, and he preyed on it.  He’s had literally decades to groom Kylo Ren into what he wants and the adult figures in Ben’s life failed to stop it, if they even truly acted on it beyond “shit, Luke, he’s your problem now”.  I’m not saying they didn’t love Ben, obviously they did, and they were scared, but honestly this boy never stood a fucking chance.) Now for those of you thinking Han was any better, consider this: yes, Han didn’t know about Snoke.  He’s not Force-sensitive; he wouldn’t have been able to sense him and it seems Leia neglected to mention “oh btw haha there’s a big creepy dude brainwashing our son”.  Which makes the next part more tragic, because if Leia didn’t tell Han about Snoke, if Luke didn’t tell Han about Snoke, then all that’s left for Han to think is “shit my kid’s obsessed with his shitty grandfather, gross”.  Later on we literally hear Han dismiss Ben/Kylo Ren with “There’s too much Vader in him.  There’s nothing more we could have done.”  Leia responds with, “No.  That was Snoke.”  Which leads into the quotes I gave above.  At the time, even when I didn’t like Kylo Ren that much, this kind of struck me as bad parenting because jesus, Han, that’s your son, and as a parent you share the blame for how your children turn out–you don’t blame it on a long-dead relative and wipe your hands of your child like it was always a forgone conclusion that he was going to end up a brainwashed murderer.  I really hope I don’t have to explain why this was a really jarring thing to hear.  There was so much more you (all of you) could have done, but like all those years ago you instead just shrugged your shoulders and washed your hands of the whole matter.  Yes, this may just be a defence mechanism, but holy shit.  There was so much more you could have done what the hell are you doing just pretending you had nothing to do with what happened to your son. And keep in mind, Force-sensitives can sense thoughts.  If Han Solo (and Leia, and Luke, but more so Han because as far as I know he can’t shield) ever had these thoughts when Ben was younger which, if that quote is any indication, he did (”there was always too much Vader in him”), there’s a high chance Ben would have picked up on it.  This is just fan speculation right here but it’s also possible he sensed the fear of the adults around him, and what small child likes knowing his parents, his family, are afraid of him?  It can be extremely isolating. There is no doubt that Han and Leia loved their son.  No doubt at all.  As my friend put it:  “They loved each other. They love their son. But that doesn’t mean they weren’t parents who were distracted by a crumbling galaxy.”  (x) And because they (along with Luke) failed to act, because they failed as parents and adults, Snoke was able to dig into their son’s mind and manipulate him, something they knew was happening but failed to stop.  The onus is not on the child to fight their abuser/manipulator all on their own.  I love Han and Leia and Luke.  I do.  I think they are amazing characters, but it is incredibly irritating to see their flaws and failures erased by the fandom.  They failed.  Love isn’t an excuse.  Han and Leia may have loved their son but at the end of the day their inaction pushed Ben into the hands of the monster who would attempt to remake him as Kylo Ren, and they failed to do anything about it until it was far too late.

My dad confronted me about our new Wifi name. I answered by ugly laughing. 

The first page of my webcomic, is now live!  The Offcuts is a slice of life series revolving around a group of queer young adults that meet online and move in together.