reylo in TROS: a long meta
WHAT’S GOING ON WITH REY AND BEN (1st/2nd acts)
We start the movie with a very different Kylo we left in The Last Jedi. Mostly because we see a lot of Vader in him. His relationship towards Rey is possessive and intense. He WANTS Rey whether she wants it or not. His whole persona reminded me of anakin in ROTS. (“the jedi turned against me, DON’T YOU TURN AGAINST ME). He’s demanding to high hell. This change is because:
1. Ben felt betrayed obviously after tlj, especially because HE KNOWS she wanted to join him.
2. Ben doubling down on the dark side because of this betrayal- if soft boi Kylo didn’t work, then the only option is demanding aggressive Kylo.
3. Such intense negative feelings from tlj are what drive people deeper in the dark side so seeing more Vader then Ben is expected.
Kylo is pissed and hurting. but he’s deep in love. You think he only wanted to grab that necklace? He’s angry but subconsciously is like ‘damn i really wish i could pull this girl into my arms and kiss her’ but he can’t- so he grabs her necklace instead. A move that is both childish, but sexually charged. Think the phantom ripping off Christine’s necklace in POTO. Kylo is peak phantom in these moments. He feels very much in control of his sexuality, compared to TFA when he was drooling on Rey and in TLJ when he was ‘accidentally’ shirtless.
Where’s Rey at? Rey is very clearly running away from her desires. She’s heartbroken that she couldn’t run off with her soulmate, but we see she’s upset that he regressed (‘serving a new master’). So our heroine is heartbroken, disappointed, but still loves her dark prince. Her anger at all of her conflict (not to mention the palpatine hoopla she has to deal with) comes out the most in her fights between ren. Remember, fights between Rey and Kylo are basically fights between themselves because of the soul stuff (I’ll get to that later). And Rey also attacks Kylo first. She’s defending herself against her own desires. it’s only when Rey heals kylo, she truly confronts that side to her- her desire to want to be with Kylo. Then she runs off because she’s scared to that staying with Kylo might cause the dark union she saw in her vision.
Both of them are obviously hurting so much, they trade hurtful blows to each other in the forcebond scene like to exes after a break up.
That’s roughly where our two stupid lovers are at in TROS. The real turning point of the way they view each other is the Death Star fight. As i said, Rey confronts her desire while healing kylo. The start of the healing that will take place throughout the course of the film between them. Rey is almost apologising to Kylo for obviously hurting him by denying her feelings but reasserts that Kylo is not worthy of her love. Ben is.
And Kylo is shocked. This is pretty funny to be honest. Ben Solo, a person he has called weak, has hidden away, thought he had killed, was the one Rey wanted? He’s still intensely in love with her, but we see the aggression and possession slip away completely- he lets her run off with his ship! He knows she has feelings for him. but Kylo can’t resurrect ben solo alone. Fittingly his parents help him out in one of the most beautiful scenes of the saga.
BEFORE I GET TO THE THIRD ACT WE NEED TO TALK SYMBOLISM, SOULS AND DYADS. STAY WITH ME
It is revealed that Rey and Ben are dyads in the force. one soul in two bodies. they are the other halves to each other. on an instinctual and spiritual basis, they WANT to come together, to join and be whole. but also, they ARE each other. That’s why they know each other before TFA, they recognise their soul in the other. And just meeting each other and being in each other’s minds ‘awakens’ this bond explicitly. Now that souls have met, they aren’t going to go to far away. Cue force Skype.
Personally, I believe the force created this dyad to make sure that there is balance. The dyad is made once Rey is born and by this time Ben has probably been groomed by palp for a while. the force recognises this and splits the soul of ben and placing it in someone so firmly placed in the light, tethering him to the light. but also Rey has a tether to the dark. B A L A N C E. Even though palp corrupted ben, it was only ever one half, the promise and potential of ben to come back to the light was forever there once Rey was born.
But also on another level, the force is finally bringing balance between the Jedi and the Sith. It wasn’t a fluke that the descendent of the most powerful Sith Lord was linked to a Skywalker (a family emblematic of the Jedi). The bond also ensures that healing can finally take place between these two factions as these two souls will need to inevitably join at one point.
So to recap, for my sanity, Rey and Ben share the same soul, spiritually they are the same person. The dyad represents balance by placing on half of the soul on the dark side, one of the light. one with the descendent of most powerful jedi, one with the descendent of the most powerful Sith. The two halves will forever be seeking union, meaning these two halves will also be seeking balance- most importantly- IN THE LIGHT.
Balance isn’t grey jedi. Balance is balance on the light side- ALWAYS. Which is why it’s when Ben Solo has been groomed by the dark side, the dyad connection, tethers him to the LIGHT. Rey’s own tether to the dark through Ben so more of an acknowledgement that powerful light means powerful darkness. Darkness will always be there, and it’s important not to lose track of it. But this tether is primarily there to maintain balance and save Ben from the dark- a clear path to the light.
AND WE SEE THIS STRAIGHT IN TFA. As soon as Kylo meets the other half of his soul he doesn’t want to part with it. There’s also a romantic bond, one of the most powerful bonds in the universe as seen throughout the saga. She’s compassionate, a selfless, powerful, not to mention beautiful. But outside of looks, Rey is an attractive person to Ben trait wise. But what underpins this, is her light which she is positively brimming with. I mean…her names REY. Ben is attracted to that light and all the traits that go along with being so firm in the light. I believe whole heartedly that even if the dyad connection didn’t exist, Ben wouldn’t be able to resist himself when it comes to rey.
And this is what explains the delayed reciprocation of feelings between Rey and Ben. Ben is infatuated with the light in rey almost immediately. Add the dyad connection and BOOM. Rey, also has this similar attraction to the light outside the dyad. As soon as she she’s a sliver of ben solo in the hut scene (Ben Solo who is a literal angel on the light side) she falls in love with him. Remember the light is compassion, warmth, life, selflessness. Imagine feeling a surge of all of these things by just glimpsing at a person’s future? But THIS IS ONLY WITH BEN. And of course ben is always inside Kylo so all that intense eye f*cking? I believe Ben is literally getting lost in her light, while Rey is literally searching for the Ben Solo within Kylo and trying to grab on to him, she can sense him in there. Important to note that as soon as she sees Ben in the hut, she wants to touch his face, hair, (cough lips cough).
LASTLY. The poetry of the last Skywalker and the last Palpatine falling in love and being bonded can not be ignored. There is intense trauma between these two bloodlines and between these two bloodlines AND THE ENTIRE GALAXY. Ben and Rey are healing that trauma with love, not hate, in turn healing the galaxy (until another nuisance appears of course).
So angel Ben Solo is the literal embodiment of light in this final act. He is motivated by love ONLY. THAT SCREAMS SKYWALKER. Is there any wonder why rey fell in love with him after catching a glimpse in TLJ? Most beautifully, he saves his love from falling to the dark. once Ben Solo is reborn, both souls are in the light, now they just need to joined.
Rey seeing her soulmate as the angel of the light she always saw glimpses of…CHEFS KISS. she’s completely in love and he’s there to save her,,,just ugh that scene is so beautiful and the emotions and expressions speak for themselves to be honest. Never more strongly have they wanted to be joined (soul wise and physically) since the throne room scene.
Before ben gets thrown into the pit *sign* Palp tells us, that the connection is LIFE ITSELF. so when I say the balance, the connection is healing, this is what I mean. Them coming together literally means bringing new life into the galaxy, healing old wounds.
So anyway Ben gets thrown in the pit.
This pissed off people (including myself) because GOSH DARN IT I WANT TO SEE AN EPIC PALP V REY AND BEN FIGHT. but I’m forcing myself to look at this scene symbolically. the masculine and the feminine is united within rey (something Palpatine has never faced), the masculine being half of Ben’s soul and the feminine being herself. Not to mention how Rey is coded as padme so much. It’s like Padme is getting the killing blow towards a man she that broke her whole family. I like this culminating in rey declaring herself as a Jedi finally. she wanted to know her place in ‘all of this’ and she is literally standing in the place of thousands of generation of jedi. Pretty awesome.
Ben being there would have been preferable for a multitude of reasons, but there’s a lot of meta you can grab onto to enjoy this scene. a particularly like the masculine/fem joined in defeating palp.
I also love that it’s a Palpatine that destroys a palpatine. He was so sure of his power and of himself as this grand Sith Lord, and it’s his own power, through his granddaughter, united with generations of JEDI that causes his downfall.
Rey is defeating her own toxic dark almost, just like Ben Solo killing Kylo. TO CLARIFY, not the DARK SIDE. the dark side is needed for balance, but the unnatural and destructive dark that Palp created through manipulating the force which would have long lasting consequences if not dealt with.
(FINAL STRETCH. IS ANYONE STILL HERE?)
Expected. you know why? BALANCE. the sith and the jedi both die. the joint trauma between the sith and jedi is destroyed.
So what’s happening with the dyad connection now she’s dead? There’s many theories and explanations. Personally I believe the connection caused an open wound. Ben Solo felt this. This wound is what makes the other half of a dyad die if one of the soulmates die. They literally lose the will to live because half of their soul is dead. Ben solo would rather die that live on without Rey.
So he feels the gaping wound and decides he needs to sacrifice himself to save rey. He transfers his life to Rey. NOW it’s debatable whether or not his soul also gets transferred.
I’m not quite certain. If he gives his soul, then the balance IS Rey in the end and Ben is one with the force. Cosmic force to be specific. Whether he can come back from the cosmic force because Rey literally carries his soul within her- she can drag him back maybe. If his soul isn’t transferred, it just means that the balance ISN’T rey alone, but when Ben passes to the cosmic force the connection they share is still alive, Rey in the living force and Ben in the cosmic force. Balance. And the connection means that Rey can possibly drag Ben back into the world of the living.
Both two scenarios exist if you believe Ben went to the word between worlds instead (with the help of leia) which is why he isn’t a force ghost.
Ben using pure, unbound love revives Rey. He finishes what his grandfather couldn’t and what the jedi wouldn’t allow. His life force is what makes this godlike move possible, but also just the purity of intentions. so while Anakin is coded as Jesus, a literal child of the force, his intentions are wayward, not just love, but possession and power. Ben is fully ready to sacrifice his life for Rey with no strings attached. By doing this he also could be considered the chosen one as much as anakin, bringing balance to the force by making sure the union and connection of the soul continues.
Rey awakes in the arms of her angel. ben is staring at Rey as if trying to memorise all of her face before he passes. He smiles because he can’t believe what he did, and that she’s alive and that she loves him as much as he does her. And while Rey is staring at Ben in pure bliss, there’s such an openness to her expression. She doesn’t have to search for the Ben hidden in kylo’s eyes. Ben is right before her.
Rey goes in with the kiss. It’s hesitant, but ben, forever her support system, meets it with enthusiasm as if to say ‘don’t be afraid, i feel it too’. this long embrace is so beautiful, especially because it comes after the literal marriage between Rey and ben.
Rey takes ben’s hand finally. She accepts his proposal. They are touching. They kiss. Their souls are literally together and joined for the first time since the hand touch scene. And it’s beautiful.
Ben Solo’s final smile is to Rey and then he lets go completely, passing. Rey still clutching the hand he proposed to her with. She’s obviously going to be distraught and grief stricken (despite the direction and writing leaving that out). But there must be a sense of ben within her now, something she might only recognise later on when her emotions aren’t so intense.
Obviously this ending has some Romeo and Juliet connotations that im not mad about.
DID I WANT BEN SOLO TO LIVE PHYSICALLY WITH REY AT THE END OF THIS MOVIE? yes HELL YES. And it’s a absolute tragedy that both are separate, without the companionship and family they both craved for throughout the whole trilogy.
…but jj didn’t tell that story. so let’s look at the one he did tell.
I believe that if Ben didn’t sacrifice himself, the cycle of darkness and trauma would have continued because he wouldn’t have fulfilled anakin’s last wish. he had to save Rey, the feminine which had been killed ever since Shmi. In the end both the masculine and feminine survive through Rey or through the dyad connection between the living and cosmic force.
Was ben’s fate sealed after he committed patricide? from a meta perspective? Possibly. The writers don’t know how to write redeemed characters having HEAs. BUT within the actual story? NOPE.
Ben was redeemed as soon as he killed Kylo. his sacrifice had nothing to do with redemption. it was just a pure love sacrifice.
Anyway the death of Ben Solo while tragic, means that all of the Skywalkers seem to be united in the cosmic force. All of them together finally. And in peace.
AGAIN, yes Ben Solo should have survived and had twins with Rey on Naboo, but this is what JJ decided to do instead.
Rey being a Skywalker…Hmmmm hated it at first. ABSOLUTELY HATED IT. But looking back at reylo in TROS and them basically being married at the end, means
Rey is a Skywalker. It’s nice that she’s honouring everything skywalkers stood for as well by taking the name- love. Also Palp was probably spinning in his grave that his only descendent is now a Skywalker lol.
Would Rey Solo be better? It would have been less cringe for sure and more fitting as it was the Solos Rey had her connections with, not really the Skywalkers. But Ben did end up accepting his light side skywalker background so… I personally would have preferred Rey Solo but i can just about live with Rey Skywalker if it’s through the marriage of Ben.
No one can convince me that the final shot of Rey standing alone on tatooine is satisfying. Maybe from a fan service angle, but for rey’s personal journey? HELL NO. But it is what it is. At least she still has that connection with Ben. Ben not being a force ghost at the end is a hopeful for reylos, including myself, he want him to come back physically so that Rey can have her HEA. Even if it’s off screen.
THANKS FOR READING IF YOUR STILL HERE. and if all this meta didn’t satisfy you, remember there’s always fanfiction x
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