#ashgate

*Stares off into the distance* Dark days, Anon, dark days. *Whips out the history book*

It happened in April, 2016. TFA inspired many questions, but we all got an answer to a question that most of us hadn’t even considered asking. Do you remember the scene in TFA where Kylo puts his helmet down onto a small table covered in ash? Well… according to JJ Abrams… it’s the ashes of his enemies. 

Yeeeeeah… it was a startling revelation that took some time to process and it certainly created a stir within the fandom. Some were horrified that Kylo collected the ashes of his enemies and it didn’t really do much to help Kylo seem like a possibly redeemable character for many. It created quite the schism for a time. 

I quite liked this meta about it though - Thoughts on Ashgate and Star Wars Funerals by @nightsofreylo which sheds a more positive light on what ash gate told us about Kylo. 

Let’s just say for a second that I’m right (with due thanks to @starwarsnonsense for getting me started on this idea) about Ben losing control of his barely-reined-in Force powers, destroying Luke’s temple and killing all his fellow acolytes, when he got the sudden and very public news that his revered Jedi grandfather Anakin Skywalker was in fact the notorious Sith Lord Darth Vader and that everyone he loved and trusted had been lying to him all along.  Let’s say that Ben came back to himself in the midst of the flaming wreckage, disoriented and likely drained from the sheer raw power that just exploded out of him, and realized what he’d done. What would his first visceral, emotional reaction be, given his upbringing? Would it be to give a patented Villain Laugh <tm> and march triumphantly from the scene? Or would it be to start frantically looking around for his fellow students, for Luke, for anyone who might still be alive? I’m just thinking that there might be a reason for Kylo to wear layers of black clothing that cover him from chin to ankle, and black gloves that he never takes off. What’s underneath those gloves, and that clothing, may be some pretty nasty skin burns -- either from the backlash of his own Force explosion, or from digging hysterically through the hot rubble afterward. Anakin in reverse, indeed. I’m also thinking that the tray of ashes in Kylo’s room, which caused all that confuffle a few months ago when JJ Abrams told us it was “the ashes of his enemies,” might actually be ashes he collected from the bodies of his fellow students. Not as a trophy, though his First Order cronies no doubt view it that way and he might even sometimes talk about it that way himself, but as a reminder. He is the Jedi Killer now, whether he intended that consciously or not, and he can never turn back because there’s nothing left for him to go back to.

Luke tried to teach Ben control with the Light Side, by repressing his emotions and denying his very legitimate and terrifying fears (“Conceal, don’t feel...”) and failed catastrophically. As far as Kylo is concerned, the only hope he has of mastering his powers and quelling his tormented feelings lies with Snoke. 

And as others have pointed out, that’s also why Kylo’s so desperate to teach Rey, once he realizes her power is equal to his own -- it’s not because he’s condescending to her or trying to show off, it’s because he knows what’s going to happen if she doesn’t get the right kind of teaching, and he knows there’s nobody else in the universe (including Luke, but also including Snoke) who can help her the way he can.

Star Wars: JJ Abrams finally explains Kylo Ren’s creepy table of ashes(April 6, 2016)

Star Wars The Force Awakens: J.J. Abrams explains Kylo Ren’s table of ashes(April 5, 2016)

These articles came out and JJ’s comments came out and tumblr and twitter and EVERYONE  lost their goddamn minds. “OH MY GOD HE KEEPS THE ASHES OF HIS ENEMIES IN HIS ROOM!!!!” 

People were having the debate on whether or not kylo ren was redeemable because of this, people were speculating who his “enemies” were, people were just….losing their minds. It was a wild like…god….few days lol

People were abandoning reylo right then and there I’m not fucking kidding. 

Ashgate Hospicecare named Business of the Year as county’s top companies honoured at the Derbyshire Times Business Awards

Celebrating their 30th year of caring for north Derbyshire patients with life-limiting illnesses, Ashgate Hospicecare were named Business of the Year at the Derbyshire Times Business Awards 2018.

The awards were held at Chesterfield College and hosted by Dronfield entrepreneur Jessica Cunningham, star of TV show The Apprentice.