![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
potboyvia https://ift.tt/37ReaM6
punchodile:
A lot of Kylo Ren stans are getting excited and claiming that he’s being set up for a redemption arc, but not only do I not see it at this point, it would be insanely cheap unless Rise of Skywalker is somehow able to convince me that he has earned it.
The entirety of the last two movies have been a demonstration that he is beyond redemption and does not want it. He idolizes his grandfather and has crossed the line that Vader himself couldn’t, which was (willfully and intentionally) harming his own flesh and blood (I don’t count Padme, since his intention was never to kill her and it wasn’t quite the force choke itself that killed her). Then in The Last Jedi, Rey learns that the whole time she thought she could turn him, he was trying to do the same to her. He becomes the Supreme Leader and tries desperately to slaughter his uncle and the rest of the Resistance.
He’s an arrogant and childish bully who is only concerned with strength, and rather than end the cycle of manipulation and oppression he experienced under Snoke after killing him he is perpetuating it. I don’t think this makes him an altogether unlikable or indefensible character–as a villain I honestly find him fascinating. However, he has proven in the last two movies that he does not deserve redemption, nor does he want it, and Rise of Skywalker will have to work really hard if it is actually trying to convince me that he can achieve it.
It is getting very late in the day to establish a convincing redemption arc that doesn’t involve a heroic sacrifice in which he heel turns to save Rey from Palpatine. OTOH, a heroic sacrifice when he heel turns to save Rey from Palpatine might end with him losing a hand and surviving… only for him to work out a proper redemption arc in the next trilogy.
After all, I can’t see Disney actually ending a cash cow like this.
punchodile:
A lot of Kylo Ren stans are getting excited and claiming that he’s being set up for a redemption arc, but not only do I not see it at this point, it would be insanely cheap unless Rise of Skywalker is somehow able to convince me that he has earned it.
The entirety of the last two movies have been a demonstration that he is beyond redemption and does not want it. He idolizes his grandfather and has crossed the line that Vader himself couldn’t, which was (willfully and intentionally) harming his own flesh and blood (I don’t count Padme, since his intention was never to kill her and it wasn’t quite the force choke itself that killed her). Then in The Last Jedi, Rey learns that the whole time she thought she could turn him, he was trying to do the same to her. He becomes the Supreme Leader and tries desperately to slaughter his uncle and the rest of the Resistance.
He’s an arrogant and childish bully who is only concerned with strength, and rather than end the cycle of manipulation and oppression he experienced under Snoke after killing him he is perpetuating it. I don’t think this makes him an altogether unlikable or indefensible character–as a villain I honestly find him fascinating. However, he has proven in the last two movies that he does not deserve redemption, nor does he want it, and Rise of Skywalker will have to work really hard if it is actually trying to convince me that he can achieve it.
It is getting very late in the day to establish a convincing redemption arc that doesn’t involve a heroic sacrifice in which he heel turns to save Rey from Palpatine. OTOH, a heroic sacrifice when he heel turns to save Rey from Palpatine might end with him losing a hand and surviving… only for him to work out a proper redemption arc in the next trilogy.
After all, I can’t see Disney actually ending a cash cow like this.