After my 9th viewing of #TheRiseOfSkywalker I’m ready to share some thoughts about Rey and Ben, specifically Ben’s death and why I'm at peace with his arc and his story. I’ve already gushed about why I love Rey’s journey so much, but this is about the two of them together. #Reylo 
This will be a LONG thread, but I don’t really have another outlet, so a Twitter thread it is! If you don’t want your feeds inundated, adjust your settings accordingly, but hopefully you'll stick around. I’m not done talking about how much I love #TheRiseOfSkywalker. Not yet!
So yes, Ben Solo died. I was genuinely sad to see him die, as many were. But it also works for me within the story that #TheRiseOfSkywalker told. I was expecting him to die since TFA. That came to pass. I was also expecting him to be redeemed since TLJ. That came to pass as well.
While I consider myself a Reylo shipper, especially after TLJ, I wasn't necessarily expecting Ben and Rey's love story to be canonized in #TheRiseOfSkywalker. But that came to pass as well. And I thought those 3 elements - death, redemption, and love - came together beautifully!
I thought it worked for #TheRiseOfSkywalker, for the Sequel Trilogy, and for the Skywalker Saga as a whole. So this is my attempt to explain why. Many of the ideas here have been expressed by others so I take no ownership of anything except my own feelings. Which is all I can do.
One disclaimer before I start: I'm sympathetic to those who identify with Ben Solo as a victim of abuse who was manipulated by Palpatine for his entire life. I mean that sincerely, even if I believe the choices he made, good & bad, were ultimately his to make. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Because I do not personally relate to the character of Ben Solo in that specific way (I do in other ways) I appreciate that there is a perspective on this character that I will never fully understand, and I do not wish to diminish that perspective in any way. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
I also understand there are many who are truly upset that Ben never got to live a full life after he finally repented for those choices and shook off Palpatine’s yoke, especially after he finally found love and acceptance as offered to him by Rey. I see that. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
But where I respectfully break from those people is that ultimately, I love that it was Ben’s own choice to give up his own life so that Rey could live. He didn’t have to do so, but that's why I think it's so powerful. Because it was his choice and his alone. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Ben could have mourned for Rey after she died and then gone on to live a life of penance and decency that honored her memory (probably in exile and obscurity, since I doubt the Resistance would have welcomed him, especially without Rey there to vouch for him). #TheRiseOfSkywalker
If we want to get all real-world about it, Ben would’ve been lucky to escape being put on trial for war crimes, just like Anakin had he survived ROTJ. And speaking of real-world, I'm staying in-universe right now. I'll address external writing choices later. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
But Ben didn’t want to live without Rey, especially with the rest of his family (Han, Leia, and even Luke) dead and gone and the Resistance hating him for his actions as Kylo Ren. Everyone who knew and loved him was gone in that moment, and yes, that's tragic. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
The "easy" way to escape that fate would’ve been to end his own life and “join” Rey in death, a la Romeo and Juliet. That would’ve been a pure tragedy. But fortunately (and this is where the Romeo & Juliet parallels break down), Ben didn’t make that choice. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Ben didn’t have to surrender to despair because Star Wars is a redemptive fantasy, so he had the power to save Rey by giving of himself, selflessly. This is where the beautiful symmetry and reverse parallelism of Ben Solo and Anakin Skywalker reaches its apex. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
When Anakin pledged himself to the dark side and begged Darth Sidious to “Just help me save Padmé’s life. I can’t live without her,” he made that choice because, yes, he did love her. But ultimately because he wanted Padmé to live *with* him and *for* himself. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Anakin's love was selfish, born of his fear of loss, a fear reinforced by his mother's death. The great tragedy of Anakin’s character was that he couldn’t (then at least) live up to his own Jedi ideal: “compassion, which I would define as unconditional love”. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Anakin’s love for Padmé ultimately wasn’t truly unconditional, as borne out by his obvious jealousy throughout Clone Wars & Revenge of the Sith. It was more important to him (at that time) that she live with him than that she (and their children) simply live. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
We see this in the comics as well, where Darth Vader is obsessed with finding a way to bring Padmé’s spirit back from death using the dark side locus beneath his castle on Mustafar. He's unsuccessful because the dark side path to immortality is ... unnatural. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Whether it's truly her spirit or merely a vision, the Padmé that Vader sees refuses to go with him, just as she did in life. Padmé's final words to Obi-Wan about Anakin "There's still good in him" will prove true. But Vader isn't ready. So he loses her, again. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Anakin ultimately does make that selfless sacrifice when he saves his son in ROTJ, knowing and not caring that it will cost him his own life. Then, he simply wants Luke to live and not die at the hands of the monster who came to dominate Anakin’s entire life. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Enter Ben Solo, who idolized his grandfather for the wrong reasons. With a push from Palpatine, he became Kylo Ren. Enter Rey. As the Reverse Anidala adage goes, Anakin "loved the girl until he wanted the power". Ben "wanted the power until he loved the girl". #TheRiseOfSkywalker
That adage is a bit oversimplified. Anakin still loved Padmé, albeit selfishly, and wanted that power to save her. It just consumed him. Kylo held on to his power despite his feelings for Rey, until he realized he no longer could. Still, it's a powerful idea. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
But Ben Solo, who also suffered from Palpatine’s manipulations, ultimately DOES love Rey selflessly in the way that Kylo Ren did not (Kylo, like Vader with Padmé after his fall, wanted Rey to join him in darkness so that he wouldn't have to live there alone). #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Ben loves Rey so much that he is able to let her go … by letting himself go. He gives her his life so that she can live it as her own, whatever that means. That may mean that one day she falls in love with someone else (be that Finn or someone else entirely). #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Now, Rey may never (romantically) love anyone after Ben again, but that will ultimately be her choice. And Ben is at peace with that possibility because Rey *will* live, and love. She can find peace, purpose, and belonging with this second chance he gave her. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Perhaps Rey does what so many hope she will do and seeks Ben out in the World Between Worlds. Perhaps she simply carries him in her heart going forward. Regardless, she *does* love him as well. #TheRiseOfSkywalker makes that very clear. But that's not why Ben does what he does.
When Ben revives Rey, he doesn’t do it just so that he can get the kiss that he never got before. He doesn’t make that move when life returns to her eyes and she sits up in his arms. He simply looks at her, with wonder, pure happiness, and unconditional love. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Ben knows that Rey will be the last thing that he sees and he's grateful for that. Rey is the one who makes the move. She kisses him, and not just because she's grateful. She does it because she wanted this as well (“I did want to take your hand. Ben’s hand.”) #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Rey knows that Ben came for her, that he chose to stand with her, as she so hoped and believed that he would after they touched hands and she saw his future (I strongly believe that moment in the hut on Ahch-To is when she truly fell in love with Ben Solo). #TheRiseOfSkywalker
It’s why Rey so was so heartbroken after Kylo doubled down on the darkness in Snoke’s throne room in The Last Jedi, and why she was so angry with him throughout the first two acts of #TheRiseOfSkywalker. She felt wounded and betrayed, but only because she felt for him so deeply.
Rey, like Padmé with Anakin, knows that there is still good in Ben. But like Padmé, she refuses to stand with him or take his hand while he serves the dark. She loves him, but love does not blind her. When she sees evil, she reaches for the saber. She fights. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
(This is where I sidebar to admit that as much as I adore Revenge of the Sith, I do not love Padmé's end. It is actually physiologically possible to die from a broken heart - the medical term is stress cardiomyopathy - but in story, the idea is unfortunate). #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Whether or not you support theories that Palpatine drained Padmé's life to keep Vader alive, her choice to fight or forgive was taken from her (a tragedy for a character I loved as much as Padmé). But that's partly why Rey & Ben's choices hit so hard for me in #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Padmé was a fighter in life, and had she lived, she would've stood against Vader as Rey stood against Kylo. Because she loved Anakin, she likely would have forgiven him if he had truly repented, but she never got that chance. Rey does get that chance with Ben. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
So when Ben takes the second chance at life Rey gave him on Kef Bir and uses it to return to her, help her, stand with her, and save her, all of that love comes pouring to the surface at last. He chose her. Now she chooses him. So she kisses him, passionately. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
There’s a lifetime of love in that kiss, both his life and hers, because now Ben and Rey have both given their lives for each other. And that gift means all the more because they both did so without any expectations or demands attached. They gave it freely. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Rey healed Ben on the Death Star because she loved him and because she loved his mother Leia, but she had no way of truly knowing that Ben would return to the light after she did so (especially because she was in such a dark place herself at that time). #TheRiseOfSkywalker
And Ben revived Rey on Exegol because he loved her, but he also had no way of truly knowing that she would return until she took his hand at last, sat up, looked into his eyes and whispered “Ben!" His faith, love, and renewed belief in the light came through. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Then Rey kisses him. Willingly. Eagerly. And Ben kisses her back. Happily. Gratefully. And then he smiles (oh that smile) as she gently caresses his face. Because like Shmi Skywalker when she got to see her beloved son Anakin one last time, now he is complete. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Ben finished what his grandfather Anakin started, what he could not do with Padmé and ultimately did for Luke. This final selfless act is what enables him to become one with the Force, as Anakin did. Ben's not “gone”. As Luke says, “No one’s ever really gone”. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Ben lives on in Rey, just as he lives on in the Cosmic Force, which Rey will also join one day. She will see him again ... one day. But as Juba in Gladiator once said: "Not yet. Not yet". Rey has a life to live. Her life. Because Ben gave her back that chance. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Rey doesn't "owe" Ben her life, any more than she owed him her love. It's hers. But as she once freely offered him her love, he freely gave her a chance. And she knows he loved her enough to do it. She knows. And like Han and Leia, they don't need to say it. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
I don’t know about you but I think that’s beautiful! Beautifully written. Beautifully directed. Beautifully performed. Beautifully realized. Rey Skywalker (née Palpatine) & Ben Solo went into the dark alone. They emerged together. They mastered death together. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Because, as Dumbledore once told Harry Potter, “You are the true master of death, because the true master does not seek to run away from Death. He accepts that he must die, and understands that there are far, far worse things in the living world than dying.” #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Star Wars has its own version, voiced by Obi-Wan: "If you strike me down I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine". What the Dark Side cuts down in hate, the Light Side restores with selfless love. And as we see in #TheRiseOfSkywalker, that's why the Light wins.
Palpatine wanted Rey to strike him down in hatred and ascend. Had she done so the Dark would have triumphed. But instead, Rey and Ben chose to give their own lives, for the Galaxy and for each other. And while Rey lives, so does Ben. No one's ever really gone. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Of course, if you don’t see the beauty in that choice, that’s fair. If what matters to you that both Ben and Rey live and live together at any cost, then I understand why this ending isn’t the one that you wanted. But that is not the position I choose to take. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Without casting shame or judgment on anyone else’s values, I can only speak to my own. And personally I do not need the characters I love to have “traditionally” happy endings to consider their journeys meaningful and worthwhile. Most of my favorites do not. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
And I specify "traditionally" because I truly do believe that both Rey and Ben achieve happy endings, albeit ones that are shaded by loss. Bittersweet endings may not be to everyone's taste, depending on where the bitter comes. But I like IPAs for a reason😉. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
As Yoda told Anakin, consumed by fear, in Revenge of the Sith: “Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice, for those around you who transition into the Force. Mourn them, do not. Miss them, do not. Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed, that is.” #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Yoda wasn't entirely right about that, but his heart was in the right place. I’d argue that anyone who loved someone who has passed on is well within their rights to both mourn them and miss them. The old Jedi code proved too dogmatic. But the spirit was true. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Anakin would've been wise to heed Yoda's words then, as he ultimately did at the end of his own life. It may have saved him, Padmé, and the entire Galaxy from heartbreak and tragedy. As Padmé once told him, "All I want is your love." That may have been enough. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Because love WAS enough for Ben and Rey. Rey loved Ben enough to save him from the terrible cost of almost striking him down in anger. And Ben loved Rey enough to return to the light, stand with her, and give his life for her. Their love saved the Galaxy. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
This is why while TESB is my favorite Star Wars film, Revenge of the Sith is the one I have the greatest personal affinity for. I love the epic, mythic tragedy of its story. #TheRiseOfSkywalker beautifully enhances and redeems that tragedy. It makes me love both movies even more!
Without Anakin’s choice, we wouldn’t have Star Wars as we know it. So in our universe, I’d say it was for the best. But in-universe, I'd say Ben, Rey, Luke, Leia, Anakin and all of the greatest heroes of the Galaxy (Skywalkers or not) learned that lesson well. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
And as I said in my essay on why I love Star Wars, #TheRiseOfSkywalker, and why I'm at peace with that love even if others may not be (corvaxfen.blogspot.com/2020/01/star-w…) the in-universe story is ultimately what matters most to me. It Was True, All of It, and I find it incredibly powerful.
Now, I know that for some, it’s impossible to look at stories that way, be it #TheRiseOfSkywalker or any other that means so much to them. And those who feel that way may feel inclined to just throw this entire setup back on the writers for putting Rey and Ben in this position.
They may say Rey didn’t *have* to die fighting Palpatine, so Ben didn’t *have* to die saving her. They could’ve killed Palpatine together, pledged their eternal love to one another, gone off together, gotten married, had babies, and lived happily ever after. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
That would’ve been lovely. Truly, it would! And I have no problem with people making art or writing stories to that end, or hoping that in a future canon story, Rey might find a way to bring Ben back via the World Between Worlds so they can be together again. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
But in THIS canonical story, Rey ended the greatest evil that the Galaxy has ever known. Her own grandfather! I believe there had to be a cost, and that cost turned out to be her life. Rey sacrificed herself to save the Galaxy. And again, she did so willingly. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
Rey may not have known that calling upon the strength of all the Jedi who came before and turning Palpatine’s own hatred back on him to destroy him forever would take everything she had, including her life. But she was prepared to die. She was willing to die. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
From the moment Rey took Luke’s old X-Wing to Exegol, along with his and Leia’s lightsabers, it was her choice. And that’s why she’s a hero. And it was Ben’s choice to save her. He was also prepared to die, with Rey and for her, when he went to Exegol as well. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
That’s why Ben was ultimately worthy once again of wielding Anakin and Luke’s lightsaber (which he had previously wielded as a Jedi Padawan) when Rey gave it back to him, just as she had once given him back his life. And that’s why he’s a hero, just like her. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
In death and in life, Rey Skywalker & Ben Solo are heroes together. Not because of their lineage. Because they chose to be. They chose the Light and each other. They are a dyad in both the Living and the Cosmic Force. Now and always, they are Two that are One. #TheRiseOfSkywalker
That's my piece on Reylo in #TheRiseOfSkywalker for now. I know there are a lot of raw feelings right now, but I hope we can all express our POVs respectfully. I love Rey and Ben as characters. I love them together. I love their story in this movie. That's all I wanted to convey.
I have nothing to plug except the essay I wrote on Star Wars, why I love #TheRiseOfSkywalker so much, and how I intend to stay on the side of the light going forward. If you enjoyed this thread, perhaps give it a look! If not, May the Force Be With You! corvaxfen.blogspot.com/2020/01/star-w…
