Snoke is dead, the Praetorian guard defeated. But the First Order continues to fire on the Resistance transports fleeing to Crait, picking them off one by one. Knowing there’s no time to lose—lost time is lost lives—Rey rushes to the magnifying glass and calls to Ben urgently, “The fleet. Order them to stop firing. There’s still time to save the fleet.”
Lost in his thoughts—a whirling parade of possibilities—and breathing heavily as a result of the fight, Ben doesn’t respond as he regards the throne and Snoke’s corpse with disbelief.
A trickle of foreboding slides down Rey’s spine. What’s stopping him? He vanquished Snoke, and together they beat the guards. They’re on the same side now. He turned, just as she saw in her vision. So why he is allowing good people, innocent people, to die?
Maybe he doesn’t realize. He looks a little dazed. Killing his master was a bold move, a brave feat. She’s immeasurably proud of him, but the danger hasn’t yet passed. She simply needs to break through his shock and remind him what’s at stake. Cautiously, quietly, with the acrid scent of smoke stinging her nostrils, she prompts, “Ben?”
A glimmer akin to excitement, to hope, flares to life in his eyes, warming the deep brown. “It’s time to let old things die,” he declares. “Snoke. Skywalker.”
Turning, he slowly approaches her, looking her straight in the eye and willing her to share his resolution. “The Sith. The Jedi. The Rebels. Let it all die. Rey.” He swallows hard and extends his hand to her as if it’s the most important thing he’s ever done, could ever do, in his life. “I want you to join me.”
Rey’s face falls, and the spark of trust he recently inspired in her sputters like a weak flame battered by a strong gust.
“We can rule together and bring a new order to the galaxy,” he says eagerly, earnestly.
Her mind balks as her heart stutters. What is he saying? That he wants the Resistance to die? No, she won’t believe it. That’s not something the Ben Solo she bonded with would want.
But Kylo Ren would.
All of her budding hopes, her dewy dreams, fall like stars in the night sky. She shakes her head. “Ben, don’t do this.” Rising despair thickens her voice. “Please don’t go this way.”
Frustrated, because she’s not listening to him, he raises his voice. It cracks like a whip through the air. “No, no, you’re still holding on! Let go!”
Let’s wipe the slate clean and start a new way of life, a new way of thinking, as only you and I can. Together.
His aggressive tone further dims her tentative trust, and as a disappointment more devastating than she could have predicted crashes over her, tears blur her vision. She recognizes the fervent gleam in his eyes, hears the relish with which he speaks of carnage. Her stomach knots.
How can I make her understand this opportunity? Make her understand that this is all happening for reason? Does she still not see her place in all this?
She gave him the courage to destroy the bane of his existence; the least he could do is return the favor. “Do you want to know the truth about your parents?” he asks, his tone a bit gentler. She says nothing; her expression doesn’t change. And it occurs to him—“Or have you always known?”
Her brow creases with distress, confirming his suspicion. He steps toward her. “You’ve just hidden it away. You know the truth. Say it.”
She gazes at him silently. Pleadingly.
With a nod of encouragement, he whispers, “Say it.”
You can do it. Face your fears, as I have faced mine. Break the chains and slay that which imprisons your soul.
The tears spill over, slipping down her cheeks as, at long last, she confronts the truth. “They were nobody.”
“They were filthy junk traders who sold you off for drinking money,” he explicates, forcing her to acknowledge the truth in its stark, atrocious entirety.
She gasps softly as his words drive a shaft of pain through her heart. He knows the feeling.
He resists the urge to go to her and wipe away the tears he’s inciting. She needs to do this on her own. Firmly, he continues, “They’re dead in a pauper’s grave in the Jakku desert.”
They’re gone. It’s done. They can’t hurt you anymore. Let. Go. Of. Them.
Knowing this is his best chance to get through to her, he presses his point. He needs her to see the situation as he does and understand how it’s to her advantage. “You have no place in this story.”
You don’t bear the weight of lineage and history, as I do.
“You come from nothing.”
There are no expectations for you to live up to, no standards for you to meet, no one waiting to see if you succeed or fail.
“You’re nothing.”
No one else cares what an orphan from Jakku could achieve.
Gazing at her, he pauses only a moment before laying his heart at her feet. A more vulnerable moment he never lived. “But not to me.” Again he presents his open palm to her. “Join me.”
Breath hitching, she lowers her gaze to his hand. It’s sheathed in a black leather glove, dully reflecting the burning tatters of Snoke’s chamber as they drift through the air. Somehow, his gloved hand looks cold and distant. Impersonal, even businesslike. When she reached out to him in the hut on Ahch-To, he deliberately removed the glove and met her with his bare hand. She’d felt the heat of his body, the faint rasp of his callouses. The Kylo persona was stripped away with the habiliment, and she saw the neglected boy, the bitter man—the lonely, troubled spirit who is Ben Solo.
She doesn’t want to touch the glove. She wants to touch him, not the cold, dark barrier between them.
She won’t kill people to eradicate the problems of the past. That’s not the way to begin anything. He doesn’t understand that, or won’t, because he, too, is clinging to his scars. It’s cowardice to try to erase the past rather than reconcile with it. She won’t be a part of that.
When she hesitates, a quiver of panic twists his stomach. What’s stopping her? Doesn’t she want to join him? Surely she’s felt the connection between them. They’re so alike. They know each other’s greatest fears and deepest pain. They’re helping each other overcome their obstacles. He needs her to calm his rage; she needs his ambition. They can fill the space left vacant by those who should have loved them best. How does she not see that?
It’s not possible that she doesn’t care for him; through the Force he felt the fascination, sympathy, and admiration build in her as it built in him. She cares. So why does his hand remain empty?
He could think of only one other thing to do to demonstrate how desperately he wants her to stay with him, to convey how important it is that they unite. Beg.
The notion appalls him on a visceral level. All his life, he has begged for attention, for respect. His parents had more important matters to attend to; his uncle tried to kill him out of fear; and Snoke? Snoke exacerbated Ben’s pain, fueled his fury, trained him to be an attack dog on a leash.
He will not have been freed from subjection only a moment ago to find himself abject and inadequate once more. Not to Rey. Bright, shining Rey, who unwittingly stirred the embers of light inside him. Rey, who believes in Ben Solo. He should not have to beg her for support. He should already have it.
Nevertheless, he pushes the revolting word past his lips. “Please.”
Accept me. Join me. Love me. Please.
He gazes at her, willing her to understand, to agree. Grasping at courage, at dignity, he deliberately regulates his breathing, a display of control to build his confidence. When his fingers begin to tremble, he tenses his arm to force them steady. With no concept of time, he waits.
Rey knows Ben cares for her as she does him. She knows barely a moment has passed since he conquered the demon who had poisoned his mind for so long. But she also knows there’s another demon he has yet to exorcise. She cannot, will not, join Ben Solo while Kylo Ren lurks in his heart.
While her own heart cracks and splinters, she resigns herself to reject his offer of partnership—and all that that implies. Until he’s ready to let go of his thirst for vengeance, she cannot fully ally herself with him.
Unfortunately, she can’t just politely decline and walk away. Even if she thought he would take it well, she wasn’t leaving without Luke’s lightsaber—which was currently gripped in the hand not presented to her. Would he give it to her if she asked? Doubtful. As soon as he registers her betrayal, for he would perceive it as such, he wouldn’t be in the mood to arm her, much less with a weapon that holds so much significance. He’s spiteful like that. Or rather, Kylo Ren is. She has to take it from him, and right now she would have the element of surprise while he’s focused on her and all but forgotten the saber.
Slowly, she lifts her arm, cruelly feeding his hope but also distracting him while she prepares to use the Force.
His pulse beats in his ears, pounds in his chest.
Yes. Join me. No more being alone. We’ll forge a new path together. Give me your hand.
Suddenly, Luke’s lightsaber is yanked from his grasp. His conscious mind startled, sheer instinct propels him to reach out and grab it using the Force.
What is she doing? Why—?
She’s saying no. If she wasn’t, all she would have to do is ask, and he would give her the saber. Give her anything. But she doesn’t want to join him. She doesn’t want him. She wants the saber, she wants Luke. She wants the Jedi. She wants something he can never possess, much less give to her.
In pure self-defense, his body goes numb. He concentrates all his energy, all his strength, and all his will on using the Force to win that lightsaber, because she can’t have it. He won’t let her take it. He won’t give it to her to use against him. Because he wouldn’t be able to fight her. Not all the rage in the galaxy could compel him to hurt her now. Though she would be his enemy, there would be no striking her down, no conquering. And that weakness would be his destruction. If she gets that saber, he may as well fall on his knees and beg her to run him through.
Their power is equal, as is their strength of will. The saber trembles in the air directly between them.
There’s a rush of wind, of energy, and he and Rey slide away from each other, as if something wants to put distance between them.
Straining, he pulls. Harder. Harder. For the lightsaber. For her. For himself.
And for the Force, because he and Rey wouldn’t have bonded as they did if the Force didn’t want them to. Need them to.
A burst of light blinds him.
Then darkness.
If you liked this, let me know. If not, well, constructive criticism has its uses, too. Feel free to share excerpts on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, etc.–just please be sure to credit me and link back to this site. Thanks, guys!
1.18.18 – Reading between the lines:
After writing this, something still nagged at me. I felt like I understood but didn’t comprehend. I reread it a couple of times, and I worried that their trains of thought are confusing. Their whole relationship at this point is a mess of misunderstandings (though, ironically, they’re closer to understanding each other than anyone else is). But I think I got it sorted out in my head.
For Ben, erasing the past and ruling a new order was a foregone conclusion the moment he killed Snoke. (Apparently he doesn’t consider Hux a threat, and I think that may be a large part of his conflict in IX, because I think Hux will be a threat.) Now his own master, Ben wants a world where he can just be a Force user and not be pressured to pick a side, because trying to fit into one side when he doesn’t fully meet the criteria of either has been the problem his entire life. Having it be okay to be a little of both–a.k.a. being able to just be his frickin’ self–with no cause to feel guilty about it, is probably something he’s dreamed of making possible for a long time.
And now suddenly, unexpectedly, there’s Rey, whom he falls in love with because she’s like him, straddling the fence—rather, straddling the Force. So instead of doing it alone, he wants her to erase old and create new with him. Arrogantly he assumes, since she left Luke to come to him (turned away from the Jedi) and Snoke is dead (safe from the dark), that she’s ready to partner with him and start finding the balance. It’s important to realize that he never says anything about joining the dark side. He only mentions the dark side at all in the capacity of letting it die. He’s ready to forge ahead, and he’s already decided how to do it. How he wants to do it, anyway–“Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to.”
In the above scene, he simply aims to formally ask her to join him, respectfully allowing her the choice, assuming the gesture would demonstrate how he feels. After the night in the hut and their perfectly synchronized fight with the guards, I don’t think he expects her to say no. But she hesitates and gives him this distrustful look, and he’s brought up short. He doesn’t understand what she’s not getting. All he can come up with is that she’s not as ready to erase and create as he thought; she must still be holding on to the past. It doesn’t occur to him that he’s the problem.
He gets frustrated and lashes out, because he is so ready for this, has been for a long time, and he doesn’t want to dink around waiting for her to get it. He wants her on the same page as him now so they can start getting shit done. He forces her to confront the abandonment of her parents, which he knows has held her back from having a life for…well, her entire life. He stresses that she has no other commitments or obligations, no pedigree to live up to. No one would consider her important–except him. She’s important to him. When he thinks he’s made his point, he again asks her to join him–asks if she’s finally on the same page as he is. What he fails to realize is that, even if she let go of the past, even if she said he’s equally important to her, she still wouldn’t have approved of his plan. In that scenario, she probably could have explained that to him, and her rejection wouldn’t have hit him so hard. As it is, he’s devastated.
In the opposite corner, Rey’s focus is getting Ben to the light side. Despite everything that happened on Ahch-To, all of Luke’s talk about ending the Jedi, her mind still seems to be functioning in black-and-white mode, like she hasn’t taken a moment to figure out how everything she’s learned applies to what’s going on. Her plan is to turn Ben into a good guy, take him back to join the Resistance, win the war against the First Order, and live happily-ever-after in a bright world with no darkness. Perhaps one in which Jedi heroes rise again. She’s very naive, and that’s okay, because she’s only supposed to be like, 19 years old, and her only life experience is scavenging to earn her meals. The events of TFA and TLJ are all happening in the space of about a week; she was thrust into this situation, and she’s trying to walk in a straight line while her mind is spinning.
So Ben asks her to join him and help him carry out his agenda–and she begins to realize this isn’t going to go the way she thought it would (as Luke warned her). She saw Ben kill Snoke and assumed he was good now. Done deal. But when he doesn’t immediately save the transports, her idealistic hopes crumble, and she jumps from the white straight to the black in her mind, assuming he’s still dark–and going darker. (So much assuming! Just COMMUNICATE!) This is the train of thought most of the audience followed, too (including me, initially). Like she hasn’t since it all started, she doesn’t pause to consider any murky rationale. (To be fair, she hasn’t had the benefit of weeks of deliberation like I have.) She might have an inkling of how much he cares about her, but she’s too focused on which side he’s on to pay attention to that right now. She resolves to get the hell out from behind enemy lines with the hope that someday he’ll be good enough for them to be together in some fashion.
Hopefully that was helpful and not too redundant or convoluted. :S I think my translation reflects all this.
1.19.18 – Afterthought:
It would be interesting to know if during this scene Ben’s aware that his mother’s alive. As far as I can tell, he thinks she was blown out into space. If he thinks she’s dead, it’s no wonder he seems so ready to let the Resistance die. He’s not attached to anyone else there, as I doubt he considers Rey a member of the Resistance. However, if Ben knew Leia was on a transport, it would change everything. If he stuck to his agenda knowing his mother would die… But it just wouldn’t make sense after showing him make the decision not to fire on the bridge. So I’m assuming he thinks she’s dead, and I’m shifting my frustration to the Force, which seems to pick and choose when it wants to connect people. Because if Ben sensed his mother while he was attacking the cruiser, wouldn’t he sense her presence on Crait? I don’t know; that’s a whole other discussion.
It would also be interesting to know if Leia thinks he took the shot that blew up the bridge. She didn’t have a look of relief on her face seconds before the explosion–both after Ben had made the decision not to fire, and after the TIE fighter’s shots had been fired. She looked more…resigned, like she’d finally found the answer to a question, and it had disappointed her. “I know my son’s gone,” she says to Luke later. I kind of hated on her for a minute when she said that, thinking she’d just given up on Ben after holding onto hope for years. But if she thinks he took the shot, it would make more sense.
So he thinks she’s dead, and she thinks he’s gone full dark. Because Ben and Rey’s mess of misunderstandings isn’t tragic enough, I guess. 😉
A Child in a Mask – Ren’s first few scenes
Just You – the first force connection
Lesson One – Rey’s first lesson from Luke
A Monster – the second force connection
Your Greatest Weakness – Rey’s second lesson from Luke and the third force connection
Not Alone – Rey’s experience in the sea cave and the fourth force connection
His True Enemy – confronting Snoke
Let Old Things Die – revised and expanded
The Supreme Leader – Ren’s last few scenes
You’re Nothing – A Ben Solo Character Study
I discovered this like two years ago and loved it with all my heart. I found it again today, and I’m sad there are no more updates, but I just wanted to say you’ve done a great job here! One of my favorite fanfics in the fandom! <3 <3
Excellent , I was thinking this should be canon . It is such a beautiful and accurate description of their thoughts , in my opinion and of what is in their hearts. I loved it .
Thank you 🙂
I came here to say just this! Beautifully beautifully done. Wish you had written the novelization of the film. I picked the novel up, hoping for a scene like this, and was sorely disappointed. This should definitely be canon.
Thank you so much! 🙂
Very well written. Bravo. I so enjoy intelligent, well written expansions of movies. You delve into the characters mind and color their world. Turn them into people: I do like how you stay true to cannon. Like your interpretation of these two but I am not still 100% sold on Kylo… a bit of me wonders about manipulation. The monster’s cloak has sunk deep.
He still has a incendiary temper he can’t control. Talking about letting things die…he has to let go of this explosive spoiled brat attitude he’s portraying or he’ll lose the best thing he ever had an inkling of a chance for. If he still does..
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! You’re not wrong; he does have a temper and he is impulsive. But then Rey shares those traits. The entitlement, though, is a problem. While nothing’s impossible, I don’t worry about Ben being manipulative or deceptive because of how he was depicted in the TFA novel. There he actually stated that he wanted to be honest with her from the start, and he vocalized his reluctance to use the Force on her and Poe to get information. He encouraged them repeatedly to just tell him. I plan on exploring those scenes in Part II of his character study when I get that far. 🙂
This is so good. You captured their inner thoughts and demons so poetically, and emphasised the feeling of misunderstanding between them perfectly. Both Rey and Ben know what they themselves want, but fail to tell the other that, so it can never be. They think, but never speak. This was so well written
You are such an incredible writer! I feel that you’ve perfectly captured the feelings of the characters. All I can say is I want more, haha. Are you considering writing the third force connection in the hut? Pretty please do! Thank you for making my Reylo dreams come true with your writing!
I do! Actually, I believe the shirtless one is third, which prompts her to go to the cave, then the hut scene. 🙂 I’ve been sidetracked by the need for a Ben Solo character study, but I do still plan to write out the other scenes. Thank you!
Beautifully written. You did a wonderful job expanding on what was unspoken. Interesting notion on whether or not Ben realized his mother survived. I had assumed that while he may not have known why or how she survived he would have felt her – we’ve seen characters sensing each other time and time again over the years – how could he not know. But, with that said, I hadn’t considered why he would be so ready to sacrifice her then…unless in his mind the only way forward is something new which would effectively necessitate eradicating everything from before (Let it all die).
Wow that was so great!! By far the best writing on Rey and Kylo that I have read. Thank you for keeping them true to their characters!
I cannot thank you enough for this and the other two articles. After having read so much on TFA en TLJ on the internet with nothing ever resonating closely to what I think is happening, I’m RELIEVED to read this.
Really enjoyed this! The inner workings of Ben and Rey were shouting through the screen at me and the whole scene just made me wanna curl up in a ball! Why oh why couldn’t they just communicate? Anyways you have captured the thoughts behind their eyes beautifully and I shared this on Facebook and tagged my son too who is my go too Star Wars expert! LOL! I will be keeping an eye on this and catching up on all you’ve done! Thank you so much for sharing your work! Blessings!
This is so great! I really hope that what transpired just after your story ends and Ben waking up will be addressed in IX. That seems like a great opportunity for a gifted writer like yourself 🙂
Thank you for this insightful breakdown. I’m on the fence about Reylo. I think TLJ has set up the Jedi to still be upholders of the light (albeit in a reformed way), and I think Ben Solo will be redeemed. But I want it to be a messy redemption that comes at great personal cost to him. With Carrie/Leia out of the picture, I’m afraid they’re going to have to use Rey as his conduit, and to me that feels just too neat and tidy.
I agree with your thoughts. If they were going to be done with Jedi altogether, they wouldn’t have shown us that Rey stole the texts. And I’m confident Ben will be redeemed–that’s where his character arc is headed, and I think Rian Johnson referred to him and Rey as dual protagonists–but yeah, they can’t make it easy. I ship Reylo hard and Ben’s my favorite character of them all, but that doesn’t mean I ignore his crimes and misdeeds. He’s done some truly abhorrent, even unforgivable things–or ordered them done. My personal fear is that they’ll have him “make the ultimate sacrifice” and give his life to end the war and save countless others. Although, I suppose if he had to die, that’s how I would want him to go–with honor.
These comments are amazing. I’m so glad you guys liked it. You cannot know how much it means to me. Thank you. *watery smile*
This is the most beautiful translation of that scene that I have found, out of all of the theories I have read. We’ll only know for sure if this theory is true once Episode IX is out, but I’m still holding on to my last sliver of hope. I’m completely obsessed! Thank you for this!
Aaaaand there it is..
After all these times trying to explain to myself why I shouldn’t be ashamed to be fascinated as I am with this pairing.. After the onslaught of theories I allowed myself to experience in the hand of Reylo-shippers and the anti-Reylos of the internet..
I am now at peace..
If someone asks, I’ll just point them to this..
Thank you very much! I love you!
I never want this to die. This is everything, and I think this masterpiece you have made should be in the novel version of the movie when it is released. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! I haven’t felt this satisfied in a long time.
I wish I had the words right now to fully express what I feel about what you have done here. Thank you thank you thank you. If I lived a million years and was blessed by the ghost of Hemingway himself I could not do one tenth as good a job as you have here. I am trying not to cry. My husband will worry. 🙂
Bless you and eternal love (picture BB8 giving the thumbs up here)