Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – 5 most shocking moments

2. Kylo’s Redemption

Kylo Ren was always going to be redeemed. Despite his patricidal and genocidal tendencies, Disney was never going to end the Skywalker Saga with one of the direct descendants remaining with the Dark Side. Also, redemption is part and parcel of the franchise. What surprised some (many?) was that Kylo’s redemption worked, and we cared for the character once he took his last breaths.

Making fans believe in Kylo, or rather in Ben Solo, again was quite a feat, especially since the character hasn’t grown much from being a petulant child throwing a tantrum over losing a toy. What the writing team did right with Kylo’s arc was allowing the characters around him to forgive Kylo rather than forget what he had done. His mother, General Leia (the late Carrie Fisher) accepts that her son must die if he is ever to be redeemed, and she dies in the knowledge that Rey has, in fact, killed him and given the family some much-needed peace.

Perhaps it’s the realization that he isn’t invincible or the kick to his ego but, once Kylo is resurrected by Rey, his faith in the Dark Side is shaken. He’s just lost his mother, and Rey has told him that she would have sided with Ben Solo if he reached out to her, Kylo is once again being torn apart. When Han appears as a vision soon after, Kylo is given the chance to replay their final moments from The Force Awakens. But this time Kylo rejects the teachings of the Sith and gives in to his true feelings. He’s no longer being torn apart, as Han caresses his son’s face once again. And to sweeten the loving moment between father and son, Ben’s unspoken “I love you” to his dad is met with Han’s iconic response from The Empire Strikes Back, “I know”. It cements the fact that Ben may have lost hope in himself, but his parents never did.