*speaking like a tour guide* And here we have Ben Solo’s expression immediately following Luke’s line: “The Rebellion is reborn today. The war is just beginning. And I will not be the last Jedi.” Note the worry in his brow–he’s doubting himself, doubting his efforts, doubting his victory. Panic swirls in his eyes; for years he was convinced that killing Luke was the ultimate solution to his problems. But now he realizes–Luke is no longer the biggest threat. Killing him will solve nothing. Underlying it all is a shadow of resignation, a touch of weariness, of helplessness, as if deep in the back of his mind, in his heart, he knows there’s truth to Luke’s words, and he’s so tired of the struggle. Consider, if you will, that he’s thinking, “Shit. Rey’s my enemy–and I don’t have the will to fight her. The fuck am I gonna do?”
I totally think the first thing he did after Crait was to destroy all known locations of kyber crystals just so she couldn’t make a new lightsaber (there’s no way they didn’t crack the crystal).
He’s going to spend the first part of the movie trying to avoid her just so they don’t have to face off.
Thinking about it, Luke pretty much slapped him in the face again. At the training temple he told him he wasn’t good enough by trying to kill him. He sees the same darkness in Rey and basically says that she is good enough. Sure he says that he’s sorry but I’m not sure he means it.
If we thought he looked sleep deprived in TLJ I think it’s going to be worse in IX. The “touch of weariness” is just going to keep crushing him. Being the Supreme Leader is not going to be easy and he has NO canon backup with him.
I doubt he would destroy all the kyber crystals; he may need one himself someday. But you’re right, I think they broke not only the hilt but the crystal, too. You can’t tell in the movie, but the novel says, “the crystal sheared apart”. Hard to say what Rey will do about it, though, because she probably doesn’t know anything about kyber crystals; I doubt many people know about them, or if they do, I doubt they know how to use them. Hmm…never thought about that before. Maybe the books mention use of the crystal, but I think I read somewhere that Rey can’t read the ancient language the books are written in, so they might be useless to her. I don’t know if even C-3PO could read it. I would guess either Ben will help her with all that somehow or there will be some deus ex machina character who can teach her. There are still apprentices unaccounted for… HMMM interesting, interesting.
In my head I see a scene where she’s trying to fix the lightsaber and Anakin’s force ghost keeps saying “you’re doing it wrong”…
Ben has a backup light saber…he should still have his original one (although I know there’s some schools of thought that say that he took his original crystal to make the new one). I just see him in panic mode over not wanting her to be able to make a new saber because that way he never has to fight her in one on one battle. I don’t see him being overly rational about “oh I might need one in the future” :-). It’ll be interesting to see how they handle in IX…
Bahahaha I could see Grumpy Force Ghost Luke doing that to her! “That doesn’t go there. Nope. No. Sure, that’s a good way to make it explode.” And Rey just does her best to ignore him because if anyone knows how to construct a mechanical device, it’s her. Though I suppose he’s not grumpy anymore… I’ll miss grumpy, sassy Luke. I preferred him to Hero Luke; but then, I’m a cynical person.
I’ve wondered about Ben’s sabre from the flashbacks. I can see both arguments for it–that it’s the same one, that it’s a different one. I read about bleeding crystals on Wookieepedia, too, LR, so I guess I assumed it was the same one and after he bled the crystal, he crudely modified the hilt, adding the vents to accommodate the crystal’s stress. But that’s just speculation.
I’ve also wondered how he recognized Anakin’s sabre when Finn brought it out. It was supposed to be lost between scavengers finding it on Cloud City and it falling into Maz’s possession. I’m not sure when he would have seen it, but there’s so much missing information in his backstory that really, anything’s possible. And the crystals themselves are Force sensitive, so maybe he just felt its history or something. the books don’t say. *shrugs*
I could see Ben lashing out and wrecking the crystals like he wrecked that console in TFA…but part of me wonders if he still possesses the anger and energy required to lash out like that. I kind of got the feeling at the end of TLJ that his anger had been spent and he was more fifty shades of sad and resigned than anything. I mean, all the authority figures whom his anger fed off of and was directed against are gone, or he thinks they are. There’s not much left to feed it, just Rey and the war. Maybe his heartbreak over Rey would manifest as anger–after all, I assumed that’s most of what was behind his order to shoot down the Falcon. But I don’t think the war would make him angry; he’d view it coldly, like defeating the Rebels is a necessity, a means to an end, something to check off in his agenda. And at some point he’s just got be tired, ya know?
Fifty shades of sad!! Ahh, my heart. Poor Ben. That’s exactly what he is. His actions on Crait definitely strike me as something more to do with hurt and tired frustration rather than the kind of seething rage from TFA. You’re right. He must be so tired of all of it. His whole life has been a fight. A struggle against one thing or another. I’m sure he’s ready to just BE.
And I love Grumpy Salty Luke too. Hahaha much better than Hero Luke. I would love to see something exactly like that. Rey just try’na do what she knows, and Luke heckling her. Maybe he can be at peace but still retain his sassy Skywalker extra-ness because after all, he is still Anakin’s son. Even in death. Obi-wan retained his general exasperation for Skywalker impulsiveness. So it’s possible 😉
I’m one of those saberstaff people. I’d totally be down for the two halves of the crystal being used to make a sick saberstaff. But I don’t know if they’ll work like that. I don’t know how crystals work when they’re straight up broken.
I think if Ben knew where the crystals were, he’d get one that wasn’t cracked for himself. Maybe not. I read a cool thing about how kyber crystals literally bleed when they’re forced over to the darkside, and that’s why all darkside sabers are red. Can’t remember where, but I want to say Wookiepedia. I feel like Ben’s cracked crystal is the same one from his training temple blade, and it got cracked during the process of his trying to convert it over to darkness. I dunno, just one of those unsupported theories rattling around in my brain.
Sometimes I feel like kyber crystals and Wizard World wands are very similar.
I’d be okay with them bringing in a Mark Hamill force-ghost to teach her how to build one. Obi-wan was all up in Luke’s grill giving him advice after he died, so there is canonical precedence. Even if it’s just kind of a guiding, disembodied voice.
But I’m also super okay with Ben being able to read the ancient runes and therefore the only one who can help her make sense of them. Ben’s thing for calligraphy sets him up to be an admirer of ancient languages. Which parallels nicely with Rey’s affinity and natural ability to learn living languages.
Yeah, this is definitely an “oh crap” face. I’m sure he thought Rey coming to him was a signal that Luke had disappointed her, and therefore Luke had written her off as well. That Luke approves of Rey as his successor must be something of a gut-punch, I imagine. Luke is literally saying “Yeah, she’s strong enough to carry this mantle, and she will, and now you have to decide what you’re going to do about it.”
And Ben has no idea what he can do about it because it’s her and even though he is incredibly hurt, he can’t kill her.