As I continue to study Kylo Ren/Ben Solo, I’ve come across interesting tidbits of information that make me rethink what I thought I knew. For instance, in the visual dictionary for TFA, there’s a segment that reads:
“The Supreme Leader believes Ren to be the ideal embodiment of the Force, a focal point of both light and dark side ability.”
Furthermore, on Ben’s page on Wookiepedia (they also cited the TFA dictionary):
“…Ben was eventually, in his late teens, targeted by a powerful individual named Snoke, who recognized the inherent Force potential within Ben Solo, as Ben was a member of the powerful Skywalker family through his mother. Snoke…saw Ben as a focal point between the light side and the dark side of the Force—an ideal embodiment of a Force warrior—and wanted to take him as an apprentice of his own.”
I’m not entirely certain what that implies as far as Snoke’s motivations. If he saw Ben as a focal point between the light and dark, an ideal Force user, then why did he work so hard to snuff out the light in Ben? Or did he never think he could completely get rid of it, and tried to teach Ben to utilize the power of the light but otherwise ignore everything else it means? To use its power but ignore the compassion it breeds? I’m not sure…
A second interesting tidbit I read also came from the same page on Wookiepedia:
“Interestingly, Ren had either been contacted at some point by Anakin or believed that he had, as he once beseeched of Vader’s helmet to “show [him] again, the power of the darkness.”
Again. That never even occurred to me. Now my mind is spinning with possibilities. Was it Anakin? If so, why did he encourage Ben’s darkness? I’m more inclined to think it was Snoke playing with Ben’s mind. I mean, if he manipulated the Force connection between Ben and Rey by “bridging” their minds over a vast distance, who’s to say he couldn’t fool Ben into thinking he was communing with Vader through the Force? It’s totally something he would do.
