Ok

[yvannairie]

I'm still putting my TROS criticisms together in my head, but I feel like a lot of the criticism of the Bendemption I've seen ignores how the Force bond between Rey and Ben has shaped both of them. Rey's presence means that Kylo could not blank out the guilt of what he's been doing, and has been having to slowly come to terms with over the past two movies with what a terrible person he's become, while she's been seeing the conflict and the depths of his self-loathing before he could even fully understood them himself.

(Because she's been dealing with the same thing -- being afraid of her own power. I honestly wish we'd seen her, as a kid, wreak havoc with her untapped might and blocked it out, because that would have made unmistakably clear that that is the source of her inner conflict.)

The tragedy of Ben Solo, then, is that just when he's ready to start making the steps to better himself, just when he makes the call to side with the people he truly thinks are right... he dies in a heroic sacrifice. He doesn't get accepted as a worthy, heroic person by anyone except Rey, who has been living inside his head and knows him better than anyone, because he dies before getting the chance.

He doesn't even get a chance to apologise to anyone he should seek apology from, he doesn't get a chance to start repairing the damage he's done, before he dies.

If anything, that's why his redemption arc sucked.