– Spoiler Review –
The Rise of Kylo Ren charts the events of Ben Solo’s fall after the fateful late night visit from his uncle, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, revealing how Ben goes to Ren in 4 packed, heady, and intriguing issues. It might have benefited from a little extra space, but the concentrated story means there are not many extraneous details, even in Ben’s nuanced fall.
Something I’m trying to do going forward with miniseries reviews is focusing on my favorite aspects of them (and likely mentioning an aspect or two I didn’t enjoy) than try to cover everything, which is what my individual issue reviews are for. So without further ado, let’s begin!
One aspect I enjoyed the most about the miniseries was the introduction of three students from Luke’s academy and their connections to Ben’s story, especially how their actions and Ben’s memories of them revealed more about both them and him. While I’m sure we’ll meet more of Luke’s students as time goes on, Tai, Voe, and Hennix will certainly be the most fateful, as they are integral to Ben’s fall to Ren. One thing I wanted to dig into with the three students is Ben’s descriptions of them and what it both means about them individually but also how it reflects back on him. We never truly get in their heads to learn how they feel about Ben, but rather we only get Ben’s views on them, an interesting but specific choice I believe series writer Charles Soule made.
Let’s begin with Hennix, who sees the Force as a puzzle to unlock and complete. His path is a patient one, full of contemplation before action, which Ben talks a bit about in disgust when describing him to Ren, the leader of the Knights of Ren. For Ben, with this great legacy on his shoulders, Hennix’s lack of interest in gaining new and bigger skills and instead understanding the mysteries behind the Force must seem wasteful, as he could be another great Jedi to rise in place of Ben so he doesn’t have to shoulder his legacy-full burden, but instead this Padawan’s concerned with opening holocrons. Hennix dies first, due both to Ben and his own hands, as all his time with puzzles and holocrons means he hasn’t quite mastered many other skills, so a thrown lightsaber is more than he can handle. It’s also partially Hennix’s own fault, reflecting back on him since he rushes in and assumes Ben killed Voe moments before he throws his saber at Ben, as the typically thoughtful young Padawan forgoes his measured steps and it gets him killed in the process, where waiting and watching could’ve prevented the tragedy. In the end, Ben assuming Hennix’s Force pursuits as a weakness, rather than help him, shows Ben’s struggles with who he is and what he wants to be, as he’s focused more on how others could take up his legacy than wanting to actively help them do so or better themselves.
With Voe, she’s the embodiment of everyone who thinks Ben needs to be a legend, is legendary, and is someone to base their life around. This pressure, which is applied on him by all those around him, whether they intend to or not, only feeds into his anxiety over the indentity struggle inside, regardless of what others say. Voe’s desire to match Ben’s skills, feeling it’s unfair regarding his natural gift for the Force, is exactly what Ben thinks everyone else feels about him. Luke’s words to Voe in a flashback show a much better way to approach someone’s ability to use the Force, as it’s something you have to work on opening up to, though some do get an early advantage, and it seems this is a lesson Ben has actively chosen to forget. When she confronts Ben alongside Tai and Hennix on Elphrona, she calls him a murderer, and he calls back, “Is that what you want me to be!?” People have told him what they think he is all their lives, which as I said before Voe exemplifies from her deification of his abilities, and while Voe’s words come more from watching her “hero” fall, accusing Ben instead of trying to reach out to him is the wrong way to go. Ben’s response is telling though, as his interactions with Voe, and all she represents with her expectations for him, only highlights his excessive concern over what others think of him and how he doesn’t focus on being himself instead. Her death comes at the fallen Ben Solo’s hands, the one who has finally embraced his choices and took ownership of them, but he tells her there’s no one left to train her and that she’ll never be a Jedi, a mistake Luke made with him, assuming his choice was already made.
And then there’s Tai, sweet, sweet Tai. The Padawan’s emphatic approach means he’s had a better idea about what’s going on inside Ben than anyone else, but much like all the other Masters and parentals in Ben’s life, Tai uses this to cryptically nudge Ben in the right direction, trying to present it as giving Ben the choice when really it’s trying to make the choice for him. In a flashback to their time at Luke’s Temple, Tai tells Ben that while he is Ben Solo, he can still be the Ben Solo he wants to be, not what everyone expects from him. It all comes too little too late of course, but it’s exactly what Ben has needed to hear his entire life, not whatever else he’s been told or expectations he’s had heaped on him; there will be more nuance to Ben’s fall once we get even more content about his time before and at Luke’s temple. Tai comes the closest to snapping Ben out of his fall in their final confrontation on the Minemoon of Mimban,* as he throws down his own life if it means giving Ben a chance to be who he wants to be, but Ren kills Tai while Ben is stunned by the offer, taking Ben’s choice from him and forcing him to take another. Tai’s continued insistence to his friend that he can be whomever he likes shows us how Ben actively rejects his support structure and that there’s been one this entire time. Tai’s sacrifice isn’t enough, nor is his father’s in The Force Awakens, but he’s finally shaken when his mother makes the final attempt to pull him back, and I love how this fit into the progression of Ben’s story (and bonus points they all take place on bridge-like structures).
Ambiguity is no stranger to the events that play out within The Rise of Kylo Ren miniseries, but the one thing I’m happy didn’t remain somewhat nebulous was how the decisions which unfold on his fall are Ben Solo’s and Ben Solo’s alone. While the other students make the mistake of telling Ben how he should handle things, he gives them plenty of options to stop pursuit, telling them he doesn’t want to involve them, but they continue anyways since they feel they can bring them back. He didn’t want anyone to be harmed or hurt, just wanted to be free, but they get in his way and he chooses then how he interacts with their advances, so while they might force his hand a bit, he still could’ve reacted differently. Likewise, plenty of voices whispered in his ears, from Palpatine/Snoke, Luke, and Tai, but he used it as an excuse for his actions or lack thereof, betraying a lot of his surprise and a growing disconnect from the events following Luke’s fateful visit to his hut at the Temple. Each moment in this miniseries, including how he reacted to Luke’s visit, is a product of his own choices and committing to that vision allows his fall to be crystal clear, much like his grandfather’s before him, as while both have different influences in their lives, both commit to a path of their own choosing. Anakin barrels into his with much less reluctance than Ben, who fights it far more than Anakin ever did, which makes Ben’s ultimate decision to embrace the shadow within all the more tragic, as he sees the way back and decides not to take it. But unlike Anakin, Ben embraces his path and his fall with zeal, at least in the beginning, as signified by how easily “bleeding” his crystal goes; Vader struggles with the process, with the Force/his mind fighting back with a vision of what could be if he turns back now, while Ben has no such vision, only seeing the faces of his past and watching them blink out as he bleeds his crystal, finally becoming Kylo Ren, a story and way of life of his own choosing.
A lot of excitement and debate about these issues will always come back to all the “answers” they provide, from more details on the Knights of Ren, who or what Ren actually is, who actually destroyed Luke’s Jedi Temple, and other minutia, but I think this miniseries will only age better with time and more details about Ben’s life before his fall, as the most important and lasting takeaways come from the varied nuances in Ben’s fall it presents to the reader. Of course it would’ve benefited from another issue (or more) to flesh out details and themes to the story, but the packed and concise nature of the 4-issues shows one of the better ways to cover such an important moment without drawing it out, especially considering we already knew what would happen. We might one day get a novel that goes over what The Rise of Kylo Ren did, but for now, it’s important not to write the miniseries off because one believes comics can’t handle such weighty material, in fact, this shows it can and should be allowed to do so more often.
Providing the visual journey for the miniseries is the art team of Will Sliney, colors from Guru-eFX, and lettering by Travis Lanham. This formidable team really carries on the legacy of Adam Driver’s acting with tons of nuance provided all over Ben Solo’s face, and while much of the greatness to his performance comes from the minute change in expressions, the way the team changed his face across panels was handled excellently, providing the closet one could get in having Driver acting out this important series of events from Ben’s past. There are moments where it seemed like some tracing was involved with Driver’s face, though little alterations made their usage in panels feel less explicit, I appreciated the tactic since some panels made young Solo feel unrecognizable, specifically the first one of Ben in issue #1, the giant close up after we see the burning Temple. The outfit change for Solo after joining the Knights is an instant iconic look, for better or worse, and the entire planet-sized dome built to protect plants that Snoke meets Ben in is a whole type of mood, thanks to the creepy way nature took over but remained beautiful, to some extent. A highlight splash page remains issue’s #4 full page spread of Ben and Ren fighting, as Snoke, Palpatine, Leia, and even Rey react the moment from afar, while Luke sweeping the floor with the Knights of Ren (similar to his display in The Last Jedi) was a true blast to see. I’m also obsessed with the design of Ben’s ship, which has enough of a Millennium Falcon vibe to it one has to wonder if that was Ben or Han’s choice.
Here are a few other things:
- Out of all the intriguing things TRoKR added to canon, it teased a meeting between Snoke and Luke that produced the Supreme Leader’s scars. The Rise of Skywalker introduced a wrinkle to this tease though, as the clones in the Exegol vats have Snoke’s scars on them already, so did they grow updated versions to reflect the encounter or did Luke actually meet and mess up Snoke at one point? What’s that story all about?!
- Beyond the flashback to Lor, Luke, and Ben’s mission to Elphrona, I would’ve loved to see more of Ben’s time with Luke. I understand that’s not Soule’s story to tell, but the little hint of their time together only added to my desire to see more!
- I loved the idea the Ren saber has a self-destruct feature. Tell me more about how or why anyone decided to add that!
- *I didn’t put it together until Manor writer Chris mentioned it in his Legendary Adventures: Splinter of the Mind’s Eye post, as the object the Knights of Ren are looking for on the Minemoon is called the Mindsplinter…get it?!
The Rise of Kylo Ren miniseries is a complex, wonderfully written examination of Ben’s fall to Ren, and while it’s not perfect and might feel a bit rushed for such giant material, it makes the best of what it had to produce something memorable we’ll be looking back on for years.
+ Ben to Ren is complex, intriguing
+ The three Padawans
+ Art team captures much of what makes Adam Driver’s performance so compelling
– Brevity is double-edged sword
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
THE RISE OF KYLO REN
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