Ben Solo’s transformation continues in The Rise of Kylo Ren #3, and we get to see him slip even closer to his alter ego, Kylo Ren. I went ahead and did a video recap to breakdown some of the new cool canon that gets laid out around Ben Solo and the Knights of Ren.
Head on down below to check it out. If you’re a Vader fan, make sure to check out our breakdown of Vader #1 2020.
Script
I’m still committed to breaking down new Star Wars comic book runs even though no one gave two bantha poops about my last video that recapped interesting canon moments and easter eggs from Vader #1, which you should definitely check out if you love yourself some dark lord of the sith.
Anyway, The Rise of Kylo Ren #3 dropped yesterday, and it offered up some fantastic revelations about how Ben Solo ultimately ended up with the Knights of Ren, and how he started to turn to the Darkside of the Force. If you love you some Benny Solo, you need to get on this run.
Oh and SPOILERS DUH.
This issue mostly deals with Ben Solo joining the Knights of Ren for the first time after he felt betrayed by his Uncle Luke.
He meets them and wants to join their ranks, but Ren, their leader, needs a Good Death from Ben before he will let him fully join, so Ben recounts a tale about 3 of his former Jedi friends and how he killed one of them because they came after him after they learned he had a hand and taking out Luke and his temple.
Throughout Ben’s flashback story we get plenty of interesting canon moments as he talks about each of his 3 former Padawan buddies.
I personally liked this panel, which features a younger looking Master Luke with his initial batch of trainees, which also showed how they thought about Ben’s increased Force powers over their own. These moments helped to show that like Anakin, Ben was sorta hated for his strong connection to the Force, or it at least made other jealous of his abilities. These moments provided insights into why he’d be able to turn from the light.
I also wanted to point out that Luke must’ve had a stash of holocrons at his temple, because we get to see Hennix using one while training.
Moving on to the actual fight, we get to see some of Ben’s impressive powers as he takes on 3 of his former Jedi friends at once. He clearly is superpowered already, as evident by this killer Superman jump he pulled off to get to the high ground, see he knows what that’s all about unlike his Granddaddy.
The fight really gets interesting and provides even deeper insights into Ben’s fragile mental state when he purposely tries to murder Voe by Force pushing her off of a cliff, but he clearly is conflicted, even more so than Anakin in his prime, because he immediately regrets his act and catches Voe mid air with his power.
Unfortunately, one of the other Jedis, Hennix, only saw Ben’s force push, so he launches a saber throw attack at Ben while he’s trying to hang onto Voe, but thanks to the incoming blade, he has to divert his power to deflect the attack, which leads to Voe crashing down on the other Jedi Tai.
She lives, so Voe wasn’t Ben’s first Jedi kill, but due to Ben’s deflection of Hennix’s blade, he gets taken out, so Ben more or less accidentally kills him while trying to save himself and Voe. Which I might add is a very intriguing conundrum that showed just how torn Ben was at this time between sticking with the Light, or diving headfirst into the Darkside of the Force.
After Ben’s accidental murder, he goes full Anakin post the Windu murder and just starts to accept that he needs to be bad. He showcases his Skywalker blood and rage by tearing an old Jedi temple down on top of his two former friends, and then he heads off towards the Knights.
Ren takes in this tale from Ben, but isn’t impressed with his kill, because he ultimately didn’t want to do it, but thanks to Snoke, Ren agrees to let Ben tag along on their next mission.
Which leads to Ben officially joining the Knights of Ren by donning his first full black outfit, which definitely evokes his Father’s style, as well as what we saw him wear when he returned from the Darkside in TROS.
The issue ends with Ben’s former friends pledging to hunt him down and stop him, but I think we know how that will pan out. Let’s just say I fully expect Ben to become Kylo in the last issue by taking out Voe and Tai, but more importantly, Ren himself, which is prophesied by him when he tells Ben he may find a good death after all.
Yes, your’s ren, Kylo is coming to take your spot.
I really enjoyed this issue of The Rise of Kylo Ren thanks to the deeper insights it provides into the psyche of Ben Solo soon after he thought he killed his Uncle.
To me, he’s even more unstable than Anakin was, but I credit that to the fact that he was feeling a much stronger pull from both sides of the Force. You can see that Ben really didn’t want to kill his friends, but his head is so whacked out from thinking his Uncle tried to kill him, on top of Snoke’s brainwashing, that he doesn’t know which way is up at this point.
He’s almost drowning in conflicting emotion, but thanks to a series of unfortunate events and him losing his cool, he takes the easy path and starts turning to the Darkside of the Force. I just really felt the struggle Ben was going through, so his turn is looking like it’ll be earned, unlike Anakin’s, at least how it is portrayed in Revenge of the Sith.
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