Star Wars fans have always wanted to know more about Kylo Ren’s backstory, but unfortunately, the Sequel Trilogy itself didn’t provide all that much insight into his life prior to encountering Rey, apart from those flashbacks to his days at the Jedi Academy in The Last Jedi, that is. Fortunately, though, the tie-in books and comics have been able to fill in some blanks, like the all-important moment he first discovered he was related to Darth Vader.
Readers of 2016 novel Bloodline by Claudia Gray will know that Ben Solo was kept in the dark about his true heritage by his mother Leia, as she pursued a political career in the New Republic. However, her secret came out when a rival announced who Leia’s father was in a broadcast to the whole galaxy, including a young Ben. Now, Kristen Baver’s Skywalker: A Family at War, a biography of the legendary clan, has explained what went through the future First Order boss’ brain when he found out this life-changing news.
“The revelation felt like a betrayal. Ben, who took after Anakin Skywalker in his powerful Force abilities and hot-headed nature, was crushed by the realization that his parents and his uncle had known the truth for decades yet had not seen fit to share it with him. He was incredulous that he had been left to discover the damning fact along with what felt like everyone else in the known galaxy. And the fact that his family had kept such a dramatic piece of information hidden seemed to justify every dark impulse and feeling of paranoia he’d entertained in his young life.”
Bloodline revealed that Leia had kept her father’s identity a secret from her son because of her fear that the dark side would claim him like it claimed Anakin Skywalker before him. Likewise, his uncle Luke would later similarly react out of fear when he momentarily ignited his lightsaber over his nephew’s bed, upon receiving a vision of the carnage he’d be responsible for. In both cases, Ben’s parental figures made grievous mistakes that only resulted in pushing him towards the very destiny they were trying to prevent.
As the passage above makes clear, Leia and Luke’s actions led Ben to lose his faith and trust in his parents and uncle, which made him easy prey for Emperor Palpatine – through Supreme Leader Snoke – to manipulate into becoming Kylo Ren. Of course, Kylo ultimately followed the other part of his grandfather’s story, too, and redeemed himself with one heroic final act before his death.
You can uncover the full story of the most famous family in Star Wars by ordering Skywalker: A Family At War over on Amazon.
