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Kylo Ren’s Humanity To Be Explored In Episode VIII

By Elaine Tveit

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According to Adam Driver, Star Wars: Episode VIII will explore the humanity of his character, Kylo Ren, the Darth Vader-wannabe who killed Han Solo.

Does Kylo Ren have any humanity left after killing his father in The Force Awakens? Adam Driver apparently thinks so.

Image Credit: Lucasfilm

In an interview on Larry King Live, the Star Wars actor was asked what aspect of his character he was excited to show in Episode VIII. His answer? “Humanity” (via ONTD).

"“I think… maybe this is such a general answer but you know – humanity. Even though it’s very much a blockbuster movie, there was no taking that for granted and that we were forced to be general.”"

Driver also said some plot points that weren’t fleshed out in The Force Awakens are explained in VIII.

"“There was a lot of plot points that we knew were operating in the first one, that we get to explain more in the second one, to make both of them make sense.”"

That’s good because there are a lot of questions that need answering. How and why did Ben Solo turn to the dark side? Where does Snoke fit in? Why does he worship his grandfather, Darth Vader? Does he not know Vader redeemed himself in the end? Hopefully, Episode VIII will provide the answers.

With regard to the feel of VIII as a film, Driver added it feels “socially active” to him.

"“But they [The Force Awakens and Episode VIII] do kind of feel socially active to me, and George Lucas originally, a lot of Star Wars was in response to Vietnam and a lot of what I remember talking about with JJ and Rian was this idea of terrorism, and two sides being morally justified to behave however they wanted to to get whatever they thought was absolutely correct.”"

The part of his quote, “…two sides being morally justified to behave however they wanted to get whatever they thought was absolutely correct,” may tie into Kylo’s “humanity” aspect. Like Anakin Skywalker, he feels his current path on the dark side is justifiable. Something catastrophic must have happened to make him feel this way. If Episode VIII shows us that event (or series of events), it may dive into Ben Solo’s entire backstory. So even if we don’t find out who Rey’s parents are, we may know Kylo’s secrets by the end of the movie.

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Driver’s quotes are also relevant to modern life. There are hundreds of belief systems in the real world. Each one of them believes it is indisputably the correct one. Such dogmatism often fosters conflict. And so it does in the galaxy far, far away, as well.

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