50 most shocking moments in Star Wars history

3. Kylo Ren killing Han Solo (Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

When new Star Wars movies were announced, I knew that the previous core group of Luke, Han and Leia couldn’t stick around forever. Any time that a decision is made to kill someone in the Star Wars universe, it’s usually pretty shocking because of how much Star Wars fans love these characters.

Han Solo was a staple in Star Wars for so long and even his death doesn’t change that. He’s one of the core three that helmed the original trilogy and he returned in The Force Awakens for his final story. While it isn’t surprising that Harrison Ford only returned as Han Solo for one movie, they didn’t have to make the choice to kill him off, but they did.

Han’s death would have been shocking no matter how it played out. He could have died by the hand of literally anyone else, but they chose to have his own son do it. Plus, the way it happens is just so heartbreaking. You can tell that Han really wants to save Kylo from completely turning himself over to the dark side. He knows what it did to Anakin, and you can’t blame him for not wanting his son to turn out like him.

What makes this moment even more painful though is the fact that we see Leia’s reaction to it shortly after it happens. She knows that Han is gone and a little piece of her seems to die inside along with him. Kylo kills his own father knowing how it would also affect his mother, even if the two aren’t really together at that point. This one was a hard death to swallow.