Uploaded February 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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❝Kid’s gonna get in trouble one day. Every kid does, but with the blood of a scoundrel and a princess in his veins, his defiance will shake the stars.❞
–Chuck Wendig, Aftermath: Empire's End

[HD + earphones + obvious TROS spoilers.]

...Well, what to say. First things first, sorry I am still in SW spam mood – was pretty unavoidable, all considered. It took me 'only' two months to even begin to process and do something constructive (I hope?) with the deep-cutting hurt TROS inflicted. This is likely a messier product for it; and I could spend yet more words talking about the 1983384756 things in this film that, to me, didn't make sense/fell completely flat and devoid of emotion/were a disservice to so many characters and established narrative threads in the saga as a whole (all made worse by the still ongoing wave of vitriol unleashed on various platforms online)...but I'm not going to do that. I'm genuinely glad there seems to be a part of the fandom that has enjoyed the film; and there were salvageable and even genuinely moving moments in it, so it would be in bad faith to pretend like it's a complete miss (wouldn't be here making videos about it if it were).

One such moving section was everything surrounding Ben's redemption, in spite of how unfairly it ended (and how hurtful it still is to think about how harmful a message said end passes on). Adam obviously gave it his all, and it was amazing to almost see a completely different person coming alive in the ten minutes total or so (a bloody crime!) he had to finally, finally be just Ben, free and confident and focused and beautifully himself. Ben Solo has come to mean an awful lot to me on a very deep, personal level; glimpsing the boy behind the mask and rooting for him all these years has been kind of like rooting for myself in what has been the most difficult, still-ongoing time of my life. That is probably why, if there's anything I want to take away from the wobbly mess that the ST turned into as a whole, it is how inspiring a character Ben has been and will continue being for all people who are struggling with their self-worth, feelings of self-hatred and overcoming trauma of any kind.

That journey of finding himself and freeing himself of self-imposed chains is what I tried to focus on with this video, with help from the 'lion' imagery in the song – which you'll find kinda shifting in its meaning as the video progresses. At the beginning, the 'lion' is Palpatine/Snoke, the predator hunting child Ben, and Ben himself ends up turning into a 'lion' in the most feral sense by becoming Kylo Ren. On the contrary, when Ben finally frees himself of the mask, he becomes a 'lion' in the positive sense again – brave, noble, selfless. And he is finally able to finish what his grandfather started in a way 💔
This is also meant as a sort of 'part 2' to my 'When you break' video from post-TFA days (youtu.be/bOBVXwBLj-Y ); so you'll find the same fancast for younger Ben (sorry Finn Wolfhard fans, won't be swayed on this) and some manips here and there to show Ben's relationship with his family. I think Ben's lonely childhood is even more relevant, if possible, now that we have the RoKR comics; antis willfully discarding it are simply, knowingly rejecting a huge part of the character that doesn't fit their narrative, and I just always wish we had official film material to work with too :(

→ Colouring: SunnyVids, autumnfantasy (mostly)
→ Song: youtu.be/QgFHL2R8m6s
→ Clips:
Star Wars (sequel trilogy)
Star Wars: Tragedy of the Chosen One [fan film by Ian-Luke Production]: youtu.be/FRbbvsxXaBs
The Rise of Kylo Ren [comic series]
The Chronicles of Narnia (Skandar Keynes as younger Ben)

I do not own anything except my editing; no copyright infringement intended.
#fanvidfeed #bensolo #starwars #tros #kyloren