Star Wars: 8
Rey: Master Skywalker, who were my parents?
Luke: Oh, your parents, I knew them well. They were my students. But a young apprentice of mine, Ben Solo, started to train with them. He was powerful, inheriting great strength in the force from his mother. I expected he would succeed me as Master of the Academy someday, but like his grandfather, he was seduced by the Dark Side and betrayed his fellow students. He took up the name Kylo-Ren, and on that day your parents were destroyed by the Knights of Ren and Commander Phasma.
As to your appearance on Jaku, I'm sorry. I'm not sure how you ended up there, especially so soon after I left a clue to my planned destination on that very same planet.
Rey: Can you tell me about them?
Luke: Your father was an excellent pilot, he flew for the Rebellion even before I started teaching him the ways of the Force, and your mother was a fierce warrior, a guardian. She wanted to create a new branch of the Jedi, one dedicated to the protection of other Jedi. She found an ancient holocron speaking of the Sentinels of the Jedi order. And she was right, of course, the Sentinels would have been able to protect us from the Knights of Ren, but in my stubborn pride I did not listen to her.
Later…
Phantasma: Come on down from there, Rey. I'm not going to hurt you.
Rey: Never, you just want to kill Finn. Master Skywalker told me about you.
Phantasma: Did he? I'd wager he never told you who your parents are.
Rey: He told me enough, he told me you and the Knights of Ren killed them.
Phantasma: From a certain point of view he is correct, but no, I am your mother, Rey. And Luke is your father.
Rey: No, no, that's impossible.
Phantasma: Search your feelings, daughter, you already know it to be true. You knew the moment you met us.
Rey: But why did you leave me on Jaku?
Phantasma: I couldn't risk Snoke discovering you. Luke's Jedi order may have been hypocrites, but Snoke has turned my First Order from being the Sentinels of the Galaxy that I intended them to be and made them into an engine of destruction. That is why I helped Solo and FN2187 bring down the shields at Starkiller Base. That is why I helped Kylo-Ren get close enough to Snoke to put an end to him once and for all. But Snoke wasn't training Ren to be like his Grandfather. Snoke has transferred his essence, his being, into Ren's body.
Your cousin, Ben Solo, is dead now. Kylo-Ren is now Darth Plagueis revived.
Later still… Star Wars: 9
Rey: Master Sky… father. Why didn't you tell me? We both felt it when we met. Why did you lie to me?
Luke: I couldn't take the pain. I didn't know I had a child until you were standing before me. I've been such a failure. I couldn't teach them, I couldn't protect them, and I couldn't even sense that you were out there, calling for me to find you on Jaku all these years.
You know, from a certain point of view, I wasn't lying.
Rey: Yes, that's what mother said. But I don't buy that. You are just twisting words and meanings to hide them, that's not the way of the Jedi.
Luke (laughs): Oh, you are so much like your mother. She used to tell me that the whole 'certain point of view' thing was hypocritical of me. That I couldn't hide behind a web of misleading words and teach about truth and honesty. That I should openly embrace deception to protect those I care about. But we see where that led her, to the Dark Side.
Rey: No, father, she hasn't turned to the Dark Side. She's trying to defeat Supreme Leader Snoke from within. So was Ben Solo.
Luke: But now, he is consumed.
Rey: You are wrong father, I know there is still good within him. I have felt it within him, here is good in the Dark Side as well. And you have done bad things yourself in the name of the Light Side.
And even later….
Supreme Leader Kylo-Ren: Now, I am the most powerful Force in the galaxy, with the power I infused into Anakin all those years ago combined with the knowledge of Darth Plagueis The Wise, I am unstoppable. The petty squabbles of the Sith are beneath me now, and you, young Jedi, for daring to interrupt my reign like a nat to a gundark, shall die by the hand of your own mother.
Phantasma (lifting her blaster): I'm sorry Rey, I can't control my body. He's using me like a puppet. I love you.
Supreme Leader Kylo-Ren: I will not just rule this galaxy, I will reshape it to my desires. I will achieve what the Jedi have always desired, absolute peace, by my absolute order. No one will be able to fight or hate anyone.
Leia (wheezing heavily as she lies dying next to her brother's unconscious body): And no one will be able to love anyone either. Ben, I know you are still in there, we love you and believe in you. Rey believes in you, I believe in you, and your father believed in you. He let you kill him so you could get close to Snoke and destroy him. Help Rey now, help her and you can still be saved.
Supreme Leader Kylo-Ren/Ben Solo: NOOOOOOO! I DO NOT DESERVE TO BE SAVED! But I won't let you kill those I love!
Conclusion….
Leia: He was a good son, he tried to do what he believed was right. We were just terrible parents for him.
Luke: By giving himself to destroy Snoke from within and spare the next generation of Jedi, Ben lived up to his namesake. Like Obiwan, Ben's sacrifice has reminded us that we must live for each other to overcome the constant threats around us. We will never create absolute peace without absolute order, and absolute order would be oppression. Perhaps, we should seek not the Light Side with its ordered oppression, nor the Dark Side's power and freedom at all costs, but a middle ground. Perhaps we all need a little Grey in our lives. A path of love and responsibility, caring and hard work. I do not know where we will go from here, but together, we can find our path in the Force.
