Ben Solo, also known as Kylo Ren, is a major antagonist in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. He is the son of Han and Leia Organa Solo as well as the nephew and former student of Luke Skywalker, until he was corrupted by the dark side of the Force. Throughout the sequel films, he commands the forces of the First Order, a military juncta born from the remnants of the Galactic Empire. He is portrayed by Adam Driver.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Ben Solo was born on the planet Chandrila in the year 5 ABY, on the same day that the Galactic Civil War ended with the signing of the Galactic Concordance. As an infant, Ben possessed a strong connection to his mother through the Force. While his father Han did not share this connection, he forged a parental relationship with his son, who idolized him as he grew up. Young Ben even had a close relationship with the Wookiee Chewbacca, who became a surrogate uncle to the child.
As Ben grew up, however, his parents were unable to make time for him due to their own busy lives; Han ran a shipping company while Leia served as a senator in the New Republic government. This not only put strain on the Solo's marriage but also affected Ben's emotional development. Possessing enormous Force sensitivity, Ben would lash out in anger through the Force, causing further problems for his parents and caretakers.
In 15 ABY, Ben's uncle Luke Skywalker offered to train the boy in the ways of the Jedi. Sensing many similarities between her son and her father Anakin Skywalker, Leia hoped that Luke would be able to prevent Ben from succumbing to the dark side like his grandfather had. At this time, Ben had no idea that his grandfather was the infamous Sith lord Darth Vader, and Luke and Leia wished to avoid telling him the truth until he was older.
While Ben enjoyed his Jedi training under Luke, he often felt out of place among the other students at the temple. He also had many questions that his master would avoid answering. As the years went by, Ben also heard mysterious voices whispering to him when he was alone, fueling his paranoia and anger and further drawing him towards the dark side of the Force. This voice was the telepathic call of Snoke, the Supreme Leader of the First Order. Sensing the immense power within Ben, Snoke sought to recruit the young Force warrior as his own apprentice and had been feeding Ben's insecurities in order to turn him against Luke. His efforts were successful as, one fateful night, Luke sensed the darkness overwhelming Ben and entered his nephew's hut as he slept. At that moment, Luke drew his lightsaber and ignited it with the intention of killing his nephew, but in that same moment realised that he was about to strike down an innocent boy and hesitated. But it was too late; Ben awoke to the sight of a green lightsaber blade hanging over him and reacted, using the force to collapse the hut on both of them.
Believing his master to be dead, Ben went on to slaughter the remaining Padawans and destroy the Jedi temple. Following Snoke's telepathic instructions, he made his way to the Unknown Regions where the First Order was amassing its forces. Pledging himself to Snoke's teachings, Ben became the Supreme Leader's apprentice and was trained in the ways of the dark side. He was granted command of the Knights of Ren, a group of dark Force acolytes, and chose to abandon his birth name, taking on the identity of Kylo Ren. Under Snoke's tutelage, Kylo Ren would learn the truth about the Skywalker bloodline that his mother and uncle hid from him: he was the grandson of the Sith Lord Darth Vader. In the years to come, Ren would absolve to finish what Vader and the Empire had started and bring about a new order in the galaxy.
The Force Awakens[]
In 34 ABY, Kylo Ren would learn that his uncle was still alive and had gone into hiding following the destruction of the Jedi temple. Leading a force of stormtroopers to the planet Jakku, he killed the sage Lor San Tekka and captures the Resistance pilot Poe Dameron, believing him to have acquired the star map leading to Skywalker's location. However, Poe had left the map in the possession of his astromech BB-8 which fled into the desert.
After torturing Poe aboard his Star Destroyer, Kylo realized that Poe did not have the map. Shortly after his interrogation, Poe was rescued by defecting stormtrooper FN-2187 and the pair escaped the Finalizer aboard a TIE fighter. Ren was unconcerned as he now knew about BB-8 and sent several troops down to Jakku to find the droid.
Later, Kylo Ren returned to Starkiller Base, a planet that the First Order had converted into a colossal superweapon. There, he communicated with Supreme Leader Snoke, who informed his apprentice that he has foreseen Ren's quarry joining forces with Han Solo, Ren's father. He questioned Kylo's ability to manage his emotions regarding his father, but Kylo assured his master that Han Solo meant nothing to him.
After the Starkiller weapon had been fired and the Hosnian system had been obliterated, Kylo Ren led a force to the planet Takodana where the Millennium Falcon had flown to since leaving Jakku. The First Order bombarded Maz Kanata's castle and landed troops to find the fugitives and BB-8, who still carried the map leading to Skywalker's hideaway. During the attack, the Resistance arrived and drove off the First Order, but Ren succeeded in capturing Rey, a scavenger from Jakku who had joined forces with Han, Chewbacca and Finn.
Kylo brought Rey back to Starkiller Base where he interrogated her, and was stunned to discover just how strong she was in the Force. During questioning, Rey inadvertently probed Kylo's mind and told him that he would never measure up to Darth Vader. Kylo then left Rey to consult with Snoke, informing the Supreme Leader that the girl possessed incredible raw power despite having no training. Snoke demanded that Rey be brought to him, but while master and apprentice were speaking, Rey used a Force mind trick to manipulate a stormtrooper into freeing her. When Ren returned to the interrogation chamber to find Rey was gone, he flew into a violent rage, igniting his lightsaber and destroying everything in the room.
Soon, Ren's troops discovered the Millennium Falcon had landed on Starkiller Base. Discerning where his father might have gone to, Kylo made his way to the thermal oscillator facility. As he crossed a narrow walkway overlooking an expansive shaft, Kylo heard his father's voice calling out his birth name. Turning, he saw his father standing before him. Han told Ren to take off his mask, wanting to see the face of Ben Solo. Kylo removed his mask, but stated that Ben Solo was weak, like his father before him. Refusing to give up on his son, Han pleaded for Ben to leave the First Order behind and come home with him. Ben wept, conflicted over what he should do and asked his father for help. Han stepped closer to his son, but after several tense seconds, Kylo ignited his lightsaber and impaled Han through the chest, saying "Thank you" before his father fell over the catwalk and into the shaft.
Rey, Finn and Chewbacca were watching Han and Ren from a walkway further up. Upon witnessing Han's death, Chewbacca roared in outrage and fired a shot from his bowcaster at Ren, injuring him. The Wookiee and his friends began blasting nearby stormtroopers before setting off the explosive charges they had planted to disable the shielding protecting the thermal oscillator, allowing the Resistance fighters to proceed with their assault. As the heroes then withdrew into the nearby forests, Ren went after them.
While Chewbacca went on ahead to the Millennium Falcon, Rey and Finn were stopped by Ren. Using the Force, Ren slammed Rey against a tree and knocked her out, leaving Finn to fight the dark knight alone. Finn took the Skywalker lightsaber that he had been holding for safekeeping and ignited it, using it to duel with Ren. However, Finn had no experience using a lightsaber and so the duel was brief, with Ren easily overpowering him. The ex-stormtrooper fell to the ground, dropping the blue-bladed lightsaber which Ren attempted to summon to his hand. However, the weapon flew past Ren and into the hand of Rey, who had regained consciousness.
Igniting the Skywalker blade, Rey fought against Ren. As their blades locked, Ren told the scavenger that he could train her how to effectively wield the Force. Rey ignored him and continued to fight, eventually managing to overpower Ren after cutting a scar across his face. Ren recomposed himself before attacking again, but before the fight could continue, a rift formed in the ground between the two combatants as the planet began to break apart. With its thermal oscillator destroyed, Starkiller Base was beginning to implode. As the chasm between Ren and Rey widened, the Millennium Falcon appeared in the air and swooped down in order to pick up Rey. Rey grabbed the wounded Finn and boarded the ship which then made its getaway. With the planet self-destructing beneath his feet, Ren had no choice but to make his own retreat. He was picked up by a First Order shuttle and escaped before Starkiller Base collapsed into a proto-star.
The Last Jedi[]
Following the loss of Starkiller Base, the First Order deployed its forces against the Resistance base on D'Qar. As they closed in on the base, however, they found the Resistance fleet escaping the planet, leaving behind a squadron of bombers to delay them. Though the bombers were destroyed, they took down a siege dreadnought with them.
Kylo Ren met with Supreme Leader Snoke aboard the First Order's flagship Supremacy. Snoke reprimanded Ren for his failure at Starkiller Base and for his sentimentality, which he had sensed prior to Kylo's murder of Han Solo. The dark warrior remained conflicted between the light and dark sides of the Force and Snoke mocked him for this, stating that he paled in comparison to Vader, whom he was attempting to emulate. When he left Snoke's chamber, Ren flew into a rage and shattered his helmet.
Kylo Ren's TIE Silencer
As the First Order fleet pursued the Resistance, Ren boarded his TIE Silencer and led a fighter squadron in an attack run against the Raddus, the Resistance flagship. Though two of his wingmen were picked off, Ren managed to launch a barrage of missiles into the Raddus' hangar, preventing their fighters from counter-attacking. He then set his sights on the capital ship's command deck, sensing through the Force that his mother, Leia Organa, was aboard. This caused Ren to hesitate, but his remaining wingman then zoomed in and fired several rockets at the Raddus' bridge, breaching the hull and causing the vessel's command staff, including Leia, to be blown out into open space. While the other Resistance leaders died immediately, Leia would survive by calling on the Force and swimming through the void back aboard her ship. Ren, however, did not sense this and concluded that his mother was dead.
After returning to the Supremacy, Ren unintentionally made telepathic contact with Rey. Ren did not know it yet, but he and Rey shared a special connection with one another, making them a dyad within the Force. A vision of Rey appeared before Ren in the Supremacy's main hangar, while at the same time an image of Ren appeared in front of Rey on Ahch-To. Rey reacted to Ren's sudden appearance by drawing a blaster and shooting him, only to realise that he wasn't actually there. While the two Force-sensitives could communicate with one another and see each other, they could not view the other's surroundings, though Ren correctly discerned that Rey had found Luke Skywalker and was now training under him.
Over time, Ren and Rey would continue communicating, each one trying to understand the other and pressuring one another with questions. Rey came to believe that Ren would eventually turn away from the dark side of the Force, but Ren believed that he could turn the Jedi initiate to darkness and that she would join his cause. After their last contact, Rey realised that the Resistance was in danger and decided to leave Ahch-To to confront Ren, hoping she could save him from the dark side and save her friends.
Later, Rey arrived in the vicinity of the First Order fleet and was brought aboard the Supremacy. Kylo Ren met with her and then took her to the throne room to face Supreme Leader Snoke. Snoke, who proclaimed that his faith in Ren had been restored, began appraising Rey, who remained defiant in spite of her inability to resist the dark master's Force powers. Using his telepathy, Snoke probed Rey's mind and discovered where Skywalker was hiding, promising to end him once he was done with the Resistance fleet, which by then had been reduced to a handful of ships. Gloating over his imminent triumph, Snoke demanded that Ren kill Rey. Ren grasped his lightsaber, but his attention was focused on the Skywalker lightsaber that Snoke had taken from Rey, which now lay on the armrest of the Supreme Leader's throne. Through the Force, Ren rotated the lightsaber beside Snoke so that the emitter was pointed at his master's midsection, then activated it. The blade ignited through Snoke's back, then was telekinetically pulled forward, carving through Snoke's midriff and bisecting him.
Rey seized her lightsaber and stood beside Ren as Snoke's bodyguards attacked them, seeking to avenge their fallen master. Both Jedi Padawan and Knight of Ren fought together to defeat the Praetorian Guards and soon dispatched all ten of the elite warriors. Thinking that she had managed to appeal to Kylo's good side, Rey asked him to help her save what was left of the Resistance fleet. Sadly, Kylo had not been turned and countered Rey's plea with an offer to rule the galaxy beside him, letting the Resistance, the Jedi and even the Sith fade from galactic memory. He even told Rey that he knew what had happened to Rey's parents, that they were "nobodies" who had sold their daughter for drinking money, but insisted that Rey was important to him and that he wanted her by his side. Rey rejected Ren's offer and summoned her lightsaber, but Ren tried to draw it to him as well. As both pulled with the Force to seize the weapon, they ended up ripping it apart, shattering the kyber crystal within. At the same time this happened, the Raddus had come about and jumped to hyperspace, ramming the Supremacy and shearing it in half.
Ren was knocked unconscious by the blast of Force energy and Rey made her escape. When Ren regained consciousness, General Hux had entered the throne room to find Snoke and his bodyguards dead. Ren lied to the general and told him that Rey was responsible for Snoke's death, then ordered him to rally his troops to invade Crait where the surviving Resistance ships had fled to. Hux loathed the idea of taking orders from Ren, reminding him that with Snoke dead, command of the First Order's military fell to its commanding general. Ren responded by Force-choking Hux and declared himself as the new Supreme Leader, to which Hux nodded. Ren then released Hux and sent him to prepare for the assault on Crait.
Ren would personally join Hux and his troops as they carried out their assault on the Resistance base on Crait. The First Order's line of AT-M6 walkers made short work of the half-dismantled speeders that the rebels had to spare and were close to breaching the main gates of the base with a siege cannon. However, things took an unexpected turn when Luke Skywalker himself appeared on the battlefield, standing between the First Order and the Resistance base. At the sight of his uncle, Kylo ordered all walkers to fire on Luke. The walkers let loose a barrage of laser fire upon Luke which held up for several seconds, pulverizing the area around him and turning the ground to glass. General Hux gave the cease-fire order, but when the dust cleared, Luke still stood on that same spot, completely unscathed.
Kylo decided to step outside and face his old master down, mockingly asking Luke if he had come to save him. Luke said that he knew Kylo was already beyond redemption, and at that Kylo ignited his lightsaber. Luke revealed his lightsaber too, but it appeared to be the same blue-bladed weapon that Rey had taken with her when she left Ahch-To, which had been destroyed when she confronted Kylo aboard his Mega Star Destroyer. Kylo attacked, but each time he did, Luke would simply evade each saber swing without making any sort of counter-attack. After evading Kylo for a time, Luke stopped and apologized to Kylo, stating that he had failed him. He also informed his former student that victory was not so certain as he believed; that the war was only beginning, and that the Jedi would continue. He then deactivated his lightsaber and offered to let Kylo strike him down, but warned him that doing so in anger would only cause him pain, just as killing Han had, and stated that in death, he would always be with his nephew. Kylo ignored all of these warnings and promptly charged Luke, running him through.
To Kylo's astonishment, and everyone watching the duel, Kylo's attack seemed to have no effect on Luke. As it turned out, Luke wasn't actually there at all; he was still on Ahch-To and was using the Force to project a manifestation of himself across space. While keeping Kylo distracted with his Force projection, Luke was giving the Resistance time to escape and reconvene. Luke made his final farewell to Kylo before his projection disappeared. The First Order then proceeded to overrun the base, but by the time they entered, the Resistance personnel had already escaped into a network of tunnels, sealing the way in so that Ren and his forces could not follow. The Resistance would endure for a while longer, and so the war would go on.
The Rise of Skywalker[]
Under Kylo Ren's leadership, the First Order's campaign of conquest would advance through the galaxy as world after world was subjugated. Though the Resistance continued to fight back, they remained undermanned and under-equipped and their efforts did little to slow the First Order's advance.
One year after the Battle of Crait, a mysterious transmission was broadcast galaxy-wide. The message seemed to be from the late Sheev Palpatine, the former Galactic Emperor, believed to have perished during the Battle of Endor thirty years previously. The transmission was a message of revenge from the former Emperor, demanding that all worlds surrender to him or be destroyed. Determined to verify the legitimacy of the message but unable to pinpoint its source, Kylo Ren began searching several of Snoke's old bases, looking for any Sith artifacts that might provide some clue as to the truth behind Palpatine's return. Eventually, his search brought him to the ruins of Darth Vader's fortress on Mustafar where he discovered one of two ancient Sith wayfinders. This device ultimately led Ren to Palpatine's hiding place: the ancient Sith Citadel on the planet Exegol, deep in the Unknown Regions.
Upon arriving at the Sith Citadel, Ren discovered that Palpatine and the Sith Eternal cult had been using forbidden cloning technology. Not only had Palpatine's acolytes used this to create a new body for the Sith Lord's spirit to inhabit, but had also used it to produce several failed duplicates of Snoke. As Darth Sidious would reveal, he had created Snoke and used him as a proxy to command the First Order. He had also been the one manipulating Ren since his youth, taking on the voices of Darth Vader and Snoke to telepathically draw Ben Solo towards the dark side.
When Kylo came face to face with the decrepit Sidious, he readied himself to kill the former Emperor. However, Palpatine revealed that he had intended for Ren to become his heir and rule the galaxy at the head of a new Sith Empire. The First Order was only the beginning of this master plan, and now the Emperor had built a new army and starfleet known as the Final Order to carry out his ultimate domination of the galaxy. These resources would be Ren's to command, but first, there was one last obstacle standing between him and absolute rule of the galaxy: Rey, the would-be Jedi, had to die.
Ren would later return to his flagship, the Star Destroyer Steadfast, and retrieve the fragments of his shattered helmet. He took the fragments to a Symeong metalsmith who reforged the helmet with Sarassian iron. The mask looked much how it had before, but with notable crimson lines where the pieces had been reattached. Kylo then sent out a call to the Knights of Ren as he would require their hunting prowess in order to find Rey. Despite Palpatine's wishes, Ren had no intention of killing Rey. He saw the potential she had and knew it would make him stronger, as it had done when he had struck down Snoke. With Rey at his side, Ren believed that his power and authority could never be challenged.
Using his Force-bond with Rey, Ren initiated contact with her and informed her that Palpatine wanted her dead, but stated that he had other plans for her and that next time, she would take his hand and join him. During this contact, Ren touched the necklace that Rey wore and pulled it off of her. This broke the communication, but Ren was astonished to find that he still held the necklace in his hand. Through the Force, Ren had transcended space and time, taking a physical object on Rey's person and snatching it away despite the vast physical distance between them. After having one of his officers identify where the necklace came from, the Supreme Leader then ordered the Steadfast crew to set a course for Pasaana where he and the Knights of Ren would begin their hunt.
While Rey and her companions were in the Forbidden Valley, the Millennium Falcon was found by a group of First Order stormtroopers and the Knights of Ren. A desert trooper reported their findings to the Supreme Leader, who ordered them to confiscate and scan the ship before ultimately destroying it. Complying with Ren's orders, the desert troopers forced their way into the Falcon and transported it to the Steadfast. Meanwhile, Rey sensed Ren's presence in the Force. Realizing that he was drawing closer to her location, she left her friends to confront the dark warrior on her own, determined to prevent them from being harmed. All of her attention was drawn to a black mote on the horizon, and she knew it was Ren's TIE fighter. Ren likewise sensed Rey before he even saw her. Glowing with determination and ferocity, she was a bright presence in his mind. As he piloted his TIE Whisper on the flat desert surface, Ren felt his conflict intensifying. The thought of facing her reminded him of the choice he made to kill Han Solo. The realization that Rey was the source of his inner light, and therefore, the cause of his agony dawned on Ren. Despite Han's death, Ren had failed to destroy the light within himself because Rey was still alive. Though he wanted her to join him in the dark side, Ren began to consider the option of killing her if he failed to turn Rey away from the light, now believing the Emperor may have been right all along.
As Ren's TIE Whisper streaked across the desert sands towards her, Rey leapt into the air and flipped backward, whipping her lightsaber down at the support pylon. Below her, Ren craned his neck to track her flight, but it was too late. The TIE wobbled as Ren grew frustrated while attempting to compensate at the controls. The support pylon buckled, the left wing clipped the ground, and soon the vessel was out of control. The TIE tumbled across the desert landscape, ripping the wings off their struts while the remaining ball holding Ren rolled at great speed, leaving a furrow in the sand.
Ren survived the crash and emerged from the wreckage of his fighter. As he did, he saw Rey before him, her arm stretched upward as she attempted to use the Force to stop a First Order transport from taking off. Ren used the Force to try and break Rey's grip on the craft, but as Rey struggled to maintain her grasp, a bolt of Force lightning suddenly lanced out from her hand and struck the transport's engines, destroying it. Ren watched from a distance as a derelict freighter took off, leaving Pasaana with Rey and her companions aboard it. Though she had prevented Ren from seizing the transport, he felt triumphant nonetheless. In pushing Rey to the limits of her patience, Ren had witnessed her true potential in the dark side. He sensed that she was almost ready to turn, leaving him hopeful that together they would extinguish the light within themselves, becoming free to fully embrace the darkness. It also renewed his desire to seize the Sith Eternal fleet and Palpatine's throne with Rey at his side. In spite of her defiance, Rey was hiding a secret—a vision of herself sitting on a Sith throne alongside Ren.
Later, Rey and her friends would board the Steadfast in order to rescue Chewbacca, who had been taken prisoner aboard a different transport than the one Rey had accidentally destroyed. While aboard the Star Destroyer, Rey discovered Kylo Ren's quarters and saw the burnt, warped helmet of Darth Vader on a pedestal. At this point, Ren contacted her again through the Force while he was on the surface of Kijimi. It was then that he revealed that he had learned the truth about Rey's parents, that her father was a Strandcast clone of Palpatine and that he had left Rey on Jakku to hide her from the phantom Emperor. Ren also stated that he and Rey are a dyad in the Force with extremely powerful potential when joined together, two that are actually one in the Force. He urged her once more to take his hand and to join him to defeat the Emperor and take his throne together, but Rey refused.
Rey managed to escape from the Steadfast and would travel to Kef Bir, the oceanic moon of Endor. There, she ventured to the wreckage of the second Death Star in order to find the elusive Sith wayfinder. Kylo followed in a TIE fighter and caught up to Rey inside the Emperor's old throne room, seeing that she had recovered the wayfinder. Not willing to let Rey confront Palpatine without him, Ren used the Force to seize the wayfinder and destroy it, thus making it impossible for her to find Exegol without him. Enraged, Rey attacked Ren, the pair clashing lightsabers once again. Their battle moved outside of the throne room and into open air, the ocean waves crashing against the gantry they fought upon. The conflict was fierce and, in a moment of fury, Rey impaled Ren through the chest. She immediately realised what she had done and came to her senses, cradling Ren as he slumped to the deck.
As Kylo struggled to draw breath, he felt another presence reach out to him through the Force. Back at the Resistance base, General Leia lay on her death bed, reaching out to her son one last time. Rey felt Leia's effort too and realised that she was dying, but it also spurred her into unlocking a power she didn't know she had. Placing her hand over Ren's wound, she poured her own living Force energy into his body, rapidly regenerating the wound and saving Ren's life. She then took Ren's TIE and took off, leaving Ren alone on the Death Star wreckage. What Rey did not yet realise was that thanks to both Leia's sacrifice and her saving Ren's life, she had rekindled the light within Ren and reawakened Ben Solo.
Ben stood alone, looking over the crashing waves, when he suddenly heard a familiar voice behind him. He turned to see a vision of his father Han, appearing as he had just before his death on Starkiller Base. Han smiled serenely at his son, asking once again for Ben to come home. He tried to reassert that Ben Solo was dead, but Han stated that it was Kylo Ren that had died, that his son was alive. Ben felt that it was far too late for him to repent now that his mother was gone, but Han assured him that wasn't the case, gently touching his son's face as Ben sorrowfully wept. Realizing what he had to do, Ben grabbed the lightsaber from his belt and cast it into the sea. He looked back to where the apparition of his father had stood, but Han Solo was nowhere to be seen.
While Rey had taken his TIE fighter, Ben was able to leave Kef Bir after salvaging an old Imperial TIE fighter from the Death Star's wreckage. It took some time, but he was able to travel to Exegol just as the Resistance fleet arrived in a last-ditch attempt to stop the Final Order fleet from taking off. Entering the Sith Citadel, he found that Rey was already face-to-face with Palpatine, who had announced his plan to have Rey sit upon the Throne of the Sith so that his spirit could take possession of her body. The Sith Lord also revealed that he had wanted Rey to lure the Resistance fleet to Exegol so that he could wipe them out, thus causing Rey to be consumed with hatred, at which point she would be ripe for Palpatine's spirit. But Rey refused to surrender to hatred and agree to do what Sidious wished to save all of her friends. However, Ben arrived to help her, which inspired Rey to defy Sidious. Sensing Ben nearby, Rey used their shared connection to give Luke's lightsaber to Ben. With his uncle's blade, Ben fought and defeated the Knights of Ren while Rey defeated the Emperor's guards with Leia's lightsaber. As the two fought inside the Citadel, the Resistance was backed up by a massive armada of ships that had come from all across the galaxy to put a stop to Palpatine's evil plan.
Unfortunately, Sidious anticipated this move as he sensed Rey and Ben's connection as a dyad of the Force, and absorbed the dyad to restore his decaying body. With his body rejuvenated and his powers at full strength, the Emperor threw Ben into a bottomless pit out of complete spite against the Skywalker family for causing his previous death. Believing that Ben was seemingly disposed of, the Emperor cackled maniacally as he conjured a Force lightning storm to disable the Resistance armada. However, Rey was able to call upon the spirits of all the Jedi that had come before her and mustered all of their power to oppose Palpatine. Though the Emperor claimed to be all of the Sith, his dark power could not snuff out the light of all the Jedi. Using both Luke's and Leia's lightsabers, Rey blocked Palpatine's barrage of lightning and reflected it back at him, destroying the Dark Lord of the Sith once and for all. Upon his death, Palpatine's body exploded with a blast of Force energy that destroyed all of the Sith Eternal cultists inside the Citadel, but also appeared to kill Rey as well.
Ben had not fallen to his death as Palpatine had thought, managing to climb out of the pit. Inside the main chamber, he saw Rey lying still and lifeless, having sacrificed herself to destroy Palpatine. Ben wept over Rey's body, devastated by her loss when it was her compassion that had saved him from the darkness. He had killed his father, his uncle and mother had given their lives to save him, and now the one person in the galaxy he shared the strongest connection to was gone. In the midst of his despair, however, Ben sensed the faintest flicker of life within Rey and realised that she could still be saved. As she had once done for him, Ben poured his own living Force energy into Rey, reviving her. When Rey awoke, she and Ben shared a passionate kiss before Ben lost consciousness. Having given up all of his life force to save Rey, he died in her arms, finally redeemed and at peace. Upon his death, Ben's body vanished into thin air as he became one with the Force.