Star Wars Finally Confirms An 11-Year-Old Kylo Ren Fan Theory Is True
Leading up to the premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, there was much speculation about how the new generation of characters being introduced would connect to the returning veterans from the original trilogy. Rey’s mysterious parentage was the subject of many rumors, and there were also plenty of theories about Kylo Ren. Those who suspected he was a descendant of the Skywalker bloodline were proven right in The Force Awakens, which reveals he is the son of Han Solo and Princess Leia who had already fallen to the dark side. Much like his grandfather before him, Kylo Ren abandoned his birth name when he became Snoke’s apprentice. At the start of his emotional confrontation with his father towards the film’s climax, Kylo’s birth name is revealed.
When Han calls out to his son, he yells “Ben!” in a desperate attempt to reach him. From that moment over a decade ago, there’s been no shortage of speculation concerning how Han and Leia decided on that name for their child. One of the more common fan theories that’s popped up is that Ben Solo was named after Obi-Wan Kenobi, who famously used the name Ben Kenobi while in exile on Tatooine. It took a long time, but Lucasfilm has finally addressed this detail head on in the new novel Star Wars: Legacy.
Star Wars: Legacy Confirms a Popular Kylo Ren Fan Theory
In Star Wars: Legacy, Rey and Leia travel to the planet Tython to embark on a mission to heal the broken kyber crystal that powers the Skywalker family lightsaber. At one point, during a moment of personal crisis, Rey throws the shattered crystal far away, believing she’s incapable of repairing it. Shortly after, as Leia is searching for Rey, she comes across the crystal and retrieves it. When she grabs the crystal, the text says “the voice of an old friend returned,” and Leia briefly senses the presence of a familiar Jedi. She promises the spirit of Ben Kenobi that she will return the crystal to Rey. In that passage, Ben is referred to “her son’s namesake.” Leia chose that name for her son because “it had belonged to a noble man.”
This is clear-cut confirmation that Ben Solo was indeed named after Obi-Wan Kenobi. It mirrors developments in the old Star Wars Legends continuity, where Han and Leia named one of their children after a different Jedi: Anakin. It makes sense that the official franchise canon would deviate slightly. Leia naming her son after her biological father would have been a strange choice on her part. After learning the truth of her heritage, Leia had an extremely difficult time coming to terms with that information, as she was forever traumatized by the horrors Darth Vader had caused. Unlike Luke, who was there with Anakin when he turned back to the light, Vader was never redeemed in Leia’s eyes. Naming her only son after him would have only brought pain. Leia had a much happier association with the name Ben.
Ben Solo being named after Obi-Wan made sense since the time The Force Awakens came out because Han and Leia were brought together because of Ben Kenobi. Obi-Wan, of course, hired Han Solo to take him and Luke to Alderaan, which turned into their misadventures on the Death Star. If not for Ben Kenobi, Han may never have met Leia, so naming their son after the old Jedi was their way of paying respect. Additionally, the TV series Obi-Wan Kenobi spent a lot of time fleshing out Leia’s personal relationship with Obi-Wan, who risked his life saving a young Leia. It’s no surprise that Leia was very fond of Obi-Wan and chose to honor him.
Of course, Ben strayed pretty far from the path of his namesake during his life, turning to the dark side and waging war against his mother’s Resistance. That said, he came around in the end, doing the brave and noble thing by helping Rey defeat Palpatine and then passing his life force on to her, sacrificing himself in the process. It’s a shame that Ben wasn’t able to live past the First Order/Resistance conflict and continue to embody his namesake’s spirit by becoming a teacher at Rey’s new Jedi Temple, but the impact he had on Rey will not be forgotten.
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