Star Wars: Legacy of Vader #1 review: Kylo Ren struggles to just let the past die after his humiliation at the Battle of Crait

Let the past die?

Though Kylo Ren insisted on that mantra during The Last Jedi, he also discovered that it’s far harder to do it than to say it. He remained haunted by his past, by his family, by the expectations and weight of the galaxy. It could just be that the past contains some lessons that can help Kylo move forward, and that’s the story that Charles Soule is beginning to tell in the brand new comic series Legacy of Vader.

The series explores Kylo in-between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, trying to lead the First Order as its new Supreme Leader, trying to process his humiliation at the Battle of Crait and all that has transpired in the previous days, and trying to come to grips with his family’s legacy. The first issue picks up right after The Last Jedi, starting with a pretty shocking scene.

As Kylo arrives back on board the Finalizer, his command ship, he uses the Force to fling Snoke’s corpse (still cut in half) into the air, and then out of the hangar, announcing to the First Order forces that he is their new Supreme Leader. While he projects confidence in front of the stormtroopers, he’s haunted in private. Haunted by Luke, Han, Rey, Leia, Snoke – all of it. He can’t seem to let it go. Later, he discusses the current state of the First Order resources with General Hux, who informs him they’re in great shape but, if anything, need more ships. Rather than assigning Hux to that task, however, Ren orders him to build a throne for the new Supreme Leader.

In his private quarters, Kylo speaks with the mask of Darth Vader, trying to find out why, after having let the past die, he still isn’t free. But rather than coming to question whether his mantra is the right one or not, Kylo just assumes more has to die still, beginning with Vader. So he heads off to Mustafar, to Vader’s Castle. He finds the Alazmec cultists protecting the fortress (the same group cultists we see him killing at the beginning of The Rise of Skywalker), and he kills them while marching into the castle. Inside, he finds Vaneé, kept alive by a robotic body with only his head preserved, somewhat similar to the B’omarr monks seen at Jabba’s Palace.

Kylo threatens Vaneé, saying that he will die since he’s connected with Vader, and the past, and the past all needs to die. Vaneé, however, tells Kylo he is foolish: “Vader’s power was his past. Darth Vader never allowed himself to forget his past, filled with horrors though it was. His loss, his pain, his rage at the things that happened to him became his fuel. He never looked back, but he never let go either. This is why the dark side ran so strongly through him. I can tell you how he did it. I can tell you how he turned his past… into his power.” As we could have guessed, this offer is too good for Kylo to pass up. He accepts Vaneé’s offer, wanting to learn from him about this secret to Vader’s power.

In all of this the issue provides a fitting introduction to the series, and it seems that in the coming issues we’ll see Vaneé taking Kylo various places to teach him these lessons – like Tatooine, in issue 2. I’m excited to see Kylo as the Supreme Leader of the First Order (something we’ve seen very little of), but I’m also excited to see Kylo learning more about his past. There are plenty of things that he wouldn’t have learned growing up about his grandfather, and in fact Leia, Han, and Luke chose not to tell Ben about this truth at all until it was revealed to the whole galaxy when he was older. So there’s a lot for him to learn, and not all of it good. After all, Vaneé is offering Kylo lessons that will take him deeper into the dark side of the Force, deeper into the pain and brokenness of suffering as the fuel for his rage.

Yet what this issue does really well is highlight the fact that the mantra of “let the past die” isn’t exactly the best one, nor the most realistic one. I’ve found that one of the criticisms levied against The Last Jedi has centered around that line, but without understanding that the villain repeating it a few times doesn’t mean the movie agrees with it. In fact, a big part of the movie is coming to realize that it’s not the best lesson to learn. After all, Luke Skywalker thinks a similar thing to Kylo when we first meet him – that the past (the Jedi) should die. But their respective journeys throughout the film are totally different: Kylo’s attempts to kill the past leave him increasingly unstable, whereas Luke’s attempts to kill the past lead him to realize he was wrong and that there is actually value in what came before.

In the movie and in this comic that picks up right afterward, Kylo is convinced that the way forward is to forget the past. But Luke just showed everyone at the Battle of Crait that the way forward is actually in embracing the past and moving forward stronger – and better. It’s something Ben Solo will, eventually, learn. But not yet. Now? He’s got to descend further into the darkness and instability of his own making.

I’m very excited for this series, and it’s off to a really solid start. I can’t wait to see how it develops this character, and this era, in significant ways.