For a man wanting to let the past die, Kylo Ren sure is obsessed with it.
The troubled grandson of Darth Vader was conflicted, having both a reverence for his grandfather as well as a desire to disengage from his past entirely. It’s in that turbulent period that Charles Soule’s Legacy of Vader comic series is set, following Kylo’s story as the Supreme Leader of the First Order, in-between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. And in this series, Kylo is determined to find out more about Vader – Anakin Skywalker.
That journey took him to Mustafar, as issue #1 showed, where Kylo met Vaneé – Vader’s former personal attendant. Vaneé promised to teach Kylo about Vader, and took him to Tatooine to show him around. That’s the focus of issue #2, as Vaneé fills him in on Anakin’s story. having learned it himself from the extensive records kept by Emperor Palpatine. They visited the site of the Mos Espa Podrace, where Ben learned that Anakin was the only human to ever win it. They visited Watto’s shop, as Ben learned that Anakin had been a slave (Ben presumed Vader had returned to kill Watto, but Vaneé said that he never did). And then Ben went to visit Gardulla the Hutt, who had sold Anakin to Watto, determined to erase this history. Ben fought his way into Gardulla’s palace but inside was thwarted by a tiny mysterious Force user, and imprisoned.
That’s the issue, which was a good read even though it mostly traveled through things we already knew. It gave us a chance to see Ben learning it, which was interesting, and it set up a very interesting plot that the next issue will pick up on. There were several significant takeaways from this one that are worth mentioning, however, regarding Ben’s family.
Ben Solo didn’t know much about his family history
First, this issue further highlights how much of Ben’s family history he didn’t know. It might be surprising how much Ben Solo doesn’t know about Anakin, except for the fact that the canon material has established that his family kept the truth of Vader’s identity hidden from the galaxy. It was known only to a select few – Leia, Luke, and Han (maybe Chewbacca, though Leia wasn’t sure if Han told him or not). Others, like Mon Mothma, seemed to suspect it, but never brought it up. But the news was revealed to the galaxy at large six years prior to The Force Awakens, ruining Leia’s political career by miring it in scandal. Notably, she had not told Ben before this happened. Given the fact that this happened around the same time that Ben turned to the dark side, it makes perfect sense that there would be a lot he didn’t know about Anakin Skywalker.
Luke Skywalker’s heroics at Crait quickly spread across the galaxy
Second, this issue highlights how quickly word of Luke Skywalker’s heroics at Crait have already begun to spread in the galaxy. The ending scene of The Last Jedi showed the kids on Cantonica having heard about this as a way of telling us that this act inspired the galaxy, but that’s something that The Rise of Skywalker dropped the ball on entirely (there’s not a hint of Luke’s actions doing much of anything). So for the stories in-between the films to tell that is important. In this issue, as Kylo and Vaneé talk about Anakin Skywalker, some gang members approach, saying they’ve heard that “Skywalker” name a lot recently. “Word is Luke Skywalker took out an entire First Order fleet by himself”, they say. Of course, Kylo doesn’t take too kindly to that and winds up killing them. But the point here is that word has spread quickly, even to places like Tatooine in the Outer Rim. I’m hopeful that future Star Wars stories will continue to tell us just how influential his actions were at stirring sympathy for the Resistance and creating the belief that the First Order could be defeated. His heroism cannot be overstated.
Ben Solo’s childhood was actually quite happy and wonderful
Finally, and most significantly, the issue showed us that Ben had a good childhood. The highlight of this issue was a beautifully-drawn two page spread of glimpses of Ben’s childhood with his family. Vaneé mentions that Anakin’s childhood was a crucible from the earliest age, and then guessed that Ben Solo too walked a path of pain from his earliest days. Ben says, “of course I did”, but this two-page spread betrays his words. It shows us that he actually had a quite wonderful childhood with a family who loved him, and that he didn’t walk the same path as his grandfather. We see Han and Leia, smiling, as a toddler Ben plays with a butterfly-like creature. We see Lando reading Ben a story as his father (dressed like his son) sits happily nearby. We see Ben trying to lift a rock with the Force while Luke looks on approvingly. We see Chewie carrying Ben around on his back, with the young Solo having a wonderful time. We see Ben playing with R2-D2 and C-3PO, as he uses paint to color them. We see Ben sitting in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon with Han, where father looks to be teaching his son to fly. And we see a joyous meal with the whole family together: Ben, Han, Leia, Chewie, Luke, Lando, and the droids. One happy family.
One thing that I imagine this series is going to (begin) making Ben realize is that, for as much as he wants to be like Vader, his upbringing was nothing like his. So while Ben continues to rebel against his family history and want to blame them for everything, the more he understands Anakin’s story the more he should realize that his own isn’t that bad.
This montage was without question the highlight of the issue, and it’s something I desperately hope Star Wars shows us more of. Give us more of the heroes together! Give us more of the heroes happy! Give us more of Ben Solo’s earlier days! Give us more of this!
Star Wars Thoughts 