What Ben Solo's Ghost Appearing In ‘LEGO Star Wars Summer Vacation’ Could Mean For ‘Star Wars’
Image Source: LEGO Star Wars
LEGO Star Wars Summer Vacation was released to Disney+ on August 5. Similar to The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special in 2020 and LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales in 2021, Summer Vacation tells a non-canonical story focusing on our favorite characters from the sequel trilogy. While the previous specials were focused on the winter and fall seasons, respectively, this latest one revolves around, you guessed it, summer. Like Terrifying Tales, Summer Vacation has three different short stories, each focusing on unique sets of characters at various points in the Star Wars timeline while using a story with the sequel trilogy characters as the framing device. As Rey Skywalker, Finn, Poe Dameron, Rose Tico, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2 take a vacation on the Halcyon starcruiser, Finn is met by three different Force ghosts, each one telling him a different story of themselves going on their own vacations.
Each of these stories is entertaining in its own right, but the most interesting and heartfelt of them is the one told by Leia Organa. She tells Finn about when she and her family took a vacation to Endor, and the young Ben Solo took the Millennium Falcon for a joyride to impress the local kids. All the while, Leia, Han, and C-3PO reunited with Wicket and the Ewoks and helped them establish a new resort called Wicket and Wick’s. Upon learning about their son’s antics, Han and Leia help Ben safely guide the ship through the orbiting Death Star II debris and land safely on the forest moon.
Image Source: LEGO Star Wars
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After successfully piloting his father’s ship, Ben is taken by his parents to Ossus, where his uncle Luke Skywalker will teach him to be a Jedi. Ben says goodbye to his parents and Chewbacca as he prepares to begin his journey. But before he does, Han stops his son to tell him that he loves him, to which Ben replies “I know.” After finishing her story, Leia teaches Finn the moral of the special. A vacation doesn’t have to be just for relaxing. It can also be for saying goodbye to those you love before moving forward in your life. With that, Leia reminds Finn that no one is ever really gone as the spirit of her son appears beside her, content and one with the Force.
Image Source: LEGO Star Wars
LEGO Star Wars Summer Vacation is more than just an amusing LEGO special. It is also a love letter and a final goodbye to the sequel trilogy and its central cast. With clear reverence for the characters and stories of those films, Summer Vacation manages to wrap up the overarching themes and lessons of the sequel trilogy in a heartfelt bow. There is also the fact that Ben Solo is finally shown as a Force ghost, confirming that he was indeed accepted by the light in death. Though none of these LEGO specials are technically canon, I don’t think we should count out any of the things they establish. As Ben Solo was the final member of the Skywalker family, the sight of him alongside the spirits of Leia, Luke, and Anakin is satisfying and cathartic even in LEGO form.
If Ben Solo was indeed capable of returning as a Force ghost even without the training that Obi-Wan or Anakin received, this creates the possibility that becoming a Force ghost may not have been as rare or complicated as Yoda made it out to be. Although, one could also speculate that either Snoke or Luke may have taught Ben this skill prior to his death. After all, most Jedi didn’t even believe in the idea of existence after death until Yoda taught them otherwise. Yoda himself didn’t even consider the possibility until the Force itself literally showed him in The Clone Wars. The ability to continue existing as yourself after you’ve died is a power that even Darth Sidious could not fully obtain. So if a dark side user like Ben Solo has the ability to do so, he must have had some form of help in one way or another.
Even if we don’t ever see Ben Solo’s ghost in any official live-action media, I still think his appearance here is important for his character. After everything Darth Sidious put the Skywalkers through, their youngest son still managed to find his way out of the dark. To quote Luke Skywalker, “No one’s ever really gone.”
Image Source: LEGO Star Wars
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