The Weird Way Kylo Ren Discovered Darth Vader Was His Grandfather
Luke Skywalker finally accepted the truth that Darth Vader was his father at Yoda’s deathbed. He revealed the truth of their heritage to Leia before he left Endor to confront Vader and the Emperor. Leia would tell Han about their lineage shortly after the Battle of Endor ended. However, for practically everyone else in the galaxy, the dark truth about the Skywalker family remained a mystery for many years after the fall of the Empire, and the creation of the New Republic. This included Leia and Han’s own son, Ben Solo.
There are only a few sources that cover the time between the fall of the Empire and the rise of the First Order, such as Last Shot (2018) by Daniel José Older, Bloodline (2016) by Claudia Gray, and more recently Skywalker: A Family at War (2021) by Kristen Baver, which discussed an important moment in young Ben Solo’s life. This pivotal event most likely hastened his slide to the Dark Side.
After the Battle of Endor, Leia became Luke’s first apprentice, but ended her training shortly after she had visions of her son dying at birth. At this time, she also decided to hide the truth about his grandfather from her son until he was old enough to understand it. She may have regretted this decision later on in her life.
Ben Skywalker's early childhood years were not easy for the young boy. His mother was a political figure, and a public face of the New Republic. Due to her many obligations, she was not able to spend a lot of time with her son. Han Solo also spent a lot of time away from his family, traveling the galaxy on various missions. Young Ben would grow up under the watchful eyes of a droid named BX-778.
A few years later he decided to follow his uncle Luke to his new Jedi Academy. Ben would faced new challenges here. Many of his fellow students avoided him, seeing him as a privileged member of the Skywalker/Solo family. He was also under enormous pressure of living up to the expectations of his own Skywalker lineage, and the famous Jedi that came before him like Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Anakin. At the age of ten, Ben began to hear the mysterious voice of Snoke in his head. Snoke promised him greatness, and ignited a spark of the Dark Side in the young man. Still, he stayed with Luke for more than a decade, traveling the galaxy with him, while hiding the growing darkness within him.
Over the years, the carefully crafted peace throughout the galaxy became more and more fragile. Two new factions, the Centrists and the Populists, threatened to divide the New Republic, not unlike the Separatists and the Republic during the Clone Wars. Leia feared that all the hard work she had done during the last decades was in peril. In order to unite the two factions, she agreed to become the prime candidate for the new position of First Senator.
Shortly before the election, a fellow senator, Ransolm Casterfo, divulged the truth that Leia had hoped to bury forever: Luke and Leia were the offsprings of Darth Vader. Suddenly, everyone questioned all that the Skywalker twins had done for the Rebel Alliance and the New Republic. Some even believed that the young senator from Alderaan had played both sides during the Galactic Civil war. After many years of service, Leia’s political career was over.
Ben Solo, along with the rest of the galaxy, learned of his grandfather's true nature. He did not hear it from his parents, or his uncle, but from the Holonet news.
“The revelation felt like a betrayal. Ben, who took after Anakin Skywalker in his powerful Force abilities and hot-headed nature, was crushed by the realization that his parents and his uncle had known the truth for decades yet had not seen fit to share it with him. He was incredulous that he had been left to discover the damning fact along with what felt like everyone else in the known galaxy. And the fact that his family had kept such a dramatic piece of information hidden seemed to justify every dark impulse and feeling of paranoia he’d entertained in his young life.”- Skywalker: A Family at War
The truth of the Skywalker lineage was the wedge that drove Ben even farther away from his family. Snoke exploited the growing rage within the young man, telling him that he could be better than both Luke and Vader. He only needed to let the past die, and fully embraced the Dark Side of the Force. Shortly thereafter, Ben burned down Luke’s Jedi academy. He left the persona of Ben Solo behind, hid his face behind a mask, and became Kylo Ren – the “Jedi Killer”.
Perhaps Ben Solo’s story would have ended differently if he had learned the truth about his grandfather from his own family and not from the news. Perhaps the First Order would not have taken hold of the galaxy with Snoke and Kylo Ren at the helm. We could only speculate.
Source: CBR