alright kiddos. gather round once again. it’s time for story time with father zam.first off, let me thank you for asking this question. i’ve been meaning to make a follow up post to my alignment meta ( which i can’t find at the moment because my tags are not cooperating with me on my blog! ) about how i see kylo. my characterization is slightly different from the many portrayals by one varying factor: his redemption. as you know, i see him a soulless thing so tainted he cannot escape the void he has been destined to accept. he is irredeemable, the light so desperately trying to cling to him crushed under foot. and i am so, so glad you decided to ask the holy grail of all questions: why.the dark side is a corruption, a sickness, and while kylo is currently fighting between the two sides, once the dark side has a grip on you ( emotional, of course. fear of loss, fear of death. hunger for power, desperation for validation. strong emotions, etc. ) it doesn’t just fill you with a sense of power. it eats your body and soul. it consumed you from the inside out. the only reason kylo isn’t as far gone as, let’s say anakin in rots, is because there is still some iota of light warring within him. it is barely alive as it is, barely surviving the onslaught of darkness. and why? what has kept the light going all these years of manipulation, training, consummation?snoke had believed it to be his father. i second this notion, believing that, with han’s death, kylo was officially freed from the light that had kept him connected for so long. he severed the bond that called home to him and, finally, cut the chains of his captivity free; an animal at last allowed to return to the wild, feral with claws and teeth sharp, ready for the kill. it gave the darkness a better hold, a better structure for its seeds to spread, grow, blossom. the idea that he can kill one so dear, that he can disassociate himself enough from the man who had given him life, speaks volumes of what he is capable of doing           a fact that is not ignored by kylo himself. it speaks of the power he has been granted over himself, how the darkness had allowed him this strength. of course, han played a role in it ( ‘’ will you help me? ‘’ ) and, with my other meta about that particular scene, kylo did mean it. he was open and honest but not speaking of the light. he wants to be consumed by the choking blackness, wants to feel blood stain his lips and screams to echo in his ears. he believes it to be necessary, believes it to be his calling for divinity. he will show the non-believers, the traitors, murderers, thieves, the true path, the one that will lead them to a so-called salvation. he is tainted, corrupt, mind manipulated where no ounce of logic can penetrate it. blame this on snoke’s mind games in his youth, always in the shadows pulling the strings. he believes so fiercely in the dark, wants to push himself and be accepted into the abyss, that he will eventually be consumed by it, will be eaten from the inside out. but first, he must suffer. he must be torn apart and sewn back together as kylo ren, the ashes of ben solo forgotten as he rises to a height all his own.because of his resolve, he won’t go to the light willingly. and, after all that was said and done in the movie, i see that he only harbours passionate emotions. he is volatile, passionate, controlling and obsessive. there is little time for the fragility of his mental state, the weakness of his destroyed body. he is bent upon training, bent upon strength and revitalization. this ignorance only allows the dark to get a better grip, to fester inside him until his rage becomes his lifeblood, the dark fueling him, encouraging him. snoke does the same. i hope, for the sake of his character development, that he learns some restraint. it will do wonders for his character in my eyes. am i saying i want him to become somewhat docile? no. i’m saying he’s smart, intelligent enough to know when the time is right for the explosion of his core. i really, really do hope ( as in on my knees praying to whatever god there is ) that he is given more growth as a student still learning to wield what is granted him. but my wants are for another time.all in all, the death of his father played a major role into his descent, as well as his defeat at the hands of rey, the latter taking time away from the light and refocusing it onto harnessing the darkness. and then there’s the validation he receives from snoke. don’t tell me this boy doesn’t thrive off of it, doesn’t beseech it and seek it out adamantly. he is a creature who preys upon praise. he will do anything to have the supreme leader look to him in reverant awe, will do anything to appease the prophet of truth he has devoted himself to. for he is right, he is salvation, he is the one that has saved him from the light. there is a bond there, one i think one-sided on kylo’s part ( as i firmly believe snoke is using him for his own gain ) as he pledges himself deeper and deeper into the flames and expects the ashes of his skin to reflect not the monster he has become but the child he once was. he is being cleansed in his eyes, freed ( as mentioned above. ) this intense devotion and search for validation only gives the blackness another foothold, a deeper clutch. he is drowning in himself with each passing day and doesn’t see it, just as he doesn’t see he’s being used. he believes himself the better, the great                a king to not be deceived. again, plays into my chaotic evil meta. the only reason i believe kylo hasn’t overthrown snoke yet is just that          he doesn’t know he’s being played. he believes so firmly, his conviction absolute ( a mirror of poe, his once-brother ) that it only hastens the dark, speeds up the process; a catalyst in the evolution of evil. ( besides, i had some meta on kylo’s force sensitivity and his subsequent powers. they are intensely, insanely powerful. we know little about snoke, who or what he is, but i strongly believe he is a false leader, one who could be easily destroyed given the chance. either by kylo himself, or kylo and hux. but that’s an explanation for a later time )kylo ren has and will continue to snuff out the light inside his chest, the last remnants of ben solo destroyed with each moment he spends training, meditating, obsessing. he will throw away the child locked in the cage as it whithers inside his own body, denied the supplication needed. he is so consumed by the ideology, the meaning to be saved and free, that in the end he is condemning himself ( or rather, he is being reborn ) to a life in the suffocating, clustering darkness. he will open lips wide in hunger and allow himself to choke on the blood offered by the hand of his god, will bend knee easily as long as he is given the sustenance ( and oh, how little does he require ) his heart, his fragile entity, demands. he will follow the path of the dark to the letter and will feel no remorse for the enemies he slaughters, for the daughters and sons he condemns to lifelessness, and for the worlds he will shatter. he is a monster and monsters do not cry. he has rid himself, at last, of the blinding light and can now, finally, complete his transformation, consummation, into the dark.