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The #BenSoloChallenge Has Taken Over as It Should

By Jan 7th, 2020, 11:06 am

Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Ben Solo is maybe the only thing I care about in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. A character who I hated throughout the first two movies, his redemption arc, in a lot of ways, worked for me in a way that I did not particularly think it would. Suddenly, I wanted Ben Solo to come back to the light, and I cared when he did.

It also helped that Ben Solo coming back to the light meant that Ben Solo, essentially, became Han Solo and took on a lot of his mannerisms. Like this iconic moment.

ben solo shrug

So, it seemed as if Twitter wanted to remember the good (and forget, for a moment, that Ben Solo shrugged into battle and then died from death’s kiss). Starting with videos of fans giving their best Solo shrug, the challenge ranged from beautiful renditions of the scene to … well, they tried and that’s all that matters right?

Then there was a weird trend of people using the Mjölnir as a light saber?

Or just Adam Driver himself…

I’m going to pretend that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker ended with Ben Solo just waking up in that pit like, “Wait, she just left me here?” even though he faded away, and that it was all a lie and Rey is his sister. Good day!

(image: Lucasfilm)

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Rachel Leishman - Assistant Editor

Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. A writer her whole life but professionally starting back in 2016 who loves all things movies, TV, and classic rock. Resident Spider-Man expert, official Leslie Knope, actually Yelena Belova. Wanda Maximoff has never done anything wrong in her life. Star Wars makes her very happy. New York writer with a passion for all things nerdy. Yes, she has a Pedro Pascal podcast. And also a Harrison Ford one.