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He was sitting alone. That was good. Things had less of a chance of going wrong when he was alone. The Cleavers (they had a real surname, but Ben never bothered to remember it. They baked brownies and had married-dates and thought picnics were just swell--they were the Cleavers to him) would have to punish him if he got into another fight before school ended for the summer.
Really. That's the way they put it, stern and disapproving. We will have to punish you, young man.
( cut for violence and bullies )
Really. That's the way they put it, stern and disapproving. We will have to punish you, young man.
( cut for violence and bullies )
This is Ben Solo, aka Kylo Ren.
Disclaimer: I suck at categorically evil characters, but this one naturally lends himself to fudging, so here I am…fudging. I’m relying heavily on fandom for this fleshed out emobaby backstory.
Ben Solo was always two things: 1) incredibly powerful and 2) a little unstable. He was always neuro-atypical in a way that made it difficult for him to connect with people who weren’t already part of his inner circle (and therefore likely to be patient). He wasn’t a bad kid—he just wasn’t like other kids. And while the early resistance fighters were pretty fond of the general’s son, they had shit to do. His parents had shit to do. Even Chewbacca had shit to do. Ben was very young, already having trouble socializing, too smart for his own good, and in possession of a wildly overactive imagination.
So when Snoke came to him in the form of Anakin Skywalker’s “ghost”…and gave him all the attention others for various very good reasons couldn’t…and validated in ways that others for very good reasons wouldn’t…Ben was susceptible. “Anakin” made him promise never to tell anyone he came to Ben, because they would make him send “Anakin” away. He was there guiding him, playing with him, talking to him, listening to him as Ben grew, in secret. Not even Luke realized what was happening until Snoke had a firm enough grip on Ben that he was able to control him.
That’s when, at eleven, Ben killed another student.
Horrified, he turned himself in, and now people couldn’t help but notice that something was seriously wrong. But when they tried to examine Ben, he panicked, and Snoke helped him lash out. He ran and was discovered by Snoke’s waiting ship, where he was smuggled out of the reach of Luke, his parents, and the whole young rebellion. He lived from age eleven to twenty-three in Snoke’s desolate fortress, with Snoke, “Anakin”, and wordless droids as his only companions. There he was systematically stripped of everything that was Ben, including the ghost of his grandfather, whose parting words were that in order to ever see him or anyone else again, Kylo Ren had to prove himself worthy.
So that’s what he did. But his natural Jedi alignment is Grey, not Light and not Dark. He wasn’t strong enough to fight against years of mental conditioning, but he was just good enough to want to try (and yet bad enough to never have a hope of success without outside interference). This innate battle was part of what kept him from being able to control himself, his emotional outbursts, and his sense of betrayed fury (though he never could figure out why he felt so betrayed when he was the one who left.) A few factoids:
1. He loved his father but still doesn’t feel anything over his death. That part is numb.
2. He wouldn’t have been able to kill his mother. If she had come to claim him, he would have gone back with her.
3. It’s possible a strong Force-user could have removed the blocks Snoke put in his head and bring Ben back. His natural moral compass is neutral, not good or evil.
4. Poe was his first crush. He barely remembers that.
5. His loyalty is to people, not ideals. This remains true.
Now Kylo Ren is Ben Adler.
Ben and his twin Siri were born to a broken home. At least, that’s what the social workers called it behind their backs. Their mother ran off when they were young, their father was barely worthy of the name, and the grandmother who got stuck with raising them didn’t have much patience for any of their fuckery.
And considering how prone Ben was to acting out even at a young age—and considering the trouble Siri would get into to defend him—there was a lot of fuckery going on.
So she passed them off to a relative the first chance she got. Who passed them off. Who passed them off. Ben and Siri moved through a series of homes, some better than others. Ben was always too smart and too weird for his own good. It wasn’t until they were staying with one of their distant uncles that it turned out he was too pretty for his own good too.
What’s a kid and his twin sister to do when Uncle Creepy gets a little grabby when no one was looking? Why, set him up, of course. Ben played the bait, and they collected…and fabricated, where needed…enough evidence to send him off to jail for life. It also had the side benefit of finally catching the attention of the system. Ben was diagnosed neuro-atypical and put on medication that helps even him out. They were put in the foster system—together, because everyone who tried to split them up quickly learned their lesson.
Now they’re with a Leave it to Beaver creepy-nice kind of family who do not know how to cope with Ben and Siri. Ben’s channeled his rage and abandonment into a tendency to launch himself into fights with anyone he hears say anything bigoted or misogynistic etc. Part of it is a real desire to knock sense into people. Part of it is just the thrill of the fight, of fists flying, of being hit and winning against the odds. He’s been trying not to cause too many problems lately, but he’s that weird emo kid in art class, so he attracts his fair share of bullies even when he’s trying not to needle them into attacking.
He secretly likes it when they pick fights with him. He secretly likes it when he and Siri get to take them down.
16 years old, in his junior year of high school.
Disclaimer: I suck at categorically evil characters, but this one naturally lends himself to fudging, so here I am…fudging. I’m relying heavily on fandom for this fleshed out emobaby backstory.
Ben Solo was always two things: 1) incredibly powerful and 2) a little unstable. He was always neuro-atypical in a way that made it difficult for him to connect with people who weren’t already part of his inner circle (and therefore likely to be patient). He wasn’t a bad kid—he just wasn’t like other kids. And while the early resistance fighters were pretty fond of the general’s son, they had shit to do. His parents had shit to do. Even Chewbacca had shit to do. Ben was very young, already having trouble socializing, too smart for his own good, and in possession of a wildly overactive imagination.
So when Snoke came to him in the form of Anakin Skywalker’s “ghost”…and gave him all the attention others for various very good reasons couldn’t…and validated in ways that others for very good reasons wouldn’t…Ben was susceptible. “Anakin” made him promise never to tell anyone he came to Ben, because they would make him send “Anakin” away. He was there guiding him, playing with him, talking to him, listening to him as Ben grew, in secret. Not even Luke realized what was happening until Snoke had a firm enough grip on Ben that he was able to control him.
That’s when, at eleven, Ben killed another student.
Horrified, he turned himself in, and now people couldn’t help but notice that something was seriously wrong. But when they tried to examine Ben, he panicked, and Snoke helped him lash out. He ran and was discovered by Snoke’s waiting ship, where he was smuggled out of the reach of Luke, his parents, and the whole young rebellion. He lived from age eleven to twenty-three in Snoke’s desolate fortress, with Snoke, “Anakin”, and wordless droids as his only companions. There he was systematically stripped of everything that was Ben, including the ghost of his grandfather, whose parting words were that in order to ever see him or anyone else again, Kylo Ren had to prove himself worthy.
So that’s what he did. But his natural Jedi alignment is Grey, not Light and not Dark. He wasn’t strong enough to fight against years of mental conditioning, but he was just good enough to want to try (and yet bad enough to never have a hope of success without outside interference). This innate battle was part of what kept him from being able to control himself, his emotional outbursts, and his sense of betrayed fury (though he never could figure out why he felt so betrayed when he was the one who left.) A few factoids:
1. He loved his father but still doesn’t feel anything over his death. That part is numb.
2. He wouldn’t have been able to kill his mother. If she had come to claim him, he would have gone back with her.
3. It’s possible a strong Force-user could have removed the blocks Snoke put in his head and bring Ben back. His natural moral compass is neutral, not good or evil.
4. Poe was his first crush. He barely remembers that.
5. His loyalty is to people, not ideals. This remains true.
Now Kylo Ren is Ben Adler.
Ben and his twin Siri were born to a broken home. At least, that’s what the social workers called it behind their backs. Their mother ran off when they were young, their father was barely worthy of the name, and the grandmother who got stuck with raising them didn’t have much patience for any of their fuckery.
And considering how prone Ben was to acting out even at a young age—and considering the trouble Siri would get into to defend him—there was a lot of fuckery going on.
So she passed them off to a relative the first chance she got. Who passed them off. Who passed them off. Ben and Siri moved through a series of homes, some better than others. Ben was always too smart and too weird for his own good. It wasn’t until they were staying with one of their distant uncles that it turned out he was too pretty for his own good too.
What’s a kid and his twin sister to do when Uncle Creepy gets a little grabby when no one was looking? Why, set him up, of course. Ben played the bait, and they collected…and fabricated, where needed…enough evidence to send him off to jail for life. It also had the side benefit of finally catching the attention of the system. Ben was diagnosed neuro-atypical and put on medication that helps even him out. They were put in the foster system—together, because everyone who tried to split them up quickly learned their lesson.
Now they’re with a Leave it to Beaver creepy-nice kind of family who do not know how to cope with Ben and Siri. Ben’s channeled his rage and abandonment into a tendency to launch himself into fights with anyone he hears say anything bigoted or misogynistic etc. Part of it is a real desire to knock sense into people. Part of it is just the thrill of the fight, of fists flying, of being hit and winning against the odds. He’s been trying not to cause too many problems lately, but he’s that weird emo kid in art class, so he attracts his fair share of bullies even when he’s trying not to needle them into attacking.
He secretly likes it when they pick fights with him. He secretly likes it when he and Siri get to take them down.
16 years old, in his junior year of high school.
