After reading several different sources of information about this event in the Skywalker saga time line, I wanted to put this question to my readers to see if anyone has a different opinion.
Matt Martin (Lucasfilm) Makes References to Ben Solo
According to Matt Martin of the Lucasfilm Story Group, Ben Solo was still responsible for the burning and subsequent destruction of Luke’s Jedi Temple. We see a distraught Luke Skywalker standing next to R2-D2 watching the temple he built burn.
Charles Soule’s Comic – The Rise of Kylo Ren #1
Wikipedia has conflicting information about this and as we know, the comics that were written and released by Charles Soule paint a different picture of what happened. According to the comic The Rise of Kylo Ren #1, Ben Solo didn’t destroy the Jedi temple. According to the comic, it was destroyed by a red lightning storm above the temple when Ben Solo was outside it as below:
It’s actually quite an important point because if Ben Solo was responsible for the destruction of the temple as well as the deaths of the Jedi students, it makes him totally irredeemable in my eyes. And I never agreed with the redemption arc.
But if he didn’t do what everyone thought he did and isn’t responsible for killing the Jedi and destroying the temple, that just leaves a huge hole in the plot of the sequel trilogy. And if he didn’t do it who or what did? What was this mysterious “red” lightning that appeared out of nowhere – was it Snoke controlling Ben’s twist of fate? That would make sense because we know that Snoke (Palpatine) was already grooming Ben at that point to turn him to the dark side.
It just goes to show how much inconsistency exists in the Star Wars universe and I think that leaves almost anything open for individual interpretation. Don’t you agree?
Let me know what you think about this post – do you believe Ben was innocent? Or do you think he was fully responsible for the destruction of Luke’s temple? Hit me up in the comments, friends!
Stay safe out there, keep creating and I’ll catch you in tomorrow’s post!
darksiderconfessions.blog 
I think the inconsistency is one of the biggest problems with Star Wars right now. They [the Story Group] can’t seem to just stick to a narrative. Things get changed and muddled too much, especially big and important details. Whether Ben destroyed the Jedi Temple/the new Order matters because, like you point out, it changes how we are supposed to think about his redemption.
For the record, I agree that the redemption arc shouldn’t have happened. But, I think you hit on an important point that if he wasn’t responsible it can and does, possibly, change how we think about him (although I still wouldn’t say he should be redeemed).
All that said, if I had to choose, I would ignore the Story Group and go with the actual story.
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I totally agree with you. I think things were so much simpler when it was just George calling the shots. Now there are sources everywhere creating content for Star Wars and none of it is consistent. I mean you can’t even tell what’s canon these days. Don’t get me wrong, I love that there are so many stories being told but at the same time, I just think Star Wars as a universe has expanded so much, it’s kind of out of control now. I also think that is another reason why there are so many divisions within the fandom. To me all star wars is good star wars except when they do things like this lol… thanks for your comment I really appreciate you taking the time 🙂 I hope we get to see more of you and your writing in the coming days 🙂
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I think it is fair to say that contradictions will happen at times. It happened in the Expanded Universe and it is happening in the Disney canon. Personally, it was easier to stomach when George Lucas could be the one who said “nah, let’s go in this direction.” That clearly happened with the release of The Clone Wars. There was already A LOT of EU stories detailing the war and Lucas wanted to do something different which he had the right to do. It didn’t and doesn’t minimize the stories that came before, it just means things go in a new direction.
Since SW was sold to Disney, though, I have felt like they are trying to have their cake and eat it too. They want to say “this is all part of a single canon” even when those glaring contradictions are apparent. If the Story Group would just own that some stories will cancel out other stories I don’t think this would be as big a problem. I highly doubt they will ever do that, though, If they start admitting that “X” story you read in 2016 as a tie-in novel to Rogue One is now overruled by “Y” story that is a comic book story then they run the risk of people like you and me becoming even more disenfranchised. Why spend all this time and energy digging into the details of the canon when it can just be tossed at will?
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Honestly, sometimes I feel kinda sad about the direction of the franchise but then I remember why I got involved in Star Wars in the first place and that was a gift from my father (who passed away). So I will never turn my back on the thing that got me through so many difficult times in my life – well, it certainly helped me. But that doesn’t mean I won’t disagree with things when I know they’re clearly not working for us, the fans. I would love to be the “ohhh its star wars, nothing could ever be wrong with star wars” type but alas, I am a walking, talking and thinking human being lol I like to question things. I almost feel like that is my right for being a fan for most of my life 🙂 And the best part about it is I love questioning things because you never know what great discussions can come out of it like this one 😀
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Also…thanks for enjoying my writing. I appreciate it. I am starting to get back into the writing groove so hopefully I will have some more stuff coming soon.
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Look forward to it 🙂
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