Catra vs. Kylo Ren: When Redemption is Earned

[Winter]

This has been bugging me for a while and thanks to She-Ra and the Princesses of Power offering us a redemption arc that, IMHO, manages to rival Zuko's from Avatar and one that, much like how Adora is a pretty solid counterpart to Rey and Finn, does parallel Kylo Ren's/Ben Solo's in The Disney Sequel Trilogy.

Before we start, I must reiterate an issue I had with Rey's desire to redeem Kylo Ren in the first place. The most common defense in regards to Rey's choice is that because of the connection she shared between them Rey was able to sense the conflict within him and that Luke also sensing potential for Vader to be redeemed.

If you share this opinion that's perfecly fine but I have a couple of problems with that. Luke was told by Obi-Wan that his father was a good man and friend. Even when the truth was revealed Obi-Wan STILL said that Anakin was a good friend and put the blame for his fall to the dark side on himself Not Anakin. And we see that conflict play out all throughout Return of the Jedi.

Over in TDST no one, and I mean No One, tells Rey or the audience what a good person Ben Solo use to be before he fell to the dark side. The only thing we hear is that Snoke corrupted Ben to the dark side and that's it. We don't actually learn anything about Ben until ROS where his introduced and that actually leads me to another issue I have with TDST and why I see She-Ra as TDST done right.

After his redemption Ben is a completely different person. While there are differences between the two, you can still say that Anakin and Vader are the same person, both are people who prefer to be directly in the fight, both snark with their enemies during a fight and both have a bit of a anger issue. The only real difference is that Vader is more in control of himself then Anakin was. But Ben?

Let's go over everything we see in the films. Kylo is someone who won't enter an area unless he thinks he can win. Ben is a daredevil who will go in without any sort of weapon an literally throw himself into a situation without a care in the world. Kylo likes to toy with his opponents as much as possible while Ben prefers to just finish a fight as quickly as possible. Kylo almost never shuts up while Ben only has 1 line in the entire saga. Props to Adam Driver though for being able to convey so much character with no dialogue.

With Catra, she's still acts cold and aloof to try and hide how scared and vulnerable she really feels. She still has something of a temper (though she does improve on it as Season 5 goes on), still as arrogant as ever, still stubborn and still has trouble expressing her feelings. You see that this is still Catra but a Catra who has undergone some Serious character development. A Catra who's come to except that she was wrong and is working to better herself.

Even Vader, in his final moments still felt like Vader as him giving up his life to save a loved one is perfectly keeping with Anakin's arc in the Prequels and the Clone Wars. Ben feels NOTHING like Kylo Ren and that really hampers his redemption arc.

The reason Catra's and Vader's redemption feel earned is because we, the audience SEE the redeeming qualities the characters see. We see Vader be conflicted about turning Luke over to The Emperor, we see Vader's conflicting feelings about Luke before, during and after their fight in Cloud City. And we learn from people who knew Anakin personally that he was a good person which we ourselves see in the Prequels and the Clone Wars.

And with Catra, we see her conflict with herself over the series as she struggles to be the person she thinks she should be and who she really is. In the Promise we see Catra leave Adora to die then, not five minutes later, see that she's conflicted about making that choice. We see the guilt she feels over all the destruction she's caused and we see her come to hate the person she's become and that despite everything she still has it in her to be open to others and that her love for Adora is still there.

So, even after these two make some of the worst choices of their lives we still see the good in them and see the good person they were shine through and thus when they decide to turn from the dark it feels earned. And both are still completely in character when they make their choices so it doesn't feel jarring for most people.

With Ben, we learn nothing about him until the very end of the series, what we do learn shows that he's nothing like Kylo and we've yet to see these supposed redeemable qualities that Kylo possesses.

What makes a Redemption earned is when the character shows us that they have good in them even after they've done terrible things. Catra, even after destroying all of reality and being a, let's be honest, Very toxic and abusive person towards her friends and loved ones, still showed that there was good in her and that she could and wanted to change. Kylo never showed any remorse for his actions and never showed that he could or wanted to change.

So, yes, the Grandson of Darth Vader is, In My Honest Opinion, less well written and less well developed than a lesbian catgirl from outer space.

[Hero_Of_Shadows]

Unpopular opinion but: I think Addam Driver put in too much "Han Solo" in portraying Ben, it's like there's Kilo Ren and then Ben "Han Jr" Solo is a different person.

PS: Non canon but the SNL sketches with Kylo while absurdist comedy did show that Driver can deliver a softer take on Kilo.