Transformation: Becoming Ben Solo (A Reylo Fanfic)

Author's Closing Notes

Wow! That is absolutely the first and only word I can start with. When I embarked on this journey, I never expected it to turn out like this! Who'd have thought that I'd churn out over 60 chapters to tell this story? Certainly not me!  I had an outline, but, wow!

I absolutely have to thank all of the readers and other authors in this community from the bottom of my heart. You are all awesome, and have made this so very special to me. When I joined this community just over a year ago, like many of you, I did so to heal my broken heart – caused by TROS. Never had a movie affected me as deeply as TROS did. I've always been a die hard Star Wars fan (Like many, I can probably recite almost every line from the original trilogy), but I fell in love with the characters of the sequel trilogy after TLJ. I'll freely admit that I am a romantic at heart. Even before I knew what "Reylo" meant, after I'd seen TLJ, I remember thinking about whether they'd actually have Ben and Rey end up together in the final installment – and how they might make that happen. I was so excited! I thought, "Hey, its Disney now! The Prince and Princess usually get a happily ever after!" 😊 Little did we know however.....

So, after reading a good many fanfics, I set out to write my own – my very first fanfic. And oh wow – what a ride! I am an avid reader, but hadn't written anything in a very, very long time. And I've never written anything as long as this fic. Its opened the door to a passion I had completely forgotten about, and for that I am eternally grateful.

When I started writing this fic, I mentioned that once I got to the end, I'd outline the reasons why I was so disappointed in TROS, so here are the four key reasons that I originally hated the movie. It's a bit (okay, a lot) of a rant – so if you don't want to read things like that, feel free to stop here. I won't be offended 😝.  And I have potty mouth and won't be holding back... 

1. BRINGING BACK EMPEROR PALPATINE WAS LAZY WRITING

I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I heard that fucking voice in the trailers. My immediate thought was, really? Seriously? I mean, lets face it, if they were going to bring the guy back, they really should've sprinkled some breadcrumbs through the previous two movies – but they didn't. Nada. Zip. Absolutely nothing. The only reason for that is because they had no clue that they were going to do that at the time. And so someone at some point (probably JJ Abrams) came up with this eureka moment when they were struggling to find the main plot of the story (likely after they fired the first guy and got rid of his story).

There was soooo much they could've done had they planned it in advance, and the whole thing could've ended up far, far better than it did. The one thing that I do have to say is that I did like the notion of the Grandson of Darth Vader having a Force Dyad with the Granddaughter of the Emperor – and them ending up together – it was quite eloquent. But unfortunately they fucked that up too. (sorry – I really do have quite a potty mouth in real life).

Because of this nonsense and lazy, shitty writing, I will never, ever willingly pay money to go see any movies by JJ Abrams ever again. (and I used to like the new Star Trek movies....).

2. REY STARTED THE MOVIE ALONE AND SHE FINISHED IT ALONE

My first thought at that ending scene was WTF? I can't say how much this entire circumstance pissed me off, and just disturbed me on a purely human level!! Regardless of everything that had happened till that point, Rey was supposed to have found a new family with the Resistance, yet she was utterly and entirely alone at the end. Where were these newfound friends? At the very least, they should've been waiting on the Falcon for her, with the ending showing her walking towards them once she finished burying the sabers and watching the dual sunset. But no. Oh no.