In a new Star Wars comic series, we finally get to learn the truth behind the destruction of Luke’s Jedi Temple after confronting his nephew, Ben Solo.
As we learned in The Last Jedi, Luke read the mind of Ben while he was asleep, witnessing the death and destruction of everything that they’d built after the fall of the Empire. This compelled Luke to entertain, just for a fleeting moment, that he could end his nephew’s life and save countless others. But the moment passed and Luke quickly gained control of his senses, though a fearful Ben woke up to see that his uncle was trying to kill him.
Using the force, Ben brings down the igloo on the two of them but manages to escape while Luke remains buried in the ruins. When the Jedi Master finally rises again, the temple is burning and the other students are killed. For years, fans have believed that Kylo was the one who burned the temple down and killed everyone else. Even Han Solo specifically says in The Force Awakens that one student turned against Luke and ‘destroyed everything.’
But the new Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren comic reveals that the truth is something else entirely. Ben didn’t destroy the temple, nor did he kill any of the students. In the latest issue of the series that depicts the early days of the villainous Kylo Ren persona, it’s shown that as a frightened Ben tries to escape the Jedi Temple, an ominous voice is heard in the sky just before Force lightning comes sizzling down, destroying everything in its path, supposedly an act by Darth Sidious.
Of course, this further proves that Ben Solo was conflicted about his allegiance to the Dark Side of the Force ever since the beginning. In fact, the comic series previously revealed that Kylo Ren inadvertently drew his first blood sometime after leaving his uncle, which presumably cemented his fall into darkness.
In the end, though, Ben managed to redeem himself in The Rise of Skywalker, proving once and for all that in the story of Star Wars, his bloodline will always stand for what’s right, even if it takes countless war crimes and millions of deaths for them to hear the voice of reason.