Kylo's Mask and the Ashes

To play the devil's advocate the argument can be made that by making Han and Leia less then perfect parents they've somehow ruined their characters.While I don't believe that's the case at all we have Han leaving his pregnant wife worrying over whether he will return or not and writing of his son as unredemable because "there was too much Vader in him"so there's that.I think what the writers intend is to present the OT3 as good but flawed people who made mistakes.But I'm not sure they'll make Luke killer of Rey's parents either since that might take from the main dynamic which is between Rey and Kylo.

I actually like the idea of Han and Leia being 'less than perfect', because if you watch the OT you see that they are in fact far from perfect - they are simply making them in character. I love them both but they, like real people, have flaws.
Regarding Luke...I wonder if he did actually 'do' that, it would drive Rey into Kylo's arms, so to speak - it might be the driving factor that causes her to join him, because I have a strong feeling that she will at the end of Episode VIII but instead of going truly 'dark' she becomes 'grey' and redeems him.
But...it's all speculation of course!!

The Summer Lady wrote:Why does anyone keep hold of ashes? Most people feel that the remains of a person still hold a fragment of that person's being, and therefore treat them as sacred. KR's not exactly got them in an urn on the mantlepiece, but rather in a tray to plonk his helmet on, symbolically showing (to himself) his ruthlessness and power, and possibly to help make him feel more dominant and invincible.

It could also be he's symbolically recharging his helmet with the evil that is perpetrated in its name, perhaps for the same reason as above, or possibly even to help maintain the cleave in his personality between evil he does and who he knows he really is on the inside (deeply locked away at the moment). This is an idea that appeals to me as all these 'crutches' he seems to need to maintain his Mr Evil personality contrast nicely with the sheer emotion, upset and vulnerability that spills out of him involuntarity in certain key scenes in the movie.

@The Summer Lady

'Ashgate' never really bothered me to be honest - it didn't make him seem 'evil' to me, just ill. This is not some 'one note' baddie, this is a young man who's terribly emotionally damaged.

The more I see TFA the more I feel that the only truly 'evil' one in this is Snoke. Hux is closest to it, but maybe Hux is a product of his upbringing by parents who filled his head with stories of the Empire's glory and how the Republic destroyed their lives and betrayed them. Hux is far more responsible for his actions than Kylo, and I'm certainly not excusing his appallling act of mass genocide, but his eagerness to destroy the Hosnian system seemed personal. And Phasma, like Finn, was conditioned from childhood to be what she is.
Snoke organised the abduction and brainwashing of young children. He used an embittered young man's hatred to fashion him into is general. And he psychologically abused a gifted child, a child of heroes, into becoming his weapon. Snoke isn't just an evil doer, he is truly evil.

Did Han actually take off on Leia while she was pregnant??

Ha,ha,ha, I'm bumping this one cause we'll need it soon. When JJ dusts off AshGate for 3D Blue Ray commentary.