Ben Solo was a human male Force-sensitive who fell to the dark side of the Force as Kylo Ren—the "Jedi Killer," master of the Knights of Ren, and eventually became the Supreme Leader of the First Order—but he returned to the light side shortly before his death. He was born at the end of the Galactic Civil War in 5 ABY, when the Galactic Empire surrendered to the New Republic. His parents, General Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa, were considered great heroes of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, as was his maternal uncle, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. The heir to the Skywalker bloodline, Ben Solo possessed raw strength in the Force and had the potential for limitless power. His grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, had become the Sith Lord Darth Vader through the machinations of Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith. The phantom Sidious similarly targeted Solo and used his creation, Supreme Leader Snoke, to groom Solo from an early age to doubt his family and eventually turn to the dark side.
In 15 ABY, during the New Republic Era, Solo joined a new generation of Jedi apprentices trained by his uncle. Sidious's son had a daughter, Rey, who was born to her mother in the same year. Unknown to any at the time, Solo and Rey were counterparts as a dyad in the Force. As an apprentice under Skywalker, Solo rapidly developed his talents, proving the strength inherent of his bloodline, and quickly became the strongest and most promising fledgling Jedi amongst the new Jedi Order ranks. He far surpassed the likes of his friends and fellow padawans, Hennix, Tai, and Voe, even put together, as they all studied the ways of the Force at Skywalker's temple on Ossus.
In 28 ABY, a confrontation initiated by Skywalker resulted in Solo turning against the Jedi and falling to the dark side. Solo destroyed his master's training temple, killing his fellow students, then fled to join Snoke. He killed and replaced the leader of the Knights of Ren under a new persona, Kylo Ren. As a product of Jedi and Sith teachings, Ren embodied the conflict between the dark side and the light but was dangerously unstable. Inspired by the legacy of his grandfather, Ren sought to destroy the last remnants of the Jedi Order and conquer the galaxy. Determined to sever all ties to his past, Ren killed his father and assassinated his master. The Jedi apprentice Rey had briefly grown close to Ren through their unique Force-bond and believed she could turn him back to the light, but she rejected his offer to rule with him. Rey joined the Resistance led by Leia Organa and continued her Jedi training, while Ren conquered vast regions of the galaxy as the new Supreme Leader.
During the last days of the First Order-Resistance War in 35 ABY, Darth Sidious, Ren's true master, offered the Sith Eternal's fleet, the Final Order, to him in return for killing his sworn enemy, Rey. Ren attempted to betray Sidious, but Rey again rejected his offer. Despite Ren's aspiration to rule the galaxy as the new Galactic Emperor and Dark Lord of the Sith, he was pulled back to the light during a duel with Rey when his mother communicated with him as she died, reminding him of his family's love and forgiveness. Rey turned back from her own brush with the dark side to save his life by healing the wound she had given him. Reclaiming his identity as Ben Solo, the redeemed Jedi joined Rey on Exegol to save her from Sidious and defeat him once and for all, though the effort took Rey's life. When Solo sacrificed himself to revive Rey, he died and became one with the Force, joining his parents, uncle, and grandfather.
