Star Wars: Reylo Fans Have Mixed Reactions to Rey and Kylo Ren in The Rise of Skywalker

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is drawing mixed reactions from "Reylo" fans, the dedicated portion of the fanbase pushing for a romantic development between Jedi-in-training Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Dark Side user Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). In Rise of Skywalker — spoilers — Kylo renounces the Dark Side after the death of mother Leia (Carrie Fisher) triggers a memory of father Han Solo (Harrison Ford), killed at the end of Kylo's red-bladed lightsaber a year earlier in The Force Awakens. Returned to the Light Side as Ben Solo, Ben races to Exogol, site of the returned Palpatine's (Ian McDiarmid) Sith temple, where he helps Rey stand against her granddfather, the living embodiment of thousands of years of Sith souls.

When Rey calls on a thousand generations of Jedi for the strength to overcome Palpatine, the struggle causes a wave of destruction that obliterates Palpatine and the Sith — seemingly for good — at the cost of Rey's life. She's revived when Ben, using the same Force-healing ability Rey used to spare him after a lightsaber clash on the ocean moon Kef Bir, draws on his own lifeforce to heal Rey.

The act drains Ben, who shares a kiss with Rey before falling over dead and becoming one with the Force. "Reylo" fans are now criticizing The Rise of Skywalker for fulfilling the romance seconds before Ben dies, ending the Skywalker bloodline, while other Star Wars fans call out the relationship for being "problematic":