Ben Solo’s Last Words To Rey Were Revealed In The ‘Rise Of Skywalker’ Novel

To the surprise of no one, there’s an entire webpage dedicated to the last words of dozens of Star Wars characters, from Obi-Wan Kenobi (“You can’t win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine”) to Padmé Amidala (“Obi-Wan… there is good in him. I know, I know there is still…”). There are some less obvious characters in there, too, like my dude Ki-Adi-Mundi (we were all quoting “come on!” in summer 2005), but my personal favorite is “ow.” That iconic line is Ben Solo’s final words in The Rise of Skywalker before he sacrifices himself to save Rey.

The scene (once again) plays out differently in the film’s novelization, though. As pointed out by Comic Book, Rae Carson’s novel adds more pathos to Ben Solo’s death:

“A voice came to her through the Force, clear and strong.

‘I will always be with you,’ Ben said.

She smiled. Let the truth of it wash over her.

‘No one’s ever really gone,’ she whispered.”

“I will always be with you” might be the emotional ending the character deserved, and Rey’s “no one’s ever really gone” is a callback to something Luke Skywalker said in The Last Jedi (it was also in the Rise of Skywalker trailer), but it’s no “ow!” What is