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RECLIST 2.1 - Jail for 1000 Years
Sep. 15th, 2022 08:26 pmRECLIST 2.1 - JAIL FOR 1000 YEARS
One of the justifications for the alleged necessity of the death of Ben Solo was that there was no other option for his character after his crimes, primarily the murder of his father. This is an absurd argument. It speaks to a total lack of imagination about what possible solutions could exist, and in fact, what would be thematically satisfactory ending for the character. While I am NOT in support of carceral justice, I do enjoy fic where Ben or Rey are or have been sentenced to prison or exile. For serious in-canon fic, the question of how to sentence and imprison Kylo Ren is fascinating, and leads to some of my favorite fics ever. These fics wrestle with themes of forgiveness, self-hatred, redemption, and rehabilitation. Additionally, from a plot perspective, isolating characters and trapping them in one place usually forces them into the introspection that I adore.
This reclist is focused on canon-verse fic where Kylo Ren/Ben Solo is in prison or exile for his crimes, either serving out a sentence or awaiting execution. There are plenty of alternate universe prison fic, which I will rec in later versions of this theme, but I wanted to focus on the canon-verse fic first.
I’ve put quotes from each fic here as well. I think these quotes do a great job of illustrating what I like about each fic.
As a general warning, all these fic discuss prison and imprisonment. Some also discuss execution and the death penalty. In several, Kylo Ren/Ben Solo is in solitary confinement, which is effectively torture, and suffers the well-documented psychological effects.
1. Morning in the Burned House
Author: disasterisms; Twitter
I consider this a Reylo fic, but it’s primarily a beautiful Leia character study. Leia Organa has lived through so much, lost so much, sacrificed so much, and now has to deal with her son’s murder of his father. At the beginning of the fic, both Kylo and Rey are broken, angry, and in pain, albeit showing them in different ways. Kylo is sentenced to exile with Luke Skywalker, and is only permitted communication with Leia, and by extension, Rey. In this fic, we never forget that Leia was the daughter of a man who tortured her and took almost everything away from her, and the mother of a man who killed her husband and destroyed almost everything she built. So, how do these characters move forward? And what can they look to to help?
She stares down at her hands. These hands have signed treaties, have been wooed by the prince of the Hapes Consortium, have killed Jabba the Hutt with his own chains, are now slicing apples in a house of exile. These hands were helpless to prevent the evil that wormed its way into her child's soul.
Status: Complete
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Grief, Angst, references to torture and murder
2. The Way To Tomorrow
Author: the-reylo-void; Tumblr; Twitter
This fic is not a light read. Which may be why this is possibly one of my favorite fics. Again, in this fic, Ben Solo/Kylo Ren is sentenced to exile on an uninhabited planet and is forbidden communication with anyone else. He is given a weapon, a blaster with a single shot. Of course, Rey neglected to inform the sentencing body about the bond, and she and he are able to communicate. Kylo Ren/Ben Solo is a very broken character here, resigned to self-hatred and self-destruction. But Rey refuses to give up on him.
There are days when the darkness hovers close, predatory, and Rey stands before him with shoulders back and a fierceness in her gaze, sends him subtle reminders of light through the bond. Sometimes he’s unreachable, deep in meditation, and more than once she finds him in tears.
Other days are hopeless ones, where the bond is awash in pain and regret, and Rey quietly backs away, allows him the space to grieve.
And sometimes, at the brief space where their day cycles overlap, they meet in the rolling darkness of their shared dreamscape, sitting back-to-back, hands barely touching, steady-eyed, holding off the darkness together.
The bond hums.
Status: Complete
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Suicide Attempt. Heavy Angst and Grief.
3. A Brief Equinox
Author: dustoftheancients; Tumblr
Kylo Ren is imprisoned while he provides information to the Resistance. He is also injured, injured protecting Rey. Rey does not remember this. Rey visits him in prison, at first reluctantly, angrily, and then more willing as she tries to figure out what happened and begins to understand him, at least a little. But he won’t talk to her. And the wound won’t heal.
With as much dignity as she can muster, she turns to leave. The hallway leading to his cell seems so much darker now that her eyes have adjusted to the light, even the weak one from the lantern. Her footsteps make a shuffling sound against the stone in the same way they had when she had come.
She had expected to feel better, somehow. Or, at least, to have a better grasp of the last forty-eight hours. All she feels is angry, and she's no less confused.
Rey doesn't make it far before she hears his sigh- it's long and shaky as a piece of flimsy in the wind.
His breath chases her down the hallway.
Status: Complete
Rating: Teen and Up
Warning: Discussion of the death penalty, heavy angst
4. Astrometric Binaries
Author: pontmercy44
At first, Kylo is sentenced to death. But at the last moment, through Rey’s intercession, he is reprieved and sentenced to exile on a harsh, unforgiving planet with little light and little change in the available light from day to night. Kylo struggles. Rey is the only one who interacts with him (except for a droid), and at first, he cannot be anything but cruel to her. However, once again, she keeps him alive.
Every day, at what he estimated to be high noon – the brightest time of the day of Cygnus II – Kylo climbed the rusty ladder and emerged from the abandoned mine. He stood on the landing pad, in its very center. He didn’t go near the cliff edge. If he did, he might break an unspoken promise he’d made to Rey. He had to be alive when she came back in two cycles.
The center of the landing pad was the center of his universe. Gravity would inevitably draw her back to that spot. He told himself that the laws of physics demanded she come back every time he lost count of the days and wondered whether she was gone forever.
Status: Complete
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Dub-con in places (mostly bad communication), contemplation of suicide, self-hatred, discussion of starvation, death penalty, solitary confinement, mental health issues
One of the justifications for the alleged necessity of the death of Ben Solo was that there was no other option for his character after his crimes, primarily the murder of his father. This is an absurd argument. It speaks to a total lack of imagination about what possible solutions could exist, and in fact, what would be thematically satisfactory ending for the character. While I am NOT in support of carceral justice, I do enjoy fic where Ben or Rey are or have been sentenced to prison or exile. For serious in-canon fic, the question of how to sentence and imprison Kylo Ren is fascinating, and leads to some of my favorite fics ever. These fics wrestle with themes of forgiveness, self-hatred, redemption, and rehabilitation. Additionally, from a plot perspective, isolating characters and trapping them in one place usually forces them into the introspection that I adore.
This reclist is focused on canon-verse fic where Kylo Ren/Ben Solo is in prison or exile for his crimes, either serving out a sentence or awaiting execution. There are plenty of alternate universe prison fic, which I will rec in later versions of this theme, but I wanted to focus on the canon-verse fic first.
I’ve put quotes from each fic here as well. I think these quotes do a great job of illustrating what I like about each fic.
As a general warning, all these fic discuss prison and imprisonment. Some also discuss execution and the death penalty. In several, Kylo Ren/Ben Solo is in solitary confinement, which is effectively torture, and suffers the well-documented psychological effects.
1. Morning in the Burned House
Author: disasterisms; Twitter
I consider this a Reylo fic, but it’s primarily a beautiful Leia character study. Leia Organa has lived through so much, lost so much, sacrificed so much, and now has to deal with her son’s murder of his father. At the beginning of the fic, both Kylo and Rey are broken, angry, and in pain, albeit showing them in different ways. Kylo is sentenced to exile with Luke Skywalker, and is only permitted communication with Leia, and by extension, Rey. In this fic, we never forget that Leia was the daughter of a man who tortured her and took almost everything away from her, and the mother of a man who killed her husband and destroyed almost everything she built. So, how do these characters move forward? And what can they look to to help?
She stares down at her hands. These hands have signed treaties, have been wooed by the prince of the Hapes Consortium, have killed Jabba the Hutt with his own chains, are now slicing apples in a house of exile. These hands were helpless to prevent the evil that wormed its way into her child's soul.
Status: Complete
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Grief, Angst, references to torture and murder
2. The Way To Tomorrow
Author: the-reylo-void; Tumblr; Twitter
This fic is not a light read. Which may be why this is possibly one of my favorite fics. Again, in this fic, Ben Solo/Kylo Ren is sentenced to exile on an uninhabited planet and is forbidden communication with anyone else. He is given a weapon, a blaster with a single shot. Of course, Rey neglected to inform the sentencing body about the bond, and she and he are able to communicate. Kylo Ren/Ben Solo is a very broken character here, resigned to self-hatred and self-destruction. But Rey refuses to give up on him.
There are days when the darkness hovers close, predatory, and Rey stands before him with shoulders back and a fierceness in her gaze, sends him subtle reminders of light through the bond. Sometimes he’s unreachable, deep in meditation, and more than once she finds him in tears.
Other days are hopeless ones, where the bond is awash in pain and regret, and Rey quietly backs away, allows him the space to grieve.
And sometimes, at the brief space where their day cycles overlap, they meet in the rolling darkness of their shared dreamscape, sitting back-to-back, hands barely touching, steady-eyed, holding off the darkness together.
The bond hums.
Status: Complete
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Suicide Attempt. Heavy Angst and Grief.
3. A Brief Equinox
Author: dustoftheancients; Tumblr
Kylo Ren is imprisoned while he provides information to the Resistance. He is also injured, injured protecting Rey. Rey does not remember this. Rey visits him in prison, at first reluctantly, angrily, and then more willing as she tries to figure out what happened and begins to understand him, at least a little. But he won’t talk to her. And the wound won’t heal.
With as much dignity as she can muster, she turns to leave. The hallway leading to his cell seems so much darker now that her eyes have adjusted to the light, even the weak one from the lantern. Her footsteps make a shuffling sound against the stone in the same way they had when she had come.
She had expected to feel better, somehow. Or, at least, to have a better grasp of the last forty-eight hours. All she feels is angry, and she's no less confused.
Rey doesn't make it far before she hears his sigh- it's long and shaky as a piece of flimsy in the wind.
His breath chases her down the hallway.
Status: Complete
Rating: Teen and Up
Warning: Discussion of the death penalty, heavy angst
4. Astrometric Binaries
Author: pontmercy44
At first, Kylo is sentenced to death. But at the last moment, through Rey’s intercession, he is reprieved and sentenced to exile on a harsh, unforgiving planet with little light and little change in the available light from day to night. Kylo struggles. Rey is the only one who interacts with him (except for a droid), and at first, he cannot be anything but cruel to her. However, once again, she keeps him alive.
Every day, at what he estimated to be high noon – the brightest time of the day of Cygnus II – Kylo climbed the rusty ladder and emerged from the abandoned mine. He stood on the landing pad, in its very center. He didn’t go near the cliff edge. If he did, he might break an unspoken promise he’d made to Rey. He had to be alive when she came back in two cycles.
The center of the landing pad was the center of his universe. Gravity would inevitably draw her back to that spot. He told himself that the laws of physics demanded she come back every time he lost count of the days and wondered whether she was gone forever.
Status: Complete
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Dub-con in places (mostly bad communication), contemplation of suicide, self-hatred, discussion of starvation, death penalty, solitary confinement, mental health issues
