But Mom, what if I don't want to be a Jedi?
Active since January 2016, Ask Ben Solo is a Tumblr ask blog created in the wake of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The blog details the mundane life of Han and Leia's teenage son, and is run in-character through a combination of art and text posts. It focuses on Ben's struggles with adolescence and family life, but also touches on subjects from canon such as the dark influences upon him from an early age. The blog can be found here
.Ask Ben Solo contains examples of:
- All Therapists Are Muggles: Ben went to therapy for a while, but ran into some complications when he discovered his therapist didn't believe in the Force.
- Anxiety Dreams: Ben has a Recurring Dream that involves his parents abandoning him—something that would never happen, but that he fears anyway.
- Art Evolution: The blog's early art style was fairly simplistic and monochromatic. Over time, the style has become more detailed and colorful.
- Black Sheep: Ben considers himself to be this, since the rest of his family is made up of politicians and war heroes and all he does is run a blog.
- Bookworm: Ben spends a lot of his time reading, especially about galactic history.
- Buffy Speak: Ben has an interesting way of talking. It includes a lot of addressing the reader as "buddy" or "pal," a lot of intensifers like "just" and "actually," and a lot of interjections like "you know?" and "okay?"
- Bumbling Dad: Han, occasionally. He lacks Leia's parental instinct, which perhaps is justified given that Han never had parents of his own. Mostly played for laughs with Han telling dad jokes or accidentally involving Ben in smuggler skirmishes.
- But Thou Must!: Who was the greatest Force user ever: Darth Vader, Darth Vader, Darth Vader, or Darth Vader?
- Characterization Marches On: At the blog's inception, Ben was politically-minded, fiercely analytical, rebellious, and stoic. Though he still retains some of these traits, he has since drifted away from this persona to better showcase his emotional side.
- Coming of Age Story: The whole premise of the blog, really.
- Companion Cube: Ren the Bantha of Indeterminate Gender or Origin, Ben's stuffed animal. Ben apparently tells Ren all the things he feels he can't tell anyone else.
- Cool Uncle: Luke. Ben has a bit of an awkward relationship with him, but whatever, Luke is cool. He's got a mechanical hand and is the most powerful Jedi alive.
- Costume Evolution: First Ben only wore black sweaters, but his sweater collection has since expanded to include red, blue, green, and even purple. Later on he received Pubescent Braces, and for a while he wore his hair in a ponytail.
- Deadpan Snarker: Leia, Han, and Ben. It runs in the family.
- Emo Teen: Zigzagged. When he's his regular self he's actually more adorkable than anything else...but then you've got stuff like this.
- Fan Boy: Ben is obsessed with Darth Vader (although this obsession becomes more conflicted and less passionate over time). He even had a poster that said "Vader More Like Baeder" written on it in Aurebesh.
- Foreshadowing: Inevitably, since the blog is about Ben before he was seduced to the dark side. Fans decided to name Ben's stuffed bantha "Ren," foreshadowing Ben's later adopted name.
- Friendless Background: Because he's homeschooled, Ben doesn't have much of an opportunity to meet kids his own age. He relies mostly on his family for support.
- Hearing Voices: Ben claims to have "a second voice" inside his head, whispering things to him.
- Heroic Lineage: Tripled by the fact that Ben has Han and Leia as his parents and Luke as his uncle. (Multiplied even more if you take into consideration Anakin Skywalker, Padme Amidala, or even Bail and Breha Organa.)
- Honorary Uncle: Ben has two of them: Chewie, and Lando.
- The Insomniac: Ben, due to his nightmares. He takes sleeping pills to help regulate himself.
- Leave Me Alone!: Ben is constantly falling into this (example here). Too afraid to ask for help, he has a tendency to hide his problems.
- Limited Wardrobe: Ben and Han. Ben typically only wears turtleneck sweaters and skinny jeans (at least he wears different colored sweaters sometimes). Han always wears either a dark blue vest or jacket.
- Most Writers Are Writers: Enforced. If Ben wasn't interested in writing, why would he be running a blog?
- Muggle Born of Mages: Inverted, as Ben's Force sensitivity is much higher than that of his parents. Even though Leia is also Force-sensitive, she hasn't had much experience with its use.
- Not Allowed to Grow Up: Subverted. Ben's birthday is December 10th, and he ages up accordingly.
- Parenting the Husband: Downplayed/Played for Laughs. Leia has no qualms about grounding Han as well as Ben, if she sees fit reason to do so.
- Pubescent Braces: Ben, for about eighteen months.
- Real Time: Zigzagged. Typically the blog runs in real time, but the story event "The Long Night" took place over almost a month despite being only a matter of hours in-universe.
- The Scottish Trope: Ben refers to Snoke as simply "him" or "Leader," but never by name.
- Security Blanket: Whenever Ben's having a rough time, he wraps himself up in what the blog's author has dubbed "The Ugly Maroon Blanket Cape of Angst."
- The Shut-In: Ben doesn't seem to get out very much. He spends most of his time at home and doesn't go anywhere without his parents.
- Stylistic Suck: Ben's twelve-year-old Vader fanfiction, seen here.
- The Talk: Played seriously, here. Ben understands the mechanics of reproduction, but he just doesn't get why sex is such a big deal to people.
- Troubled Fetal Position: This post.
- Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Han and Ben, respectively, though not all of the time.
