It's not the Star Wars theory we love; it's the Star Wars theory we deserve.
The second film of the latest trilogy rejected storytelling in favor of some other kind of experience. And in doing so, it created apparent narrative inconsistencies that need to be resolved if we want the storyline of the trilogy to make sense in a satisfying way. That is the challenge, and I present a theory that attempts to meet that challenge.
Luke Skywalker's goal is to spread an awareness of the Force to more people in the galaxy. That was the purpose of his "Jedi Academy", in an attempt to re-assemble the structure of the former Jedi Temple where Yoda was a teacher.
Luke fears that he has an incomplete understanding of the working of the Force. Though he has been trained by Yoda, that is his only experience with Jedi teaching and philosophy. Yoda gave him what he needed to meet the crises of the moment, but as the sole representative of the Jedi philosophy in the galaxy, Luke feels that there is more to learn.
This becomes more apparent to him as he is trying to teach Ben Solo to use the Force. He fears that a wrong move on his part will lead Ben down the wrong path, and already he can sense a growing frustration and confusion within Ben that he doesn't know how to cure.
He also mistrusts his understanding of the concept of Balance. He's worried that by being such a powerful Light-side Force user, he was in effect creating a Dark-side force power to match his. When Vader and the Emperor both died, he remained the single most powerful Force user, and that created an imbalance. The emergence of Snoke was a signal to him that the force was still imbalanced.
Luke traveled to Achtoo for two reasons. First, he wanted to remove himself from the Galaxy as a Force presence for the Light. Whether or not this actually works this way, Luke believed that by retreating to an isolated deserted planet, his influence on the balance of the Force would be diminished, and by doing so he would diminish the dark-side power of Snoke. Second, he was keenly aware of how little he knew about the Jedi philosophy of the Force, and so he made a pilgrimage to Achtoo to complete a deeper study of Force philosophy on the planet where the Jedi began.
Kylo Ren was a force user and a student of Luke's. However, when Luke was training him, Kylo could sense Luke's ambivalence in raising up another powerful force user. Luke was also hesitant in imbuing Ben Solo with technical skills without also giving him an understanding of Jedi principles, an understanding that Luke felt that he, himself, lacked. Ben felt frustrated and held back, in much the same way that Anakin did under Obi-wan's teaching.
As a result of his need to better understand the Jedi philosophy, Luke makes the decision to go on a journey in search of a deeper understanding of the Jedi, and in doing so he temporarily suspends his teaching at his Jedi Academy. (Ret-con) When Luke left the school, all was not in flames. In fact, he left peacefully to begin this journey in search of Achtoo.
It is likely that Ben wanted to accompany him as a true padawan should, and Luke refused, feeling that Ben was not yet ready for such a trip. To Ben, however, this felt like a betrayal. Impatient as he was to continue his use of the Force, Ben couldn't just put his life on hold until Luke returned. After he had gone, Ben's frustration was deepened to the point of rage. Just as Ben was on the precipice of accessing enormous power, Luke not only halted his training, but also appeared to reject him as his padawan as signaled by his unwillingness to allow Ben to join him on the journey.
Without the maturity or patience to wait for Luke's return, Snoke appeared and offered himself as an alternative teacher of the Force, possibly presenting himself as another of the remaining Jedi and not revealing, initially, his connection to the dark side. Ben fell under the influence of Snoke, who would be the mentor and teacher that Luke refused to be.
From dialogue in Force Awakens it is likely that Leia realized
Snoke's evil connection and advised Ben to stop training with him.
However, Ben took this as a further rejection, from his own mother, this time, a feeling no doubt engineered and manipulated by Snoke himself. With his newly unleashed dark-side power, Ben tried to take over the school in Luke's absence, creating the order of the Knights of Ren from those who would follow him.
It was at this point that Leia and others in the resistance openly opposed the direction Ben and Snoke were taking and the conflict was brought out into the open. Ben adopted his new name of Kylo, and with his Knights of Ren, destroyed the school, murdering everyone who opposed him. I believe that it was Snoke who suppressed Ben's memories of what actually happened at the Jedi Academy, and substituted a different version of events where Luke was still present and instigated the conflict. Contrary to that memory, it was Kylo who destroyed the school, leaving it in flames.
Snoke tried to turn Ben, who was essentially a light-side force user, to the dark side. What is fascinating about this story is the lengths necessary to complete that transformation. It is psychological warfare at its most insidious. It started with changing Ben's name, and estranging him from his parents, rejecting his former teacher. In order to do that, Snoke implanted images in Ben's mind that weren't true. The famous moment, when Luke ignited his lightsaber while standing over the sleeping Ben, never happened. This was a fabrication that Snoke implanted in Ben's mind. It was this gaslighting technique that Snoke used repeatedly to break Ben's mind from reality. It is also a fabrication that Ben desperately wants to believe.
Later, Snoke would attempt the same technique on Rey, through Ben. When speaking about Rey's parents, Ben said that they were nothing and nobody. Ben firmly believed it at the time, since Snoke has so firmly convinced him of its truth. However, it was simply an attempt by Snoke to turn Rey to the dark side as well, gaining another apprentice for himself. As with Ben, the first step is to separate the pupil from their parents, from their family.
When Kylo Ren reaches out to Rey's mind, this was obviously not the first time that he had experienced such communication. Since Snoke later claims that he facilitated this mental communication, it was likely that Kylo had communicated with Snoke in the same manner. Everything that Ben said in those conversations was largely influenced by Snoke. It was clearly an effort to wrest Rey away from Luke and bring her over to his side. He did that with lies and persuasion and with reaching out a hand to her in her confusion; all techniques that Snoke had used against him.
Importantly, all the things that Kylo showed to Rey were in contradiction to the images that Luke's lightsaber showed her. The Knights of Ren scene against the Luke's saber scene at the school. The voice of (her grandfather) Obi-wan (both from Alec Guinness and Ewen McGregor) against the claims of Kylo about her parentage, (for example, the lightsaber was found in the same box where Obi-wan kept it before presenting it to Luke.)
The call to belonging opposed by Kylo's call to leave it all behind, the appeal to important events in the past (Darth Vader's breathing, the corridors of Cloud City, the voice of Yoda) against the mandate to "let the past die, kill it if you have to." The saber showed Luke embedding the map of his journey in R2D2, vs Kylo telling Rey that Luke was unimportant.
The interesting thing is that Kylo is not fully persuaded of the rightness of his path. Like Anakin before him, there is still good in him. He clearly killed Han in an attempt to irrevocably plunge himself to the dark side, a choice no doubt heavily influence by Snoke. But when he had the same chance with his mother, he refused (and also, I believe, actively used the Force to preserve his mother's life.)
Kylo Ren's journey is toward truth. This truth has been denied to him first by Luke, who was uncertain and fearful, and then by Snoke, who was manipulative and deceitful. In the end, I think that Ben will eventually be shown the truth, possibly by Rey. In the light of this new understanding and in order to balance out his former evil acts, Ben will be moved to make a sacrifice to help the resistance, thereby achieving redemption and completing his arc.
