"Don't be afraid, I feel it too". Feel what?

Hi everyone..

I tried to do a research about this but found nothing, so.. sorry if it has been already discussed....

During the interrogation scene, Kylo tells Rey: "Don't be afraid, I feel it too".

What does Rey feel, that Kylo feels too? Does he mean in fact: "don't be afraid, cause this fear I feel"? Or does he feel her ability with the Force? or that they have a bond?

But in this case, why is he so surprised that she resists him and even manages to read his mind? I had the impression that Kylo realized Rey was strong with the Force onlywhen she claims he's afraid of not being as strong as Vader, but maybe I got it wrong...?

Thank you for your ideas...

I just watched TFA again and I was also wondering why everybody was talking about this particular quotation, for me he only meant "I feel that you're afraid". At this moment, what else would she feel ? They only met once briefly.

But in this case, why is he so surprised that she resists him and even manages to read his mind? I had the impression that Kylo realized Rey was strong with the Force onlywhen she claims he's afraid of not being as strong as Vader, but maybe I got it wrong...?

The same here.

I love that exchange so much, it is set as a little mystery, but that's why it's so effective in conveying something special is happening.

I always leaned towards something more poetic that fear alone. (That doesn't make too much sense: don't be afraid, I feel the fear too? Her fear or he's afraid too?) Or even the Force.

In my imagination, he feels it too - that overwhelming sensation of being penetrated and fused for a moment with someone else's personality, emotions, wholeness of being. It's not only her being exposed, vulnerable and perturbed at the receiving end of the mind melding, but it affects him too. It's strong for both of them and he wants to reassure her.
No one can forbid us to interpret it with an additional layer of the shared sensation - the Other is young, handsome and so captivating. He sure wasn't as affected as when interrogating Poe.

I like your interpretation better than mine

That's true we don't know what he feels when he's doing that. We only know it takes some energy and to be strong with the force. And does it feel the same with everybody ? You're right I imagine it depends and it surely isn't the same with Poe. I always found it strange that he feels compassion with her at this moment. Ok she's different from Poe, Poe is from the resistance and he's making jokes when he should be afraid of Kylo, but Rey is innocent, she's just a lonely girl who found a droid. I get that but he didn't seem to mind killing innocent people so why is it different with Rey from the beginning ?

The line is meant to be at first, "I'm going to be gentle with you" - it's meant to be contrast to how he could care less when it came to extracting the information from Poe. Versus trying to (initally) play Good Cop with Rey because of how she's a civillian, a young woman, and there's obviously a reason why he's immediately interested in her beyond wanting the map information (which having done cartography always struck me as the dumbest of reasons to think he could use her memory to create a viable map). Anyways, after TLJ came out, Rayne Roberts in that one SW Show episode admitted something we've long thought was the backstory here - it was Kasdan's idea and he wrote the scene. Ben initially tries to go easy into Rey's mind to extract that information because there's already a bond between the two of them. Both the Force and he senses that she's got the same abandonment/loneliness issues he has from her family. But once he tries it on her in earnest, it kick starts her abilities, she flips it back on him, goes into his mind, and in turn pulls out his deepest fear. Which forges the bond between the two of them, both the Force and the empathy/compassion. Snoke probably smells it on him immediately and figures he can exploit it to his own end (except duh, the emotional part is how he ends up dead).