Star Wars Saturday: Who is Supreme Leader Snoke?

Who is Supreme Leader Snoke?

          He’s tall, dark and not-so-handsome, but as of right now we don’t know too much about Snoke, the enigmatic leader behind the First Order. He only appears in hologram form in a handful of scenes in Force Awakens and I’ve heard conflicting reports on whether he’ll be more of a major player or not in Last Jedi, furthering the mystery of exactly who he is and why he has such a grudge against not only the galaxy, but specifically the Skywalker family.

          So I thought it’d be fun to go through a police lineup of sorts and see if we can pin down exactly who this mysterious dark side master is. But before we get started…

What we know for sure

          Not much, as a matter of fact. Snoke’s Wookieepedia page is more dominated by a description of his appearance and some behind the scenes facts than an actual description of where he comes from and who he truly is.

          Despite that, there’s a couple things we know for sure from various sources. We know he’s extremely skilled in wielding the dark side of the Force. We know from the Force Awakens novelization that, while he may appear human, he isn’t of the human race (though it’s been suggested that this may just be him tampering with his holographic appearance to hide his true identity). We know he witnessed the rise and fall of the Empire, meaning he’s been around since Revenge of the Sith at the absolute latest. We also know that he’s the one who seduced Kylo Ren to the dark side, leading him to destroy Luke’s Jedi academy.

          Last but not least, it’s implied that he being the true mastermind behind the First Order isn’t exactly a secret. Leia namedrops him when discussing Kylo to Han in Force Awakens, so they at least know who he is. I’d also be very surprised is Luke wasn’t at least a bit familiar with him.

          But that’s really it. Lucasfilm has barely given us breadcrumbs of Snoke’s true identity, leaving the internet with a lot to speculate on and not much detail to utilize.

          So it’s time to go through some of the more popular theories and give my thoughts on who this guy might be.

Suspect #1: An entirely new character

          At this time of writing, this one seems to be the most viable option. Snoke doesn’t bear a strong resemblance to anyone we know from the movies, and he’s played by Andy Serkis, an actor entirely new to Star Wars. Doesn’t exactly match up with anyone else.

          So if he’s not someone we know, who the heck is he?

          A lot of fingers are pointing towards the Unknown Regions, an uncharted area of the Star Wars galaxy that’s never been truly explored. We know that after the Empire was destroyed they retreated into the Unknown Regions to regroup, and there they transformed into the First Order and constructed Starkiller Base. Who’s to say the Empire didn’t bump into Snoke along the way? Maybe he was the one who orchestrated their comeback?

          There’s even more evidence if you read some of the recently released books. We know from them that Thrawn, the blue skinned Grand Admiral of the Empire, was sent out into the Unknown Regions early on in his career to investigate a mysterious threat the Republic detected was lurking there. We don’t know what he found, but the pieces line up with that “mysterious threat” being Snoke. We also know from the Aftermath novels that Palpatine detected “the source of his power” in the Unknown Regions, which is one of the main reasons the Empire journeyed there after his demise. Who better to tip Palpatine off that something sinister is lurking beyond charted territory than Thrawn, one of the highest ranking and most brilliant officers in his cabinet?

          A spirit that embodies an aspect of the Force isn’t exactly a new idea in Star Wars either. Star Wars Rebels recently introduced the Bendu, a spirit meant to represent the balance between the light and dark sides of the force. Could Snoke be the literal manifestation of the dark side?

          So that leaves us with a mysterious figure hiding out in uncharted space, possibly the source of the dark side itself. The Empire discovered him on their travels after being defeated, and he took it upon himself to fix them up and make them better.

Suspect #2: Darth Plagueis

          This is easily the most popular theory out there, and it has quite a bit of evidence behind it. Many fans will tell you that Snoke is actually Darth Plagueis, Palpatine’s Sith master and one of the strongest dark side users in galactic history.

          We know about Plagueis from the famous opera scene in Revenge of the Sith, where Palpatine recounts the Sith legend to Anakin in an attempt to sway him further to the dark side. According to Palpatine, Plagueis was so powerful in using the dark side that he could influence midichlorians to create life, saving those he loved from death. Eventually, he got so powerful that his apprentice killed him in his sleep, that apprentice obviously being Palpatine himself.

          So, let’s look at the facts here. Both Snoke and Plagueis are said to be extremely strong in wielding the dark side of the Force. Snoke’s face looks more than a little torn up, so much so that it’d make sense if an attempt had been made on his life. Also, if Plagueis could create life to save others from death, whoever said he couldn’t do the same on himself?

          The biggest piece of evidence for this theory comes from none other than John Williams himself. Here’s the music that plays during the Plagueis scene in Revenge of the Sith.

          And now here’s the music that plays during Snoke’s first scene in Force Awakens.

          The two are frighteningly similar. Both employ an unsettling “uuuuuuhhh” tone beneath some sinister sounding notes. Almost like there’s a connection between the two.

Suspect #3: Boba Fett

          Now we’re starting to get into some of the wackier theories. Despite what you may think, this one actually holds a bit of ground, despite it being highly unlikely that Fett actually turns out to be the ultimate evil. It also helps us solve that pesky “Rey’s parents” mystery (but that’s a story for another day).

          This theory, by Reddit user “TheReturnofBobaFett”, is based a lot on the similarities Force Awakens shares with the 90’s non-Disney animated fairy tale movie Anastasia. Both stories are about a girl left alone, far away from her family. She’s trapped until she meets an innocent and helpless character who leads her to a young man on the run from his past. The girl and young man go on adventures together until she is kidnapped by the villain. The young man fights for her freedom, ending with him unconscious. The girl then summons a power she didn’t know she had and gets the villain’s weapon before he does. The movie ends with the girl reuniting with her family before leaving again to follow her destiny.

          Sounds pretty familiar, doesn’t it? But how does this lead up to Boba Fett becoming a dark side master?

          The main villain in Anastasia attacks the titular princess because he wants revenge on a family that crossed him long ago. Obviously in this situation that would be the Skywalker/Solo family. This is why he specifically targeted Ben Solo to become Kylo Ren, knowing it’d be a big hit to the original trio. He also orchestrated Rey disappearing (this theory having her turn out to be the long-lost daughter of Han and Leia) to further the divide between the two of them, having Han return to smuggling and Leia go back to politics.

          The only character that’s still alive with such a grudge against the family is Boba Fett, according to TheReturn. It also explains how Snoke knows the name of the Millennium Falcon despite it having gone unused for years by the time of Force Awakens. The Aftermath books hint that Fett survived his encounter with the Sarlacc numerous times. This also explains how Snoke saw the rise and fall of the Empire, as Fett was present at the start of the Clone Wars in Attack of the Clones.

          The only thing this theory missed was that it never really explains how exactly Fett managed to go from being a highly-talented bounty hunter and become a super-powerful dark side user, making me feel that, while there are a lot of interesting points to speculate on here, the end conclusion of Snoke’s identity is a bit of a miss. Still, the full theory is well worth reading here.

Suspect #4: Sith Master Jar Jar Binks

          Let me make something clear here: do I think there’s even a glimmer of a chance that the Lucasfilm story group decided to make one of the most unintentionally despised characters in cinema history the main antagonist of their new trilogy? No way, not a chance. But honestly, the theory’s just too awesome to pass up a chance to talk about it.

          Around the time when Force Awakens hype had reached its peak, Reddit user “Lumpawarroo” (taking his name from a character in the holiday special that shall not be named) posted an extensive amount of evidence that Jar Jar’s character was originally going to turn out to be an accomplice of Palpatine’s in Attack of the Clones, mirroring the reveal in Empire Strikes Back that the hyperactive green thing messing with Luke’s stuff and cooking root stew is actually the greatest Jedi master that ever lived. Of course, after the response to Jar Jar in Phantom Menace was…underwhelming, Lucas went back to the drawing board and removed his story going forward, replacing him with Count Dooku in future movies.

          There’s actually a frightening amount of detail in Phantom Menace that gives away Jar Jar’s true nature. Jar Jar performs several acrobatic feats throughout the film more often attributed to Jedi knights. He also tends to move his hands subtly when talking to others, which often lead to him being promoted in the Gungan army and the Senate.

          If you haven’t checked the theory out, give it a look here. It goes into way more detail than I could here, including how Jar Jar subtly gives young Anakin an early disrespect for Jedi and fans the flames of his love for Padme. Despite there being absolutely no chance that Disney will pull this one out of nowhere for a big reveal in the new trilogy, it’s a real intriguing look at how one of the most disliked characters in all of Star Wars almost became a massive surprise.

          There are several more, but these are the only ones that hold water (Mace Windu, Leia, a reborn Palpatine, and even the reanimated body of Darth Vader all came up as popular theories albeit ones with little backing evidence while I researched this article). Needless to say that this is a topic that’s been hotly discussed ever since the topic first came up. If I were to put my two cents in I’d say that Snoke is most likely the manifestation of the dark side not unlike Bendu from Rebels, although I wouldn’t discount him turning out to be Plagueis. Regardless of who he is, I can’t wait to learn more about who he really is and where he came from.