Snoke's Origins Revealed In New 'Star Wars' Book

There are many elements of the Star Wars sequel trilogy that proved to be divisive. One of them was the use of Supreme Leader Snoke. Introduced in The Force Awakens, his presence gave off a vibe that there was a lot more to him. Over the next couple of years, some fans came up with wild theories as to who he was. A popular one was that he was Darth Plagueis. A ridiculous one was that he was Mace Windu. And when the Aftermath novel trilogy was coming out, some (myself included) thought that Gallius Rax would turn out to be Snoke, and were disappointed when Gallius Rax turned out to not be as big of a deal as expected.

In the lead-up to The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson tried to downplay the importance of Snoke. After all, the story was more about Rey and Kylo Ren. What ended up happening with Snoke in that film was very controversial. A villain who seemed like he was being built up as a huge threat was eliminated fairly easily. To be fair, seeing Kylo Ren ascend to the position of Supreme Leader is an interesting idea. It feels like a "What if Darth Vader had killed Sidious?" type of scenario.

However, all the potential of Kylo Ren himself being the main threat is thrown out the window in The Rise of Skywalker, where Palpatine is the big bad. Right off the bat, we see the resurrected Emperor, who reveals that he made Snoke. And then we see what appear to be Snoke clones in the vat. In hindsight, this makes Snoke's Palpatine-like dialogue in The Last Jedi make sense. But it does not eliminate the feeling that there might have been a build-up for the villain. Regardless, The Rise of Skywalker glosses over what was up with Snoke, leaving many fans scratching their heads even nearly a year later.

Most recently, The Star Wars Book has provided a little bit more clarity, as it includes the following, saying what Snoke is:

“It's possible that Snoke himself does not know his true nature. Snoke is a strandcast -- an artificial genetic construct concocted by the resurrected Darth Sidious to be his proxy in power. Snoke has free will, but his actions and goals are still orchestrated by Palpatine.”

The fact that he was made by "the resurrected Darth Sidious" makes it sound as though Snoke was created sometime between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. This contradicts Lucasfilm's earlier claims about Snoke having witnessed the rise and fall of the Galactic Empire. It is clear that the idea for Snoke changed as the sequels were made and released. We know now that he is essentially just a puppet of Palpatine, which was reinforced by the The Rise of Kylo Ren comic miniseries that showed the resurrected Sidious speaking words and making them come out of Snoke's mouth. Ironically, one of George Lucas' early ideas for Palpatine was that he himself would be a puppet, a figurehead who was pretty much controlled by the Imperial bureaucracy.

While the explanation for Snoke's origin may not satisfy some of the fans who played the waiting game in between installments of the sequel trilogy, one cannot help but wonder whether this explanation may play better for those who come to the franchise later, watching these sequels back to back in a shorter span of time. There may always be some gripes regarding how Snoke was utilized, but at least we have somewhat of an answer as to his role in the grand scheme of things.

Written By Steven Shinder

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