SPECULATION: Snoke’s Past?
Snoke is a character still shrouded in secrecy even after the release of The Force Awakens and its companion reading materials. After the jump we put forward a theory as to the identity of who Snoke was prior to Episode VII . Be warned: this speculative piece contains SPOILERS relating to The Force Awakens so if you have yet to watch it please proceed at your own risk. And remember this is just a theory, and is not canon… yet 🙂
Snoke was once a human Jedi who fought in the Clone Wars. When Emperor Palpatine declared Order 66, Snoke was able to escape from the Clone Troopers, which would later influence his distaste for using clones. Heeding Obi-Wan Kenobi’s advice, Snoke stayed away from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Instead he ran deep into space finding himself on the Sith homeworld of Moraband.
In his exile Snoke came into contact with the Dark Side of the Force and the teachings of long dead Sith lords (Darth Revan, Darth Bane, and Darth Plagueis) via holocron. Eventually Snoke was driven insane while alone on Moraband, and pulled all of his hair out. He tried to assemble a new red lightsaber based on an ancient design, but his crystal was cracked and backfired, burning and scarring his once beautiful face making him look inhuman. Eventually Darth Vader comes to Moraband looking for Sith artifacts. Snoke confronts Lord Vader who deeply wounds Snoke and leaves him for dead, taking all of the holocrons Snoke collected with him. The future Supreme Leader recalls Plagueis’s teachings and is able to heal his wounds but not his scars.
Shortly after he is found by a Force offshoot group called the Knights of Ren who study both the Light and Dark Sides of the Force. They had been watching Snoke for a long time, and welcome him into their order, where he makes his way up the ranks eventually becoming their leader. Years later Snoke hears Vader and the Emperor are dead so he tries to rejoin the Republic. This results in meeting Han, Luke, and Leia. He tells Luke he was once a Jedi and knew Obi-Wan and Yoda. Together they build a new Jedi temple on planet Devaron, keeping his alliance with the Knights of Ren a secret.
Snoke senses great Dark Side power in Han and Leia’s young son Ben and takes a particular interest in him. As the boy grows so does his hate and anger. Snoke builds on that telling him he is the grandchild of Darth Vader, piquing Ben’s interest in the Dark Side of the Force. Ben leaves Luke’s Jedi school and joins the Knights of Ren, quickly becoming their most powerful member under Snoke. The elder Dark Sider also inserts himself into New Republic politics and hears of the Neo-Imperial group called the First Order forming in the unknown regions. He goes to them and they recognize him as a high ranking member of the New Republic and accept him into their group. He takes control of the group quickly, advancing to the rank of Supreme Leader using his Force powers, and begins leading attacks on New Republic worlds.
The New Republic doesn’t view the First Order as a threat but General Leia suspects Snoke is up to something, so she creates the pseudo-military called the Resistance.
Snoke then promotes Ben who now goes by the name Kylo Ren to lead his troops working hand in hand with legacy military man Hux. Snoke hears Leia is now searching for Luke who went into exile after Ben left the Jedi and killed most if not all of his master’s padawan. Snoke knows Luke is the only one who can defeat him and wants him dead or lost in the stars forever, leading into The Force Awakens.
Snoke currently resides on Moraband where he has constructed a castle over the tomb of his favorite Sith Lord, Darth Plagueis, who saved his life due to his teachings. When communing with Kylo Ren and Hux, Snoke generally appears as a large hologram to intimidate fear. While Kylo knows Snoke’s true size, Hux has never actually met the Supreme Leader in person.
