Star Wars: 12 Snoke Facts You Might Not Know

| September viii, 2021 |

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Star Wars Snoke — *Photograph: Lucasfilm*

Set up in the first half of the Sequel Trilogy as a powerful new Star Wars villain, Supreme Leader Snoke of the First Order turned out to be something else entirely. Despite fulfilling the office of Emperor Palpatine in The Force Awakens , he's completely off the table by the finish of The Last Jedi . And in The Rising of Skywalker , the milky way is but big enough for one galaxy-conquering villain as Kylo Ren's fall shows.

Past the cease of the trilogy, Snoke is revealed to take been a bio-engineered villain all forth, Strength-puppeted tool Emperor Palpatine used to regain his grip on the galaxy while hiding his weakened physical form on the Sith planet of Exegol. His triumphs no longer truly his own, Snoke's ultimate legacy is the rising of Kylo Ren besides every bit legendary motion capture role player Andy Serkis' performance.

As we await back at Snoke's short tenure as the big bad of Star Wars , here are some facts you might not know about Supreme Leader Snoke:

i. Snoke Was a Strand-Cast Created by Palpatine

Emperor Palpatine created Snoke to be his proxy through which he could regain his power. Although Snoke was bio-engineered in a lab on Exegol, he was a strand-cast, not a clone. This chip of Star Wars jargon means Snoke isn't an exact copy of anyone, only isn't natural-born either. Nosotros've heard the term "strand-cast" before. In The Mandalorian , Kuill speculates that Grogu might be a strand-bandage — a speculation which turned out to be wrong when Ahsoka revealed Grogu grew up in the Jedi Temple.

Palpatine's ultimate plan was to utilise Snoke as his voice to whisper in Kylo Ren'due south ear. Information technology was one of several ways he was working behind the scenes all along to build the Kickoff Order — itself just a crush for the new Empire being built on Exegol. With his ain clone trunk bedraggled but his spirit still strong in the Forcefulness, Palpatine could possess other people but was looking for a permanent new vessel.

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Snoke was probable built-in from these experiments but was too imperfect a vessel to house Palpatine's spirit. There were other candidates, like the strand-bandage who became Rey'southward father. But since the procedure that created strand-casts could not reliably replicate Force-sensitivity, Palpatine's "son" was non Forcefulness sensitive. It was another dead end. The Sith lord next turned his attention to Rey in The Rise of Skywalker .

This strand-cast/cloning storyline shares several plot points with the archetype Dark Empire comic series, where Palpatine bided his time until he could come back in a younger, stronger clone trunk and re-create the Empire.

2. Snoke Wasn't Aware of His Ain History

Unlike Palpatine's strand-cast "son," Snoke didn't know he was created in a lab by the Sith lord nor that he was being manipulated to rebuild the Emperor's forces. In fact, despite existence created some time after the Battle of Endor, he believed to have lived through the rising and fall of the Empire.

All of this is revealed in the novelization of The Force Awakens , in a twist that might actually have been a result of The Rise of Skywalker not having been written or planned out nevertheless. But his status every bit a Sith sleeper amanuensis fits with Palpatine'due south plan, too. Snoke truly believing that he himself was really a dark Forcefulness user who had lived through the Galactic Civil War likely prevented Ben Solo/Kylo Ren from sensing the deception throughout his fourth dimension as Snoke'due south apprentice. Palpatine needed Snoke to believe the lies he told Kylo Ren then that he could more than hands dispense the fallen Skywalker.

3. Hugh Hefner and Snoke's Injuries Informed How Serkis Played the Character

Andy Serkis rose to fame as the motion capture performer behind Gollum'southward creepy mannerisms in The Lord of the Rings , quickly becoming well-known for injecting unique life and personality into monstrous characters. For Supreme Leader Snoke, Serkis drew from "the gilt-lamé Hugh Hefner look," the shining robe evoking the Playboy magazine founder. Serkis says he and The Final Jedi director Rian Johnson likewise considered drawing inspiration from "and then many different dictators," but settled on the uncanny Hefner idea.

Snoke's visual appearance was nevertheless being finalized when Serkis joined J.J. Abrams to piece of work on the character for The Force Awakens . Therefore, the actor developed his ideas about the character at the same time equally the artists were developing theirs. In The Last Jedi , Snoke finally appeared in the flesh equally opposed to every bit a hologram, allowing Serkis to draw even more from the villain's grotesque concrete advent.

Serkis says he imagined Snoke'south deep scars were the source of some of his acrimony. "He'due south terribly powerful, of course. Merely he is also a very vulnerable and wounded grapheme," Serkis told EW (via io9). "He has suffered and he has suffered injury. The way that his malevolence comes out is in reaction to that. His hatred of the Resistance is fueled by what's happened to him personally."

4. His Look Was Based on Classic Horror Movies

According to the book The Fine art of The Forcefulness Awakens , "J.J. [Abrams] and [brute effects supervisor] Neal [Scanlan] didn't want him to be old and decrepit, like the Emperor," said senior sculptor Ivan Manzella, who sculpted a maquette of an elderly, bald face up for Snoke. Early on ideas made the departure even clearer by making Snoke a female person character.

The last result did look a lot like Palpatine, though: a hunched onetime human with a face distorted by deep wrinkles and scars. Manzella, who also fabricated the terminal sculpt, says that Abrams wanted his look to evoke Hammer Films horror movies (such as classic takes on Frankenstein and Dracula). In particular Peter Cushing, who played Victor Frankeinstein and Abraham Van Helsing in several Hammer movies, was a directly inspiration.

Manzella besides added what he felt was a sense of beauty to the graphic symbol: "I imagined him to be a beautiful marble sculpture, so dark and menacing, but actually quite beautiful to look at … It'south almost like Snoke was quite handsome when he was younger."

The Frankenstein comparison is especially apt since Palpatine and his Sith cultists built Snoke themselves.

5. Snoke Is Not a Sith Lord

You may have noticed that Snoke does not have the "Darth" title like the Dark Lords of the Sith do. He was never given one because he isn't technically a Sith Lord. But the fact that he's a bio-engineered beingness created by Palpatine explains why his training of Kylo Ren followed the Sith mold so closely, since all along Palpatine was trying to manipulate Ren.

During the time of The Force Awakens , many fans theorized that the next film would reveal Snoke to exist Darth Plagueis, the Sith main who taught Palpatine the ways of the dark side. Plagueis was interested in extending i's lifespan through the utilise of the nighttime side, so an old human with mysterious origins could very well have been him. This theory didn't pan out.

6. Rian Johnson Felt Snoke's Presence Distracted From Rey and Kylo Ren'southward Stories

The fan theories didn't line upwards with what The Concluding Jedi managing director Rian Johnson had in listen for moving the Sequel Trilogy cast into the future. In a conversation with EW (via Collider) Johnson explained his reasoning for knocking Snoke off the Sequel Trilogy's chessboard.

"When I was working on the character of Kylo, I came to a place where I thought the well-nigh interesting thing would be to knock the shaky foundation out from under him at the get-go of this movie…By the stop of this film, he's gone from being a wannabe Vader to someone who is standing on his own anxiety as a complex villain taking the reins."

Simply if Kylo took the reins, where would this get out Snoke?

"That fabricated me realize the well-nigh interesting thing would be to eliminate that dynamic betwixt the 'emperor' and pupil, so that all bets are off going into the side by side ane. That also led to the possibility of this dramatic turn in the heart, which could also be a actually powerful connexion point betwixt Kylo and Rey."

Instead of focusing on Snoke'due south history, Johnson found Kylo Ren'south ongoing story more relevant and felt killing Snoke was necessary to button his former apprentice's arc frontwards.

7. Snoke Chose Ben Solo Because of His Skywalker Blood

Speaking of the Sith, Snoke may not be i, but he is interested in the lineage of i of the strongest Sith of all time. He chose to corrupt Ben Solo specifically because he was the grandson of Darth Vader. Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa were perhaps too ingrained in the lite side and too dedicated to the cause of the New Democracy for Snoke to manipulate them, only the mercurial and directionless Solo was the perfect target. Using Ben'southward obsession with Darth Vader to plow him further to the dark side was a relatively easy task for Snoke.

In the comic serial The Rise of Kylo Ren , we learned how Snoke began reaching out to Ben from an early on age– and some other comic, Age of Resistance: Supreme Leader Snoke , too fills in some of Snoke and Ben'due south history. Before the events of The Force Awakens , Snoke spent a lot of time planting seeds of distrust between Ben and his uncle and teacher Luke Skywalker from afar, all while biding his time on a space station with an expansive garden, where Ben flees for guidance after the destruction of the Jedi academy.

Some time after this, Snoke took Kylo Ren to the Force cave on Dagobah from The Empire Strikes Back to experience a vision. In that location, Kylo kills an illusory Luke, just stops short of killing his parents. But Snoke encourages him to use his acrimony, fright, and other emotions associated with the dark side to complete his training.

The visual lexicon for The Rise of Skywalker shows how deep Palpatine'southward plan went. It says Palpatine intended killing Snoke to be the mark of Kylo Ren's full descent into the dark side and rise into Sith-hood. Snoke's expiry was in a manner a symbolic killing of a Sith master — it'south traditional for the apprentice to impale the Master — while Palpatine himself remained alive and well to have over as Kylo'due south new master. A final, decisive victory over the Skywalker bloodline.

8. Snoke Trained At Least 1 Other Amateur Before Kylo Ren

According to the The Force Awakensouth Visual Dictionary, Snoke canonically trained someone else earlier Ben. Little is known about this mystery apprentice. We don't know the person's name, when this took identify, or how it connects to Palpatine's overarching plans. The existence of this amateur is implied by Snoke's description of Kylo Ren every bit his near gifted apprentice, suggesting at that place must take been someone else to compare him to.

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In the Age of Resistance comic, Snoke as well mentions that he plans to have more apprentices after Kylo Ren is gone. Merely Ren cuts that plan short in The Final Jedi .

9. Snoke Had At To the lowest degree Ane Earlier Run-In With Luke

The facial scarring and collapsed cheek Serkis talked about might accept been created by Luke Skywalker. In The Rise of Kylo Ren , Ben Solo alludes to "what Principal Luke did to yous." Just Snoke is more than interested in Ben'southward conflict with Luke.

What happened between Snoke and Luke is nevertheless unknown. Information technology'due south possible that whatever confrontation led to Snoke's scars was also the first fourth dimension Ben met Snoke.

ten. Snoke Played a Key Role in the Empire'southward Transformation into The First Order

Since Palpatine had to hide his weak clone body from anybody except his hole-and-corner Sith acolytes, he placed Snoke in accuse of the day-to-day growth of the Start Society. Through his own lackeys, Full general Hux and Captain Phasma, Snoke spearheaded the new stormtrooper programme that captured and indoctrinated children, building a armed forces strength powerful enough to go against the New Republic. And behind the veil of the Unknown Regions, an uncharted sector of the milky way where the New Democracy held no dominion, Snoke helped reorganize what was left of the Empire into the First Order, eventually becoming its Supreme Leader.

Snoke's Attendants, the imperial-robed aliens seen briefly in The Last Jedi , are also part of this initiative. They are the ones who helped the Imperial remnant settle in the Unknown Regions, using their abilities to blaze hyperspace trails that made First Order conquest much more efficient.

11. Snoke's Flagship, The Supremacy, Is the Just Transport of Its Kind

Snoke'due south flagship was ripped in one-half by "the Holdo maneuver" in The Final Jedi , a potent blow past the beleaguered Resistance. Along with being the site of Snoke's throne room, the Supremacy also contained plenty factories to produce unabridged fleets for the Beginning Lodge.

In fact, it was the base of operations for the entire Kickoff Order, which did not have a capital planet but instead maintained their war machine superiority from infinite. Technically, the Supremacy was a Mega-class Star Destroyer and the only one of its kind ever made.

12. Snoke's Ring Contains a Relic From Darth Vader's Castle

Snoke was a collector of Sith relics and secrets, traveling around the galaxy in search of knowledge, settling on his Force philosophy, and collecting things before he recruited Ben. Information technology's unclear how much of this Sith pilgrimage actually happened versus the memories implanted by Palpatine, but it does announced that Snoke did really discover the lost concept of a Strength dyad, which he used to bring Rey and Kylo together.

He as well discovered many dark side artifacts. Ane detail that'south easy to overlook in The Last Jedi is Snoke's ring. The gaudy gold ring contains a hunk of black crystal. The Last Jedi Visual Lexicon defines this as obsidian from the catacombs beneath Darth Vader'due south fortress on Mustafar. The ring as well features "gilt etched with glyph of the Dwartii." In both catechism and Legends, Dwartii is a planet which is dwelling house to several dissimilar schools of philosophers.