Supreme Leader Snoke – ‘Star Wars’ Character Spotlight
Supreme Leader Snoke is the focus of this week’s _Star Wars_ Character Spotlight, the head of the First Order, the master of Kylo Ren and puppet of Darth Sidious. Portrayed by Andy Serkis, he was the main villain for half of the sequel trilogy, but his legacy was overshadowed by his connection to Sidious.
His mysterious nature led many fans to speculate on his origins and true identity for years. It turned out he was tied to Sidious in more ways than he knew, but the nature of his creation is one of the more interesting subjects in _Star Wars_.
## **Creation**
Snoke was engineered to be a new clone body for Emperor Palpatine to extend his life force upon his death. Palpatine had Imperial scientists working extensively on cloning but it was the work of the Sith Eternal cult on Exegol that made the most progress.
Snoke was not a true clone of Palpatine, but an artificial strandcast with no knowledge of his true lineage. This was the next best thing to a clone – and he was the superior version of all the strandcasts, despite the fact that his body would decompose at a rapid rate – but still didn’t suit Sidious’ purposes. Palpatine found him unworthy as a vessel to inhabit and continued his cloning efforts.
It seems that Sidious allowed Snoke to leave Exegol and explore the galaxy by himself, though presumably he kept tabs on his creation. Snoke travelled the galaxy learning about the dark side and seeking out ancient lore, an obsession that Sidious shared. He established many bases throughout the galaxy that housed ancient Force artifacts and eventually took up residence on Amaxine Station, an ancient space station that once housed the dark side plant species Drengir.
## **Death of Sidious**
Palpatine eventually succeeded in cloning his body and transferred his essence to it after his death, but it was not perfect and was rapidly decomposing. Forced to remain in the laboratory on Exegol, he decided to use Snoke as a proxy for his interests.
Enlisting him as an apprentice was out of the question; after Darth Vader’s betrayal, Sidious was only interested in a puppet that would serve him without question. So, he used his unique connection with Snoke to influence his mind and get his creation to do his bidding subconsciously.
This meant that Snoke had a singular goal to prevent the Jedi and the Republic from rising again. When the Empire lost at the Battle of Jakku, he accompanied their remaining forces when they fled to the Unknown Regions. According to the expanded edition of _The Last Jedi_ novel, it was Snoke’s incredible knowledge of the Force and the Unknown Regions that allowed the First Order to survive and grow as they conquered the various kingdoms that lived there.
Because he was not well versed in military strategy and warfare, he had to work his way up the First Order food chain. Though some recognized that they needed Snoke’s knowledge until they returned to the known galaxy, his importance to the First Order did not exceed that. Eventually though, Snoke made his move by killing and sidelining any prominent figures in the First Order, who did not predict his ascension until it had already happened. Apparently Snoke never thought he would end up leading the faction, but he seized an opportunity nevertheless.
Snoke spared General Hux as he saw him as a tool to be used, and gave him command of the First Order fleet which sated his ambitions. Enric Pryde also stepped aside for Snoke, recognizing the significance of his power in the Force and that it was the same power possessed by Palpatine and Vader.
## **Supreme Leader Snoke**
It was under Snoke’s rule that the First Order re-emerged from the Unknown Regions. Now styling himself as Supreme Leader Snoke, he knew that they would have to expand rapidly if they were to hope to overthrow the imperfect New Republic and stop Luke Skywalker’s budding Jedi Academy.
Supreme Leader Snoke preferred to focus on matters of the Force and delegated duties like the military, propaganda and technology to other high-ranking generals. He sanctioned a huge rearmament programme and ordered the construction of the _Supremacy_ , a dreadnought that would serve as the First Order’s mobile headquarters until they had conquered the entire galaxy, at which point he would choose a planet to make his home.
In the _Age of Resistance – Supreme Leader Snoke_ one-shot comic, it is revealed that Snoke considered attempting to make Luke Skywalker his apprentice at one point. He figured that Luke was powerful enough that he could have ruled the galaxy himself had he wished, and thought he might be able to unlock that potential as his master.
However, _The Rise of Kylo Ren_ comic tells us that upon Snoke’s first encounter with Skywalker, he came out on the losing end of a duel that may have resulted in further disfigurement of his face. From here on out, Snoke considered him an enemy and a powerful tool of the Cosmic Force.
Unable to defeat him in a fight, Snoke kept tabs on Luke’s activity and knew that he would need to prevent him from rebuilding the Jedi Order. It seems he tried to influence Skywalker’s thinking by releasing negative information about the Jedi, believing it would convince him that the Jedi were not worth resurrecting. Instead, it ended up inspiring Luke further to build a new Jedi Order without the flaws of the old one.
## **Finding an apprentice**
Snoke decided that he needed an apprentice of his own to further his own designs. This apprentice would keep people in line while he could keep to the shadows and think of the bigger picture, like with Vader and Sidious. Presumably, this was a directive from Sidious; though Snoke still had no idea about his true lineage, the inspiration Sidious provided might have been greater than even he realized.
He took on many apprentices, though we don’t know the identities of any of them yet. He soon felt that only the Skywalker bloodline was powerful enough to produce an acolyte worthy of serving him and took great interest in Ben Solo. This was another hint from Palpatine to his subconscious, who became obsessed once again with turning a Skywalker to the dark side.
Snoke began contacting Ben through the Force as a friendly presence. He realized that the boy had abandonment issues that had arisen from having parents who also had obligations to the New Republic. It’s not clear how, but Leia discovered that Snoke was trying to poison her son’s mind and turn him to the dark side, so she sent him to train as a Jedi at Luke’s academy.
This likely didn’t help Ben’s abandonment issues (it appears Han was barely involved in the decision). During his Jedi training, Snoke would regularly commune with Ben through the Force and the boy was glad to have a friend to talk to. Snoke came to have an intimate understanding of Ben’s fears and insecurities and began advising him on what he would need to do to become the most powerful being in the galaxy.
We see this in issue #2 of _The Rise of Kylo Ren_ , as Snoke speaks to Ben even as he sits in the same shuttle as Luke on a mission to find Jedi artifacts. Ben admitted he was frustrated by Luke’s teaching methods and Snoke talked about the Jedi’s history of hoarding knowledge. He also convinced Ben that Luke saw him as a mere child, unaware of his true power.
On that mission, Ben met the Knights of Ren for the first time and saw that the Jedi weren’t the only path to Force mastery, an idea that Snoke encouraged. Over the next decade, Ben became fascinated with the dark side as Luke’s attention was divided between all his other students. With Snoke whispering in his ear, Ben felt he was the only person who truly understood him.
## **Corruption of Ben Solo**
In 28 ABY (six years before _The Force Awakens_), Ben discovered that his grandfather was none other than Darth Vader and was enraged that his family had kept that information from him. Snoke convinced him that the revelation itself was a good thing and that he had the potential to surpass his father’s power.
We see what happens next in _The Last Jedi_. Luke sensed that his nephew was becoming drawn to the dark side and entered his bedroom, prying into Ben’s mind and discovered the extent of Snoke’s influence. He saw a future where Ben became a tool of the dark side causing untold death and destruction and instinctively raised his lightsaber, recognizing his nephew as a galactic threat.
That lasted but a moment and Luke deactivated his blade, but he had already gone too far; Ben had witnessed all this and destroyed the Jedi temple. We see in _The Rise of Kylo Ren_ that he fled to Amaxine Station to meet Snoke. When Ben expressed a desire to seek out the Knights of Ren to learn more about the dark side of the Force, Snoke encouraged it. He contacted the group and convinced them to let Ben join, telling them that the boy was something special and needed to be shown the way of the dark side.
Later, Snoke could feel Ben dueling Ren in the Force and encouraged him to continue. Ben killed Ren and swore fealty to Snoke as his apprentice. With Snoke’s blessing, he inherited command of the Knights of Ren and styled himself as Kylo Ren.
Kylo Ren then became Supreme Leader Snoke’s second-in-command, a high position in the First Order. Their relationship became much more toxic as Snoke came up with a series of tests to hone Kylo’s abilities and ensure his absolute loyalty. He encouraged Ren to embrace his impulses as a shortcut to power, promising he would become “heir to the Force”.
Snoke forbade Kylo from ever using his real name and convinced him that the reason the Empire fell was due to Vader’s sentimentality. He often pitted him against General Hux to stoke feelings of jealousy and hatred. He trained him with the ultimate goal of killing Luke Skywalker.
We see a few of Snoke’s tests in _Age of Resistance – Supreme Leader Snoke_ , as Snoke brings him to Dagobah. Kylo entered the Cave of Evil and killed a vision of Luke Skywalker, though he could not bring himself to kill a vision of his parents and instead used the Force to collapse the cave entirely. Snoke was disappointed in his apprentice for destroying an ancient Force site.
## **First Order expansion and the hunt for Luke Skywalker**
Snoke next appears in the eighth issue of _Hyperspace Stories_ a year later, as the First Order conquered the planet Karaxis with both Kylo Ren and Hux reluctantly working together. He then pops up in _Age of Resistance – General Hux_ , as Hux and Ren report on the status of Starkiller Base.
We know Snoke’s story from this point. Luke Skywalker disappeared from the galaxy in the next few years and Snoke tasked Kylo Ren with finding him so he could be killed. However, during _The Force Awakens_ he became displeased with Ren’s failure to find him, letting a droid escape with the coordinates to Luke’s hiding place.
However, he was pleased to learn that Kylo had killed his father on Starkiller Base, believing he had taken the first step to resisting the temptation of the light side of the Force. He ordered Hux to bring Kylo with him to the _Supremacy_ , intending to complete his apprentice’s training.
## **The Last Jedi**
With the destruction of Starkiller Base, Supreme Leader Snoke instructed Hux to destroy the Resistance on D’Qar. He moved to regroup with the rest of the First Order forces himself, intent to be present for the destruction of the enemy faction. When Hux displeased him on a holocall, he humiliated him in front of First Order officers, using the Force to drag him around the bridge.
He was dismayed to learn that Kylo Ren had been defeated by a girl with no training on Starkiller Base and berated his apprentice for such failure. Of course, it wouldn’t do for his ultimate tool of the dark side to be bested by such a novice and he called Kylo “a child with a mask”, insisting that Vader would be ashamed of him.
However, realizing this young girl must be powerful in the Force, he allowed Kylo to develop a bond with her, claiming he had engineered the bond himself though in reality they were a Force dyad.
He was pleased when Kylo soon brought Rey to him, announcing his faith in him had been restored. He used the Force to probe Rey’s mind and discover Luke Skywalker’s location, announcing that he would destroy Ahch-To once he was done with the Resistance.
He ordered Kylo Ren to strike her down, unaware that his abuse had turned his apprentice against him. In his arrogance, he focused on Kylo Ren’s emotions and closed his eyes, unaware that Kylo had tricked him. His apprentice stabbed him with Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber and pulled it through him, bisecting his master.
## **Legacy**
Snoke doesn’t really have much of a legacy. Kylo Ren immediately took the mantle of Supreme Leader from him, and the revelation in _The Rise of Skywalker_ that he was created to be a tool for Darth Sidious means he becomes little more than a chapter in the Sith Lord’s larger story.
## **What next?**
It’s likely that Snoke will pop up in future comics and novels exploring the New Republic era. Maybe he’ll even appear in Dave Filoni’s film wrapping up the Mandoverse, but surely that would only be a cameo. Any stories pre-dating _The Force Awakens_ that focus on the First Order would surely involve him.
##### Josh Atkins
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Josh is a huge Star Wars fan, who has spent far too much time wondering if any Star Wars character could defeat Thanos with all the Infinity Stones.
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Supreme Leader Snoke – ‘Star Wars’ Character Spotlight Supreme Leader Snoke is the focus of this week’s Star Wars Character Spotlight, the head of the First Order, the The post Supreme Lead...
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