Who is Supreme Leader Snoke?
Radio Times delves into the soundtracks for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Revenge of the Sith, and they notice something interesting. The Force Awakens‘ shadowy villain, Supreme Leader Snoke, has a familiar motif, one that first appeared in Revenge of the Sith.
It’s the motif that plays when Senator Palpatine tells Anakin Skywalker the story of Darth Plagueis, how he was obsessed with immortality and the creation of life. Plagueis was especially interested in the use of midichlorians, and as we know from The Phantom Menace, Anakin seemed to have been created through midichlorians. (My speculations on Anakin’s conception and parentage can be found here.) His mother, Shmi, said he had no father. Is it possible that Plagueis created Anakin Skywalker as an experiment? Or did Plagueis’ (presumed) apprentice, Darth Sidious, create Anakin?
The more I consider this, the more I’m in favor of Plagueis as Supreme Leader Snoke. It makes sense from a narrative point of view.
Yes, Palpatine tells Anakin that Plagueis’ apprentice murdered him in his sleep. That is the way of the Sith, the Apprentice killing the Master and assuming his place. But, would a Dark Side creature who had conquered death have died in his sleep? We have only Palpatine’s word for this.
Plagueis/Snoke would tie the trilogies together — we would have Skywalker family contending against the same evil legacy (Plagueis and his apprentice, Sidious) through the generations. If Plagueis is responsible for the creation of Anakin — either directly or through his apprentice Sidious — then that means that Plagueis will face his reckoning with his “descendants.” The Star Wars becomes the story of two families doing battle for the fate of the galaxy across the generations.
That’s more compelling emotionally and narratively than Snoke as some random darksider.
Unfortunately, Plagueis as Snoke may be so obvious at this point that the filmmakers behind Episodes VIII and IX will swerve into an entirely random — and less satisfying — direction.