The theories run strong when it comes to Star Wars and this one from Kevin Burwick of MovieWeb isn’t much of a surprise since we didn’t get to see a whole lot of Snoke even though the novelized version of The Last Jedi was able to give a little more information on the infamous leader of the First Order. So far though no one really knows where Snoke came came from and how he might really be connected to Palpatine. But given the fact that he was taken out so easily in The Last Jedi it would seem that we’re not quite done with him yet, or his story is going to be given some explanation in the upcoming episode. It’s all well and good that he might have been Palpatine’s puppet, the guy that thought he was in control but was in fact being guided every step of the way. But then considering how strong of a Force user he is one has to imagine that he knew at least a little bit about the manipulation and was possibly trying to subvert Palpatine’s power to insure that he’d be the one standing tall in the end. Kylo Ren kind of put the kibosh on that however when he executed the same trick that many Sith have been taught since the Rule of Two was brought forth by Darth Bane. One to wield the power and one to seek it, or something along those lines, has been a very poignant lesson that many Sith were made to learn throughout the history of the dark order.
Whether one wants to think of the graphic novels and comics that have come before or not it’s still a good lesson since even Darth Vader tried to take on his own apprentice so as to overthrow his master. Obviously it didn’t work since Palpatine is a bit too ruthless to be taken that unaware, but it’s the way of the Sith to be always looking over their shoulder and looking ahead to see how they can out-maneuver everyone, including their own allies. One way that Palpatine might have done this has to do with something that was a part of the Expanded Universe that is no longer considered canon, but still can’t be entirely ignored. Palpatine did make his way back to the comics in the 90s as a clone, creating new versions of himself that were burned out quickly by the sheer amount of power that he possessed before he was finally consigned to the darkness. In this current trilogy however it might be that the director decided to pull from the supposed non-canon material to bring something that fans might recognize into the fray. But of course with the idea of the Sith and the fact that they don’t share power very well it raises a few questions.
For instance, if Palpatine is powerful enough to conquer or at least keep death at bay, then how is he not powerful enough to simply upend Snoke and take over? Also, why not use Kylo Ren and his knights to a better end? There are a lot of questions to answer at this point and one of them is obviously the connection between Palpatine and Snoke, since even in the book it would appear that Snoke seemingly came out of nowhere to take over and assume the role of Supreme Leader. His origins are still something of a mystery and the fact remains that it could have been by Palpatine’s design that he rose to power and assumed leadership of the First Order, the group that rose out of the ashes that consumed the Empire as Palpatine had planned for in his absence. As strong as he was in the dark side of the Force Palpatine still knew how to play the odds it would seem since he had a contingency in place for his demise and for the Empire once he was gone, and Snoke, who was also a powerful dark side Force-user, could have been a part of that plan long before anyone realized who he was. After all, if a theory holds that Palpatine could have created Anakin Skywalker and Rey, what’s to stop that same theory from explaining how he manipulated a younger Snoke into rising to power as he did?
Even thinking that Snoke was more of a puppet than a leader is hard for some folks since he seemed to be evil incarnate until he was cut in two by his own apprentice. But then you need to think of how evil Palpatine really is and how intelligent he’s proven to be over the years. This is after all the guy that orchestrated the downfall of the Jedi Order and was responsible for Order 66. If he could take down an organization that had lasted for thousands of years it doesn’t seem too hard to think that he could work behind the scenes without anyone being the wiser.
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