Who is Supreme Leader Snoke?

Who is Supreme Leader Snoke?

This is one the top questions of the EPVII TFA movie. There are really several theories on Internet currently. Some more at each release of interviews, trailers, book … Some are quite interesting and some are quite extreme (or better said: out of the box) ..

In this article I will try to summarize a little bit what I found on searching the net and thinking by myself.

Of course at then end it is only speculations from all the fans. So you have to make your own idea of it all.

So Snoke could be ….

1.              Darth Plagueis

2.              Ezra Bridger

3.              Grand Inquisitor

4.              Dark Vader

5.              Grand Moff Tarkin

6.              Simply A new character

7.              Out of the box : Leia / Force Ghost / Jar Jar Binks

As an introduction we need to recall obvious facts from TFA ; Supreme Leader Snoke seems a force sensitive, extremely powerful leader of a huge and high technological army (The first order). He seems to have infinite ressources. He is also very interested in both Light and Dark Side. He looks always very calm for a dark side Lord. So the experience with the force is coming for long age and deep knowledge.  He is also the leader of the Dark Jedi's (not Sith) called the Knights of Ren.

Snoke is also very well aware of the rise and fall of the empire (this is detailed in the TFA novelization). So, somehow he was around at that time of Clone Wars for example.

He appears to have been strongly injured in the past.

His focus is to hunt down Luke Skywalker (last Jedi?).

Darth Plagueis: This is the most popular theory you can find on the net. Remember in ROTS, Palpatine explained to Anakin who was Darth Plagueis : a dark lord so powerful and so wise that he could create life from the force. Palpatine explains that Plagueis even found the way to immortality using abilities of the dark side.

We know that Plagueis was actually the Master of Palpatine and the true first initiator of the plot by supporting and infiltrating Palpatine inside the corrupted republic senate with the one and only goal of the Sith Lords since millenniums: destroy the Jedi Order and take control of the galaxy.

Palpatine explains that darth Plagueis was killed by his apprentice (Palpatine himself as Darth Sidius). So off course at this point nobody expects to see him again.

But in TFA, the Snoke music theme recalls nearly exactly the music of the moment when Palpatine speaks about Plagueis. So a lot of people think that this a clear clue to the reference. I am personally not sure because the music in ROTS is linked to the “opera” Palpatine is watching and not really to his speech…

So this would mean that Plagueis survived Sidius attempt to kill him. Stayed in the shadow while his old apprentice raised the Empire and destroyed the Jedi. And he finally returned with a new identity after the death of Palpatine to finish the plot.

This makes sense to me.

Ezra Bridger: (warning Spoiler of Star wars Rebels) This is very interesting theory to my mind and it would connect TV show “star wars rebels” to the new trilogy with the effect to bring really a lot of public to look a Rebels.

Ezra is an orphan, turbulent child of the planet Lothal of the outer rim. He is born on the “Empire Day” (the day the Empire was official set up) . The Jedi Knight Kannan discovers him on Lothal and takes him as his apprentice.  Ezra shows rapidly very strong abilities in the force but he is disturbed by the loss of his parents generating fear, hate of the empire and desire of vengeance. We see also Yoda feeling the unstable feelings of the young apprentice (he reminds of Yoda being worried of Anakin path…). At the end of season 2 he even finds a sith Holocron and he seems to be really willing to open it. The next season will probably further develop on the fragility of the character and the high risk that he falls to the dark side.

If we even make the hypothesis that he joins the dark side with Darth Vader as a master. he could get responsibility of a part of the Emperial fleet (but I am getting to far probably).

This character would be quite young at age of Episode VII and of course the face is not matching to Snoke. But it could easily be the result of a battle like what happened to Palpatine during duel with Mace Windu.

Against is also the fact that he was not witnessing the creation of the Empire.

So what do you think ?

Grand Inquisitor: The Grand Inquisitor (a Pau’an) is a former Jedi Temple Guard force sensitive that has been seduced by the Dark Side. During Empire era, he reports to Vader and he is searching through the galaxy the remaining Jedi in order to kill them or turn them to the dark side.  (see article SITH).

Some info from MoviePilot.com are also linking Inquistor to General Hux father by having served the Empire on the same base. So this creates a link Inquistor-Snoke-Hux-First Order.

We saw the Inquistor killed by hand of Kanan at the end of Rebels Season 1. He falls done in a pit inside an Imperial Cruiser that even explodes after.

So for sure it seems improbable that he survives, but this would not be the first time we have such kind of returns of strong force sensitives (think about Maul being cut half). And this would fit with the strong injuries on Snoke face.

Snoke plot would also match with Inquisitor former activity of hunting down old the Jedi.

Last but not least, of course the physical match between him and Snoke: long white face and skinny silhouette.

Dark Vader:

This picture that is very common on the web has launched the theory that Snoke could be Dark Vader.

There is a noticeable similarity : the white skin, the scares.

But I do not see any valid theory there: Dark Vader has redeemed (major fact of the original trilogy) and he is dead (we can even see the Force ghost in ROTJ). Moreover what would be the reason to hunt Luke again?

Write me new arguments in comments because I am anyway interested.

Grand Moff Tarkin : Well this is a very very interesting hypothesis! Grand Moff Tarkin is one of the most evil characters of the Empire. He is responsible of atrocities all around the galaxy and he is the man of the largest mass destruction with the annihilation of Alderan!The loss of him at the end of EPIV is considered by some fan disappointing because the potential of the character was huge. That is probably why he was reintroduced recently : we discover this young admiral during the Clone Wars. Already at that time he is not supporting actions of the Jedi order and clearly express the will to use much more direct war methods in order to defeat the enemy. We can also see him and Anakin getting similar point of view… We can also see him in StarWars Rebels and a Novel has been dedicated to him. So there is a clear wish to develop and expand the story of this character.

Tarkin is supposed to be dead on the first death star but could he survived? Being strongly injured by the explosion. He would have to retire in order to heal himself and perhaps hide from the Emperor that could consider him responsible of the destruction of the weapon. (Similar to Darth Maul story)

He knows the Dark Side off course by being often in contact with Vader but he is not a force sensitive… are we are 100% sure that Snoke uses the Force? Perhaps that is why he needs Kylo Ren.

Concerning the plot of the First Order, it fits pretty good: Tarkin comes back after Emperor death and take over part of the fleet using his former contacts, he enhanced the technology of the Empire, he builds a new super weapon to get revenge over the Rebellion/New Republic and he wants to kill Luke that destroyed the Death Star.

Snoke and Tarkin have also similar very skinny figure…

For me this theory is the best! This come back would be awesome.

 

A new character : This is what is explained by Andy Serkis in an interview with Entertaintment Weekly . Off course we do not know if Serkis is reliable or simply does not know the story in order not to make mistakes…

Personally, I hope that Snoke is linked to someone of the past because then the revelation of the true or past identity could a really twisting moment!

Out of the box : 

Leia: well the Leia theory sounds very complex but it is based on Leia being the “antagonistic” part of Luke In the Force Balanced Universe: Luke is the Light, Leia the Dark. She trained her son to the Dark Side and starts to hunt Luke to continue the fight Jedi vs Sith. Luke could have discovered it and that is why he has gone in exile because he cannot fight against her.

Force Ghost: No comment on that, would it be the ghost of Sidious then ??

Jar Jar Binks: Now this is really crazy. Just look here.

Well, this is all very interesting! Let me know your ideas, point of views or evidences in comments. I will also start a POLE on that

Rogue one Trailer !!! My analysis ...

Trailer Link 

Let us analyse the ROGUE ONE Trailer.

The 1st trailer is finally out and it is impressive... 

Most impressive !!!

It looks like a true war film of the Galactic War! As you probably know it should show the evolutions of a group of rebels that will have the mission to steal the plans of the death star. 

This is not the story that is known from extended universe that is not anymore canonical since Disney took over.

Some points from my side:

Jyn

First of all, the main character is a girl named Jyn Erso. Is there a trend now in Star Wars? Does it follows the current action films trend of having female war heroes : Katniss, Tris, superwoman, wonderwoman ... 

In Star Wars there have been of course always strong women characters like Padme, Leia or Hera being quite brave in fighting but the First true fighter is Ashoka Tano that we have followed from her very joung days in Clone Wars to a full developed extremely powerful jedi in Rebels s02. Now Rey and Jyn are following this road ?

So Jyn will be the group leader (Or Rogue One in reference to dog fight squadrons). She is coming from the street with a turbulent passed with the Empire. Actually at the end we see her in an empire pilot suit. Is it her past ? Her future? Or just again the trick to have a stormtroopers suite to fool the Empire ?

Ezra

Here there is strong parallel to Ezra, the Lothal orphan trouble maker. But is Jyn force sensitive? Seems not, but let see.

The rest of the group is made of several different guys. Each one probably with a speciality. This is usually so and it remembers "Ocean 11" or "Dirty Dozen" for example and in Star Wars the Clone Bad Batch. I even guess that it is Jyn herself that recruits the team : smugglers, bounty hunters... Clone Wars tv show really enlarged the bounty hunter world and personally I loved it and I want to see more.

Interesting details is that the team seems made of only humans (probably from different colonies) and no aliens. It is a pity to my mind. 

Secondly, concerning locations: it is so nice to see again the known rebels uniform, helmets, droids... The first part of the trailer takes place in the Yavin 4 rebel base and in the same control room than EP IV where we can find MonMothma and general Dodonna (left side at back) among others. 

Then we have a gorgeous view on the just finished Death Star. It appears enormous! !! It gives a feeling of being much much bigger than in EP IV. Star destroyers are looking like tie fighters in front of this!!

Rest of the trailer shows actions on unknown planets that we will have to discover!

Next point is more general: it looks like a heavy action movie showing something fans wanted to see since years: the true WAR! We see rebel prisoners in bad conditions. A beach full of dead bodies and a lot of fighting. The atmosphere is really showing the oppression of the Empire: Storm troopers everywhere (a lot of different types), Heavy vehicles and strong fire power. This movie will provably show finally the oppression and of the Empire on the populations and the heavy fight needed to get freedom.

Bad guys: well the grand admiral with white uniform is really impressive. This guy will be really really bad... who it is ?

Then there is a scene with a figure in black in front of cylinder (could be a tube to cure someone as explained by several fans but I do not think so). We see 2 guards of the emperor so the figure is probably a dark jedi or perhaps an inquisitor. I guess that the emperor sends a dark side force sensitive character against the rebels group. Let us hope for a good final duel then...

Destiny: During the second part of the trailer, we can here the voice of an heavy armored character (that is actually not part of the team if we consider the picture above) who is asking again the central question of the whole Star Wars saga : "What will you do ? What will you become ?". So this movie will be (as every chapter of the sage) the story of how the main character will accept/change here destiny and where will it bring her? Light side / dark side of the conflict....?

All together this looks really great and it expends the universe! This is really the direction I wanted to see for EP VII. So the target group is more this time on older fan base with strong references to the original trilogy and probably more of an adult movie.

As a conclusion I expect a "Dirty Dozen" like film in the Star Wars world.

Cannot wait to see it !!!!!!!!!

Why does Kylo Ren claims that Anakin/Luke’s Light Saber belongs to him?

This is one of the several questions left unanswered by Episode VI (The Force Awakens).

But in order to try to understand that, we need to understand what is a lightsaber? and what does it true represents for a Jedi or a Sith ?

Lighsaber : We all know this iconic item of the Star Wars universe. It is unique in the SF world and it is a truly incredible creation from Lucas. Obiwan Kenoby describes it to Luke so :

"This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age."

―Obi-Wan Kenobi^[src]

This is very good description, it gives really a new dimension to the futuristic / hyper technologically advanced galaxy:  the most powerful weapon is a sword! Indeed it can deviate lasers, absorb lightning and cut nearly everything.

We are going back to classical myths in the middle age or fantasy world involving knights fighting villains or monsters or each others! Automatically it integrates values of honor, code, bravery, fellowship, betrayal ….

                      Figure 1 Anakin Skywalker               Figure 2 Aragorn

To my mind the creation of the light saber (together with the force that creates the mystical part) is making the bridge between science fiction movies and fantasy world. There Star Wars is now something new!

So what is a light saber (or lazersword) ?

In order to build a light saber you need of course a lot of technical devices but the true heart of it is the crystal. Crystals are never mentioned in the movies but in the Clone Wars animation series we have a very detailed description of the process for younglings (Jedi apprentices) to collect the crystals and then build the swords.

The crystals are unique to each Jedi. It has to be found by the Padawan inside the crystal caves[1] or Jedi temples [2]and at the end this is the  crystal that finds the Jedi based on his own characteristics. Everything is linked with the Force.

Then the crystal is assembled inside the sword hilt by the padawan himself.

So now we can understand better that there is a deep connection between the sword and the owner. We can even believe that the destiny of both are linked.

Indeed Obiwan always reminds to Anakin the following :

"This weapon is your life!"

―Obi-Wan Kenobi^[src]

And Anakin does the same with Ashoka.

But now think of the dilemma caused by what you just red: the sword and the Jedi are linked. Can we conclude that even for Jedi of the light side the most valuable item is a deadly weapon? It is a bit strange for meditating peoples who are sort of peaceful monks rejecting attachment or any other type of feelings. They are know also as negotiators in galaxies conflicts… …Just reflect on that item I will most probably develop on that in a future article.

Now Anakin’s weapon: why is it so important?

We are speaking about Anakin’s second light saber (the first one has been destroyed in the droid factory on Geonosys).

Some facts that make the sword so valuable :

Anakin is the chosen one: the one that brings balance to the force ! Someone will say no: he destroyed the Jedi ! But in reality the prophecy is not understood.

Anakin re-equilibrated the balance Jedi vs Sith by destroying the “lost” Jedi order and the too powerfull Sith Lord. Leaving only 1 Jedi and a new order to come. (this will also be subject to a dedicated article).

So the Saber must be somehow linked to the prophecy and it was part of it! Indeed the sword was used to destroy both siths (Count Doku) and the Jedi inside the temple.

Anakin was one of the best sword fighters of the galaxy: so the sword represents all that knowledge.

The weapon has been passed from father to son: Obiwan was the owner of the saber after the duel on Mustafar and gives it to Luke saying that Anakin wanted this. (Actually we do not know when Anakin could have told this to him…). This is also a strange attitude because as we have said before Jedi should create their own Saber (with own Crystal). This is actually what did Luke with the second Saber (green one). He gets even compliments from Darth Vader for that.

The weapon actually was turned against Anakin (now Vader) on Bespin: This is causing a contradiction and the fact that Vader cuts the hand of Luke can be motivated by the fact that either the sword reminds him of the light side or he thinks that Luke should not have it yet.

In the expended Universe, the saber is actually found again on Bespin and it is used by various people: Luke clone, Luke, Mara Jade and now since Episode VI : Rey.

So why Kylo Ren claims it ?

Kylo Ren only scope seems to be to continue what he thinks was the ultimate goal of Vader (his Grand father): destroy all Jedi’s.

So for him, the sword represents the most important object linked to Darth Vader: The weapon that destroyed the Jedi Order. It is considered to him a Sith artifact.

Moreover for sure he cannot accept that the weapon could return to the hand of Luke Skywalker that is his enemy. For him it is outrageous that such a Sith artifact could be used by a Jedi.  To my mind that is why he says “it BELONGS to me”, because a Sith artifact belongs to a Sith.

What will happen now to the sword? This is not really Luke’s saber because Luke has an other one (the one we see in Return of the Jedi) and I doubt that he separated himself from it even in exile. (Ashoka or Ventress never did even after being rejected…)

So will it become Rey’s weapon? Normally she should seek for her own light saber has completion of training. Is she ready for such a powerful weapon?

… Let us see….

All comments are welcome !

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[1] Clone Wars : episode S05E06/E07 : Younglings quest for their crystals and build Lightsabers

[2] Star Wars rebels : episode S01E09 : Ezra receives his Crystal

Star Wars Rebels Season 2 Final : ENORMOUS

Hy everybody !

I just finished watching the final episode of the StarWars Rebels Season 2 : That was awesome  !!!!!!

So tragical, so tearing you apart !


Darth Maul (.. just Maul...) back playing with Ezra. Ashoka more powerfull than ever ! Kanan that is really making a step forward into the light side ! Darth Vader just like we want him to act : cold, determined, calm, no mercy !

Seeing Vader in action is so impressive (...most impressive). This character is truly representing dark side and induce fear just by being present. I want more of Vader !


Ashoka is definitely now my best Jedi character. from the little girl of the Clone wars to the power and determination she demonstrates now. She is very affected by the fact that she passed through being abandoned by Jedi Order and she is strongly disturbed by the destiny of Anakin. This character is one of the most developed over the years.


I do not want to make spoilers to people that did not see it yet but look at Star Wars Rebels. It is a very rich show. Much much more interesting that Episode VII ...

 .... but i will develop on that in future.