Snoke

"Give me everything."

- Snoke, to Rey

Snoke, a Force-sensitive humanoid male alien, was the Supreme Leader of the First Order and a powerful practitioner of the dark side of the Force. Although he practiced the ways of the dark side, Snoke was not a Sith; that order perished with the deaths of the last two Sith Lords, Darth Sidious and Darth Vader. Like the Sith, Snoke sought to achieve the complete destruction of the Jedi Order, which he saw as a symbol of hope that could thwart his plans of galactic conquest. To that end, he successfully turned the young but powerful Ben Solo to the dark side. Solo, who had once trained in the ways of the light side of the Force as part of a new generation of Jedi, renounced his ties to the Jedi Order and his family in favor of becoming Kylo Ren&mdash;master of the Knights of Ren and apprentice to the Supreme Leader. With Ren under his command, Snoke set his new acolyte to task by dispatching him to hunt and kill Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, the uncle and former mentor of Ben Solo.

During the waning days of the cold war, as Ren led the hunt for the map to Skywalker, General Armitage Hux informed Snoke that the Starkiller superweapon was complete and thereby proposed to test its destructive firepower on the New Republic capital world of Hosnian Prime. Snoke approved the general's plan, resulting in the annihilation of the entire Hosnian system, the Galactic Senate, and a substantial portion of the New Republic Defense Fleet. With the Republic in disarray, Snoke turned his attention to the Resistance&mdash;a paramilitary group led by Ren's mother, General Leia Organa&mdash;and ordered Hux to use the weapon on D'Qar where the Resistance base was located. However, Starkiller Base was destroyed in a Resistance raid and Ren was defeated by Rey, a Force-sensitive scavenger from Jakku.

Despite the loss of the superweapon, Snoke deployed the armed forces of the First Order across the galaxy with the intention of seizing control of the major star systems. At the same time, he personally oversaw the First Order's efforts to destroy the Resistance. Using his mobile headquarters, the Mega-class Star Dreadnought Supremacy, as a command ship, the Supreme Leader's armada pursued the Resistance fleet from D'Qar to the Crait system. He also began to reconsider his view on Ren, whom he now regarded as a failed apprentice and unworthy of Vader's legacy. Believing Ren was not strong enough to hide his conflicted heart, Snoke used his powers to bridge the minds of Ren and Rey, who bonded with each other through the Force, as a way to lure the aspiring Jedi into a trap. Rey ultimately took the bait, convinced that she could redeem Ren, and was tortured by Snoke who succeeded in probing her mind for Skywalker's place of exile. Having gained the knowledge he sought, Snoke ordered Ren to execute Rey. Yet as he concentrated on Ren's thoughts, the Supreme Leader did not sense his apprentice's impending betrayal in the form of the Skywalker lightsaber, which Ren used to assassinate his master. The dark warrior then claimed the mantle of Supreme Leader for himself and implicated Rey&mdash;who rejected Ren's offer to rule the galaxy together&mdash;as the one responsible for Snoke's death.

Early life
"It is where you are from. What you are made of. The dark side—and the light. The finest sculptor cannot fashion a masterpiece from poor materials. He must have something pure, something strong, something unbreakable, with which to work."

- Snoke, to Kylo Ren

Snoke was a humanoid alien who was a master of the dark side of the Force. At some unspecified point in his life, Snoke acquired a black obsidian stone from the catacombs and mines beneath the castle of the Sith Lord Darth Vader on the planet Mustafar. He affixed the stone to a golden ring he wore, which was engraved with glyphs used by the Four Sages of Dwartii, controversial figures of philosophy from the early days of the Galactic Republic that were represented with bronzium statues in the office of Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine.

Although he was a very powerful practitioner of the dark side of the Force, Snoke was not affiliated with the Sith, which became extinct as a result of the deaths of Darth Sidious and Darth Vader aboard the Death Star II during the Battle of Endor thanks to the efforts of the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker. As such, Snoke, a secretive master of the Force, was a seeker of arcane and ancient lore. He had also been sensed by Sidious shortly before the latter's death, and had also been familiar with Skywalker.

Eventually, Snoke witnessed the rise and fall of the Galactic Empire. Through a secret Contingency, however, many former Imperial officers, nobles and technologists fled to the Unknown Regions of the galaxy. Most of the former Imperial officers would have likely perished while crossing this uncharted realm if it had not been for the ancient hyperspace trails blazed by a retinue of mute alien navigators that served Snoke, the Attendants, along with some knowledge of the Unknown Regions provided by the Chiss Grand Admiral Thrawn, which helped the former Imperial officers settle there and reorganize themselves into the First Order. In a matter of time, Snoke unexpectedly became the Supreme Leader of the First Order. The last of the Imperial leadership, including Grand Admiral Rae Sloane, the political lunatic Ormes Apolin, and even General Brendol Hux did not expect Snoke's rise to power and were surprised when it occurred. General Armitage Hux, Brendol's son, was spared by Snoke in order to use him as a tool in his rise to power.

Seduction of Kylo Ren
"No. It was Snoke.''" "Snoke?" "''He knew our child would be strong with the Force. That he was born with equal potential for good or evil."

- Leia Organa and Han Solo

Snoke became invested in the Skywalker bloodline, believing General Leia Organa and Han Solo's son, Ben Solo, the grandson of Darth Vader and nephew of the now Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, had the right balance of the dark and light sides of the Force in him. In addition, Snoke had been indirectly responsible for convincing Skywalker to rebuild the Jedi Order in an attempt to break the latter when he had it destroyed alongside Skywalker himself, with his intending to corrupt Ben Solo being instrumental to these plans.

Leia was aware of the influence Snoke could have on her son, but did not inform Han, believing he would not understand, and that, as a Force-sensitive, it was her responsibility to keep Ben away from the dark side. Eventually, Snoke had successfully turned Ben to the dark side, anointing him Kylo Ren, master of the Knights of Ren, and ordered him to destroy Skywalker's revived Jedi Order. Though Ren succeeded in slaughtering the entirety of the fledgling Jedi Order, Skywalker managed to escape into hiding to Ahch-To, as he felt that it wasn't Snoke, as Leia thought, but himself who was to take blame for the events due to his nearly killing Solo in his sleep after sensing the Dark Side in him.

Map to Skywalker
"Even you, master of the Knights of Ren, have never faced such a test.''" "''By the grace of your training, I will not be seduced."

- Snoke and Kylo Ren

Following Skywalker's disappearance, Snoke assigned Ren to hunt down the last Jedi, knowing that as long as Skywalker lived, the Jedi and thus hope lived. In 34 ABY, Ren's search led him to Jakku, where he learned that the final piece of the map to Skywalker was in the possession of the astromech droid BB-8. Snoke ordered the droid's capture or destruction, preferably the former. Despite the efforts of the First Order, BB-8 managed to escape Jakku aboard the Millennium Falcon.

Ren and General Hux later returned to Starkiller Base to communicate with Snoke via hologram. Hux proposed using Starkiller Base's superweapon to destroy the New Republic government, which was backing the Resistance, an undertaking which Snoke authorized. He then spoke with Ren privately, asking if he had felt an awakening in the Force. He ordered Ren to kill his father to overcome his temptation by the light.

Shortly after the destruction of the Hosnian system, resulting in the eradication of the New Republic government and a portion of its fleet, Ren invaded Takodana in search of BB-8. He later deemed the droid unnecessary as he captured a scavenger named Rey, who had seen the final piece of the map to Skywalker's location. Snoke was later upset to hear that the girl resisted Ren's interrogation. Ren defended himself by explaining that Rey was strong in the Force, albeit untrained. As the Resistance base had been discovered, Snoke ordered Hux to destroy the Resistance before they could find Skywalker, and for Ren to bring Rey to him. However, Ren never got the chance, as Rey managed to escape with the help of her new powers.

Subsequently, Starkiller Base was infiltrated by Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Finn, who managed to lower the shields through the aid of a captured Captain Phasma to allow the Resistance fleet to attack the base. Solo then tried to bring Ren back to the light, only for his own son to murder him. In rage and grief, Chewbacca wounded Ren and blew a hole in the superweapon's thermal oscillator, allowing Resistance pilot Poe Dameron to fly in and destroy it, causing catastrophic damage, preventing the solar energy from being contained. When the destruction of Starkiller Base was inevitable, a frantic Hux reported this to Snoke who was remarkably blase about it, instead ordering the general to bring Ren to him in order to complete his training.

Eventually, the First Order managed to gain enough victories in the conflict that Snoke decided to risk coming out of the shadows to personally lead the First Order to potential dominance over the Resistance.

Fall from power
"You think you can turn him? Pathetic child. I cannot be betrayed; I cannot be beaten. I see his mind; I see his every intent. Yes... I see him turning the lightsaber to strike true! And now, foolish child, he ignites it and kills his true enemy!"

- Snoke's last words, said to Rey

Sometime after the destruction of Starkiller Base, Snoke began directing several maneuvers designed to eliminate any possibility of hope returning to the galaxy. He empowered General Hux to pursue and destroy the Resistance fleet, which initially failed when an assault on their base not only saw the Resistance slip away but the loss of a First Order dreadnought. Snoke immediately contacted Hux to make his anger clear, using the Force to painfully humiliate the general, but was delighted when Hux revealed a way to track the fleet's movements through hyperspace, thereby allowing the First Order to immediately pinpoint their location.

Immediately after his audience with Hux, Snoke turned his attention to his disgraced apprentice, remarking on how he had begun to lose faith in his apprentice after his failure at Starkiller Base and his further conflict over having murdered his father. Snoke's taunts caused Ren to attempt to attack him, causing the Supreme Leader's guards to react aggressively, but Snoke effortlessly brushed aside the attack with a bolt of Force lightning and went back to his throne, reminding Ren that as long as the Jedi persisted in the galaxy, so too did the hope that could defeat them.

Seeking to shift the tides in his favour, Snoke claimed to have used his own powers to link the minds of Rey and Ren through a Force-bond. Through the Force, both Rey and Ren could see each other and communicate from different locations in the galaxy. Believing she could restore Ben Solo to the light, Rey sought Ren out, and was brought to Snoke aboard the Supreme Leader's flagship known as the Supremacy, where the Supreme Leader took her weapon, the legendary Skywalker lightsaber, and placed it next to him on the arm of his throne. Using his own formidable powers, Snoke restrained Rey and tortuously probed her mind to discover Skywalker's whereabouts.

After obtaining the knowledge he sought, he contemptuously dropped the girl, only for her to attempt to summon Anakin's lightsaber into her grasp, which he effortlessly redirected to strike her in the head from behind with a sneer. As a final gesture of contempt, he forced her to watch the destruction of the Resistance's remaining ships via his oculus viewing scope. Rather than breaking Rey's spirit, however, the sight prompted her to summon Kylo's sword to defy him once more, earning the Supreme Leader's respect as he sincerely complimented her for her courage.

Acknowledging Rey now as a genuine threat to both himself and the dark side, Snoke commanded his apprentice to execute her, confident that Ren would not turn in spite of Rey's faith in his former persona, that of Ben Solo, and boasted that he could read his apprentice's mind and see his every thought and intention. Intending to torture the girl with every detail up to the moment of her death, Snoke described to Rey everything he saw in Ren's mind, turning the lightsaber to strike true and igniting it to kill his true enemy. However, Snoke's visions and Force sensed betrayed him. In his hubris, Snoke failed to notice the Skywalker lightsaber next to him being turned to point right at him by Ren and his triumphant smile became one of pained surprise as the blade activated through the Supreme Leader's withered and twisted body. Snoke remained alive long enough to glare at his former apprentice for his betrayal before Ren summoned the still-active lightsaber to Rey's grasp and the blue blade cut through Snoke's waist and wrists, dismembering the Supreme Leader. His upper torso then collapsed to the floor at the base of his throne, leaving his hands on the armrests and his lower torso sitting on the throne.

Legacy
"Our Supreme Leader is dead! We have no ruler&mdash;''" "The Supreme Leader is dead." "''Long live the Supreme Leader&hellip;"

- Armitage Hux and Kylo Ren

Immediately after his death, Snoke's bodyguards attempted to avenge him, but despite their efforts, all of the Elite Praetorian Guard were killed by Kylo and Rey. After the Guards had all been killed, Ren stared at his Master's body, before offering Rey a place at his side. Rey begged him to help save the fleet and tried to pull her lightsaber back from him. The combined opposite pulls of Rey and Ren destroyed the blade, knocking Ren unconscious when he hit the floor while Rey was able to escape the doomed starship. Hux later entered to find Ren alone on the ground, and the body of the Supreme Leader. The lower half of Snoke's body then slipped off the throne and on to the floor beside the torso, right before Hux's eyes.

Snoke's death created an immediate power vacuum that Ren took advantage of by assuming his fallen master's role as the new Supreme Leader of the First Order, much to the displeasure of Hux. Although Ren desired to rule the galaxy with Rey as his equal, the aspiring Jedi rejected his offer, leading Ren to falsely implicate her in the assassination of Snoke.

Personality and traits
"The Supreme Leader is wise.''" "Snoke is using you for your power. When he gets what he wants, he'll crush you. You know'' it's true."

- Kylo Ren and Han Solo, about Snoke

Supreme Leader Snoke was a secretive, enigmatic figure who coveted arcane lore. Rather than establish a permanent base of operations, he preferred governing the First Order in a mobile command post from where he could contact his subordinates. He was both wise and cunning, having risen to power by undermining the First Order's leading officials through guile. A master at manipulation, he lured Kylo Ren to the dark side of the Force by using the young Jedi's desperate need for a teacher to his advantage. Although he regarded Armitage Hux as a "rabid cur," Snoke recognized the general's usefulness and believed that even a person's weakness could serve a purpose if properly manipulated. Despite holding a low opinion of Hux's character, the Supreme Leader shared his underling's belief in the necessity of a powerful military force. In addition to overseeing a militarization program that violated treaties signed with the New Republic, Snoke often sanctioned Hux's military strategies and showed approval for his technological innovations.

Snoke was fascinated with Ren, not only for his apprentice's inherent potential for limitless power but also because he regarded him as the embodiment of the dark side and the light. It was Ren's raw, untamed strength in the Force that led Snoke to believe his student could achieve a level of power comparable to that of Ren's late grandfather, the Sith Lord Darth Vader. When Snoke summoned Ren following the latter's defeat on Starkiller Base, he expressed disappointment by berating Ren as a failed apprentice and a mere child in a mask who was unworthy of Vader's legacy. In light of Ren's failure, Snoke began to doubt whether his disciple would ever overcome his conflict between the two sides of the Force. As such, he also began to consider the possibility of casting Ren aside for good, just as Han Solo warned his son moments before his death. Nevertheless, Snoke used his skills at manipulation to stoke Ren's conflicted soul, knowing that his apprentice would fail to hide his emotions from Rey after they became linked to each other through their Force-bond. It was through Ren that Snoke sought to manipulate Rey, convinced she would fall into his trap by believing that Ren could be turned from his dark path.

Like his apprentice, whose mask provided him with a more imposing presence, Snoke relied on theatrics when interacting with his subordinates via holographic transmission. Although the Supreme Leader was, in reality, around seven feet tall, his holographic form magnified his height several times over, allowing him to "look down" upon his followers. While he initially tolerated his apprentice's desire to emulate Vader by wearing a mask, Snoke thought it was absurd and later ridiculed Ren's affectation.

Snoke's intelligent, sophisticated, and at times calm demeanor masked his more sinister qualities such as cruelty, arrogance, egotism, and narcissism. He was a terrifying, monstrous individual who possessed a dark nature that rivaled even that of the late Darth Sidious. Snoke's demeanor shifted from calmness to anger, depending on the situation. Upon learning of Starkiller's impending destruction, he simply told Hux to evacuate the base with Ren, only to later scold and physically reprimand his apprentice out of frustration. When presented with the chance to use the Starkiller superweapon against the New Republic, Snoke agreed with Hux's plan to lure the First Order's enemies out of hiding in spite of ending billions of lives in the process.

Additionally, Snoke was a cruel master as well as a predator, who identified weakness and exploited it, as demonstrated by how Snoke dominated not just the First Order but specifically Ren and Hux, making him a brutal tyrant. He particularly enjoyed using his powers to penetrate the minds of his victims and subject them to agonizing scenes, picking apart their courage and resolve slowly over time.

Yet he was also capable of experiencing fear, specifically fear of Luke Skywalker and the return of the Jedi. He was convinced that if Skywalker, the last living Jedi at the time, ever returned from exile, he would herald the rise of a new generation of Jedi Knights. He regarded the Jedi Order as a threat to his designs and, therefore, plotted to destroy it entirely by killing the last Jedi. Upon meeting Skywalker's final apprentice, the Jakku scavenger Rey, Snoke remarked that she possessed the qualities of a true Jedi and, as such, was resolved to see her die before she could also become a threat to his plans. As noted by Rey, however, Snoke was prone to underestimating those around him, such as his own apprentice. He exulted when sensing Ren's newfound resolve, completely unaware that the dark warrior intended to save Rey by striking down his own master through subterfuge.

Physical appearance
Snoke's appearance was frail, with large hands. He had a distinctive, idiosyncratic bone and facial structure. His hologram used on the Starkiller Base projected him several times larger (around 25 feet) than his natural appearance, towering over Kylo Ren and General Hux. Snoke had an elongated face with pale, heavily scarred skin and pale blue eyes. He sported a large scar from the top of his head, all the way down to his brow. Snoke also had what appeared to be a scar or burn on his right cheek that caused his mouth to be contorted. Snoke's left cheekbone was malformed. During the cold war, Snoke wore a simple dark cloak, and tended to speak slowly and enunciate his desires with a forceful undertone. However, having moved from the shadows to rule openly with the advent of open war, Snoke's wardrobe changed to reflect his more materialistic side; instead of the simple cloak, he now wore ornate golden khalat robes with a gray underdress, and on his finger he wore a ring of gold and obsidian engraved with runes from the Four Sages of Dwartii. Because of his physical frailties, which left him past his prime in terms of physical strength, he relied on material comforts such as slippers to deal with his ailing body which was in a constant state of pain due to his advanced age and wounds, and he could not defend himself in a physical fight, instead relying on his Elite Praetorian Guards to deal with any threats to him.

Powers and abilities
"There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?"

- Snoke, to Kylo Ren

Snoke was a being who was incredibly powerful with the dark side of the Force, capable of performing or exerting his powers with the barest minimum of gestures. He had the power of telepathy and was able to use Force chokes and throws, even across great distances. He was powerful in the Force Ability of Mind probe, as demonstrated by his use of it on Kylo Ren shortly before his death. He was also able to use Force lightning, which he used on Ren by conducting the blast up through the floor and into Ren. His skills with the Force, unlike his physical strength, were still tremendous even upon his death.

Snoke was far more powerful than Rey or Kylo Ren, as evidenced by the time when he toyed with Rey aboard the Supremacy. He managed to effortlessly toss Rey around the throne room and resist her attempts to retake the Skywalker lightsaber, when moments later, Rey and Ren were shown to be evenly matched in their struggle to Force pull the lightsaber towards each other.

Snoke was also able to intensify the Force-bond between Ren and Rey, even over astronomical distances, to point that it created a Force projection between them.

Behind the scenes
"He's aware of what's gone on, in the respect that he has been around and is aware of prior events. I think it'd be fair to say that he is aware of the past to a great degree."

- Andy Serkis on Snoke

Snoke was portrayed by Andy Serkis (via motion capture) in the films Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens and Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi. His name was officially unveiled on May 28, 2015, and his voice was first heard in the initial teaser trailer for The Force Awakens.

The character's appearance underwent many changes throughout the development of The Force Awakens, with the character's final appearance not being decided on until October 2015, two months before the film's release. J.J. Abrams and Neal Scanlan didn't want the character to look old and decrepit like Darth Sidious, and even considered making him female. Ivan Manzella sculpted at least two busts to try to hone the look of the character. Snoke's final appearance was based in part of the horror movies of Hammer Films, the conception being that Snoke was rather handsome in his younger days, but was consumed and twisted by the dark side as he became more powerful. Snoke's physical appearance in The Last Jedi was first shown in a leaked image of an upcoming LEGO set, and was later officially revealed with the teaser image of the Star Wars Force Link BB-8 2-in-1 Mega Playset that was unveiled at Force Friday 2017. Andy Serkis wore artificial facial hair for this film.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly in November 2017, Andy Serkis said that Snoke's injuries were inspired by injuries sustained by soldiers in the trenches of World War I. In addition, in an interview with Empire magazine, Serkis claimed that the disfigurements Snoke possessed were caused in part by osteoporosis that was severe enough that he appeared "as twisted as a corkscrew", and that this was part of what made Snoke in his opinion "darker than Palpatine." Serkis has gone on to say that Snoke's malevolence comes out in reaction to the injuries that he has suffered which he blames on the Resistance, fuelling his hatred for them. Serkis explained that Snoke's desire for power is motivated by greed, bitterness, and fear.

The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson said he killed off Snoke to give Kylo Ren a compelling set-up for Star Wars: Episode IX. When asked if he had planned to elaborate on Snoke's back-story in Episode VIII, Johnson replied, "It would have stopped any of these scenes dead cold if he had stopped and given a 30-second speech about how he's Darth Plagueis. It doesn't matter to Rey. If he had done that, Rey would have blinked and said, 'Who?' And the scene would have gone on. [pause] And I'm not saying he's Darth Plagueis!"

Non-canon appearances

 * LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens