Star Wars finally confirms what the point of Snoke was

Star Wars didn't please all fans with its sequel trilogy, especially when it came to the mysterious Supreme Leader Snoke.

Snoke (played by Andy Serkis) was seemingly positioned as the Big Bad of the trilogy by The Force Awakens, only to be unceremoniously killed off by Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) in The Last Jedi. That didn't stop fans speculating on whether Snoke was really Darth Plagueis or Anakin Skywalker's evil twin or something else entirely.

It didn't turn out to be anything as grand when The Rise of Skywalker revealed that, actually, Emperor Palpatine was in charge all along. A brief shot of Snoke clones in tubes on Exegol appeared to show he was a creation of Palpatine, something that editor Maryann Brandon later confirmed.

But since Snoke wasn't ever explored in any real detail, Star Wars fans were still no clearer on what the actual point of him was. Why did Palpatine go through the hassle of creating a new being when he could have just brought Kylo Ren into the fold earlier? Or even stayed quiet until his cloning programme eventually led to his granddaughter Rey?

Thankfully, new book Star Wars: The Secrets of the Sith has just the answers that you might have been waiting for – and they come from the mouth of Palpatine, no less.

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The new book recounts the history of the Sith in Palpatine's own words and he doesn't avoid the failures.

We already knew stuff about his consciousness transferring into a new body on Exegol when the Empire fell, but we didn't really know why the Sith Eternal pivoted from making a Palpatine clone to making Snoke.

It turns out that it's all tied into the fact that they were a bit useless. When their clones kept failing (as we already knew), Palpatine needed to come up with a solution to set the stage for his dramatic comeback.

"To continue my plans for total galactic domination, I would need a form worth of my might," he writes. "Unable to leave Exegol, I would have to spread my influence across the galaxy through less direct means."

Star Wars - Secrets of the Sith

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Those means turned out to be Snoke, another being that Palpatine's followers had created as part of their "genetic experiments". "Although his body proved unworthy of containing my dark essence, Snoke's nature sensitivity to the Force would make him a powerful puppet nonetheless," he continues.

"Through my manipulation of Snoke, I began gathering forces, building an army capable of opposing the New Republic that had risen in my absence. Through Snoke, I would make certain that the First Order would be mine to control."

Not that Palpatine would ever let Snoke retain control of the First Order when his followers finally managed to create a body that could contain him. If anything, Snoke's shock death in The Last Jedi saved Palpatine a job as when he finally rose again, we doubt that the Sith Lord would let Snoke live to potentially challenge him.

As he notes, Snoke was a "temporary measure at best", but he didn't exactly count on the Sith Eternal's continual failure to create a "body worthy of my infinite might".

This would eventually come in the form of Rey, the daughter of the only clone that survived. Palpatine knew this clone had no connection to the Force, but "chose to let it live" as he thought that the Palpatine blood would come in useful one day.

Clever Palps.

It's not just Snoke who Palpatine talks about in the book though as you can also get his thoughts on the Chosen One prophecy, which he believes Anakin fulfilled by slaughtering the Jedi.

That's definitely a certain point of view... but we're still not sure it's quite the right one.

The entire Star Wars Skywalker Saga is available to watch on Disney+. You can also own the Saga on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD.

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Ian Sandwell

Movies Editor, Digital Spy  Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor.  Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world.   After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.