FAN THEORY: Supreme Leader Plagueis?

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE FORCE AWAKENS AHEAD

        Is it possible that Supreme Leader Snoke is really Darth Plagueis the Wise, the Sith Lord who trained Palpatine?

Darth Plagueis Trains Palpatine

            Let’s begin with the single most obvious fact; Snoke and Plagueis share a similar physical profile, as they are both tall and lanky figures that are extremely old. Andy Serkis, who voiced Snoke in the Force Awakens, describes him as “over seven feet tall.”

In the novel Star Wars: Darth Plagueis, which is now considered part of the non-canon Legends, Darth Plagueis was a Muun, or a tall humanoid species with elongated features, and Snoke’s appearance in The Force Awakens resembles this profile.   

(Snoke’s Hologram)        (Muun member of the Banking Clan)

While we don’t actually see Snoke use any powers in The Force Awakens, we know he trained Kylo Ren in the ways of the Dark Side of the force, and The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary described him as “a mysterious figure steeped in dark side knowledge who commands the First Order from a distance.”

          Darth Plagueis, along with Palpatine, was responsible for creating Anakin Skywalker, so if Plagueis were choosing a new apprentice to build the First Order with him, it would only be logical for him to seek out Anakin’s descendant. This is precisely what Snoke did. In The force Awakens (2015) we learn from Han and Leia that Kylo Ren was once Ben Solo, their son, and a protege of Luke Skywalker, before Snoke seduced him to the Dark Side.

          While talking to Han Solo, Kylo Ren specifically declares that Snoke is “wise,” and while that on it’s own may not seem significant, let’s keep in mind that Plagueis was remembered as “Darth Plagueis The Wise.”

          If we listen carefully, we will also realize that the theme playing during the Darth Plagueis tale in Revenge of the Sith is very similar to Snoke’s theme in The Force Awakens.

          While recounting the tale, Palpatine himself tells us that Plagueis died long ago “his apprentice killed him in his sleep,” so how could he have survived to become Snoke? The answer lies in another tempting offer Palpatine made to Anakin; “To cheat death is a power only one has achieved.”

          In The Phantom Menace, Palpatine is already the reigning Lord of the Sith, so if Plagueis did survive his apprentice’s attempt to kill him, where was he for the last 60 years? And why didn’t Palpatine hunt him down? It turns out, that’s exactly what Palpatine did. In Star Wars: Aftermath, we learn that Palpatine sent imperial scouts to search for what he told his officers was the source of the Dark Side. The passage reads;

          If we think hard about it, it makes perfect sense for Palpatine to bend the truth about what he was sending his scouts out to search for because if he admitted that he failed to kill his master and that a being ore powerful than him existed, his officers would lose confidence in him.

          Lastly, Snoke bears the deep facial scaring we would expect to see Plagueis have if he did indeed survive Palpatine’s attempt to assassinate him.

          Darth Plagueis’ fate remains a mystery, and Snoke’s origins have yet to be revealed, so its impossible to know for sure whether or not Plagueis really did survive to lead the First Order, so I ask you, is Snoke really Supreme Leader Plagueis?