The truth about Snoke (Attention: TLJ Spoilers)

Snoke is a force projection and he didn't really get killed and here's why (This post has been re-edited after a second viewing)

- In TLJ we get introduced to the new power of force projection. We know that a force projection can fool multiple people at once. We know that whoever does the force projection can alter their appearence (Luke looks a lot younger in the projection) and that they can even project objects (The pair of dice Luke gives to Leia). So it shouldn't be a problem for Snoke to fake being cut apart/severed bodyparts.

- Snoke has been shown to be able to manipulate the force from great distances. He has no problems smashing Hux to the ground even if Hux is on a different ship than him so Snoke could have easily done the things he did to Rey without being present at the Supremacy at all.

- We got a lot of background information about Snoke in interviews and books that we didn't actually need to know for watching TLJ. He wears an obsidian ring taken from Vaders castle, he is ancient, he comes from the unknown regions. In the TLJ complete Visual Dictionary there's even explained how he navigates the unknown regions and we can even see one of his navigators in full costume that never appeared in the mvoie whatsoever. Since all of this information is unimportant for TLJ this means that we will see him again or this information would be useless. Rian has also said that we learn exactly as much as we need to know about Snoke in TLJ which is a weird thing to say if he didn't appear in IX.

- I think it's clever how they recut to Snoke's body to show us "that guy is really dead" but it means nothing. Remember the pair of dice Luke produced during his force projection? They lasted long enough for Kylo to find them and hold them in his hands even after Luke had already died. So it should be equally possible for Snoke to produce bodyparts that last quite a while.

- Snoke goes down way too quickly. His death felt really off character given how he was established as this extremely powerful forceuser just minutes before.

- Have you noticed how noone ever directly interacts with Snoke? Noone ever touches him or his severed bodyparts. There is never a direct interaction with his physical body which makes me think he is never actually present in TLJ. It is always Snoke engaging other people first which makes me think that he is a forcprojection since Luke behaves exactly the same when he is a projection. All interaction is initiated by the manipulators and takes place on their own terms.

- Snoke being a projection would explain his weird name and how during the production all Snoke theories were so easily shut down. He is not Plagueis, not a resurrected Palpatine, not the parent of Rey, etc... He is just a forceprojection and doesn't even exist. So the person we think Snoke is doesn't really exist and thus all "Snoke is..." theories are wrong by default.

- One thing I didn't notice on my first viewing is that Rey took the old Jedi texts. They were already gone when Yoda incinerated the force tree. Why would these ancient texts have survived Yodas "lesson" if they weren't an important part in the next movie. I was also analysing the mosaic in the first jedi temple closer and have come up with an additional theory about the identitiy of Snoke. (See the mosaic section below)

- It would make sense from a storytelling point of view to make Snoke a forceprojection. By simply playing a "mindtrick" Snoke lured Rey out of hiding, pushed Kylo 100% to the dark side and subsequently tricked Luke into killing himself through his sacrifice. It would be the ultimate ruse worthy of an ancient and powerful forceuser.



So what do you guys think about this theory

/edit: Thanks to Migatte Nu Gekoi for bringing this to my attention:
In the Visual Dctionary it says:


/edit2: As Zyloren pointed out in the comments there's a peculiar mosaic in the jedi temple where Luke conjures the force projection. I had a closer look at the mosaic and here is what I found. (High res image by fizzgig)



There is a resemblance between the alien portrayed in the mosaic and Snoke. I think it's also interesting how the alien portrayed in the mosaic is described as "the first of the order" and how he is in a state of balance. Snoke seems to be at least aware of the concept of balance as he points out in TLJ that the rise of dark will lead to a reaction of the ligth (and vice versa). The important thing however is the location of the mosaic. It's in the very same temple where Luke conjures the force projection so if this mosaic indeed portrais Snoke then we can assume he is familiar with the force projection technique and might even be the inventor of it.


/edit3: In case you were wondering who is behind the forceprojection I think I might have found the answer. Seems like it could be the mastermanipulator and inventor of the "I fake my own death" signature move Darth Plagueis! This is the ring Snoke is wearing in TLJ.




/edit4: An alternate explaination who or what Snoke might be:

Snoke was the prime jedi depicted in the mosaic, equally light and dark. But somehow his body was split. The good in him left, leaving behind the scars and the crack in the head. He literally split apart. Now Snoke wants to become whole again, he is basically the bad part trying to find his good side to restore the balance. By creating conflict and chaos in the unviverse he knows that eventually his light side will show up as a reaction. He wants to find his light side again this way but he isn't sure who it is. Snoke expects his good part to come in form of Luke (a Skywalker). Why you ask?. Well the good part was... Anakin Skywalker. His birth out of nowhere happened when the good part split away from Snoke. This is also why Anakin was said to restore the balance. He was destined to make Snoke whole again but he didn't which is why Snoke is keeping track of the Skywalkers. That's the reason why he tempts Kylo in the throneroom. To see if there is light or dark in him. To see if he kills Rey or him. That moment Snoke lets "Kylo" kill him he knows that Kylo might be his long lost good side after all. Kylo will find redemption in IX by merging with Snoke, thus restoring the balance in the force once and for all and end the Skywalker bloodline that should have never existed in the first place. For now he literally feels "torn apart" but he will become the prime Jedi in the end. There can only be balance if the prime Jedi exists, teh first of teh order. Rey, representing "a nobody" carries on the torch of the "mortal" forceusers.

This theory would explain why Snoke did not interfere with Sidious (he was restoring the balance by dethroning the jedi) and what JJ means by connecting the prequels to the sequels.

The following image has not been mirrored it shows where Snoke's good side should be and how it left him scared after leaving him



/FINAL EDIT:

We'll it might seem weird but I am pretty convinced by now that my own theory is wrong. I have been reading a lot of interviews since the release of TLJ and there are some pieces of new information that seem to debunk my theory:

- There is no masterplan. Rian made it all up as he went along, he hasn't written any plotpoits or storyline for IX. So he certainly didn't prepare Snoke's return in form of a rough draft that he passed on to JJ.
- Rian was simply interested in the developement of Kylo and didn't care much for Snoke. The Supreme leader had to go to make room for Kylo. Snoke's death was reactionary storytelling rather than careful planning ahead.
- Rian was only focused on his own personal vision. He cared little for what came before TLJ and what will come after. Considered the way he approached TLJ it makes little sense for him to plan something like Snoke's return in IX when he didn't even bother to explain the questions concerning Snoke that TFA left us with.
- I've been listening to a podcast where a sounddesigner said how they indicated force projection Luke by emoving all the sounds that Luke makes when interacting with the environment. Snoke however makes a loud noise when his upper half crashes on the floor (a fantasticly morbid "splat" that I really enjoyed both times I watched TLJ in the cinema). Snoke's body making a sound would directly go against the rules established for forceprojections in TLJ.

I made this theory because I believed that all this information floating arround couldn't be just random nonsense the storygroup came up with. I couldn't believe that the obsidian ring with Dwartii glyphes (only mentioned in the book Plagueis before) was coincidental. But the thing is that the sequel trilogy is not based on a shared vision. They directors make up the story as the go along. Just think of how the central plotdevice in TFA, the map to Luke Skywalker, is not explained in TLJ. Who made they map and why it even existed in the first place if Luke didn't want to be found is never explained. Neither why Lor San Tekka had the map and why Kylo knew the map existed and why some of it was also stored in R2-D2. TLJ made things even worse, Kylo thought Luke was dead after the events at the Jedi academy, Luke then went into hiding and even cut himself off from the force. How did Kylo even know Luke was still alive?...

My point is that something like the force projection theory would require careful planning. It would require the individual content creators to respect each others visions and build their ideas upon the ideas of others rather than changing them until they fit their own personal vision. However, examples like the "map to Luke", which is after all the central plot element of TFA, show us that there is no red line, no carefully planned story, no overarching vision. I tried to fit the pieces of a puzzle together that has never existed to begin with. There might be a little bit of hope though for Snoke to return.

+ Nothing is set in stone. JJ can do what Rian did and change the direction of the trilogy as he pleases. Fans are no longer expecting to have their questions answered so JJ could revive Snoke and people would accept it.
+ Disney usually (over)reacts quickly to fan feedback. The reason why TLJ turned everythign upside down is because TFA was considered to be a rehash of ANH. If fans continue to signal their frustration with the lack of answers TLJ has provived to some of our questions then IX might be the episode designe dto connect and explain the individual movies of the franchise.
+ Maybe, just maybe Rian his deliberately misleading us. Maybe he has realized that audiences are pretty good at finding out secret identities of characters in movies and games and he and JJ are fooling us all along. Chances are slim but it might be an elaborate plan set up by the storygroup to fool us all.

However, all in all I still don't see much chance of Snoke returnign after the new information I collected following the release of TLJ. If any ofthe things I predicted turn out to be true I would be really surprised and it would probably be sheer luck. But I really had a great time discussing this theory with all of you and hearing your oppinions and ideas so thank you all for your time

 

I can imagine some ancient, dark being trapped in a temple or a holocron. We have seen Darth Bane in the Clone Wars series directly interact with Yoda from beyond the grave so maybe Snoke is some mummyfied corpse of an ancient evil trying to get back to life by manipulating evertyone arround him.

 

Holy moly that's better than all the things I took into consideration combined!