Supreme Leader Snoke is the ruler of the First Order in the Star Wars sequel series. He is an elderly, disfigured humanoid being believed to have originated from somewhere in the galaxy's Unknown Regions. He possesses tremendous power in the dark side of the Force. He rallied the scattered remnants of the Galactic Empire under the banner of the First Order and has made it their mission to destroy the New Republic and conquer the galaxy.
Snoke is portrayed by Andy Serkiss through motion capture and CGI.
Biography[]
Unknown to anyone, including himself, Snoke was genetically engineered by the Sith Eternal as part of the resurrected Darth Sidious' plan to establish a new Sith Empire. As far as anyone knew, he was an ancient being originating from the Unknown Regions who had been observing the cycle of conflict in the galaxy for millennia in secret. While powerful in the dark side of the Force, Snoke is not a Sith Lord, though he has collected various artefacts related to both the Sith and the Jedi.
Prior to the events of The Force Awakens, Snoke had initiated a cold-war campaign between the First Order and the New Republic which eventually escalated into a full-scale conflict. He also engineered the destruction of Luke Skywalker's fledgling Jedi Order by influencing Luke's nephew, Ben Solo, twisting his mind and converting him to the dark side. Through Snoke's machinations, Ben destroyed Luke's Jedi temple and killed most of his Padawans, taking a handful with him and disembarking toward the Unknown Regions. Under Snoke's guidance, Ben, renamed Kylo Ren, took command of the Knights of Ren and became Snoke's apprentice and foremost commander and warrior.
The Force Awakens[]
In 34 ABY, Snoke had dispatched Kylo Ren to seek out Luke Skywalker, believing that as long as any Jedi survived, hope would survive. Though Kylo would fail to find Luke, the First Order had completed its preparations for the destruction of the New Republic, having developed the Starkiller Base. Starkiller Base was armed with a highly advanced weapon that harnessed the power of a star and could fire beams across hyperspace to strike multiple planets at once, obliterating whole star systems. With this weapon, the First Order crippled the Republic in a single stroke by destroying all five planets of the Hosnian system, the seat of Republic government.
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, who held the map leading to Skywalker's whereabouts. 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 General 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.
The Last Jedi[]
Shortly after the loss of Starkiller Base, the First Order attacked the Resistance headquarters on D'Qar. The Rebels launched a group of fighters and bombers against the dreadnought Fullminatrix, distracting them and then destroying it while the rest of the Resistance fleet evacuated. Snoke was deeply disappointed by this, painfully humiliating General Hux for his failure, but Hux assured the Supreme Leader that they could track the Resistance through hyperspace and continue pursuit.
Snoke would then meet with his apprentice Kylo Ren, reprimanding him for his failure at Starkiller Base and taunting him in regards to Han Solo, how Kylo's murder of his father had only caused him greater confusion. However, by learning about Rey and her strong connection to the Force, Snoke was able to shift events back in his favour. He used the Force to forge a psychic bond between Kylo and Rey, allowing them to see each other in visions, though they could not see one another's surroundings. Through these visions, Rey confronted Kylo regarding his father's murder and Kylo learned that Rey had found Luke Skywalker.
Rey would decide to leave Luke in an effort to confront Kylo and try to turn him towards the light side of the Force. Leaving aboard the Millennium Falcon, Rey sealed herself inside a capsule which Chewbacca then launched toward the Supremacy, Snoke's flagship. The capsule was brought aboard and Kylo took Rey to meet Snoke in his throne room.
Death[]
Star Wars The Last Jedi Snoke Death Scene
Rey was brought before Snoke, who took the Skywalker lightsaber she held and placed it on his throne's armrest. He probed Rey's mind in order to find out where Skywalker was hiding, and congratulated the girl for her courage as she continuously resisted him. In order to break her spirit, Snoke forced Rey to watch through his oculus viewer as his forces obliterated the Resistance fleet ship by ship.
Finally, Snoke ordered Kylo to execute Rey, suspending her in midair with his telekinesis. He mocked her attempts to turn Kylo towards the light, but even as he did so, he failed to notice that Kylo was using the Force to turn the lightsaber on Snoke's armrest around so that the emitter was facing his side. When Snoke commanded Kylo to ignite his weapon, the Skywalker blade beside Snoke ignited and seared through his wrist and abdomen. In that instant, Snoke's expression changed from sinister glee to utter shock as he looked down to see the blue blade of Skywalker's lightsaber penetrating his warped body. With a thought, Kylo brought the blade forward, carving Snoke's torso off his lower body which then fell to the floor.