POSSIBLE SPOILERS: Could this be the true identity of Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ big bad, Supreme Leader Snoke?

SPOILERS WITHIN: YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Ever since Star Wars: The Force Awakens smashed into cinemas and brought the cinematic world to a complete standstill, there has been one burning question for us: who exactly is the mysterious villain Supreme Leader Snoke?

Naturally, people who have seen the movie have taken to the internet to share their individual theories about Andy Serkis’ character. We don’t have many complaints about The Force Awakens by and large but it was a tad frustrating that, after Snoke being shrouded in complete secrecy in the build-up to the film, there wasn’t more of an explanation. Of course, he will be developed in Episode VIII as JJ Abrams decided to leave his relationship with Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) on a bit of a cliffhanger.

Of all the theories flying around at the moment concerning the true identity of Supreme Leader Snoke, the most compelling and well developed is that he’s actually Darth Plagueis. Now, before we delve into why this theory could be in fact true, here is who Plagueis is:

Plagueis was introduced to audiences in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, in which Emperor Palpatine, aka Darth Sidious, says the following to his burgeoning apprentice Anakin Skywalker: “Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith so powerful and so wise, he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life. He had such a knowledge of the dark side, he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying. Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew. Then his apprentice killed him in his sleep. Ironic. He could save others from death, but not himself.”

While it was never confirmed that Palpatine and Plagueis were actually involved in some sort of master/apprentice relationship, the official Star Wars website states that Sidious was trained by Plagueis. While not blatantly obvious, it is probable that Sidious was referring to himself when he spoke of his apprentice killing Plagueis in his sleep. However, it is also possible that Plagueis was able to bring himself back to life — we’re hoping Episode VIII will clear this up.

So what does this mean for the new Star Wars trilogy? Well, when we left the film, Ren and Hux had been summoned by Snoke, with the enormous hologram creature having already lured Ren to the Dark Side. The deeper meaning to the theory is that Plageuis seeks immortality through transferring his consciousness to his apprentices.

Essentially, Plagueis might have created Anakin Skywalker through Palpatine. In a bit of Star Wars coverage reaching back to 1983, Metro, via Squareeyed,  dug up an interview in Prevue magazine with Return of the Jedi director Richard Marquand, who mentions having discussed the entire nine episode saga with George Lucas: “If you follow the direction, and project into the final trilogy, you realise that you’re going to meet the supreme intellect, and you think how is it possible to create a man who has such profound cunning that he can not only control Darth Vader, but the fate of Luke Skywalker? Control the destiny of the whole galaxy? You’ll be amazed!”

So basically, the Star Wars universe and the Dark Side is layered with villains, all ultimately controlled by Darth Plagueis. It was the same for Darth Vader and Darth Maul, both controlled by Plagueis through Palpatine. If this theory is anything to go by, the current trilogy will finally reveal the ultimate Dark Side evil at last. Supreme Leader Snoke might indeed be Plagueis, which is massive for Star Wars fans considering his position, power and influence yet never having appeared on screen in any of the seven films.

It also means that Kylo Ren could either become the next vessel for that evil, or redeem himself to fight alongside unexpected allies, like Rey (and maybe Finn) to defeat Plagueis and his plans once and for all. We know that Rey feels compelled by the call to the Light and even confessed this to Darth Vader’s destroyed helmet. We’re guessing that this is where Luke and Rey will come in, aiding the fight against Plagueis and finally bringing balance back to The Force. Luke is perhaps the only Jedi powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with such power of the Dark Side.

However, it doesn’t stop there.

A new and very intriguing theory has it that the music used by John Williams has created a very interesting link to Snoke and Palgueis and may have already foreshadowed that he truly is the villain. The theory links to the video above and very convincingly points out that the music Willaims uses as Palpatine talks about his old master, is the same music Williams uses in The Force Awakens as Snoke’s theme. We reckon that there’s definitely something to this and hope that, in the end, the whole Saga was the story of a character we thought was minor but was controlling everything all along.

Here’s the video…

What do you think about this theory and what do you think about Supreme Leader Snoke as a whole? Are you excited to see more of him in Episode VIII. Let us know!