Snoke’s Rise to Power Revealed in ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Novelization

The two most common complaints about Star Wars: The Last Jedi had to do with the big reveals: the identities of Rey’s parents and the background of Supreme Leader Snoke.

While one was inconsequential, fans were left dangling over Snoke information after the character was unceremoniously cut into pieces by Kylo Ren. But they don’t have to wait long to learn more about the character.

Warning: Spoilers for the novelization of Star Wars: The Last Jedi below.

New details of Snoke’s background and rise to power are included in the novelization of the film by Jason Fry. Those story bits were compiled by Dork Side of the Force after the novel leaked in certain corners of the internet (**cough**Reddit**cough**).

Read on if you want to learn more about Snoke’s surprising connection to Luke Skywalker, how he rose to power in The First Order, and more intriguing details about the mysterious character in the Star Wars saga.

• Rey arrived on Ahch-To right before Luke Skywalker donned his Jedi robes, where he was going to burn down the tree and the ancient Jedi texts.
• Luke and R2-D2 searched for ancient Jedi history and lore over two decades.
• Kylo Ren smiles victoriously at Rey when her escape pod lands on the Supremacy.
• He says, once again, that the Skywalker lightsaber is his. Rey informs Kylo Ren that the weapon “called out” to her at Maz’s castle.
• Kylo Ren saw a glimpse of Rey’s past when they touched hands.
• Just before the duo arrives inside of Snoke’s throne room, Rey realizes Kylo’s unbalanced emotions are about his feelings for her.
• Rey is mesmerized and fixated on Snoke’s eyes — much like the Dark Side cave on Ahch-To.
• She considers looking for more answers on her past, by using Snoke’s knowledge, but resists.
• Snoke arrogantly meditates about visions of the future and his own immense power.
• When Snoke was young, he learned that the future is always in motion. “Be careful or die.”
• Now wise and old, he realizes Force visions are often incomplete.
• Snoke has murdered and destroyed legions of countless adversaries, who underestimated him in time’s past.
• Snoke was an unexpected leader of the First Order.
• Imperial leadership who survived the Battle of Jakku did not foresee his rise to power.
• Gallius Rax, Sloane, the political lunatic Ormes Apolin or even Brendol Hux did not see this rise coming. The Supreme Leader either killed them or arranged for their death himself. Only Armitage Hux (General Hux from The Last Jedi ) is spared, but Snoke only uses him as a tool.
• The rise of the First Order was more opportunistic for Snoke, and not his grand plan.
• Emperor Palpatine’s contingency, Operation Cinder, was engineered to destroy the Empire upon his death and bring forth a rebirth of it, stronger than it was before. Snoke used that to his advantage, with Palpatine unaware that Snoke would be the one to see it through.
• Palpatine sensed Snoke through the Force before his death but was not sure exactly what he was sensing.
• After the destruction of the Empire; shipyards, laboratories, and storehouses in the Unknown Regions built up weaponry for The First Order.
• The brilliance, knowledge, and foresight of Snoke rescued the First Order from many enemies.
  Snoke discovered many truths about the Force in the Unknown Regions, which were waiting to be found.
• Snoke respects the fact that Luke sought out the same sort of knowledge and truth on his Jedi quests.
• Anakin and Luke both were instruments of the Cosmic Force.
• Luke, at one point during his search for Jedi lore, connected with Snoke to gain knowledge of the Force. It’s unsure if Luke knew of Snoke’s evil intentions or not.
• Snoke does not need Rey for her powers like Palpatine did with Luke, but, he muses that she would have been a worthy apprentice in his past endeavors.
• Even though Snoke claims that Kylo Ren has redeemed himself, his use for Kylo is over — due to his unstable nature within the Force.
• Snoke contemplates that after Kylo Ren kills Rey and the Resistance is destroyed, he’ll re-think Kylo’s future or even kill him.
• When Snoke reveals that he was the one to connect Rey and Kylo Ren through the Force, he notices Kylo’s surprise reaction to that very truth.
• Snoke believes Kylo Ren is capable of greatness if he entirely turns away from the Light Side.

Without having the book available to us, we can only speculate on the validity of these tidbits but they certainly add new wrinkles to the dynamic of Light and Dark sides of the Force. It seems to be building off of what Dave Filoni is doing with Star Wars Rebels, adding to the tapestry of the conflict beyond Sith and Jedi and positing the Force as an entity unto itself that has its own machinations for the universe.

Snoke still remains a mystery, even with all these reveals, and we hope to learn more about his rise to power in future Star Wars lore.

The novelization of Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be available on March 6th.