Star Wars: Is Snoke a Clone of Ochi of Bestoon?

(Major Spoilers in This Article!!!) - Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has brought the nine-part Skywalker Saga to an epic close - but that doesn't mean that J.J. Abrams and Co. answered every single question that the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy introduced. For instance, The Rise of Skywalker dropped the big reveal that Emperor Palpatine had been the true puppeteer behind Emperor Snoke, and that Snoke was just a series of clones that Palpatine grew on his secret Sith hideout on the planet Exegol. Well, the new Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker visual book has raised an interesting question: Was Snoke actually a clone of Ochi of Bestoon?

If you don't recall, Ochi was the Sith loyalist assassin that Palpatine dispatched to retrieve his granddaughter Rey from Palpatine's son and his wife. Rey's parents refused to give up her location, hiding out on Jakku, and Ochi killed them both, using a dagger that was also a Sith wayfinder, leading back to the Sith temple on Exegol. Rey, Finn, Poe, and co. find Ochi's remains on Pasaana, where he had been on the run from Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian.

While it's true that we know how Ochi came to his end, the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy never actually shows us what the Sith loyalist assassin actually looked like. Well, The Rise of Skywalker visual book gives us a much better look at Ochi's remains, and they definitely could serve as the basis for Palpatine's Snoke clones:

As you can see above, Ochi has a considerably Snoke-like skull type, which is worth a bit of scrutiny. As stated, The Rise of Skywalker leaves the particulars of Palpatine's Snoke clones pretty vague, giving the matter a few throwaway lines before moving on. However, there are a few dots that we can connect on our own:

1. Palpatine needed a puppet body that wasn't his and/or didn't look like him, in order to maintain the illusion of his death.
2. Clones can't be created out of thin air, so Snoke would need to be completed from actual genetic material from a source donor.
3. Ochi was a Sith Eternal, a cult so loyal to Darth Sidious that any member would literally give body and soul to his cause.
4. As a master Sith assassin, Ochi would be a prime specimen for Palpatine to use as the basis for Snoke.

What do you think - is there a deeper connection between Ochi of Bestoon, Snoke, and Palpatine? Let us know your thoughts.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is now in theaters.