By now almost everybody has probably seen a little sequel from the "Star Wars" saga called "The Force Awakens." Although the First Order and Kylo Ren are at the center of the action as the new villains of the galaxy, they all bow down to one character named Supreme Leader Snoke.
But not much is revealed about this powerful, ancient master of the Dark Side of Force, not in the movie at least. However, the novelization of "The Force Awakens" - which was put on shelves after the movie was released to prevent spoilers - shows a bit more information about this strange and menacing figure behind every action that the First Order makes.
Needless to say, potential spoilers ahead. So what are you waiting for? Don't be the last to see "The Force Awakens" in theaters, or read on for the inside scoop on Snoke.
Serkis On Snoke
Supreme Leader Snoke is voiced and portrayed through motion-capture technology by Andy Serkis. According to the actor, the character was cloaked in so much secrecy that even he didn't know what the summation of his performance would be like on screen. However, he did have this to say about the galaxy's ultimate bad guy in an interview:
"Supreme Leader Snoke is quite an enigmatic character, and strangely vulnerable at the same time as being quite powerful. Obviously he has a huge agenda. He has suffered a lot of damage. As I said, there is a strange vulnerability to him, which belies his true agenda, I suppose," he said.
Neither Serkis nor the film elaborates on exactly what this vulnerability is or what sort of damage Snoke has gone through and who delivered that suffering upon him. But the official novelization of the film, penned by Alan Dean Foster, helps to elaborate much further on that mystery in a way that the movie did not.
Ben Solo Was Not Snoke's First Apprentice
Among the reveals in the novel not disclosed in the movie include a conversation with Kylo Ren where Snoke reveals that the former Ben Solo was not his first apprentice. In fact, he has trained others in the ways of the Dark Side of the Force since working behind the scenes of the events in the Original Trilogy. But he had taken a particular interest in Ben because he was originally trained by Luke Skywalker in the Light Side - something that even he has no experience in.
"It is where you are from. What you are made of. The Dark Side - and the Light," Snoke tells his favorite apprentice. "The finest sculptor cannot fashion a masterpiece from poor materials. He must have something pure, something strong, something unbreakable, with which to work."
But there also seems to be a much deeper connection between Snoke and the lineage from which Ben hails. Somehow, Snoke knew that Darth Vader (aka Anakin Skywalker) was the real father of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa - a fact that was probably not particularly publicized by the biggest heroes of the Rebellion after the fall of the Republic in "Return of the Jedi."
Snoke Fears Luke Skywalker
Another point the novelization makes clear is that Snoke most definitely does not want Luke Skywalker, the self-exiled Jedi, to be found. While the movie shows Snoke giving the final go-ahead to use the Starkiller to annihilate the system where the new Republic and its fleet reside, his motivations are much more personal in the book.
Snoke's underlying motive for destroying an entire system in the novel was to ensure the Resistance would be unable to get their hands on the remaining parts of the star map that could lead them to the whereabouts of Luke. The movie mentions that the missing parts of the map could be located in the archives of the Republic.
A passage from the novel also shows Snoke expressing how he sees Vader's redemption to return to the Light Side of the Force as a weakness:
"The historians have it all wrong. It was neither poor strategy nor arrogance that brought down the Empire. You know too well what did." Ren nodded once. "Sentiment." "Yes. Such a simple thing. Such a foolish error of judgment. A momentary lapse in an otherwise exemplary life. Had Lord Vader not succumbed to emotion at the crucial moment - had the father killed the son - the Empire would have prevailed. And there would be no threat of Skywalker's return today."
According to the novel, Snoke is priming Kylo Ren to kill Luke Skywalker, just as he pushed him to kill his own father, Han Solo.
But why exactly is the Supreme Leader so afraid of a lone Jedi who has been hiding for years? It looks like we'll have to wait 18 more months before that, and many other questions that were raised in "The Force Awakens," are answered when "Star Wars Episode VIII" is filmed and released.
