Star Wars fans never really got to learn much about Supreme Leader Snoke in the latest trilogy, but an upcoming new hardcover book finally provides some background on the mysterious one-time ruler of the galaxy.
The book, appropriately titled The Star Wars Book, contains an entry on Snoke, sharing new information on the character's origin and background. The authors describe Snoke as part of an artificial species known as a "genetic strandcast," "concocted by the resurrected Darth Sidious to be his proxy in power."
Kylo Ren killed the leader of The First Order in Star Wars: The Last Jedi before the mysterious ruler's origin had been explored. The subsequent Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hastily provided some degree of explanation, with Sidious -- aka the former Galactic Emperor Palpatine -- telling Ren he "made" Snoke, a notion the book expands upon.
The Rise of Skywalker opens with Ren locating a Sith Wayfinder, which allows him to journey to the Sith world of Exegol in search of the source of the mysterious voices in his mind that still plague him, despite killing Snoke. Once there, Ren discovers a vat filled with cloned bodies of Snoke, showing that the villain was in fact a manufactured entity, as Palpatine claims.
The book also notes "Snoke has free will, but his actions and goals are still orchestrated by Sidious." This provides an explanation why Snoke appeared to be operating free of any outside influence, as first shown in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, despite the later revelation that he was a creation of Palpatine.
Snoke was never shown to be a Sith, with the book noting Snoke "denies any Sith lineage." As an artificial construct, this would be true, but the character did exhibit Force-like powers, including sensing the emotions of others, the ability to move objects, and Force lightning -- a power historically shown to be used by the Sith.
The entry also observes the traditional Sith Master/Apprentice relationship is bypassed by way of Snoke's creation, stating Palpatine "sidesteps the tradition of a dark side apprentice slaying his master to ascend." Ironically, this is what actually appeared to happen once Ren killed Snoke in The Last Jedi, but the revelation of Palpatine's resurrection in The Rise of Skywalker undid that notion.
Published by DK, The Star Wars Book by Cole Horton, Pablo Hidalgo and Dan Zehr goes on sale Oct. 20.
(via Digital Spy)