'Star Wars 9' Theory Reveals a Snoke-Palps Connection You Didn't See Coming

Fans have long speculated that Emperor Palpatine’s potential connection to Supreme Leader Snoke in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be revealed to have involved some form of possession or an essence transfer. Most of these theories, however, have never taken into account Snoke’s consent in the matter.

Speculative spoilers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker below.

Did the First Order’s leader want to help Palpatine? Did he ever acquiesce to such an invasive intrusion? A fascinating new theory may finally answer that question and suggests that Snoke and Palpatine share a history and knew each other long before Palps’ death on Endor.

The discussion surrounding Palpatine’s return has insinuated that the former emperor was controlling Snoke by force .from behind the scenes, but what if Snoke had willingly agreed to be a part of the contingency plan following the fall of the Empire? What if he was the contingency plan?

Redditor u/MynameisnotTeddy theorizes that the Palpatine-Snoke connection began long before The Return of the Jedi and their partnership is how Palpatine will return. Knowing he might not make it out alive, Palpatine “had assigned Snoke alongside with Gallius Rax to rule over the Imperial remnant and to turn it into the First Order.”

It sounds like a long shot, right? However, there’s plenty of canonical evidence that lends credence to the theory, especially if we’re to include the canonical Star Wars: Aftermath novels. The book trilogy, written by Chuck Wendig, take place between The Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. It details the eventual fall of the Empire and the rise of the First Order under Snoke’s tutelage.

There’s also a Sith character named Tashu who told everyone that Palpatine would return, though no one would listen. Perhaps Snoke was involved in keeping Palpatine’s “death” quiet. Additionally, the tie-in novel for Star Wars: The Last Jedi seems to hint that Palpatine at least knew of Snoke’s existence prior to Episode VII, rendering a past alliance between them entirely possible. The galaxy needed to believe, at least for a little while, that the evil had been defeated. Snoke may have also known he’d be a temporary leader and was ok with that.

The supreme leader amassed a lot of power while leading the First Order, bringing the regime back under tight control and ready for Palpatine’s eventual return. It’s not far fetched to believe that Snoke might have also served under Palpatine’s guidance. It’s not like the Sith lord could have done everything on his own, and that’s where Snoke comes in.

After all, there are a lot of missing puzzle pieces in terms of Snoke’s background and history. He seemingly came out of nowhere, but this theory attempts to put the practically non-existent pieces of Snoke’s past into place. With canonical proof hiding in plain sight, this unexpected Snoke-Palpatine connection might be the one twist that ties their stories together.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters December 20, 2019.