Five reasons Star Wars: The Force Awakens villain Snoke probably isn't Darth Plagueis
A popular fan theory suggests that the mysterious figure played by Andy Serkis could be a Sith Lord mentioned in the prequels
Don’t be Darth ... Andy Serkis has said Supreme Leader Snoke is ‘very much a newly-introduced character’
Photograph: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
If you believe some of the more hysterical corners of the internet right now,
it has already been confirmed that Supreme Leader Snoke
is Darth Plagueis resurrected. “Who’s that?” I hear you cry, if you are one of those Star Wars fans who skipped the prequels and decided to give the Expanded Universe novels a miss, too.
Darth Plagueis was first mentioned in the 2005
Star Wars film Revenge of the Sith, which many consider to be the least terrible of the much-maligned prequel trilogy. He features as part of an anecdote recycled by Chancellor Palpatine, aka the future evil Emperor, for the benefit of young Jedi knight Anakin Skywalker, part of the former’s efforts to turn his protégé to the dark side. Check out the scene below …
Because Snoke failed to make much of an impact in The Force Awakens, and also due to the fact that the extra terrestrial baddie has a scarred, zombified look to him, fans have been speculating for weeks that he might be an older character resurrected: Darth Maul perhaps, or maybe even Palpatine himself. In the past week, a YouTube user
created this video, which suggests that John Williams’ musical theme for the “Darth Plagueis” seen in Revenge of the Sith is virtually identical to the one which was used for Snoke’s debut in The Force Awakens.
Personally I don’t hear it, but in case you’re still clinging on to the Plagueis as Snoke concept in desperation to make some sense of Abrams’ deeply enigmatic new episode, here are five more reasons why it’s unlikely.
In terms of Star Wars canon, Plagueis is hardly a big beast
Despite what acolytes of the Expanded Universe,
most of which was uncanonised last year, might believe, the vast majority of Star Wars fans are not aware of every semi-official comic book and dime store novel written about George Lucas’s space saga in the past half century. The Darth Plagueis theory is predicated on the idea that the Sith Lord weighs as heavily with lovers of Star Wars as the Star Trek baddie Khan Noonien Singh does with fans of that rival science fiction saga. But if Snoke was to announce himself –
Benedict Cumberbatch style – as Darth Plagueis in Episode VIII, the supposed big reveal would be met with choruses of befuddlement in cinemas across the globe.
Andy Serkis says Snoke is someone new
Interviewed by Entertainment Weekly last month about his role as Snoke, the British mo-cap specialist described the villain as “very much a newly introduced character,” adding: “He’s aware of what’s gone on, in the respect that he has been around and is aware of prior events. I think it’d be fair to say that he is aware of the past to a great degree.”
It’s possible Serkis might be unaware of Snoke’s identity as Plagueis, of course.
JJ Abrams almost made the villain a female
In a recently published book, The Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it is revealed that Snoke was one of the final characters to be developed,
and at one point was almost female. It seems unlikely that the villain’s identity could have been so fluid at such a late stage – reportedly 10 weeks before the movie hit cinemas – if there was a clear plan to link the First Order boss man chief to events from Star Wars’ past.
JJ Abrams and Disney have studiously avoided touching on anything from the prequel trilogy or expanded universe
Some fans might have been holding out to see the likes of Mara Jade or Jacen Solo – both popular Expanded Universe characters – in The Force Awakens. But after uncanonising everything Star Wars outside the six feature films last year, Disney was never going to allow them to be brought back in the new episode. What Abrams has done is borrow motifs – a kickass female Jedi, Darth Vader’s grandchildren turning to the dark side – from the EA novels and comics. So it would be no surprise, for instance, if it turned out that Snoke had used some kind of Plagueis-like tech to bring himself back from the dead, rather than being Plagueis himself. Just don’t expect it to involve
the dreaded midichlorians.
The Sith are supposed to be long gone
Some fans have suggested Plagueis’ supposed return tallies with The Force Awakens’ apparent shift towards new dark side orders, such as the mysterious Knights of Ren. The theory goes that the resurrected villain no longer trusts the ways of the Sith, because the order’s rule that an apprentice will always destroy their master had led to his own demise at the hands of Palpatine.
This seems, however, like a pretty far-fetched workaround. The return of a well-known Sith Lord first mentioned in the prequels would make Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader’s prophesied destruction of the order, thereby bringing peace to the galaxy, a completely pointless exercise. Sorry Plagueis fans, but the Force just isn’t with you this time.
