Star Wars: The Force Awakens recently hit theatres, taking the world by storm and becoming the fastest film ever to make one billion dollars, in style (feel free to check out
my review). However,
Star Wars' financial success is not what I am here to discuss, as jaw dropping as it may be. In my humble opinion, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that Supreme Leader Snoke, who is presumably the main antagonist of the sequel trilogy, is in fact Darth Plagueis. But before I get to that, we must first ask ourselves...
WHO IS DARTH PLAGUEIS?
"The darkside of the force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural."
Darth Plagueis the Wise was an exceptionally powerful Sith Lord who served as the teacher and master to eventual emperor, Darth Sidious himself. Plagueis was so powerful in the force that he could manipulate
midi-chlorians to create life and keep his loved ones from dying. He taught much of what he knew to Sidious, who would go on to betray Plagueis. Sidious believed to have killed Plagueis, but that has yet to be seen. In the
Star Wars: Legends universe, Plagueis was a
Muun, but that is no longer canon as his alien race was never specified in
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.
WHAT IS NOT EVIDENCE THAT SNOKE IS PLAGUEIS
Before the release of
The Force Awakens, it was speculated that Rey's staff is actually the lightsaber of Darth Plagueis due to a slight resemblance between the two. But to anyone who has actually seen the film, it is beyond obvious that this is not the case.
An Artist's Depiction of Snoke
Our supposed first look of Snoke came when an image of an artist's depiction of the character made its way onto the internet. The drawing is clearly Darth Plagueis. Regardless, this doesn't prove anything because there were no images of Snoke at the time. It is more than likely that the artist decided to Google "Supreme Leader Snoke," only to stumble across an image of Darth Plagueis.
EVIDENCE THAT SNOKE IS DARTH PLAGUEIS
If you look at Snoke compared to the
Legends incarnation of Darth Plagueis, it is very easy to notice the similarities in appearance between the two, despite the fact that Snoke isn't a Muun. It also isn't a stretch to see that much of the same imagery used with Snoke was also used for Plagueis in
Legends. For instance, it has been confirmed that Snoke is seven feet tall, yet his only appearance in
The Force Awakens was that of an enlarged hologram that recalled the artwork used for the cover of the self-titled
Darth Plagueis novel.
Although Darth Sidious claimed to have killed Plagueis in the official canon, we never see this for ourselves. It is possible that Sidious may have merely believed himself to have killed Plagueis, as Sidious himself admits that it was ironic that Plagueis could save countless others but not himself. Snoke is shown to be heavily scarred in
The Force Awakens. Those scars must have made it onto Snoke's face somehow. Were they inflicted by Darth Sidious?
In an
interview with
Entertainment Weekly, actor Andy Serkis (who portrays Snoke) revealed that Snoke was around during the events of the previous films and is well aware of what has happened in those films. To quote Mister Serkis:
"[Snoke]'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."
In the same interview, Serkis claims that Snoke is an original character created specifically for the sequel trilogy. However, this doesn't hold much weight considering that Serkis is only an actor who doesn't know what is to come in future sequels. Actors only know what they are told about their characters and what they read in the script. That's why the majority of the cast members of the original trilogy had no idea that Darth Vader was the father of Luke Skywalker until after the release of The Empire Strikes Back. It is clear that Serkis has been informed that his character was around in the earlier films. The same can be said for Darth Plagueis, who pre-dates Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.
If you pay attention to John Williams' score in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, you will notice that Snoke's theme is almost identical to the score used when Sidious informed a young Anakin Skywalker of the history of Darth Plagueis in Episode III.
Take a look at this concept art for Supreme Leader Snoke. Look familiar?
The final thing I should point out is that, at one point, Snoke is referred to as "wise" in
The Force Awakens. This could be a reference to Darth Plagueis' title, "the Wise."
CONCLUSION
I believe that there is overwhelming evidence that Supreme Leader Snoke is actually Darth Plagueis. The Force Awakens left many things ambigious, as to leave room for the franchise's future installments. We may not know for certain if this evidence will pan out until after the releases of Episode VIII and Episode IX.