Who is Snoke? — Supreme Leader Snoke seated on a throne, lit from above by beams of blue light.

Who is Snoke?

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Published October 24, 2026

"Who is Snoke?" refers to the flood of fan theories about Supreme Leader Snoke, the shadowy villain introduced in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). Starting the day after the film opened, Reddit threads and YouTube explainers argued he was secretly Darth Plagueis, Mace Windu or another legacy character1. By September 2016, a single YouTube video pitching the Mace Windu angle had reached over 5.7 million views8.

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Overview

Fans fixated on Snoke because The Force Awakens gave him almost no backstory. He appears mostly as a giant hologram giving orders to Kylo Ren and General Hux, which left viewers free to argue he was really someone they already knew from earlier films1. Theory posts stacked circumstantial clues such as musical cues shared with Darth Plagueis's theme, dialogue hints and deep cuts from the old Expanded Universe2.

The format of a Who is Snoke? post is a long walk through evidence pointing to one preferred identity. The two loudest candidates were Darth Plagueis, the Sith lord Palpatine mentions in Revenge of the Sith, and Mace Windu, Samuel L. Jackson's Jedi who seemed to die in that same film28. Writers sometimes paired these with wilder picks like Gallius Rax or Darth Vader's spirit5.

Origin & Background

Platform
Reddit / YouTube (viral spread)
Date
2015

On April 29, 2014, StarWars.com announced that Andy Serkis had joined the cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, though his role was not disclosed3. The character's name stayed hidden until a 2015 Vanity Fair profile revealed Serkis was playing the fully CGI Supreme Leader Snoke3. The Force Awakens opened on December 18, 2015, and viewers left theaters knowing almost nothing about Snoke beyond his hologram scenes with Kylo Ren.

The catalyst event was the film's premiere on December 18, 2015. The earliest documented Who is Snoke? discussion appeared the next day, when Redditor cgcallahan0 opened a megathread in r/StarWars about Snoke's hologram1.

How It Spread

On December 19, 2015, Redditor cgcallahan0 posted "(Spoilers) About Supreme Leader Snoke" in r/StarWars, which gathered over 1,800 points and 890 comments before archival1. In the replies, user jedifan421 pointed out that Snoke's score echoed Darth Plagueis's leitmotif, and user DoctorSteve03 wrote out the full "Plagueis is Snoke" case1. Three days later, on December 22, 2015, Business Insider ran a piece titled "I can't shake this totally believable theory about the new 'Star Wars' villain," which argued the same Plagueis identity2.

YouTube explainers followed almost immediately. The Comic Book Cast posted "Snoke Explained Star Wars The Force Awakens" on December 23, 2015, drawing on the film's novelization and reaching over 620,000 views4. StarWarsHeadquarters uploaded "Who is Snoke?" on December 27, 2015, which surveyed the competing identities and reached over 580,000 views by September 20176.

Theory videos stayed popular into the next year. Jon Solo's "Snoke's Identity CONFIRMED?!" went live on February 22, 2016, and reached 2.2 million views within 18 months7. On September 10, 2016, Vincent Vendetta posted a video arguing Snoke was Mace Windu, which reached over 5.7 million views in its first year, the biggest view count among the main theory explainers8. Know Your Meme catalogued the discussion as it kept running through 20175.

Timeline

2014-04-29

StarWars.com announces Andy Serkis has joined The Force Awakens, with his role kept secret.

2015-12-18

Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in theaters, introducing Supreme Leader Snoke as a hologram.

2015-12-19

Redditor cgcallahan0 posts an r/StarWars megathread about Snoke's hologram, which reaches 1,800+ points.

2015-12-22

Business Insider publishes a piece arguing Snoke is Darth Plagueis.

2015-12-23

YouTuber The Comic Book Cast posts a Snoke explainer drawing on the novelization.

2015-12-27

YouTuber StarWarsHeadquarters uploads "Who is Snoke?", a video surveying competing identities.

2016-02-22

Jon Solo posts "Snoke's Identity CONFIRMED?!", which reaches 2.2 million views.

2016-09-10

Vincent Vendetta posts a video arguing Snoke is Mace Windu, reaching 5.7 million views within a year.

How to Use This Meme

A typical Who is Snoke? post or video opens with the question, lists clues from the film, then argues for one identity. Writers often cite musical motifs, dialogue callbacks or novelization details as evidence24.

Frequently Asked Questions