# Who is Snoke?
"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 character[1]. By September 2016, a single YouTube video pitching the Mace Windu angle had reached over 5.7 million views[8].
## Origin
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 disclosed[3]. The character's name stayed hidden until a 2015 Vanity Fair profile revealed Serkis was playing the fully CGI Supreme Leader Snoke[3]. 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 hologram[1].
- **Platform:** Reddit / YouTube (viral spread)
- **Creator:** Unknown
- **Date:** 2015
## 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 films[1]. Theory posts stacked circumstantial clues such as musical cues shared with Darth Plagueis's theme, dialogue hints and deep cuts from the old Expanded Universe[2].
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 film[2][8]. Writers sometimes paired these with wilder picks like Gallius Rax or Darth Vader's spirit[5].
## 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 archival[1]. 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" case[1]. 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 identity[2].
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 views[4]. StarWarsHeadquarters uploaded "Who is Snoke?" on December 27, 2015, which surveyed the competing identities and reached over 580,000 views by September 2017[6].
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 months[7]. 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 explainers[8]. Know Your Meme catalogued the discussion as it kept running through 2017[5].
## How to Use
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 evidence[2][4].
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Who is Snoke??
It is the catch-all name for fan theories about the hidden identity of Supreme Leader Snoke, the Star Wars villain introduced in The Force Awakens (2015)[5].
### Where did Who is Snoke? come from?
It began on Reddit on December 19, 2015, one day after the film opened, with an r/StarWars megathread by user cgcallahan0[1], then spread to YouTube and Business Insider[2].
### What does Who is Snoke? mean?
It is shorthand for the argument that Snoke is secretly a known character, with Darth Plagueis and Mace Windu as the two most-pitched candidates[2][8].
### How do you use Who is Snoke??
Fans frame posts and videos around the question, then list clues such as musical cues, dialogue hints and novelization details to argue for one identity[4][6].
### Is Who is Snoke? still popular?
Theory videos were most active in 2015 and 2016, when Jon Solo's and Vincent Vendetta's explainers reached millions of views[7][8].
## References
1. [https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/3xhckt/spoilers_about_supreme_leader_snoke/]()
2. [http://www.businessinsider.com/star-wars-is-snoke-plagueis-2015-12]()
3. [http://www.starwars.com/news/capturing-a-galaxy-an-interview-with-annie-leibovitz-exclusive]()
4. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG-vF837N8s]()
5. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/who-is-snoke]()
6. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGhPUFo8UQo]()
7. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqk8-EQLOMI]()
8. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xBRxofNI3Y]()
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Source: https://meme.com/memes/who-is-snoke
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