Rumored Rise Of Skywalker Leak Believed To Reveal Snoke's True Origin

Did the Star Wars sequel trilogy give us one Big Bad for the price of two?

With the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker imminent, the rumor mill is working overtime — and the latest nugget has to do with the late Supreme Leader Snoke, Emperor Palpatine, and the relationship between the two characters. The rumor comes from fan site Making Star Wars, which has been a fairly reliable source of inside information, so be warned that potential spoilers for Rise of Skywalker are ahead.

Ever since his first appearance in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the identity of Snoke has been shrouded in mystery. Where did he come from, how did he come to assume control of the First Order after the fall of the Empire, and what is his interest in Kylo Ren? Rise of Skywalker will presumably answer all of these questions, but Making Star Wars might have answered one of them for us just a little bit early.

The website's alleged spoiler has to do with a scene that supposedly takes place on the dead planet of Exegol, where Emperor Palpatine has been in hiding. No, we still have no explanation as to just how ol' Palps (as we hear he likes to be called) has returned, but for the purposes of this rumor, it's neither here nor there.

The Emperor is confronted by Kylo Ren, whom we assume has located the old dude with the help of one of those heavily rumored "Wayfinder" devices that are said to be central to the flick's plot. Ren is skeptical that Palpatine even is who he says he is, but he's shaken to discover that the Emperor is keeping several clones of Snoke in vats in his lair.

Their conversation becomes more and more confrontational, with Ren's anger starting to bubble to the surface, and Palpatine becoming more and more annoyed that this young upstart doesn't grasp the enormity of what's going on here. When Ren finally invokes Snoke by name, Palpatine makes a startling proclamation: "I am Snoke!"

Well, we didn't see that coming... okay, maybe we sort of saw it coming, but we were never exactly sure. The question that remains, though — assuming that this rumor is accurate, and that this scene actually exists — is whether or not Palpatine is speaking literally.

Could it be that Palpatine has actually found a way to transfer his consciousness into the body of another being? This might explain why Snoke was so keen to groom Ren; perhaps the young guy was actually being prepped to become Palpatine's next vessel. Hey, if we were trapped inside that horrifying bag of bones that was Snoke, we'd be keen to hook ourselves up with a younger, far more aesthetically pleasing body, too.

However, don't forget that Palpatine has employed this phrasing before, during the events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. While still holding the title of Supreme Chancellor, and before his transformation into a walking, breathing jump scare, Palpatine was confronted by Jedi Master Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) over having concealed his identity as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Attempting to place Palpatine under arrest, Windu informs him that "the Senate will decide [his] fate," whereupon Palpatine coolly replies, "I am the Senate."

Obviously, Palpatine is prone to speaking in such metaphorical terms, and it's pretty likely that in revealing his relationship to Snoke, he's doing so again. Rather than admitting to having physical control over the Supreme Leader, he's instead simply stating that Snoke was his puppet — a puppet which he happens to have several copies of, laying around in vats, which Ren can plainly see.

Of course, it must be reiterated that this report should be taken not with a grain of salt, but with several heaping tablespoons. Making Star Wars' sources are as anonymous as sources get, and while their description of this scene is pretty darn detailed, that still doesn't preclude the possibility that someone pulled it wholesale straight out of their keisters.

If it is accurate, though, it may help to explain a few things — such as the degenerated, unsettlingly melt-y look of Snoke (perhaps Palpatine's clones are imperfect ones), and why the heck the Supreme Leader (which The Force Awakens had seemingly set up to be the entire sequel trilogy's Big Bad) was so easily and unceremoniously killed halfway through The Last Jedi.

We find it pretty easy to believe that that old puppetmaster Palpatine has been laying low, pulling strings throughout the sequel films — so we're going to go ahead and rate this rumor "Seems Pretty Legit." Fortunately, we don't have too long to wait to find out whether we're right: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the conclusion to the nine-film Skywalker Saga, finally hits the big screen on December 20.