New Star Wars Book Teases a Snoke-Yoda Connection in 'Rise of Skywalker'

Even after two new Star Wars movies — and countless cartoons and comics — we still have no idea who Supreme Leader Snoke really is or where he came from. With Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, Lucasfilm has a chance to change that, and an upcoming book may tease an unexpected connection between Snoke and another iconic Star Wars character: Yoda.

Yes, that Yoda. Died in Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back, Yoda. It might sound ridiculous, but hear us out, because this Rise of Skywalker theory actually makes sense — sort of.

Speculative spoilers for Star Wars: The Rise Skywalker ahead.

It all starts with a new series of official Star Wars “Age of Resistance” books launching ahead of Rise of Skywalker. The books fill in backstory for major sequel trilogy characters like Rose and Kylo, but one in particular seems interesting, a story about Snoke titled The Devil’s Apprentice!

Here’s the official synopsis from StarWars.com:

Supreme Leader Snoke’s brutal training of Kylo Ren begins. Will the sadistic Snoke break his tormented protégé? Or has he underestimated the son of Han and Leia?

That sounds interesting enough, but what’s really setting off fan speculation is the cover art that comes with it.

Take a closer look at that creepy tree behind Snoke. Does it remind you of anything? Yeah, us neither, but redditor u/vadrr21 drew one very interesting connection in a post to the Star Wars Speculation subreddit:

> Tree in background of Age of Resistance - Snoke’s cover looks like a tree form a swamp, possibly Dagobah.

For comparison, here’s Yoda and Luke on Dagoba in Episode Strikes Back. Check out these swampy trees!

In the comments, others speculated that Snoke could have something to do with that spooky cave Yoda made Luke Skywalker go into back in Empire Strikes Back. Maybe Snoke was even there during that movie, just lurking in the shadows.

It’s also possible that this could connect to earlier leak about a mysterious creature called the “Oracle” who Kylo Ren will interact with in Rise of Skywalker. The Oracle allegedly hangs out in a swamp too. So it’s possible that could be the swamp Snoke is chilling in on the cover of that book.

At the very least, the mere existence of this Snoke-focused book suggests the former Supreme Leader will play some sort of role in Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker despite dying in Last Jedi. Then again, maybe Disney is simply trying to satiate fans who want to know the character’s backstory so they won’t be too annoyed when Episode IX totally ignores it.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters on December 20.