'Star Wars 9' Rumors: 'Last Jedi' Scene Fuels a Snoke-Palpatine Theory

With Emperor Palpatine’s return set for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, one fan theory that’s been gaining momentum argues that Palps could have been masquerading as Supreme Leader Snoke the entire time. We’re still not totally sold on the whole idea, but a new piece of evidence from The Last Jedi makes the case for a Snoke-Palpatine connection even stronger.

Warning! Speculative spoilers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker below.

We previously discussed the idea that Emperor Palpatine could have used the Sith dark side Force power known as Essence Transfer to move his consciousness into another body, which might explain how he’s still alive in The Rise of Skywalker.

Like we said, it’s not the most believable theory, but it’s not totally farfetched either. Now, however, a new bit of evidence provides even more proof that Snoke and Palpatine may actually be one and the same. As redditor u/overthecause notes in a recent post to r/StarWarsSpeculation, when Snoke to

Redditor u/overthecause provides an overlooked example to explain how Snoke may have been Palpatine’s host. “During the scene where Snoke tortures Rey in TLJ you can hear Palpatine’s theme being played,” they write. This isn’t the first time someone’s made that connection, but in the context of The Rise of Skywalker, it becomes a lot more interesting.

There’s a lot in here to consider, but let’s stay focused on the musical connection. Is there anything to it?

Perhaps director Rian Johnson just wanted to evoke a sense of dark power in this scene, but Palpatine’s theme music didn’t need to be used to do that. After all, Snoke was menacing and cruel on his own without having to compare him to Darth Sidious. So why use the Emperor’s theme at all if not to foreshadow the fact that he’d been using Snoke as a host?

John Williams’ Star Wars score has been an integral aspect of the franchise and a part of what has made the films so memorable. Additionally, music has always helped to drive the narrative and is often used to tell the audience how they should feel or react during a scene. So if Palpatine’s score was used when Snoke was torturing Rey, then it must mean something, right?

It’s also possible that even if Johnson wasn’t drawing that connection, it could still happen in Episode IX. After all, once a movie is released, the audience is free to interpret its meaning however they want. And the same goes for J.J. Abrams, who gets to make his own decisions about what The Last Jedi really means while writing and directing its direct sequel.

And even if you discount everything that happened in The Last Jedi (and this theory), it’s hard to argue against the idea that Snoke was clearly set up to be a Palpatine-like figure of the new sequel trilogy. Actually making Snoke a host for Palpatine could be the next logical step. Either way, it’s safe to say Snoke was on Team Palps regardless of whether or not they ever shared a body.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters December 20, 2019.