'Star Wars 9': New Comic Fuels a Popular Snoke's "Ring" Theory

Even in death, Supreme Leader Snoke casts a shadow over the Star Wars universe. A new one-shot comic book, set before the events of 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, explores Snoke’s tutelage of Kylo Ren, but its illustrations in its opening pages are causing fan theorists to go buck wild in the run-up to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

And it’s all over Snoke’s ring.

In Star Wars: Age of Resistance - Supreme Leader Snoke, a new one-shot comic from Tom Taylor (Injustice, DCeased) and published by Marvel, Supreme Leader Snoke begins training Kylo Ren, often criticizing his student for having emotions. If you wanted to know why Kylo is such a moody boy throughout The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, the new comic is a good revealing look at why.

But its opening pages, with art by Leonard Kirk and Cory Hamscher, are what’s getting fans buzzing. The comic begins with Snoke holding Kylo Ren over a cliff. Kylo insists he’s not afraid, but Snoke tells him: “Yes, you are. I can feel it.”

The panels, which close in on the subjects to highlight the intensity of the moment, take an Alfred Hitchcock approach to visual storytelling: By featuring Snoke’s ring predominantly in the frame, we’re led to believe it’s an important part of the story, even if the ring is not explicitly the story.

The predominance of Snoke’s ring, which he wore until his death by Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, is leading fans (especially on Reddit) to believe there’s more power in Snoke’s ring than the films have shown. The ring could be where Snoke draws his power from, or it’s simply an amplifier that makes Snoke even more powerful. Either way, Snoke is holding Kylo Ren in Age of Resistance just like he held Rey in The Last Jedi, and in both times, fans see a ring on his hand.

There’s little known about Snoke’s ring. It’s mostly been a wardrobe piece that contained references to deeper Star Wars lore than the films actually had time to address. As per the coffee table book The Art of The Last Jedi, Snoke’s ring contains Obsidian rock from Darth Vader’s Mustafar castle.

The ring is also etched with symbols of the Dwartii. The Four Sages of Dwartii were philosophers who founded the Galactic Republic. Emperor Palpatine kept statues of the Dwartii in his office in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.

There’s clearly some thematic connections between Snoke, Vader, and Palpatine in ways that don’t seem obvious. Snoke could just be a fetishist for relics. Or his ring — which remains mysterious in origin and function beyond Snoke’s #swag — might have more power than we can believe.

What’s the significance of Snoke’s ring? Will it play a role in Rise of Skywalker, which seems to feature a handful of relics imbued with Sith powers and tied to Emperor Palpatine’s return? We’ll have to wait for the movie — or maybe just the next Star Wars comic book — to find out.

**Star Wars: Age of Resistance — Supreme Leader Snoke #1 is available now. The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters on December 20.