New Star Wars theory reveals Palpatine's greatest enemy

Snoke theories have become as commonplace as Darth Vader cosplays in the Star Wars fan community, but they all center around Palpatine's true purpose for mysterious Force user. Was Snoke a Palpatine clone? A fallen Jedi? Some nondescript Sith Lord? Moff Tarkin in disguise?

All we truly know is Palpatine "made" Snoke, be that literally or figuratively. But what if Snoke wasn't a sidekick or a minion? What if he was Palpatine's greatest rival?

In the comments of a theory dissecting the true plan of the Final Order, redditor u/TiredOldCliche offered their own Snoke theory. Perhaps Palpatine created Snoke, but that doesn't mean Snoke couldn't have rebelled against his own creator and plotted his own takeover of the New Order and Kylo Ren. Could Snoke be a cloning experiment gone wrong, instead of one gone right?

Like most theories about Snoke, there' isn't much direct evidence for this one — but there's also no direct evidence against it. It builds on another the recent theory laying out how Snoke could be his own person outside of Palpatine's control, but takes it to new heights by adding his own evil scheme to hijack Palpatine's master plan.

The previous theory used the Palpatine line "I have been every voice you have ever heard inside your head" to suggest that while Palpatine may have directly controlled the Force telepathy Kylo experienced, the conversations held face to face were outside of his control.

After all, if Palpatine could directly control Kylo Ren in person through Snoke, why would he need to Force telepathy at all, let alone through three different voices? Perhaps the Snoke creation started as a Plan A, but due to a Frankenstein's monster situation, Snoke rebelled, leaving Palpatine to use his different Force ventriloquy tricks to plant the idea to rebel against Snoke in Kylo's brain, ridding himself of the rivalry to start his plan in earnest.

Cloning technology is a finicky thing in the Star Wars universe. The possibility of a clone rising up against its creator is not only possible but, for Palpatine, the mastermind of Order 66, deeply ironic. It also gives Palps the perfect obstacle in what would prove to be his last standoff with the Rebel forces.

The Inverse Analysis — If there's one thing Palpatine's good at, it's overthrowing those in power indirectly. So if Snoke became evil and turned against what Palpatine intended, Palpatine would be more than equipped to overthrow him in a way so subtle and subconscious that nobody would even notice. Regardless of whether or not this theory is canon, it does help answer that all important question: why was Snoke such a big deal? Perhaps because Palpatine lost control.