Supreme Leader Snoke

"There has been an awakening. Have you felt it? The Dark Side... and the Light."

- Supreme Leader Snoke

Supreme Leader Snoke is a major antagonist in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the secondary antagonist of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Snoke is the supreme leader of the First Order and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo's master.

Snoke was a humanoid alien who was originally the leader of a group of mute alien navigators from the galaxy's Unknown Regions called the Attendants. At an unspecified point in his life, Snoke became the Supreme Leader of the First Order, founded the Knights of Ren and based its practices off of ancient Sith teachings from the planet Malachor. He trained eight apprentices, with his most prized pupil being Ben Solo, the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, the nephew of Luke Skywalker, and the grandson of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader and Padme Amidala. Snoke was critical in the seduction of Ben to the Dark side, and when his turn was complete, Snoke christened him Kylo Ren.

Personality
Snoke is an extremely intelligent, sophisticated calculating, and wise individual, knowing how to act in situations of danger or when things like he wanted do not go like he wanted. Unlike his apprentice, he is very calm, level-headed and reserved. However, he is also very manipulative as he exploited Force-sensitive individuals, such as Ben Solo, only for their power.

Snoke displays tendencies unusual for practitioners of the Dark side of the Force; he shows little emotion, as he is usually very calm and collected, as did not appear to be in any form of worry or distress despite the circumstances against him and the First Order. When the Starkiller Base was being destroyed, he calmly expressed his wishes without showing any form of anger or annoyance, a stark contrast to his apprentice Kylo Ren, who is prone to violent outbursts when faced with frustration. However, despite this, Snoke did demonstrate a considerable level of anger and frustration after learning of failures from Armitage Hux and Kylo; though he only directed his anger and frustration towards Hux. Despite his calm and level-headed demeanor, Snoke can be incredibly sinister and subtly cunning, a feature he employs when earning obedience from individuals.

Snoke's reason for choosing Ben Solo as his apprentice (as explained in the novelization of The Force Awakens) is that as Anakin Skywalker's grandson, he is a focal point in the Force; a perfect balance of light and dark.

Snoke has a dislike for Luke Skywalker. In the film's novelization, Snoke is shown to believe that Vader's compassion, sentiment and love for his son, Luke, was the reason for the fall of the Galactic Empire. He also passed on that belief to Kylo during the latter's apprenticeship.

Snoke is also very wise; wise enough that he had seen the rise and fall of the Galactic Empire. It was partly due to this that he was smart in keeping the First Order from making the same mistakes as the Empire did, and would not hesitate to instigate plans that would force his enemies to reveal themselves. In the novelization for The Force Awakens, it was on Hux's suggestion that use of Starkiller Base might force the Resistance to reveal itself which led to his approval of the superweapon's use. He further kept his personal secret base mobile, so as never to be located by his enemies.

Snoke is sadistic, as he enjoys tormenting his enemies with the Force on a physical and emotional level. He did this to Rey with thoughts of her parents, and the same to Ren when he plays with his mind and his soul. Snoke, additionally, is not an individual who tolerates failure, so if anyone from the First Order fails in what they were supposed to do, Snoke will not hesitate to kill them.

Physical appearance
In appearance, Snoke was heavily disfigured, with large scars across most of his face and skull. He was quite frail-looking, and had large hands and deathly pale skin. Regardless, he stood at an imposing height, well over eight feet tall.

Powers

 * The Force: Though not much of Snoke's powers are actually shown, he is extremely powerful and has an extremely strong connection to the Force. Snoke is far more powerful than Rey or Kylo Ren
 * Force Sense: Snoke was able to sense an awakening in the Force, which he knew Kylo Ren could feel as well.
 * Telepathy: Snoke could sense Kylo’s emotions and intentions, though he was only able to sense that Kylo was about to kill “his true enemy”, but assumed that it was Rey and not himself.
 * Mind Probe: Snoke possesses skill with the mind prove that was naturally superior to that of his apprentice, as he easily pried into the mind of Rey to discover Luke’s location, which caused her extreme agony.
 * Telekinesis: Snoke possessed an affinity for Telekinesis, which he was known using to choke and throw his opponents. He was able to immobilize and restrain his targets effortlessly, which allowed him to manipulate their movements. As demonstrated on both Rey and Hux, Snoke could make his targets glide along the floor or fly through the air while barely concentrating or exerting visible effort. His power in this regard is so strong that he doesn't even have to be in close proximity to his intended target, as he was capable of using his powers on General Hux even though they were not even on the same starship (or solar system, as his ship had not entered the same system yet at that point).
 * Force Lightning: Snoke was able to use Force lightning, which he blasted against the floor like a shockwave to knock his apprentice off his feet.

Abilities

 * High-Level Intellect/Master Tactician/Leader/Manipulator: Snoke is highly intelligent and wise. As the leader of the First Order and the Knights of Ren, Snoke is a highly skilled tactician and a capable leader. Snoke's skill in manipulation is so strong that Snoke even managed to manipulate and deceive Ben Solo into becoming his apprentice, turning him against the New Jedi Order.

The Force Awakens
Snoke sends Kylo Ren and the First Order on a search for Luke Skywalker following his disappearance. At Starkiller Base, Kylo and General Hux contact Snoke via hologram to report the progress of their individual assignments. While Snoke is irritated when Ren admits his search has been delayed, Hux proposes using Starkiller's superweapon against several New Republic planets who have been caught supporting the Resistance, which Snoke authorizes. After Hux is dismissed, Snoke confides in Ren of a disturbance in the Force and urges Ren to kill his father to overcome the Light side's temptation and fully embrace the dark side.

After capturing a scavenger named Rey who had seen a piece of the map to Luke, Ren asks Snoke to let him train her in the ways of the Force as an asset, to which Snoke orders Ren to bring him to her. However, Rey manages to escape before this can happen and, after Ren defeats Finn, duels him in lightsaber combat as the Resistance attacks the base, causing the planet to collapse. Moments before the base's total destruction, Hux contacts Snoke and Snoke calmly orders Hux to bring Ren to him in order to complete his training.

Trivia

 * His appearance was created using motion capture (CGI).
 * His actor, Andy Serkis, also played Gollum in the Lord of The Rings films. Andy Serkis is the second major Lord of The Rings actor to play a Star Wars villain after Christopher Lee who played Count Dooku in the prequel trilogy.
 * His name was officially unveiled on May 28, 2015.
 * Andy Serkis has confirmed that Snoke's horribly deformed face was inspired partially by injuries of World War I veterans who came back badly scarred or deformed.
 * Andy Serkis also revealed that Snoke also was stricken with severe osteoporosis that left him " as twisted as a corkscrew".
 * Andy Serkis considers Snoke to be a much darker character than Palpatine.
 * Snoke carries an artifact on his person that reveal his fanaticism with Darth Vader: The ring on his finger is made from obsidian from beneath Darth Vader's Castle on Mustafar.
 * The role of Snoke in the sequel trilogy mirrors the role of Emperor Palpatine in the original trilogy. The case of Snoke is similar to the roles of both Kylo Ren and General Hux in the sequel trilogy, who respectively mirror Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin in the original trilogy. The difference being that, Snoke is betrayed and killed in the second installment of the trilogy.
 * Likewise, his telling Kylo Ren to "fulfill his destiny" mirrors Palpatine telling Luke the same thing in Return of the Jedi. Both villains are also shortly after uttering this line betrayed and killed by their respective right-hands (Darth Vader and Kylo Ren).