Snoke

Snoke was a Force-sensitive humanoid male who ruled the First Order as Supreme Leader during the New Republic Era and was considered to be a enigmatic seeker of arcane lore who possessed a dark nature from the Unknown Regions. Likely unaware of his true nature, Snoke was an artificial genetic strandcast created on the planet Exegol by the resurgent Dark Lord of the Sith and Galactic Emperor Darth Sidious as a proxy and the product of cloning experiments. Though Snoke possessed an independent mind, he was obliviously influenced by Sidious from afar in an effort to achieve galactic dominance once again.

He was created by the Sith Eternal cult during the reign of the Galactic Empire; after Sidious's resurrection, the humanoid held no use in his goal for power, so he was instead utilized by Sidious as a proxy he could manipulate for his Contingency. The dark side adept adopted the identity "Snoke" and sought out vast knowledge of the steep teachings of dark side, rediscovering lost and forgotten secrets in the Unknown Regions and had various bases across the galaxy full of shards of archaic lore and had once killed his adversaries, through either manipulation or just killing them, while his teachings blended traditions of both the light and the dark side and being skilled enough to have survived an encounter with the Jedi Luke Skywalker.

With his powerful abilities and immense foresight, Snoke eventually gained control of the First Order in the Unknown Regions formed from a remnant of the Galactic Empire. Despite holding absolute power as Supreme Leader, Snoke allowed General Armitage Hux to lead his forces in his name; preferring to concentrate on spiritual matters of the Force. With the turning of Padawan Ben Solo - grandson of the Chosen One Anakin Skywalker - to the dark side, Snoke recruited the heir to the powerful Skywalker bloodline as his student. Solo adopted the persona of Kylo Ren after renouncing the Jedi Order.

During the last days of the Cold War, Snoke directed his apprentice to hunt and destroy Jedi Master Luke Skywalker; his apprentice’s uncle and former master, determined see Skywalker's death as the last Jedi. Additionally, Snoke authorized a preemptive strike with Starkiller Base against the New Republic that destroyed the Galactic Senate and launched the First Order-Resistance War in 34 ABY. However, while pursuing his objectives to destroy the Resistance, Snoke was assassinated by Ren; who sought to rule the galaxy for himself.

By dying at the hands of his apprentice, Snoke's purpose was fulfilled. Kylo Ren seized power over the First Order as Supreme Leader and had carried out an act of ascension worthy of the Rule of Two, completing the final test laid out for him by Darth Sidious; who both he and Snoke had molded into a master of attack and cunning, testing his worthiness as an apprentice of the Sith. In addition, this allowed Sidious to sidestep the Rule of Two, in which a dark apprentice slew their master to obtain ultimate power and ascension within the dark side of the Force.

Text and facts from the “Snoke” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.