Aftermath: Life Debt Reveals the Identity of Supreme Leader Snoke (Spoilers)

By far one of the biggest mysteries surrounding The Force Awakens is the identity of Supreme Leader Snoke. Fans have theorized who he could be since even before the movie was released (and no, it’s not Darth Plagueis). With the release of Star Wars Aftermath: Life Debt today, we have a pretty clear idea of who he was.

One thing to remember about Snoke is that he said he saw the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire. That means he’s pretty old. Well in Life Debt, we’re introduced to a character that fits his description and is an extreme loyalist to Palpatine’s original vision.

The mysterious Fleet Admiral from Aftermath is named Gallius Rax, and in Life Debt we get his backstory. A lot of things match up to him being Supreme Leader Snoke during the time of The Force Awakens…

• Rax is an orphan living on Jakku during the time of the Galactic Republic and he is befriended by Sheev Palpatine who appears to be doing Sithy things on the planet.
• Gallius has Force Sensitivity and is actually able to resist the power of Palpatine, which of course makes him very valuable to the future Emperor.
• Rax becomes a puppet master and special advisor to the Emperor. He’s the one pulling the strings behind the scenes.
• When Rae Sloane looks at him, it’s like she’s looking at a hologram.
• He’s described as being very pale and his eyes as black holes.
• He believes it’s very important for the Empire to recruit children and indoctrinate them at a young age. This is exactly what the First Order does as opposed to a clone army in The Force Awakens.
• By the end of the book he’s calling himself Emperor Rax.

The book doesn’t come out and name Gallius Rax as Supreme Leader Snoke, but there’s still a third book in this trilogy coming called “Empire’s End”. Life Debt ends right as the Battle of Jakku is about to start. It won’t be surprising if Rax ends up beaten and scarred by the end of that book and takes on the name Supreme Leader Snoke as the First Order begins to form…

Our friend Max over at The Star Wars Post has done a great (and extremely in-depth) analysis of why Rax is Snoke. You can read his breakdown here.