10 Major Reveals From The Star Wars: The Force Awakens Novelisation

5. Supreme Leader Snoke Has Been Around For A Long Time

While Supreme Leader Snoke is clearly not a young man, the Star Wars: The Force Awakens novelisation makes it clear that he's also someone who is well aware of what's been going on in the Galaxy for decades and not a foe who emerged out of nowhere following the deaths of Darth Vader and the Emperor. His identity may still be a mystery, but it turns out that Snoke had apprentices long before enticing Ben Solo to the Dark Side. However, what made the now Kylo Ren so appealing to the mysterious villain is the fact that he wasn't trained from the Dark Side from the very start, but someone who fell from the Light, and that's something which is actually new to the villain. The fact that Kylo struggles with these two powers leads Snoke to describe him as, "something pure, something strong, something unbreakable, with which to work." During other conversations between the two, Snoke reveals that he saw the rise and fall of the Empire (indicating that he's been around since the prequels) and admits to knowing that Darth Vader was Luke's father. Basically, the novelisation really emphasises the fact that the Supreme Leader was looming in the background of the Original Trilogy and for some reason has a lot of interest in the Skywalker bloodline. Is he Anakin Skywalker's father? Darth Plagueis? That remains to be seen, but it definitely looks like some sort of big reveal in regards to his identity is coming in Episode VIII.