10 Star Wars Deaths That Should NEVER Have Happened

Whilst on that subject of completely fumbled bad guys in the Star Wars sequels, arguably the most unexpected and annoying murder of the entire Skywalker Saga went down during Episode VIII: The Last Jedi.

After being built as the series' new big villain to be feared in the prior flick and putting in a frightening shift during his first few moments in Rian Johnson's follow-up, the unsettling Supreme Leader Snoke appeared to be the real evil deal.

Despite years of fans dreaming up compelling scenarios where he would have been revealed as Palpatine's master Darth Plageuis or perhaps even the Mortis god known as The Son, though, Snoke was eventually chopped in two before those answers could be revealed in Episode VIII.

Then, if not getting the chance to see Snoke really flex his muscles as the galaxy's latest seemingly unstoppable villainous force wasn't bad enough, Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker ultimately came along and completely ruined the character by simply letting folks know he was just an artificial strandcast used by the returning Emperor Palpatine to control the galaxy from afar.

As the apparent top villain of the films, Snoke was always destined to be struck down at some point, of course.

But keeping him alive until the final entry would have perhaps killed the need to foolishly resurrect ol' Palpatine as that final film's main antagonist, and perhaps saved Snoke from one of the silliest and most dissatisfying origin stories in Star Wars history.