ST Andy Serkis (Supreme Leader Snoke) in Episode VII

Good work, but you might want to break the link. Not trying to mini-mod, just a friendly suggestion.

Really, though, thanks for tracking that down.

 

Cool. Thanks for linking to the source, too. Wait...

 

So are these two fired now, as they are asking for it if those tweets are real...

 

Why do you need a source for it? The Ssi-Ruuk have been in Star Wars for decades. I'm just making fun of how similar Snoke seems to them.

 

I just have no idea where it came from (and no idea who the Ssi-Ruuk are). Knowing its origins helps me figure out whether or not it could possibly be related to something we will see in TFA.

For example, if it came from a "Journey to the Force Awakens" comic, it might be interesting, given the rumors of Snoke's reptilian nature...

 

You don't get the joke.

If you don't get it, then it's not for you. It's for people who know.

 

Probably far too funny for me to handle.

 

Snoke is going to be a new, original design. Possibly even a new species for you guys to project into other characters for years down the road. It severely undermines a production designer to be limited to existing designs.

 

I think the recent information about First Order propaganda about Luke being an evil villain is important to discovering who Supreme Leader of the First Order Snoke is

 

All you need to know about the Ssi-Ruuk, you can learn from that picture.

They're Raptors. In Space. In Star Wars. (They also have machines to suck the lifeforce out of others, and live in an aggressive, hierarchal society)

Talking Dinosaurs in Star Wars. It's so ridiculous. They've been in the EU for decades, mostly ignored, except for 2 books (and the second book tried to exterminate them so we don't have to worry about their ridiculousness existing any more). Everybody has always thought of them as a fun but ridiculous concept.

Now we have a possible concept art leak of the new Big Bad... and it looks like a Ssi-Ruuk, even the costume. Out of all the species created by the EU, no one, not even EU fans, would have predicted that the SSI RUUK of all species might have the most inspiration for the new Big Bad of the Sequel Trilogy.

So I posted the picture of the Ssi-Ruuk with Darth Vader. Because it's ridiculous, with Dinosaurs in extravagant robes in a conference room with Darth Vader.

And anyone who's been a Star Wars fan, and has known there's more than the movies for more than a few years, probably knows about the Ssi Ruuk.

So if those Star Wars fans saw the possible leaked illustration of Snoke, and then saw the picture of the Ssi-Ruuk soon afterwards, they'd find it funny how much the new Big Bad resembles the ridiculous, over-the-top Ssi-Ruuk. Probably because it's one of the last thing you'd expect them to borrow from the EU.

There you go, joke explained.

Which is why asking for the "source" of an old, official comic book, well-known among Star Wars fans who knew of the EU, shouldn't really be taken seriously, and why the joke wasn't meant for them in the first place. Though it is hilarious someone would think it's possible to be from a TFA tie-in.

 

Ghost

I actually understood that you were making a reference to the Snoke design with that image. I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't an image from recent canonical comics, that's all.

Also, I consider myself to be a pretty hardcore Star Wars fan. But there are elements of the EU that I have avoided because of what I perceived to be poor quality (and because I am generally not a fan of comic book stories). So your statement "anyone who's been a Star Wars fan, and has known there's more than the movies for more than a few years, probably knows about the Ssi Ruuk" is...well...I think it's nonsense.

I think what you meant to say is that any Star Wars fan that has devoured ALL EU stories, including comics, books and games, knows who the Ssi Ruuk are. That's a different level of fan that very few people belong to.

But I don't care, honestly. Just wanted to know where the image came from, and you explained why that wasn't important. It was a joke. Got it.

I can now go about the business of my life.

 

The Ssi-Ruuk were in the novels first, including the first post-ROTJ book, Truce at Bakura. If you're a Star Wars fan and you've looked into what happened in the old, post-ROTJ era, you would have inevitably heard about them. Posters on this board, who have been here before the Episode 7 announcement, who have looked into the EU before, have probably all heard of them (even if they'd rather forget them). They're not a minority on these boards. The joke was meant for them. That's why I only posted the picture, didn't give any explanation because none's needed for those who get it. If I was posting about some newly-released TFA tie-in, I probably would have posted more than a picture. Asking where it's from, if you didn't know, is better than sarcastically asking for my source, treating a joke you didn't get so seriously, and continuing to pry for information after I explain it's the Ssi-Ruuk and then that it's a joke yet still asking. It's just the most bizarre response that could be given to that picture, it's hilarious in itself in hindsight.

 

Have you (or anyone else) read about Aing-Tii monks. Do you think they would fit with Snoke, First Order and Knights of Ren? The books they appear are well known or minor?

 

The Aing-Tii are well-known to the people who have read the EU and post here. The books they first appeared in were written by Zahn, probably the most famous Star Wars author, in the duology that brought peace between the New Republic and Imperial Remnant. They've been around for about 20 years, and were mentioned in more recent books too, as well as reference material. They had a unique, rainbow view of the Force, and unique powers of teleportation and a sort of time travel that's more like the Pensieve in Harry Potter than actual time travel.

But nothing about them seems related to Snoke, Ren, or the First Order, based on what we know so far at least.

 

Again, I understand. It's just that in this intense period of new canon, I assumed you were posting something from the new canon. That's all.

Sarcasm is, unfortunately, in my DNA. But I usually use it with people I think are worth talking to, so take it as a compliment.

I actually read Truce at Bakura sometime in the mid-90s, I believe. Completely forgot about those dudes. Dumb concept, IMO (though not as dumb as the shark-headed guys in TCW). And yeah...if Snoke looks anything like them, we're in for the first major conceptual design disappointment...

 

Yeah, that's the joke, the Ssi-Ruuk were a cheesy concept that most people tried to forget because it just didn't "go" with the rest of Star Wars.

And now the new Big Bad looks most like them, of all things, if this concept art is to be believed. It's just funny.


Now, that doesn't necessarily mean Snoke is as ridiculous as the Ssi-Ruuk were... as long as he doesn't resemble a talking velociraptor too much, it could be a cool design, and not seem like a Star Wars / Jurassic World crossover.

And he wouldn't be the first Reptillian villain (which we haven't had much of in Star Wars, except Bossk). Think of the book version of Voldemort:

 

Yeah, I believe the concept art IR revealed was jettisoned very early on. This team has come up with some excellent character designs, IMO. Kylo Ren is one of my favorite across the whole saga, for example. I doubt the big bad of this film (or the whole saga) is going to be a dude in a kimono with a snake head.

 

Don't they use others to hunt for relics?
Also, now we know that their is First Order propaganda about Luke being evil villain who destroyed the great Empire, do you think it's possible this propaganda could involve "flow-walking". The description of that says about changing the perception of the past.
Maz's power of sharing visions is a way to introduce the audience to this concept.
Also, they are powerful Force users that see the Force completely different to Jedi and Sith.
Snoke could be using the Knights of Ren and First Order. The propaganda makes them believe they are fighting the good fight against the evil resistance, but really it's just brainwashing and Snoke just wants relics. He doesn't care about the Empire vs Rebels war or the First Order vs Resistance war. He just cares about the Force, relics, power etc

 

...except for the fact that those are not Ssi-Ruuk in the picture.

They're Tiss'shar.

 

Man the EU had some stupid names.

 

Snoke is secretly Voldemort. I have accepted that as my new headcanon

 

I thought I'd preface this post by saying this is simply what I wish would happen, rather than actually predicting or thinking this will be the case, but it would provide a credible Bigger Bad that would bind all three trilogies together, make the prequels in particular infinitely much more interesting on rewatch, redeem a hated character and by doing so perhaps even the entire PT, and even mesh with Legends material/backstories, so thought I should (mostly) groundlessly speculate anyway. Personally, I dislike the name Snoke. But not to worry! Leaks would indicate that this character is a Dark Lord of the Sith, so I would not be surprised to find that Snoke has a Darth name... and unlike Darth Maul but very much like Darth Tyranus, they may be intentionally publicising the name Snoke so as to keep his Sith nature secret... or perhaps because his Darth name would be all too familiar to us.

Imagine if Snoke, Darth Plagueis, and Jar Jar Binks were one. Perhaps as a shapeshifter as has been proposed earlier in this thread (which I agree would be a nice reference to AOTC, particularly given the lack of exploration of possibilities a shapeshifter brings to the table in that movie), but personally I believe a more frightening idea is that of Snoke being like Vitiate, adopting new identities (and perhaps new faces) through essence transfer, and indeed perhaps possessing multiple bodies in simultaneity. Not only could this make a very intimidating villain, becoming more of an ever-present evil intellect controlling lessers (Harbinger from Mass Effect 2 comes to mind as an example of this Eldritch Abomination trope played well), this would also conveniently account for Plagueis' surviving Palpatine (which yes, is canonical as per Tarkin), and confirming Plagueis as being the one canonical being in the galaxy who could cheat death, which Palpatine heavily implies in ROTS. Let us not forget that essence transfer is not some bizarre EU invention; Veitch and Lucas worked very closely on Dark Empire, and the idea of Palpatine's survival (and presumably method of doing so) came from Lucas. It'd also echo the OT, in which the Big Bad is revealed to be the mere Dragon to an even Bigger Bad. Of course, one question to be answered is why Plagueis didn't reveal himself until after ROTJ. Well, this is where I bring in the Darth Plagueis novel, elements of which definitely have been drawn into canon already, in which Plagueis explicitly sets Palpatine up as the public and human face of power, describing his plan to be an immortal Sith Lord ruling from the shadows, and focusing more on the etheric war with the light side than military and political (while nonetheless planning most of said military and political movements as well, with Palpatine merely enacting them).

Then there's this lovely little theory that's been going viral lately, which while silly in some ways, really could be done right if you think of Jar Jar as a discarded identity (heralding from Palpatine's homeworld) temporarily possessed by an alien Sith Lord whose acting and deceptive abilities surpass even his apprentice's (and echoing Yoda's masking his true nature quite nicely). And of course, Jar Jar does play a suspicious role in helping the formation of the Galactic Empire, granting Palpatine emergency powers... which would make the assassination attempt on Amidala (which I always thought a silly plan, if Sidious desired to nurture Padme and Anakin's romance) more about temporarily removing her from the gameboard so that Plagueis could grant his own apprentice emergency powers than anything else. A violation of the Rule of Two? Undermining Palpatine's character? Well, yes, but I would remind everyone that such happened to Vader, and is perhaps the necessary price to pay to build a credible Bigger Bad, and as for the RoT... Well, The Clone Wars already did away with that to some degree, and moreover, I always thought it'd be interesting if the Sith leaked a fictional Rule of Two to the Jedi in the early days of the Grand Plan. What better way to preserve the Sith than to convince one's enemies to turn a blind eye to the possibility of a surviving Dark Lord, the true puppet master at that? That would also explain the somewhat awkward inconsistency between the Sith becoming known as extinct, Bane going into hiding and creating said Rule, and yet the Jedi finding out about the RoT anyway, which had to be explained in contrived ways through Zannah's DB:RoT stunt and Kib Jeem's revelation in Legends. Lastly, it'd tie to the original conception of Vader, demonstrated in the ANH novel, as being one of several Dark Lords of the Sith existing at the time.

And thus it is only after his apprentice's death, and the endangerment of the dark side's stranglehold on the galaxy, that Plagueis must surface from the shadows and take the reins of the Empire, whether it be as an actual snakehead as in that concept art, or in his original Muun body (if it even was Muun), or perhaps as something stranger and more frightening still. I would also note that the original intent for Palpatine in ROTJ was that he had unnaturally lived so long (implied to be centuries or millennia) that he was transforming into something truly inhuman, with his infamous 'scrotum forehead' being his cranium splitting apart as part of this transformation. Given use of old abandoned OT concepts so far, I wouldn't be surprised if original treatments for the dark side master that would become Palpatine, such as a human transforming into something alien (or being outright alien in earlier conceptions), or his puppeteering the actual Galactic Emperor (in even earlier conceptions, as Espaa Valorum), have inspired the character of Snoke. The classic Star Wars surprise twist, then, wouldn't just be the revelation that Snoke is Plagueis and has been the true puppet master all along, but that, through his creating Anakin, is in a sense Luke's grandfather.

Edit: Also, I feel like I'm the only one, but as a palaeontology nut, I would have no problems if Snoke looked like a humanoid Velociraptor.