I don’t need to tell you how big a deal Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens is, so let’s just skip straight to the spoiler/speculation talk. This whole article will be replete with spoilers for The Force Awakens, so consider yourself warned. In TFA, the First Order shows up out of nowhere, and eventually we meet its mysterious bossman, Supreme Leader Snoke. By all appearances, Snoke is… exceedingly lame, one of the dumber parts of the movie. However, an exciting theory may suggest that he is not exactly what he seems—and not quite as lame. That, of course, is the fan hypothesis that Snoke is Darth Plagueis. Question is… is this actually a good idea? Should we hope for this to be true?

That’s No Muun: Is Snoke Darth Plagueis?

Snoke seems kinda dumb, right? A giant hologram of a generic-looking alien dude, with some generic Dark Side badness. He’s a letdown (and I ain’t no hater—I liked the movie, generally speaking). Unless he’s more than he seems—unless he’s an old character whom we don’t immediately recognize. The Internet has latched onto the theory that he’s Darth Plagueis, who once upon a time was Sith master to none other than Darth Sidious, née Palpatine. As Sith tradition demands, Palpatine ended up killing his master. But, as the Snoke = Plagueis theory goes… OR DID HE?!????!! Think about it. Doesn’t it all make sense if you look at it like that?

Joking aside, there’s some decent-ish evidence in favor of the theory that Snoke is actually Darth Plagueis. Well, it’s mostly based on that music cue: As reported by lots of sites, the music that plays when Snoke shows up is the same music from the part of Revenge of the Sith when Palpatine talks about Plagueis. Take a listen, via YouTube person Adam Underkofler:

All evidence besides for that is circumstantial: That Snoke is a Dark Side user, that Plagueis is canon but has never appeared, that Plagueis was immortal, that they look sort of similar, based on EU art (but the Muun, the species Plagueis was a member of in the EU, have more elongated heads than Snoke does), that it’s less dumb than Snoke just being some random weird-looking alien. It’s… a cool idea, but not very convincing. There just isn’t enough evidence in its favor yet, although the musical cue certainly sounds good on paper.

Why We Should Hope Snoke Isn’t Darth Plagueis

There’s one big hitch in the Snoke = Plagueis theory. Which is that Plagueis is dead. Palpatine killed him. Yea, that alone is easily surmountable, and theories already abound for how he cheated death and came back, or never actually died in the first place. All of these are extratextual, i.e., making up justifications based on nothing. Which is fine! They’re just theories.

But the thing is, if Plagueis wasn’t actually dead, or was resurrected, then Anakin Skywalker didn’t fulfill the Jedi prophecy of the Chosen One. That prophecy is, essentially, the entire point of the Prequel Trilogy and the Original Trilogy, as viewed in light of the prequels. The prophecy said that Anakin would bring balance to the Force by destroying the Sith. He eventually did so, at the end of Return of the Jedi, when he killed Palpatine and himself. According to the canon, that’s the fulfillment of the prophecy: The destruction of the last two Sith. If Plagueis comes back, all that was for naught and the prophecy was never truly fulfilled.

For that reason alone, I don’t think Snoke is Darth Plagueis… and I don’t want him to be. The irony of Anakin truly being the Chosen One, by destroying both the Sith and the Jedi Order, is too delicious to lose. Fortunately, I think the simplest answer is the right one: Snoke is a new character of unknown background whom we’ll eventually learn about, but for the moment, he’s just kind of lame. That’s not the most satisfying answer, it’s not the coolest answer, but it’s the one that makes the most sense.