Quote Originally Posted by i_amtrunks View Post
Is Snoke a Sith, or just a wielder of the dark side of the force? He was never referred to as Darth, neither was Kylo Ben. The rule of 2 makes it unlikely that he is a true Sith.
Snoke could have been a secret apprentice, trained by Vader or Palpatine to removed the other.

Palpatine had seen Vader as a failure, disappointed that he had been reduced to a cyborg on life-support. He had such potential, and now Vader was limited by his . He was plotting to replace him as soon as he found out about Luke. Before he found out about Luke it would seem logical he had an eye out for someone else. Snoke could have been who he was training up.

That being said, Palpatine also had other force wielding operatives (like the Inquisitors seen in Rebels). Snoke could have been one of them that just made a grab for power in the power vacuum that would have followed Palpatine's death. He may have just declared himself Sith.