Quote Originally Posted by Golden Phoenix View Post
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.
Snoke seems to be the big unknown factor here, who he is and where he came from is all a mystery for now. He could have been another Jedi, or perhaps one of Luke's own apprentices who turned, or perhaps not even a force user to begin with (although admittedly that would seem odd since he mentions he has to finish Kylo's training).

It has been suggested by some that he may be Darth Plaguies (Palpatines master, the one he talks about in Revenge of the Sith, the one who could stop people from dying and influence the Midichlorians to create life). I believe Palpatine was supposed to have killed him in his sleep, however people speculate that he may have survived or resurrected himself. I doubt they would go this way, but if they did, it does provide an opportunity to link the whole saga together and provide a more ominous villain then Palpatine (if you thought the emperor was bad and powerful, wait until you see his master lol). Hell if they want they could even go and say that Darth Plaguies was also Master Sifo Dyas, the dude who commissioned the clone army and mysteriously died 10 years before the clone wars (perhaps thats when Palpatine put the knife to him), and possibly even further by saying that he was the one who created Anakin (influencing those Midichlorians) who as a result was always destined to replace Palpatine as his apprentice, which is the reason Palpatine put the knife to him to take Anakin for himself before Plaguies did him over. This would make the entire Star Wars story/saga the resulting product of one ominous figure's conception, a true puppet master who has now finally stepped out of the shadows and made himself known and consequently must be stopped by the only person who can, the son of his own creation, Luke Skywalker...

Apologies to all if I have accidentally shat all over the EU with that terrible brain fart of mine above, I've only followed the theatrical films so I'm only working with what I've been given, I would however be interested if anyone could provide some background on Plaguies or Sifo Dyas, I only recently found out that Plaguies was Palpatines master (never really said that in ROTS) and I have no idea who Sifo Dyas was supposed to be and I've always been intrigued why he went and commissioned the clone army.