The movie (and Visual Dictionary) revealed a lot about Snoke, actually.
Snoke calls Darth Vader as "Lord Vader," suggesting Snoke was of the Imperial hierarchy.
Further, we now know that Ben isn't a Vader fanboy. Snoke is. Ben wants to be like Vader because Snoke will beat his ass if he isn't.
Snoke also has a ring with a fragment from Vader's Mustafar castle from Rogue One.
Then we have Snoke recreating the Empire to a T, from hierarchy (ex. Ben and Hux) to clothing (the purple Emperor advisors).
In short, I'd say it's safe to say Snoke was some dark-side wielding person within the Empire who looked up to Vader and Sidious.
A dark side acolyte similar to those shown in Dark Empire, perhaps.
When they both died, he was determined to recreate their accomplishments and honor their legacy.
Originally posted by ares834
I didn't care. I've never liked the character as I always saw him as a diet Sidious, so I'm glad they didn't waste time explaining his backstory.
What Im super curious is how Luke and the ot cast already know of him pre tfa. Luke even talks about Snoke corrupting Ben during Bens training as a Jedi. I feel Snoke might have been a Dark sider like Ant suggests, but for a while befriended Luke until he revealed his Dark side inclinations. Why Luke didn't destroy him is anyone's guess.
I like this decision. Snoke reeked of unoriginality and seeing a Palpatine repeat would have been stupid IMO. Hopefully Snoke stays dead and fades away into obscurity where be belongs. Where this movie fails is not building Kylo Ren into a worthy standalone main antagonist. He got close, but after the whole Rey conflict, he turns right back into a pathetic whiny brat unfit to be the leading man.
Originally posted by DarthAnt66you realize that in no way is this an identity, but rather a profile? It's like saying "I know who the killer is! Hes probably a male victim of child abuse who hates women". That's not an IDENTITY.In short, I'd say it's safe to say Snoke was some dark-side wielding person within the Empire who looked up to Vader and Sidious.
As for how I feel about the movies refusal to answer literally any of the questions the fans have been asking about for years now? I don't care, because I'm already aware that they're going to explain all of this shit in the 8 million comics and novels they expect you to buy.
I feel like, as the OP says, that Snoke had connections to the Imperial Hierarchy from the original empire and to Palpatine. There's just so many parallels in his scenes with the emperor scenes in ROTJ.
Then again, didn't we get hints that he's very very old ? There's not enough information really.
I think there's a clear cut message in The Last Jedi: "Let the past die." Rian Johnson does so much in this movie to get rid of the old cast and original state of affairs. Snoke is most likely a placeholder, someone who took over the emperor's place, who was quite strong in the dark side, and could act as a diet Palpatine.
What's interesting is that he is aware of the balance of the force, "Darkness rises, and light to meet it."
Overall, we will probably have to wait another two years to get any real idea of who he is, unless extra material is released.
Or a Dark Side Adept, like the ones shown in RotJ.