“There has been an awaking in the force, have you felt it?”-Snoke

So, there is a fan theory going around about Snoke in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, being Darth Vader/Anakin. While a lot of people think that it is a good idea, they have spent time pointing out holes in this theory.

This is an interesting concept and while I do not know of the original source of the idea to credit, I can say that it is actually plausible if you keep these key ideas in mind, regarding the story.

“He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became known as Darth Vader.”-Obi Wan

This quote right here separates Anakin from Darth Vader, giving this idea the hypothesis we need to have it make sense. The idea that Anakin and Darth Vader are separate characters. While I cannot say this is the most likely idea to happen within the next two episodes, it does all make logical sense.

George Lucas is a student of mythology, keeping very close to the basic structure of ancient mythology. There is an old Native American parable, about two wolves fighting and the one that grows is the one you feed. This thread is strewen throughout the entire seven films of the Saga. So it very much keeps to the same theme. Right now, we have Kylo with his struggle of being both good and bad, unsure which side to keep going down. This duality in human nature is present in us all.

In order for the concept to make sense, Anakin’s deeds, which were horrible, ended up creating two different entities. Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker, as referenced by the quote above. Perhaps his suit was tainted with the essence of the horrible deeds, once he descended towards the dark side or maybe the split in them came from a different source, but regardless, it is still plausible for this to hold true. Darth Vader would be Snoke, not Anakin. Anakin, being redeemed at the end, would then become a good force ghost. Thus, Anakin fulfils the prophecy of bring balance to the force. Whereas before, the only two ways for Anakin to have brought balance to the force would have been to have died or never been found and trained, this allows for a much different story than what we have come to know from the prequels and original trilogy. Vader would now be his own character and so would Anakin, thus bringing balance to the force by existing on both sides, rather than tilting the balance towards whichever side he is serving, truly fulfilling his destiny within the Star Wars Universe.

While it is too early to say if this is where the story is going, we do know that we are going to see a reverse character arc at the very least, within the next two movies of the main cannon. They already attached Rian Johnson, who is known for reverse character arcs with Breaking Bad. So it isn’t impossible, although not 100% likely.