Snoke and Mirrors
In the Skywalker Saga, there are two characters who are dressed in gold while sitting on thrones: the protocol droid C-3PO in Return of the Jedi, and the First Order’s Supreme Leader Snoke in The Last Jedi. Gold is commonly associated with glory and thrones suggest power, but in both these scenes it is only an illusion that the character has a glory and power that must be reverenced – in these cases, reverenced at the cost of human sacrifice.
In The Return of the Jedi, the Ewoks of Endor confuse C-3PO for a god and attempt to worship him by sacrificing his captive friends to him. Luke Skywalker plays upon their mistaken belief in C-3PO’s powers by using the Force to lift his throne into the air. This convinces the Ewoks to free the heroes to quell what they perceive as the god’s displeasure.
In The Last Jedi, Snoke also sits on a throne, but whereas C-3PO is embarrassed to be worshipped, Snoke demands total allegiance from his followers. When he commands Kylo Ren to sacrifice Rey to prove his loyalty to him, his mistaken belief in his own powers blinds him to how Kylo Ren is using the Force to turn (and turn on) Luke’s old lightsaber to cut him in half. This releases Kylo Ren from bondage to Snoke and saves Rey’s life.
In The Rise of Skywalker, Kylo Ren will learn that Snoke was only a puppet of Palpatine, just as for a moment C-3PO was a puppet of Luke Skywalker. The character dressed in gold and sitting on a throne was not the one with the real power.
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Characters: C-3PO / Kylo Ren / Luke Skywalker / Palpatine / Snoke
Films: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi / Episode VIII: The Last Jedi / Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker
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Concepts: glory / power and weakness / sacrifice / sight and blindness
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