Four score times .4125 years ago, our forefathers brought forth the theory that a sequel to Return of the Jedi might happen, eventually. Now that we’ve finally received that long awaited next chapter in the form of The Force Awakens, we’re faced with a new threat to our favorite fictional galaxy. Or are we? After all, many people theories that Supreme Leader Snoke might be the mask of a familiar face. Could he actually be Darth Plagueis, or even Vader in another form?

Probably not. But maybe. You didn’t really think the company that wanted to keep Rey’s lightsaber-wielding a secret would actually answer that question for you, did you? But here’s what we can tell you, in case you didn’t guess: Snoke’s onscreen appearance was modeled after the Lincoln Memorial. As per a Cinemablend interview with ILM visual effects artists Rogert Guyett, who designed the Force Awakens big bad:

Imagine when you’re a kid or whatever, you go up and you stand in front of the Lincoln Memorial. And you see old Lincoln in a huge chair. There’s a certain quality about that. So, that was certainly sort of part of the inspiration for it all. But I think, hologram, you know? The idea really in that opening scene is sort of like, ‘What is going on here. Ok, it’s a hologram. Is he really this big?’ OK, once you figure out that it’s a hologram, of course it’s like, ‘Well how big is he?’

Indeed, how big is he? This isn’t necessarily a canonical answer, but FX chief Neil Scanlon has actually already answered that, for People: “This character is much better executed as a CGI character. That’s just a practical reality when he’s 7-foot-something tall; he’s very, very thin.”

Cinemablend has more:

Seeing him so dramatically backlit like that is something that I think was kind of inspirational. Because there is, realizing that, ‘Hey, if you reduce a lot of the color down and you just make this very visceral, black-and-white silhouetted character, he gets that much more menacing.’ His size, you know, already makes him menacing, and then you have this sort of [effect of] you can’t quite see what you’re looking at all the time. I think it really adds to his mystique.

So he might end up being more colorful than you’ve seen so far. But given Star Wars‘ predisposition for villains who only wear black and gray, probably not.

Does this revelation about Snoke’s design emancipate your mind? Do you need some time in a booth to shoot them out of your thoughts? Am I going to the dark side for even making that joke? And aside from that, how did you enjoy this post, Mrs. Lincoln?

This is why we have comments. Let me have it below.

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image: Lucasfilm.