More of Snoke’s backstory revealed: ‘[He] trained at least one other apprentice’ and had followers in the Unknown Regions

Warning: Spoilers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi ahead.

We already speculated on clues to Snoke’s backstory from Star Wars: The Last Jedi: The Visual Dictionary (by Pablo Hidalgo) and another interesting tidbit from the recently released book caught our attention regarding the viewing machine he forced Rey to look through in The Last Jedi‘s Throne Room scene:

Snoke’s retinue includes mute alien navigators who originated in the Unknown Regions. Were it not for the ancient hyperspace trails blazed by these towering servants, the Imperial survivors who fled into this uncharted realm would certainly have perished. These navigators designed and operated the oculus viewing scope in Snoke’s throne room.

According to the Star Wars Wikia, the Unknown Regions were “regarded as an unexplored region separated from the galaxy by a labyrinth of solar storms, rogue magnetospheres, black holes, gravity wells, and things far stranger. Strange creatures were known to inhabit the void. This maze was considered impassable and many exploration ships and probe droids were lost trying to breach it.”

Did Snoke’s obvious influence in the Unknown Regions solidify both his strength in the Dark Side of the Force and his position as Supreme Leader?

Another interesting piece of Snoke’s backstory comes from the first paragraph of this Snoke entry from Titan Books’ Star Wars: The Last Jedi – The Official Collector’s Edition:

Will this “other apprentice” somehow figure into the next film — or is it something/someone Kylo Ren has already dealt with on his path to becoming Supreme Leader of the First Order?