Episode VIII Rise of the Dark Jedi

The Sith Temple

Snoke and Kylo Ren stood in an immense dark hall, fifty meters in length, width, and height. Dozens of large, black pillars stood reticent and foreboding in the room. The air was undisturbed and quenched any noise or vibration. Above them the old Jedi Temple on Coruscant was built; the place where the Jedi Council had met for a thousand years before the Jedi Purge at the hands of Darth Vader. This was what used to be the portico of a Sith Temple since buried by the Jedi to prevent anyone from entering it. Even so, the ground was littered with the bones of long-dead Sith.

Snoke, standing just a few inches shorter than Kylo Ren, walked in front of him toward a large door.

"Everything is happening exactly as I have foreseen, My Apprentice," he snarled. "The Resistance will take our bait . . . to their destruction."

His emaciated face grimaced, showing uneven and sharp teeth.

"But one thing remains," he said.

"The Jedi and his apprentice," Kylo Ren said as he stepped over a pile of human bones.

"Yes," Snoke said. "They will come to us, but it is unclear at this moment what you must do. You will find the answer to that."

Snoke stared at Kylo Ren, searching deep into him, but not with his empty eyes. Kylo Ren felt the icy wave of the dark side probing him. He suppressed a shudder.

"This is an ancient temple. Over four thousand years old," he stated.

Kylo Ren hid his curiosity behind an affectation of disinterest.

"This is my temple . . . for I built it." Snoke studied Kylo Ren, observant of his reaction.

"You do not believe me. I sense your distrust," Snoke noted.

Kylo Ren bowed his head, "Forgive me, Master. I find that difficult to understand."

"Then let me teach you," Snoke continued with a provoked demeanor. "Have you ever wondered why the Sith master and apprentice always end with one destroying the other?"  Snoke waved his hand at the bones scattered throughout the portico.

Kylo Ren knew that to be true. If no one else defeated one of them, every Sith relationship ended with betrayal and death.

"It is the dance to seek immortality. A dance that I have ordained, though none of them knew it. It is their trial to prove themselves as one of mine."

They continued to walk amidst the bones.

"These," he gestured to all the bodies, "are my children, as all Sith are. I am the father. The Sith. The one to whom they all strive to be like. For centuries they have searched for the immortality found only in the dark side. Your grandfather, Darth Vader, sought it. His Master, Darth Sidious, sought it. His Master, Darth Plagueis, sought it. But I am the only one to have found it. And with each new awakening of the Force, I arise again."

They came to a large portcullis at the far end of the hall.

"These masters and apprentices have killed each other in betrayal," Snoke stated and glared at Kylo Ren.

"Do you know why I have told you all this?" he asked Kylo Ren.

"No, Master."

"Because it is for you to enter the Sith Temple. You will be tested, as all apprentices are. You will go in as Kylo Ren. But when you come out, you will be either my loyal servant or my enemy. If a servant, so be it. But if you exit and rise against me, you must know what kind of enemy awaits you. And what your fate will be."