Originally Posted by
Skulltaker
And no, the Emperor and Snoke are not the same, and yes, I can make said complaint. I feel as if I've laid that out to you before, haven't I?
The Emperor was introduced briefly in the middle of Episode 5, the second movie of the franchise. So far, he was only mentioned by name, and there is the fact that an Empire usually has an Emperor. We knew, however, that he was at the top of an oppressive system with people in charge that blow up an entirely unarmed planet with hundreds of millions, just to send a message. We know that his Empire is ruthless. We also know, or rather are introduced to, the fact that he is the one who is Darth Vaders master. And while the Emperor himself isn't explored further, he, and the Empire he built, are fully fleshed out by the time we get to see the guy for the first time in person on the second death star. We have been with the Star Wars story for a whole of 2 - 4 years in-universe, and all we have been given to explore are 3 movies.
Snoke, on the other hand, is introduced to us 60 years after the story started. Both his First Order as well as his pupil Kylo Ren/Ben Solo are almost as new to us, the audience, as Snoke himself is. We don't know who the First Order is, other than the fact that they are a kind of successor to the Empire, and we don't know much about Kylo Ren, other than the fact that he worships Darth Vader and struggles with the Light and Dark side. It begs the question where an incredibly strong Force User like Snoke came from and what he did in the past.
So no, we didn't know more about Snoke than we did about the Emperor. This is why world building matters. You're a strong proponent of show, don't tell, iirc? The Emperor is a great example of showing and not telling. They show us what he built and what he commands. He's at the head of all of it. And when he gets to demonstrate his power, oh boy, does he not disappoint. They try to do the same thing with Snoke, but only spend... 20 minutes on propping him up before they show him to us.