The Definitive Answer to Palpatine's Face in ROTS

Sith Alchemy.

Insider has the preamble:

Wizards of the Coast to the rescue:

"It is not clear whether Palpatine loses his mask intentionally or unintentionally, but it is certain that his Force lightning was the triggering event. It is possible that Palpatine voluntarily fails the save and drops the mask when it no longer suits his purpose using it to convince Anakin to intervene against Mace Windu and showing his "scars" to the galaxy as evidence of Jedi betrayal."

There ya go.

Canon.

 

Woohoo!!

I knew I was right

 

but from the recently up-dated databank:

Palpatine
Skywalker witnessed a stunning sight: the Chancellor, cornered, with Windu looming over him with his lightsaber blade extended. Palpatine unleashed a torrent of Sith lightning at the Jedi Master, but Windu was able to deflect it back at the Chancellor. The evil energies twisted Palpatine's face as they flowed through him, scarring and disfiguring his once handsome features. His eyes burned yellow, his voice grew ragged and deep, and he became a well of dark side energies

Although that could be from Skywalker's P.O.V.
"Skywalker witnessed a stunning sight"

But not this:
Sidious
With Anakin Skywalker's help, Sidious was able to defeat Mace, though he was severely scarred by the reflected power of his dark side lightning. To conceal his disfigured visage, Sidious returned to his simple Sith robes.




round and round we go...

 

Oy.

My source was this past Thursday. Can't they get it straight ever?

 

The evil energies twisted Palpatine's face as they flowed through him, scarring and disfiguring his once handsome features...from a certain point of view.

 

I always got the impression that the databank entries were written from the perspective of someone that "lived" in the Star Wars galaxy, so they would only have the information that they were given. Like, it was all written down in history books, as opposed to us fans, who exist outide the SW universe (well, most of us, lol) and that we are privy to insider information that would not have been available to them.

 

If there weren't contradictions, it wouldn't be Star Wars.

 

Look at the "Palpatine Reverts to True Form of Deformed" thread, you have my perfectly perfect explanation somewhere in there, but I am too lazy to find it.

This is a bit of it:

Sidious Deformed
"Why Dooku's lightning was absorbed by lightsaber and Sidious' not"
1) Distance, lightning looses energy and can be absorbed by a stronger energy because of this

2) Dooku's lightning is not as strong, therefore it can be absorbed



"Why Sidious deformed and Luke did not"
1)Since Sidious energy had deflected off Mace's lightsaber it had absorbed some of its energy,making it more powerful.

2)Sidious had not used lightning in a long time and was shooting the strongest he ever has or will.

3)Deflected lightning was not being manipulated by user, therefore it is wild and doesnt focuse on a victim, only pases and leaves a mark, instead of being absorbed by the victim.

4)Since Sidious was producing the lightning(which hurts him)then when the lightning he was shooting reached him the darkside energies of it made him age extremely quickly.

 

I Insider Pablo stated that Palps' scarring came from the lightening- he didn't always look that way.

 

From the Episode III Visual Dictionary, I got the impression that the pale skin, yellow eyes, darkness around the eyes were all really what Darth Sidious always looked like.

BUT, the melty spots were scars from the lightning.

In the Phantom Manace, Darth Sidous doesn't have those melty spots and you couldn't see his eyes because of the hood, and there's no reason why he would use the "Palpatine mask" when talking to the Nemoidians. So IMO, it should be said that at least the melty spots were damage from the lightning.

 

Doesnt it say in the novel that its his lightning causing the damage to his face?

 

Yes, I belive it does.
Although, it is obvious in the movie.

 

This never ends....



___Obi-1___

 

The reason to use the Palpy face was because if he dropped it, every time he reapplied it (permanent until otherwise) would cost money, time and pain.

 

I'll buy that dp, but didn't Visionaries show that Sidious went through some ritual every time he wanted to become the "Palpatine persona"?

Also, in the Visual Dictionary, it has an arrow pointing to Palpatine's melty spots and saying damage from Sith Lightning.

I have to be honest though, if I were a casual Star Wars fan like most who only go see the movies, I would be under the impression that the lightning actually did damage to Palpatine's face because they don't talk about it in the movie.

What you posted at the top of this thread dp, was actually Ian's quote in Insider magazine. Ian's quotes are at times a little biased. It seems that it was initially intended that Palpatine would change back and forth in the movie. But like many things, Lucas changed his mind. However, I don't know what impression he was trying to give viewers.

If I were making the movie, I would have made it a bit more obvious that it was a mask.

 

I have read that interview also and I used to think it was a mask.
However, from reading the book,watching the movie and so on I have come to believe that it had to be the lightning.

 

I'd also like to point out that Ian mispoke a couple of times in that interview. He claimes that Palpatine dropped the "mask" AFTER he convinces Anakin to kill Mace.

From the movie, we know it was BEFORE. Not to mention that Anakin didn't kill Mace by himself.

I believe at the time of the interview, the script was a bit different in regards to the Sidious/Mace encounter.

I know the scene was changed because I have an older Insider Magazine that has a picture of Anakin kicking Mace in the face. Which of course was NOT in the movie.

 

The movie:

His lighting barely glazed him,meanwhile his hands are the same color as his face,if his lighting was that powerful,he would've had no flesh on his finger tips,let alone still be seeing through his eyes.Mace wouldve gotten burnt up to,and probably his lightsaber handle would've of exploded aswel,cause of this supposed sheer amount of juice that was being conducted. Nor does his skin look burnt,and his eyes are the same color as Anakins and mauls.

its clear whoever is coming up with his crap,has no idea of what their talking about. I agree with Ian ,cause thats what is obviously seen in the movie.

Palpatine energy was being wasted the more he wasting his energy,the less control he and on his body and the more it taxed him physically,it turned him into a prune as he was drained ..Only when Anakin gave into the Darkside,did Palpatine get a renewed charge from Skywalker's act of betrayal.he feeds off of the darkside energy that radiates off of people and things..he's like a battery

 

This is addressed in the latest issue of SW Insider. The official answer is that it was the lightning. Pablo says that the face of Sidious is the true face in a metaphorical sense.

 

its clear whoever is coming up with his crap,has no idea of what their talking about. I agree with Ian ,cause thats what is obviously seen in the movie.

If you read what I posted before, my idea was a combination of both a mask dropped + there was damage. To say the sith eyes is damage from the lightning is retarded since Darth Maul and Darth Vader had the Sith eyes. The Visual Dictionary says the pale skin is from anger. Obviously not from lightning.

The only feature that's up for dispute to me is the melty spots on Palpatine's face.

As far as Palpatine having the strength to kill Mace, he didn't gain it by leaching power from Anakin.

When Palpatine saw that his Lightning wasn't going to save him, he stopped using it and pretended to be helpless so Anakin would help him. If he kept using the lightning, Anakin would have allowed Mace to kill him because it would have been self-defense.

I learned this from the Episode III adaptation from scholastic books where it says "Palpatine was faking, he wasn't tired after all."

 

Well, its probably a combination of lightning and demasking. We need to consider a few key points:

1) Palpatine can alternate between the ugly Sidious face and the younger Palpatine face.

2) Droids and species that aren't susceptible to Force tricks can't see through the illusion.

3) After the Mace battle, we never see Palpatine use his younger face (except clones.)

4) Official sources tell us that the lightning damaged his face.

1 and 2 bring us to the conclusion that the Sidious/Palpatine change is an actual physical alteration, rather than a Force trick. This means that he has to be doing something to actually change himself. 1 shows that the Sidious-face wasn't permanent before RotS, but it seems to be permanent after RotS (3).

Therefore, the retcon would be that Palpy used the alchemy mask to change from Sidious to Palpatine and that when he changed back during the Mace battle, the lightning scarred his face and made the wrinkles deeper and possibly more permanent. After Empire Day, he never again *needed* the disguise, so he never used the alchemy mask again (as far as we know.)

Sithisis could explain the alchemy technique... in a weird sort of way.

 

My theory is that the power of the dark side flowing through him and then getting directed straight back into at point-blank range caused the corruption (also seen in the Dark Empire trilogy from his heavy use of the dark side). Force lightning might not normally cause such rapid aging, but when its going both through you and then back into you, it messes you up a little bit.

 

your right kudzu.
and Rouge your wrong palpatine never changed his face in any of the prequels until after the lightning thing because hes not using a mask!

 

Good post, dp4m, I'm inclined to agree with your linkage of ideas rather than the databank from TOS. After all, if it was purely the lightning that disfigured Palpy, shouldn't the same thing have happened to Luke in Jedi?

 

Let's have a bloody compromise : Palpatine's mask was dropped during the bzzzzt-scene and revealed his true face, and this true face was forever scarred afterwards by the lightning.

Any complaints?