What is the deal with Sidious's lightning

Okay, I am new here and this is my first post, so first I'd like to say 'hello' and I am very sorry if this has already been posted.

With that being said, I have to ask one question:
Why does Sidious get all wrinkly and pruney when he is struck with dark lightning and no one else does (i.e. Yoda, Mace, Luke, or even Anakin)?

I also have another question that is totally off topic, but when Anakin and Obi-Wan are about to fight on Mustafar in EIII, Anakin says (this is not a direct quote),"If you are not with me than you are AGAINST me!" to which Obi-Wan replies, "Only Sith deal in absolutes!"

Isn't that an absolute in itself?

Again, these questions may have already been posted and if so, then I apologize.

 

Yoda and Anakin weren't hit with prolonged attacks like Luke and Sidious. As to why Luke didn't change, I don't know.

 

PLEASE NOTE! Threads pertaining solely to Episode III belong in the ROTS forum.

 

I heard it was something about Mace deflecting the lightning back onto Palpatine, but when I first saw it, I just assumed that his using so much energy revealed his true face.

 

I agree, Palpatine's true evil face came out. You have to consider how twisted the dark side makes you look.

Look at Anakin after only a couple days on the darkside, he's already got black eyes and looks horrible.

 

Maybe it's because Palpatine's Sith Lightning mixed with the energy from the lightsaber and then hit Palpatine's face.

Perhaps that's why Palpatine's face changed and nothing happened to Luke.

 

Luke is not as close to the force lighting as Palapine thats why his face changes.

 

I think Palpatine could control his appearance and it wasn't the lightning that deformed him, that makes the most sense to me

 

Luke is not as close to the force lighting as Palapine thats why his face changes.

Was Luke further away when he was hit? Because the Emperor walked toward him after the initial blast and was standing right over Luke. It looked like he was very close to me.

 

I think its because it got him straight in the face from a short distance, Luke was farther and got zapped on his side or chest... can't quite remember

As for Obi-Wan... He's way too zoned out with everything (Clone betrayal, a whole bunch dead, Anakin choking Padme, younglings) to make sense at that point.

 

Luke was getting hit with lightning bit by bit. Palpatine delivered his lightning and tried his best to overpower Mace with it but got a dose of it in return because Palaptine used it for a long period.

As for Obi-Wan's statement to Anakin, I think he's telling his former padawan learner that us Jedi are more principled, us Jedi are far more disciplined than you greedy Sith, us Jedi are good and we will put an end to those who coerce, like Sidious and Vader.

But it's all from the Jedi prospective.

 

Palpatine fed the pain with his power. As much pain he had from the deflected lightning, he fed it into the power of his outcoming lightning...which would deform his face with all his rage....

 

Good point.

 

Its the true face of palpatine being revealed.

You can either believe that or the competing "lightning scar" theory, which i find really silly and not very interesting.

 

What's this about "Palpatine's true face"?

In Episode I and II, when he paraded around as Darth Sidious, his face didn't appear to be deformed or anything.

 

The theory is that the use of dark side techniques had degenerated his face over the decades and he has been able to conceal this, using the "Senator/Chancellor Palpatine" face as kind of a mask. Much like the "Picture of Dorian Gray" - the appearance can be kept up for a certain timespan, but the true face degenerates. And due to the lightning the mask was destroyed.

 

Great question. Obi-Wan is a little stressed at this point. If he was thinking clearer he might have noticed the Jedi had been quite hypocritical in the era of ROTS.

For example, these two scenes

Obi-Wan:
"He is like my brother. I cannot do it."
Yoda:
"Twisted by the darkside, young Skywalker has become. The boy you trained, gone he is. Consumed by Darth Vader."

But Yoda says this when Anakin wasn't yet totally consumed. He convinces Obi-Wan to go to Mustafar and take out Vader.
Saying Anakin was no longer Anakin is totally an absolute. Anakin still had a chance to return at this stage. You can see it in the beginning of the scene when Padme arrives on Mustafar. Things aren't going too bad, until Obi-Wan makes an appearance.


When Anakin is arguing with Mace about killing Sidious:
Mace: "He has control of the Senates and the Courts, he's too dangerous to be left alive!"

While this is true, it is still an absolute. This is very similar to the justification Sidious gave to Anakin about killing Dooku.

 

why mace s face didnt deformed

 

Palpatine was getting blasted from like, 3 feet away. Luke looked to be around 10.

 

And the lightning was directed to all those guys faces, and Sidious's lightning was deflected right into his face.

Good Stuff

 

My opinion of the deformation is that it was caused by a combo of his overuse of the power, which, being blocked, built up in his body and scarred him up. Check his hands; if they are scarred like his face, I think we can conclude that the Palpatine face was his REAL face, not a mask.

As for Obi-Wan's statement, the wording is important (emphasis mine): "Only a Sith deals in absolutes." He's referring to Anakin's my way or the highway ("if you're not with me, then you're my enemy") attitude as opposed to the Jedi focus on negotiation.

 

Either he just likes torchering jedies or its just a dark side, very bad habit.