Saga Darth Sidious: Ending the Mask vs Deformity Argument.

That's Stover's interpretation. As stated in the film script, which comes directly from Lucas himself:


The tremendous effort needed to generate the sustained lightning has transformed Palpatine's face into that of Darth Sidious.

 

The quote from Stover:

Palpatine examined the damage to his face in a broad expanse of wall mirror. Anakin couldn't tell if his
expression might be revulsion, or if this were merely the new shape of his features. Palpatine lifted one
tentative hand to the misshapen horror that he now saw in the mirror, then simply shrugged.

"And so the mask becomes the man," he sighed with a hint of philosophical melancholy. "I shall miss the
face of Palpatine, I think; but for our purpose, the face of Sidious will serve. Yes, it will serve."

Stover's interpretation is rather vague, and actually hybridizes both arguments - Sidious' transformation here is really one which metaphorically merges both Palpatine (which was always a persona) and the true being of Sidious. The deformity just so happens to reveal his true character - not revealing a mask, but showing him as an accurate reflection of true evil he is.

 

This may have been posted already but he was already deformed in the Canon Darth Maul comic that takes place before the Phantom Menace.

 

@dblaney1: Guess you're right about his body being deformed all the time we have seen him. Another hint for that thrown into this mess, is Sheev's appearance in the Season 4 Finale in Rebels.

Warning: Major Spoilers as this is an entire recap of the finale!!!

Spoiler

http://usmorning.net/entertainment/star-wars-rebels-s4-finale-family-reunion-and-farewell/

 

The Rebels finale was interesting because was it a hologram trick (as the flickering between kindly Palpatine and corrupted Sidious seemed to imply) or could he change it at will, raise and drop the mask. I personally buy it, as a lot of recent materiel seems to suggest, he raises and drops it. The hologram was just overcompensating / correcting. Like what is more plausible, that he has a tricked out hologram that can make him look like Grandpa Palpy or he's doing it on his own?

 

That sort of artistic license has always existed in the comics and other illustrations. It establishes nothing new.

At the end of the day, the dark side corrupts and deforms. His intensive and extensive use of it during the fight against Mace, where he blasts him continuously with lightning, was what caused the deformation of his face and body.

 

Maybe it was a hologram all the time we've seen him before ROTS. Palpy just activated a special effect, deactivated the hologram and faked being weakened during the fight with Mace to manipulate Anakin.

If so, the deformations may have happened way earlier because of him using the dark side for a long time.

 

The mask theory is basically a Force/Biology version of this.

With the "intense effort" revealing the deformations rather than causing them.

 

I just figured seeing non-deformed palpatine was a hologram trick. Then it started glitching back and forth, eventually shutting off completely, as a result of Ezra's actions in that room. Seems perfectly plausible to me.

Although I do like the idea that he could've switched himself back and forth. I just feel that kind of idea would be inconsistent with everywhere else we see him onscreen-as he didn't do that masking effect in any other Rebels episodes or the films. Everywhere else he always just appeared deformed-no matter who he was addressing. Even the senate.

 

The attack on my life has left me scarred...and deformed. But I assure you, my resolve has never been stronger!

To me, it seems perfectly fine for Sidious/Palpatine to have been deformed. At that point I suppose he saw no way out but to try and use Force lightning. I am guessing that unlike with Luke, because the Lightning was being blasted and also being deflected by Windu's lightsaber (thus a combination of Lightning being deflected into his face) , that that is what caused the damage. I mean Lightning is going to burn. Which is essentially what happened.



Also I loved how Windu bested Palpatine in Lightsaber combat. Lucas made that clear enough. It was Anakin's turn/betrayal that resulted in Palpatine living and the events that were to follow.

I think Palpatine wasn't necessarily the most skilled duellist. But his power in the Force was greater (his equivalent in that respect being Yoda). Although Palpatine was the Master at adapting to events and playing the complex game of politics.

He utilised the situation perfectly when Anakin did arrive. And he also brilliantly utilised the events that night of a "Jedi coup" to declare them enemies of the Republic.

I think from that point, Sidious/Palpatine merely ages like normal. So I do think the deformity is caused by the attempt on his life.

A good point though, he does look somewhat younger in ROTS than in AOTC! But maybe that's simply a make up issue?

 

I think the aged look in Attack of the Clones is implying he's being corrupted by darkness. I personally like to think Palpy just got himself a facelift afterwards. Either Force assisted mask or not.

 

"The dark side of the Force is a pathway to abilities some consider to be...unnatural."

The way it appears in film is that the lightning is in fact richocheting off Mace's blade and arcing through Palpatine, specifically his and hands. In ROTJ, we could see smoke arising from Lukes body and could see Vaders skull through his armor, so we know the power to be deadly.

But in ROTS it appears that Sidious is allowing the energy to do some damage to himself in effort to drive Anakin into a decision quickly. It looks as if he is in mortal danger; his FACE is warping, his skin greying. He sounds like he is on the verge of weakening and about to die, all while dangling the hope of being the one to save Padme.

Convincingly , Anakin takes that fateful step to disarm Windu, and the snake strikes . He wasn't weakening: he was waiting for the moment. Blasting Mace from the window he now rises up, full of the dark side and embraces his new look. Knowing the time is right, he springs the trap he laid so well. Anointing Vader, he moves to wipe out the poorly defended Jedi temple, execute the Jedi generals in the field whose backs are ripe for shooting by their own troops.

"All is proceeding as I have forseen..."

I certainly believe the Palpatine persona was the mask, but the flesh was intact. He wasn't deformed when he was in his cloak with the hood pulled down low. He wasn't drawing on the force to look normal. He used the situation in his office to his advantage, as well as his injuries at the hands of the Jedi rebellion, to cement his place as Emperor. Well played.

 

I concur.

"The attack on my life has left me scarred...and deformed"

Going by the film, the lightning looked like it was being directed at Windu who deflected it back. I believe the combination of lightning continually being directed at Windu, and mixing with the lightning being forced back at Palpatine, caused the severe burning of Palpatine's face.

 

Warning slight rise of Skywalker spoiler:
The Rise of Skywalker I believe should reopen this discussion as for most of the movie his face is not deformed. It's not until he becomes rejuvenated at the end that his deformed face returns which leads me to be it wasn't the lightning that caused it. I think the deformed look is his true form.

 

As far as ROTS is concerned, the exertion due to the sustained lightning deformed him.

 

actually I think TROS put the ball back in the Force lightning deformity court.

Spoiler

when he is restored the One True Emperor he looks like he was in ROTS - heck even his outfit is the same (and McDirmid does the little Palpatline saluting the senate cheer to the Sith spirits like from ROTS). But when Rey blasts his force lighting back at him at the end, it tears the skin off his flesh so we're back to reflected deformity.

 

All the canon books state he was scarred from his own lightning, its not debatable.

 

Adding to that, the official databank explicitly notes that the use of Force lightning will cause disfigurement to its victims. When used at a high intensity, with the aim to kill a target, it will cause irreversible damage, as shown in RotS and Dark Disciple.

 

Even the Snoke

Spoiler

clones in the tank in TROS were aged, deformed and scarred like the one from TLJ.

 

TRoS answered this question.

 

Actually i have the impression after TROS, that force lightning doesn't only have an effect on the body of the victim it hits but the deformations happen because the damaged spirit of the victim causes them through psychosomatic reactions.

Spoiler

Would explain why Sheev after his body is alive again, was deformed just like in ROTS while as a corpse/clone there were no deformations

 

Then why wasn't Luke horribly scarred? He was hit with lethal levels of Force Lightning for about as long as Palpatine was in ROTS. I still go with his already being deformed from heavy Dark Side usage over who knows how long.

 

Ask Matt Martin:

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Force_lightning

Apparently Palpatine forgot to turn off his current again... and burned his flesh off skeleton and exploded the second time around even taking all his Sith Eternal masses with him,lol.


Anakin got hit with Lightning pretty much all the time in the PT/TCW, yet it did not scar him either physically. Yet that does not mean he may not of needed medical attention after the battles, internally he may of been badly damaged from the attacks.

In fact in The Secrets of the Jedi(Luke written book during TLJ), Luke states 1) Darth Sidious permanently scarred his face with his own Force Lightning via Windu's deflected attack 2) Force Lightning could lead to severe injury, disfigurement, and death. 3) He[Luke] after surviving a lightning attack at the hands of the Emperor could attest to excruciatingly painful this weaponization of the Force is.

 

I think those are not the same;
Force Lightning that repelled from a lightsaber > Force lightning.
The one that Palpatine got hit from has the power of a lightsaber too, so it's kind of different.

Plus, Luke was trying to use the Force to deflect Sidious' lightning there, so he was protecting himself.

 

In the novel, Luke tried to repel it, but in the movie he was zapped repeatedly, in agonizing pain, and utterly defenseless. And he still looked uninjured and was still able to lug his father's armored bulk nearly all the way to the shuttle afterwards. Re: lightsabers making Force lightning deadlier, I don't get that. If the lightning is simply repelled, it'd have the same strength as it had when it started or less, following the rebound. If the 'saber makes it worse, than the 'saber must lose energy, but the blades shown all three times don't look any dimmer.