In the novelization of Revenge of the Sitg it heavily implies he already looked different even before his fight with Obi-Wan. Notably when he sees Padme's ship, "He spent a moment reassembling his Anakin Skywalker face" (418) and when he sees Obi-Wan exit the ship, "Feral joy burned from his eyes, and his face was no longer human" (422). Does this mean he looked far different at times, or is it just metaphorically?
It seems to be more metaphorical My first impression is that it refers to his "Sith eyes," being all yellowish red, or just his general countenance
I think it's just a way to say, "Anakin put on a fake act" to try and hide his change. When he saw Obi-Wan however, he lost his temper and his act.
I think he was starting to transform, after all we did see the yellow Sith eyes. One of many side effects of the Dark Side.
It's one of the reasons I didn't like the ROTS novelization, as it seems to follow that idea that Anakin was suffering from full-on multiple-personality disorder, rather than being a man who chose the Dark Side of his own free will (and paid for it, big time).
It doesn't exactly seem logical that after, what, barely a day as Darth Vader, his face would be all ugly-fied by the dark side. Palpatine only became "Hideous Sidious" after decades of being immersed in the dark side
Well, Anakin has been on that path for the last three years. Since he killed the Tusken Raiders, his first steps towards on the Dark Side in AOTC. Even Dooku thought Anakin was already half Sith during their duel in the ROTS novel.
It was referring to how Anakin was seeing himself. He was trying to pretend that all the bad things that he was doing was not himself, but Darth Vader. And at the last, he finally realizes that it was himself. The man that he was deep down who did these crimes.
