What caused Palpatine's change of appearance?

Flaming? If I had famed him everyone here would know.

When someone keeps fighting in the face of logic and fact, what kind of reaction do you expect?

Mine was tempered.

 

It was still mild flaming. Discuss the events in the film (and sources revolving around it) rather than the posters.

 

Perhaps Palpatine is a shapeshifter?

 

That's proposterous! He is NOT a shapeshifter. NO evidence for that.

 

"A combination of the above."

 

I can't believe there is actually a poll about this, when the thruth has been confirmed several times! Including The Visual Dictionary and Star Wars Insider!

[The] real Palpatine is the one who bursts forth at a calculated moment . . . That is when the true person comes out, letting the evil fully manifest itself. The Emperor . . . looks like he does because he's very old and very evil -- it is what he always looked like. [Star Wars Insider 82 (page 58)]


[It?s] the intensity of reflected lightning and the channeling of such raw dark side power that are the catalysts for Palpatine?s transformation. Perhaps the face that boils up to the surface is shaped by his dark side corruption, but the lightning is definitely the cause. [Star Wars Insider 83 (page 32)]


The lightning causes his true face to emerge!

 

Lightning ofcourse.

 

BEST, MOST LOGICAL, AND MOST REASONABLE EXPLANATION I'VE HEARD SO FAR:

Exactly. It is the only explanation that fits consistently with absolutely EVERYTHING that we've seen throughout the Saga. From the fact that exposure to Force Lightning has never deformed any other character in the Saga, to Palpatine's dialogue in the ROTS novelization....even continuing on into the realms of the EU.

Palpatine wore a "mask" in the sense that he was preventing his body from deteriorating due to the effects of the Dark Side. He was a Sith Lord in "hibernation mode", so to speak....he wasn't actively using the powers of the Dark Side very much at all, until, during his his fight with Mace, he decided to use the full power of the Dark Side against his opponent, allowing that unrestrained dark power to flow through him once again. He KNEW that deciding to use these powers would force his body to change and "unmask" his true appearance....to reveal he should look like after having remained a creature in the darkness for so long.

Notice the fact that he only began to use his Force Lightning against Mace AFTER Anakin had arrived. When he, in all his evil genius, saw the PERFECT opportunity to allow this change to permanently take place within him. To take one step back, in order to take two steps forward. To gain every possible advantage without losing much at all. To unleash his true power against Mace, to convince Anakin that he was dying, and to stand as public evidence for the Jedi coup that had been launched against him....all by simply allowing his body to accept the natural consequences which had inevitably been coming to it anyway. Pure. Evil. Genius.

 

Okay, here's what the OS says about the matter:

and

Note in the Palpatine entry it says "evil energies twisted Palpatine's face", it doesn't say specifically that the lightning did it directly. It also says that he is a well of dark side energy. The same energy that twisted his face changed his voice and his eyes. Do you think that the lightning directly turned his eyes yellow or changed his voice? If this were the case, why do Anakin's eyes go yellow when we don't see him getting any lightning deflected back at him? How is Darth Sidious able to change his voice, and how is Anakin able to "turn off" his Sith Eyes? Note that in the Darth Sidious entry it tells us that the tale of being disfigured at the hands of the Jedi was concocted as in, it wasn't the WHOLE truth--yet it was true from a certain point of view.

You see, the Official Site is official, but it is only one point of view, and we know that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on your point of view. The OS Databank offers a certain point of view, but it does not preclude the accuracy of other points of view. Once you open your eyes to the point of view that it was a combination of the lightning and the years of Darkside Energy building inside Lord Sidious that caused him to reveal his true identity, the OS point of view makes perfect sense.

Let me give you another example: If were were to conduct a poll that asked "How did Darth Vader die?" and Answer number 1 was that he was killed by Darth Sidious' lightning in RotJ, and Answer number 2 was that his life support system that had been hiding his true dead form from his injuries in RotS failed. We of course know that the correct answer would be that it was a "combination", yes it was the lightning that did it, but the little bit of lightning alone wouldn't do it. The lightning caused it indirectly. This I think is obvious to all, but what does the OS say about the topic?

...So if you believe that the OS is the complete and final authority, by the same logic you should believe it wasn't Vader's life support system failing that killed him it was the lightning and "the official site kills any argument you can make!"

I'm sure you can see how it was truly a combination of the injuries in RotS and RotJ that spelled the end for Darth Vader, and I bet you aren't particularly bothered by the OS' telling us that Vader was mortally wounded by lightning because you understand that the OS has a point of view on the issue that does not preclude other points of view from being accurate...or even MORE accurate, for that matter.

 

YES, YES! i agree with thulium 100%! im totally surprised that others dont address this in their interpretations!

 

yeah yeah yeah we all know Thulium is THE MAN.....lol

good work Thulium....as usual i might add

 

My goodness, "the official site" - don't get me wrongo, but does anyone honestly believe that Lucas has the time to line-edit each and every entry on the OS, or that he talks for hours about each and every detail in the database?
I don't know about Lucasfilm, but I know about enough other companies and I guarantee one thing: No company boss has time to care about every single detail on the website. They've got staff to do this.
God knows who has written those texts in the OS database, and who has checked them, or if the webmaster or anyone else has ever had the possibility to talk for but one minute about this specific detail to GL.
But sure enough Ian McDiarmid had far more than one minute to talk to GL about the Palpatine transformation during the shooting of ROTS. This, plus logic and artistic aspects (citation of Dorian Gray or the like) is enough to take Ian's quotes, if in doubt, as those which are valid for me.

 

Pablo said "don't take what Ian said literally".

For Pete's sake people, do any of you actually read the posts of anyone other than those you agree with? Because if you did this topic would have been one page long.

The OS says that Palpatine's apperance is not his true face. It is the result of him using the Dark Side to try and kill Mace Windu. And yes, Lucas does approve of the OS when it comes to the movies, Pablo does talk to Lucas.

"The official Site isn't official", what BS. I haven't heard this kind of talk since the P=S debates. Which is exactly what this is.

The VD also says Palpatine was scarred by Sith Lightning, and if anyone was reading the posts of people they don't agree with they'd know that as well.

This thread is pointless and is only here because despite what the film shows and the OS and Insider say, Sinister and Sapient are taking what Lucas said metephorically to Ian eight years ago as Gospel.

 

Palpatine is Sidious?!!!!

 

This is a question that could as well be asked to you. Do you read posts of anyone other than those you agree with?

Why should I take Pablo more "literally" than Ian? Just because he's the webmaster of the official site? Or can you give a more convincing reason for this?

 

See, when you read other people's posts, you might find something entertaining.

 

Because the official site is the official site perhaps? Because if you read what Lucas said it was clear that he was speaking to Ian metaphorically? Because the way the film is edited shows Palpatine being transformed by the Dark Side, with his skin poping and boiling and twisting?

If you had read any of my posts already you'd already have your answers. I read every post.

 

Indeed, entertaining this is, at least from a certain point of view.

JP, I'm sorry, but the mere quote of the webmaster of the OS that Ian shouldn't be taken too literally is just not enough to convince me. IMO, you clinch too much on the label "official", you take it to be more "official" than it really is. Just my take. For reasons, please see above.

If there was a quote by GL himself that unambiguously states that the transformation was the sole result of lightning injury I might be convinced - provided the quote stemmed from an interview with a serious journalist and not just from a fanboy magazine. Until that, I stick to the "dorian gray" interpretation. Call me stubborn, but it fits with Ian's quotes, it fits Lucas' habit of citing classical literature and it fits logic, at least for me.

 

We'll see come November.

 

I doubt Pablo would not only answer this in the Insider, but update the OS to reflect this as well only to have to backtrack come November.

If I had some of your RL's adresses I'd be placing huge wagers right now.

 

That Palpatine is Sidious? ( Ducks for cover....)

 

We'll see in November if Ben Burtt isn't talking about the sound effects in the scene, that is.

 

^ I was going to post that.

 

You know he will be.

"And when we got to this sound, I found that the pan flute made the sound of the wind rushing into the office much better than the fan against microphone..."

 

"See how his face is morphing - we used a slightly different method to create the Force lightning for this particular shot to add effect."