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I keep hearing in the SW circles using the Dark Side drains a person of his life energy causing premature aging and points to the Emperor. But Palpatine was already an old man during TPM (he should be in his 90's by RotJ). Is that canon or did someone just make that up?

Is that canon or did someone just make that up?

EU describes as those who go to the Dark Side as thier bodys diying faster than normal and not re-growing as normal

COPL mentions that things like Burst Blood Vessels Don't heal and instead leave the skin with a waxy apperance as not as much blood as normal gets to the area yet the burst blood vessel is still visible as a off pinkish mark which is what you see on Paply

No idea why but its just one of the ways to ID Human Sith

The SW Visual Dictionary (the OT one) talks about how Palpatine uses a cane so that he appears to be old and feeble but that he doesn't really need it. I wish I had the quote. Anyway, even in AOTC Palpatine has been a Sith for a long time and shows no external signs of premature decay or waxy skin. This may just be some more EU than has to be explained away.


Aaron

I don't know if this is just due to Ian McDiarmid aging, but Palpatine in AoTC does like quite a bit more gaunt and older than he did in TPM. Then again, it is 10 years later...

I always hated this answer to the dark side.
I think it was spawned by bad writing on the plot wheel.

The movies show that palpy is alive and kicking after many years of dark side use. Since I'm not a big fan (I like it but don't love it) of the EU - my tendency has been to ignore the whole clone thing and just believe that the force, both light and dark, can extend life for many generations past normal. No matter the physical ramifications. Of course palpy looks bad in ROTJ, he is old. The fact that he can still kick ass is a statement to the dark sides power, not the reverse.

It's not the dark side that makes him look so old. It's not practicing good hygeine, and never socializing with anyone. As for his age, he looks like he's in his 50's-60's in TPM and AotC.

i belive it was the summury for Dark Empire 1+2 in theforce.net but it said that Palpatine used many clone bodies throught his reign and we know he did after his apparent death in ROTJ. And using lightning to defeat your enemies cant be good for your body.

I think Jack Lain has the right idea. Screw the EU. It made the Jedi so friggin powerful lightsabers were redunant (who needs a lightsaber when you can use Force telekenesis to push an armada of ISD's across a star system). It was less like Star Wars and more like Dragon Ball Z. And do you really want to turn Star Wars into Dragon Ball Z.

And do you really want to turn Star Wars into Dragon Ball Z.

Minus all the talking F@%@% YES (Oooh the shear insanity(That and the fact I always found DBZ funny as I started reading the Culture books I said you know, They could kick SW, ST, B5 and most other main stream sci-fi shows into the ground with a single ship, And then I thought but how would Gooku do aginst them )

Mr. Bean you always seemed cool before, but now i learn your a DBZ fan, i dont know. you used to be cool.

Mr. Bean: Mr. Bean still cool!!!

(Simpsons parady)

Now, now, Tychu. There's no need to insult Bean. It's like saying Darkling is an idiot for being pro-Trek in these debates. Anyway, there's no real evidence against cloning, but I seriously doubt it, preferring to rationalize his appearance in ROTJ as a Force illusion to throw people off, or a result of breathing in scrubbed and filtered air for years (ref. SOTE)