New info on Palpatine's disfiguration

[Pcm979]

Or perhaps more mundanely, Mace was in pure screaming agony when he lost a limb and Palpy took advantage of that fact.

Just a thought.

[LordShaithis]

The films showed Palpy looking nothing but normal over the course of years, up until he got zapped, after which he looked shitty and evil until the day he died. It's pretty clear he was disfigured, and not masked all along.

Citing obscure RPG texts that claim he could have been using Force Handsomness all along, and that there was some convoluted reason he couldn't resume doing so at some point, is just... well... silly.

[YT300000]

I think I still massively prefer the damage was done to Palpatine by Windu and the damage was irreversible, because Palpatine drew upon too much of the Dark Side against the badass Mace Windu.

If thats true, then when he did a Force storm in Dark Empire, he should have turned into a giant raisin.

[Utsanomiko]

Does this disfigurement supposedly to include his eyes and voice, or did that permanently show up out of coincidence?

[Pcm979]

Handwavium does away with that, obviously.

[Connor MacLeod]

If thats true, then when he did a Force storm in Dark Empire, he should have turned into a giant raisin.

Palpatine was able to tap into many more sources of power once Dark Empire rolls around (and he's obviously been perfecting techniques between the time of ROTS and the time of Dark Empire.. a span of over 25 years.) which are going to mitigate the damage to various extents (he can tap into the "force potential" of large groups of people to augment his own abilities, as well as the force-sensitivity of his lesser minions and beings (if he can augment their own power with his, the reverse should also be true.)

In any case, there's nothing to suggest that the damage neccesarily manifests in the exact same way every time (it could start internally and work outwards in some cases, or start externally and work inwards in others, or some variation thereof.)

.....

The real kicker is that the whole "Force Mask" concept is problematic in light of the novelization's portrayal of the battle and Palpatine's reaction to the post-battle effects. He didn't act as if the "appearance" was reversible or temporary (which Sarli's "Force Mask" makes quite possible.)

[Utsanomiko]

The real kicker is that the whole "Force Mask" concept is problematic in light of the novelization's portrayal of the battle and Palpatine's reaction to the post-battle effects. He didn't act as if the "appearance" was reversible or temporary (which Sarli's "Force Mask" makes quite possible.)

The novel's portrayal of the battle conflicts with what is seen in the film on several points. Sidious' face isn't burned nor his bones 'fused' any more than Fisto is decapitated. Secondly I haven't heard anyone mention his reactions to the effects before. Did he react as if they were scars (and not as in how he called them scars in his trumped-up senate speech) that permanently burned and warped his body, or does he indirectly imply he simply doesn't have a need to hide it and you're just reading into it? Without a quote, it could be anything, considering the irrelevant nonsense I've seen people jump to in these debates.

[Elheru Aran]

The novel's portrayal of the battle conflicts with what is seen in the film on several points. Sidious' face isn't burned nor his bones 'fused' any more than Fisto is decapitated.

Quite; I've observed on the chat that the novel reads at times like Stover watched a completely different movie... let alone his FUCKING Vaapad/shatterpoint/Mace wanking!!! Gah!

[Kurgan]

Does this disfigurement supposedly to include his eyes and voice, or did that permanently show up out of coincidence?

Not to mention his hands (gnarled, long stained finger nails) and rotten teeth! And how about that weird vocal distortion for awhile until it settles down and he starts talking normally again (with more bouts of his "evil" voice when the mood takes him of course).

[Utsanomiko]

The novel's portrayal of the battle conflicts with what is seen in the film on several points. Sidious' face isn't burned nor his bones 'fused' any more than Fisto is decapitated.

Quite; I've observed on the chat that the novel reads at times like Stover watched a completely different movie... let alone his FUCKING Vaapad/shatterpoint/Mace wanking!!! Gah!

Sidious losing the fight fair and square (or mistiming his defeat; I won't dismiss the conclusion the fight was used to his ultimate gain just because Windu had enough skill to keep up with him and disarm him) is one thing, but damn if Mace Windu wasn't fucking married to Vaapad. I bet Stover would have said Windu brought his saber to bed...

But the duel itself is irrelevant. There's more important questions that 'it's an injury' ignores or fails to take the big picture into account. In fact I'd say it wanks out Sidious even more than Mace Windu; if he really was injurred and exausted that he was 'too weak' and helpless, why is he fine not a minute later unless he's either TEH UBER or held Windu off with a moderate amount of Force (the amount you'd use to keep someone at bay that's trying to block your attacks).

[Connor MacLeod]

The real kicker is that the whole "Force Mask" concept is problematic in light of the novelization's portrayal of the battle and Palpatine's reaction to the post-battle effects. He didn't act as if the "appearance" was reversible or temporary (which Sarli's "Force Mask" makes quite possible.)

The novel's portrayal of the battle conflicts with what is seen in the film on several points. Sidious' face isn't burned nor his bones 'fused' any more than Fisto is decapitated.

His skin flowed like oil, as though the muscle beneath was burning away, as though even the bones of his skull were softening, were bending and bulging, deforming from the heat and pressure of his electric hatred.

Nothing there (or anywhere else I can see in the novel) suggests that his face was burned. I don't see how you can make claims regarding the bone structure - it doesnt look as if he maintained much of hte same facial structure he had pre-Windu.)

Secondly I haven't heard anyone mention his reactions to the effects before. Did he react as if they were scars (and not as in how he called them scars in his trumped-up senate speech) that permanently burned and warped his body, or does he indirectly imply he simply doesn't have a need to hide it and you're just reading into it? Without a quote, it could be anything, considering the irrelevant nonsense I've seen people jump to in these debates.

Palpatine examined the damage to his facew in a broad expanse wall mirror. Anakin couldn't tell if his expresison might be revulsion, or if this were merely the new shape of his features. Palpatine lifted one tenative 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 thinkl; but for our purpose, the face of Sidious will serve. Yes, it will serve."

Does that sound like the attitude of a guy who has been hiding his "true face" behind some magical cosmetics for decades?

Moreover, there is the evidence in the Visaul dictionary which contradicts Sarli's "magical cosmetics mask." - his face is "irreparably" damaged (damage that is directly attributed to the Sith lightning.) and that the damage was caused in the battle with the Jedi who tried to arrest him. (There is also soem attribution to anger, which suggests the Dark Side degradation also played as much a partt in the damage as did the lightning itself.) Nothing in the Visual dictionary even remotely supports the idea that Palpatine was wearing a mask to cover up his inhnerently decrepit appearance.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

There's the problem that half (or pretty much most, giving Stover) of that stuff didn't happen in the film.

[Utsanomiko]

Palpatine examined the damage to his facew in a broad expanse wall mirror. Anakin couldn't tell if his expresison might be revulsion, or if this were merely the new shape of his features. Palpatine lifted one tenative 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 thinkl; but for our purpose, the face of Sidious will serve. Yes, it will serve."

Does that sound like the attitude of a guy who has been hiding his "true face" behind some magical cosmetics for decades?

By disconcernedly making a metaphor and declaring it will serve his purposes to Anakin? Sure. As I thought, it doesn't say anything clear on the matter of the disfigurement being a direct result of the reflected lighning, and you're merely interpreting it as disproving the notion he dropped his disguise/shroud because it wasn't needed and could be taken advantage of.

[Havok]

Palpatine examined the damage to his face in a broad expanse wall mirror. Anakin couldn't tell if his expresison might be revulsion, or if this were merely the new shape of his features. Palpatine lifted one tenative 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 thinkl; but for our purpose, the face of Sidious will serve. Yes, it will serve."

Sounds to me that he liked HIS face, which was Palpatine, but he understood that he was a creature of the Dark Side, an agent of evil. He just came to terms quickly that now his face would match his hatred and anger. His outer self matching his inner.