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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Desdichado" data-source="post: 2264949" data-attributes="member: 2205">So, when Palpatine's face goes from the regular Ian McDiarmid to the "super make-up" Ian McDiarmid Emperor look, what is really going on?  There are two schools of thought, and as near as I can tell, neither is contradicted by the movies, so it's speculation time:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Just like Palpatine says, the lightning rebounding on him really does deform and deface him.  Problems with this include the fact that lightning doesn't actually cause your face to get all wrinkly and leathery, and did not when it hit anyone else in the movies either, as in Luke in RotJ.  A twist on this theory is that Palpatine was actually in some serious danger from Mace Windu after all (as opposed to mostly putting on a play for Anakin's benefit) and so was channelling the Dark Side of the Force so strongly that he literally became corrupted and mutated before our very eyes.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">That was his face all along, and he just revealed it at a carefully considered point in his plot to gain sympathy against the Jedi with both Anakin and the Senate.  His nice face was just a disguise to cover up the fact that he was a warped and corrupted Sith Lord.</li> </ol>Which do you favor?  Or do you have a variant?</blockquote>