Star Wars fans torn over reveal of Palpatine's 'true form'

Star Wars fans are torn over Emperor Palpatine’s true form and the reason why he looks the way he does.

Arguably, Emperor Sheev Palpatine is one of the most despicable and manipulative villains in the Star Wars universe, long before he eventually became Darth Sidious.

Take Anakin Skywalker for example. Once a budding Jedi youngling with a heart of gold, when Palatine’s manipulation took full effect, he became one of the most feared villains in the galaxy, Darth Vader.

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Just before Anakin Skywalker became fully corrupted by the dark side, when Mace Windu discovered what Palpatine was up to, Anakin defended Palpatine which would then lead to Windu being launched out of a window and presumably splattering on the pavement below.

Star Wars fans will know those who are completely corrupted by the dark side of the Force often have their physical appearance changed such as a pale skin or eyes changing colour to varying degrees.

So it might be safe to assume that this is what happened to Emperor Palpatine before he morphed into the pale, wrinkly-skinned and yellow-eyed Darth Sidious. However, that might not entirely be the case.

“I always thought that Palpatine was using Force powers to disguise his true appearance and that he always looked like the old evil emperor from the original trilogy,” said a Reddit user kicking off the discussion on the thread.

“But I’ve been told this is not the case and the fight with Windu is what left him scarred and deformed,” they continued. “Palpatine looked normal before that moment, I’ve never really thought about it like that. Is there any indication as to which theory is correct?”

“I think Mace messed him up but in the Revenge of the Sith novelisation he talks about the ‘face of Palpatine’ and how he now wears the face of Sidious,” answered Dume_Bridger.

“I don't think he would've been all scarred etc., but as a dark side user, especially one of his calibre, a more ‘natural’ form for him would be the pale skin, Sith eyes, and so forth.”

“If I remember correctly, he was a normal human but due to dark side degradation, he eventually began to look like the wrinkled prune man we all know,” explained JonathanPT. “He was able to hide this using Sith alchemy.”

There you have it, if you ever wondered why Darth Sidious looks the way he does, read in between what all the Reddit users say above and you’ll have the answer.