La Vérité sur le visage de Darth Sidious

Q: In his fight with Mace Windu, what exactly happens to Palpatine's face? Some say he was scarred by the Force lightning, but others say he was dropping some sort of illusion and revealing his true face. Which is it?

A: Ah, the mysteries of the Force. There are problems with both of these ideas: The idea that he was being physically damaged by the Force lightning doesn't match Return of the Jedi. Luke was being hit by Force lightning for quite some time, and he wasn't scarred like that. On the other hand, if Palpatine was using an Illusion-assisted Disguise check (see Jedi Counseling 19), he couldn't possibly keep it up continually. Moreover, Illusion is a mind-influencing Force power. It doesn't work on droids or recordings (in other words, someone might notice that he doesn't look the same in recorded speeches), nor would it work when projecting a holographic image halfway across the galaxy. Finally, one would have wonder why he maintained the illusion in his earlier holographic appearances as Darth Sidious. It would seem more prudent to "turn it off" to preserve the Palpatine identity. You are quite justified in being puzzled by this turn of events!

Fortunately, the truth is revealed in 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)]
Palpatine, who has delved extensively into Sith lore, was using an almost-forgotten technique to hide his true self. In game terms, this is an application of the Alchemy skill from the Dark Side Sourcebook (page 13):

Mask

Just as Sith alchemical techniques can be used to make a subject appear more horrific, they can be used to conceal its true appearance. This requires an Alchemy check (DC 20), and your skill check is modified by all the same modifiers that would apply to a Disguise check. On a success, your Alchemy check is treated as a Disguise check for the purpose of concealing your true appearance (or adopting someone else's), opposed by an observer's Spot check as normal. Each check requires 1 minute, costs the user 5 vitality points, and gives the user 1 Dark Side Point.

Unlike a mundane disguise (which is temporary) or cosmetic surgery (which requires considerably more time to use), an Alchemy mask alters the subject on the molecular level. The subject's true appearance is not apparent on sensors or even during a medical examination. Even if an observer's Spot check beats the Alchemy check result, the observer is only aware that something is wrong -- unnatural, perhaps -- about the subject. (In the case of impersonating a particular individual, of course, the observer would be aware that the subject was an imposter.) However, the mask can be dispelled by dark side energy: If the subject takes damage from a dark side Force skill, the subject must make a Fortitude save (DC 5 + damage dealt) or the mask is removed and the subject’s true face reappears. Furthermore, the sudden transformation physically distorts the subject with dark energy, imposing a permanent -2 penalty to all Disguise checks and an additional -1 penalty for every Dark Side Point the subject had gained in the past 10 rounds prior to losing the mask. These penalties make future attempts to create a mask or mundane disguise much less likely to be successful.

Like all other Alchemy checks, the cost of using this skill on a particular subject is 10,000 credits. Furthermore, the subject takes 3d6 points of damage and must make a Fortitude save (DC 20). If the save fails, the damage is applied against the subject's wounds (as with a critical hit).


It is not clear whether Palpatine loses his mask intentionally or unintentionally, but it is certain that his Force lightning was the triggering event. It is possible that Palpatine voluntarily fails the save and drops the mask when it no longer suits his purpose using it to convince Anakin to intervene against Mace Windu and showing his "scars" to the galaxy as evidence of Jedi betrayal.

Leris a écrit:Tu veux dire que Palpatine applique les memes recettes que dans Nip Tuck?

Jaweco a écrit:En tout cas, ça me fait penser à The Picture Of Dorian Gray d'Oscar Wilde...

Leris a écrit:Ah oui!!!!! Cela me rappele l'artwork poste par Anakin sur le CDE:

Yaonix a écrit:
Alors on peut se demander si le côté Obscur fait ça sur tout ses adeptes comme le laisse pensé KOTOR II.

Leris a écrit:Tu veux dire que Palpatine applique les memes recettes que dans Nip Tuck?

Matth Katarn a écrit:comme sur la paternité de Sidious par rapport à Anakin, qui est dévoilée dans Path of evil