Skip to main content

star wars - Why didn't Luke become disfigured when he was electrocuted by the Emperor?


In Star Wars Episode 3 : Revenge of the Sith



As Mace threatens Palpatine, the Sith unleashes a torrent of Force lightning. However, Mace deflects it with his blade, casting much of the energy back into Palpatine's body. He becomes disfigured and ends his assault.
Palpatine disfigurating
Palpatine disfigurating further

Palpatine disfigured



But, at the end of Star Wars Episode 6 : The Return of the Jedi :



On the Death Star, an enraged Palpatine declares that if Luke will not turn to the dark side, he will be destroyed, and uses Force lightning against the young Jedi. He slowly increases the intensity of the lightning, slowly torturing Luke.
Luke enduring force lightning



Since Luke had such long exposure to Force lightning, even longer the Emperor's exposure, why he didn't became disfigured as him?



Answer



There has been a lot of debate over this, but I've always sided with the 'Mask' theory. 'Mask' is a discipline of Sith Alchemy:




A Sith Alchemist could use the Mask to literally reshape an individual's appearance, altering a body at the molecular level. Very little was beyond this technique, limited only by the craftsmanship of the user. Features, age, disfigurations, even species could be concealed with the Mask (though the latter would require an incredible amount of skill to accomplish convincingly). Owing to its molecular nature, the technique lasted until altered, and even a thorough medical examination would not be likely to reveal anything out of place, unlike the tell-tale scars of surgical alterations.


...


The technique wasn't entirely without risk. The process itself could be incredibly painful, and complications from the procedure could result in serious injury or even death. There was also one rarely-encountered oddity with the Mask technique. As it was a product of the dark side of the Force, on rare occasions it would resonate when exposed to powerful blasts of dark side energy. If the subject was not careful, the Mask would literally melt away, horrifically disfiguring the individual and making further attempts at concealment (even with the Mask) difficult.



Now, this was invented for the Starwars Roleplaying game.... But it seems consistent with Lucas' vision; he was a nasty, evil, much-older-than-he-appeared villain, who hid his appearance under a pleasing facade to facilitate his political actions. One of his own evil tricks, reflected back at him, was able to dismiss his disguise.. But he turned this to his advantage by claiming the Jedi had 'disfigured' him.


(Note: The Role Playing Games story (but not stats) are considered 'C-canon.')


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?