I know this thread is very old, but there is something I believe it’s worth being pointed out:
Take a closer look into this review
[…] I suspect that the Emperor is NOT dead, but that he used the Force
to teleport away from the Death-Star; that blinding flash was a manifestation
of this activity. The Emperor had a very good reason to escape at that point,
the shield generator had been trashed, and the destruction of the Death-Star
was imminent. He realized that he didn’t have enough time (and/or stamina) to
kill both Skywalkers with the blue bolts, and hoped that they would die in the
explosion of the Death-Star. This conjecture is supported also by my extensive
experience with the Universe of Marvel Comics, wherein a character is not dead
unless you see the corpse, and perhaps not even then. […]
Not a bad guess lmao.