Originally posted by: see you auntie
One thing I thing about the PT that they got right was Palpatines arc and really enjoyed that until Ep3. He was slowly becoming more an more evil being twisted by the dark side both figuratively and literally into presumably what we see in ROTJ an old and twisted evil man who is possibly living beyond his years because of the dark side and then with Ep3 that did a 180 and Papatine becomes the Emperor we know because of a fight with a Jedi and his lightning being reflected back at him

I always took it as he was losing the power to conceal himself and just let go. So the Face we saw - the Emporers face - was his true identity. He was just masking it from the others. I mean, are you going to trust the fucked up looking evil dude or the kind faced old man to run the senate? In the fight he did keep going on about not being able to hold it any longer...weak, I'm so weak an' all that jazz.
For me he didn't get burned...Luke never got burned...Anakin never got burned, so why did Palps? If he was burning so bad, why is his hair still ok. That's the first thing to go. Also, after Mace flew out of the window, Palps got up brushed himself off, put his cloak on and went about his business. Not bad for someone who just had their whole face burnt to a crisp by lightning.
Like I said, I think it was all a mask to hide his true appearance.

Or it could just be another balls up by George.