imperialscum said:

buddy-x-wing said:

I really wished that the public face of Palpatine in the films was the disguise and the ravaged face of the Emperor was his true self, rather than the reuslt of being scarred by his own force lightning in ROTJ

It should be simply a result of aging and dark side "side-effect".

In fact, that's exactly what The Making of Return of the Jedi (the book in which Lucas says that anybody can use The Force) says. Specifically, it says that he's an ancient man who uses the dark side to extend his life and his appearance is a result of that.