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We all know that Palpatine's disfigured face happened due to his own force lightning attack getting deflected back at him by Windu.

face melt

I've wondered for a while now if that happened to Vader when he was zapped to death by Palpatine.

vader lightning

When Vader was unmasked by Luke, we see his face disfigured which, after the prequels, we all assume was what was left after his battle with Kenobi on Mustafar. But there are a few vague similarites between the two faces, like an overall droopiness or the rough areas under Vader's cheek and above the eyebrow that might hint at lightning damage.

vader face

Are there any sources that tell us whether there was any additional disfigurement beyond his "pre-existing conditions" due to Palpatine's force lightning?

Canon is preferred but Legends is fine if there's nothing in Canon that supersedes it.

TheIronCheek
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  • The images seem to be broken? – tobiasvl Feb 27 '17 at 22:31
  • Excellent question! Windu's destiny might give a clue. In my opinion, his face did not change under Palpatine's Force lightning attack, before he flew out of the window. Also, Luke came out seemingly unharmed after the attack on him. – Essen Feb 28 '17 at 07:01
  • @tobiasvl - The images were uploaded using the stackexchange uploader so they should be working fine. They're just images showing Palpatine's face melting, Vader getting hit by lightning, and then Vader's face after being unmasked. – TheIronCheek Feb 28 '17 at 17:29
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    @Essen - I think it's too hard to tell with Windu. He gets thrown out the window so fast you can't see the end result. And with Luke, one could argue the emperor is toying with him and doesn't give him all the juice until he's ready to end it. – TheIronCheek Feb 28 '17 at 18:42
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    Possible duplicate of Why didn't Luke become disfigured when he was electrocuted by the Emperor? – Mwr247 Feb 28 '17 at 18:59
  • Additional source (interview with the actor who played prequel Palpatine) for why his character changed the way he did, which is in line with the answer to the possible dupe I linked. – Mwr247 Feb 28 '17 at 19:08
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    @Mwr247 I fail to see how the linked question is a dupe. It does not mention Vader or Anakin disfigurements at all. – Dave Johnson Feb 28 '17 at 19:42
  • @TheIronCheek Nevermind, it seems to be a DDoS on SE https://twitter.com/StackStatus/status/836649540673400832 – tobiasvl Feb 28 '17 at 19:55
  • I still prefer to think that years of using the Dark Side disfigured Palpatine, as mentioned in Legends continuity, and he was just using a Force Illusion to hide that fact. There is not a single other example in either continuity of Force Lightning causing that kind of disfigurement, yet multiple references to heavy Dark Side use changing a person's appearance. – Omegacron Feb 28 '17 at 21:33
  • @DaveJohnson Both questions essentially ask "did/does lightning damage cause additional disfigurement?", which is why I marked as a possible dupe. The answer to the other question also answers this one (although Doctor Two's answer does offer additional specifics about Vader). – Mwr247 Mar 01 '17 at 15:42

1 Answers1

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Evidence for no

I don't think he was scared, bad on The Empire Strikes Back where Vader's head is the same pale shade and shows signs of serious damage. However the scene is from behind so it's hard to tell if the "cracked egg" look is there.

Doctor Two
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  • This is a really good piece of evidence. May I suggest that you rephrase this into a direct answer—something like "I think the answer is no, and here's a piece of evidence backing up my position"? – Bob Mar 01 '17 at 01:19