Why Isn't Luke Scarred By The Emperor's Force Lightning In Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi?

There's a lot about the "Star Wars" franchise that doesn't make a ton of sense. This was okay during the original trilogy, which left us with plenty of room to fill in the gaps on our own, but the subsequent prequels (and sequels, and spin-offs) have made things a bit more complicated. They've even taken moments from the original trilogy that initially seemed logical and retroactively made them a little confusing. For instance, why does R2-D2 not interfere when Leia makes out with her brother in "The Empire Strikes Back"? The rascally droid could've saved the two from so much embarrassment later on.

On a more serious note, another now-questionable moment from the original trilogy concerns Emperor Palpatine's lightning powers. The climax of "Return of the Jedi" involves Palpatine torturing Luke with lightning for a significant period of time, and yet Luke recovers from it all unscathed. Luke comes out of it just as youthful and handsome as ever, which begs the question: Why did Palpatine develop heavy facial wrinkles in "Revenge of the Sith" when the same thing happened to him? Why does lightning scar one character but not the other?

The obvious answer is that this is a fairy tale about space wizards, and creator George Lucas probably just didn't think it through that much. But Ian McDiarmid, who played Palpatine in all three trilogies, shed some light on the issue in a 2016 con panel. By the sound of it, Lucas put more thought into the situation than might expect. As McDiarmid explained, "I always had the feeling that the monster lurked underneath the bland, sort of ordinary politician exterior, and was just waiting for his moment to burst forth."

"George Lucas said a very interesting thing to me when we were doing the prequels," McDiarmid continued. "He said, 'You should think of your face, i.e. Ian's face, the one you can see as the Senator and the Chancellor more or less, as a mask, and that underneath is the reality of that character.'" In other words, the Force lightning scarred Palpatine's face so much more than the other lightning victims in the series because Palpatine's face was never fully real. It's like how it's much easier to rip off an imposter's fake mustache than to rip off a non-imposter's real mustache (and why you should always make absolutely sure someone's a secret Sith before you blast them with lightning to reveal their true appearance).

This was an interpretation that McDiarmid kept with him throughout production, making for one of the most unique acting experiences of his career. "It's the most fascinating to play if you're an actor: Use your own face, like it's sort of screwed on, and underneath is this terrible thing you know eventually will burst forth," he explained. "So that was my theory, anyway."

It's the most sensible explanation, especially since Yoda and Anakin were also attacked by Force lightning throughout the series with no apparent change in their appearance either. However, it's never been officially confirmed in any "Star Wars" movie or show, and even canon books (like "Star Wars: The Secrets of the Sith") claim that Palpatine was indeed scarred by the lightsaber blowback from Mace Windu. In the end, it's up to fans to come up with their own conclusions. If you have a personal take on why only Palpatine was affected by Force lightning, your guess is just as valid as anyone else's.