Darth Vader has reverted back to Anakin Skywalker sooner than commonly thought. From at least the time he and Luke appear in the Emperor’s throne room, Anakin has completely been restored to his true self. He is retaining the facade of being Darth Vader to help his son in two ways. First Anakin/Vader is a strong believer in destiny as has been made clear in his dialouge a couple of times. And being that the Emperor told him or foresaw that Luke could destroy them both, Vader knew the event of their confrontation was inescapable. Anakin now knew that he had to help his son survive this. The second way he was going to help Luke was that he knew this was his final test in becoming a Jedi, by resisting the Emperor and not falling to the dark side. He wanted to be at his side to aid him during this. Anakin was able to fool the Emperor into thinking he was still Vader by focusing his hatred toward him. The Emperor would still sense said hatred(dark side energy) from him but in his overconfidence would only see it as negative energy in general as was always the case with Vader. Anakin/Vader had always been a character who was highly intelligent and a brilliant tactician or strategist; of course he would be able to devise this plan. Vader’s dialogue, in a couple of instances, really has a double meaning. It appears as if he’s speaking to Luke, but he is really speaking to the Emperor. First, “It is pointless to resist, my son” He is actually remarking to the Emperor about how powerful and determined Luke has become. “It is pointless to resist my son”, is what he is really saying, pointedly. He is impressed because Luke, in reality had attempted to use the Jedi mind trick on the Emperor when he said, “Your overconfidence is your weakness.” It didn’t work obviously, but Vader was impressed still. Later, during their lightsaber duel there is a brief pause where Vader says, “You are unwise to lower your defenses!” Again he is speaking to the Emperor. It implies that in having Vader occupied with a duel the Emperor is somewhat defenseless. Another event showing Anakin’s return is the moment Luke attempts to strike the Emperor with his lightsaber wherein Vader immediately blocks it with his own. He’s not so much protecting the Emperor as he’s really protecting Luke from the act of killing him. The Emperor flat out says, “Strike me down with all your hatred, and your journey towards the dark side will be complete.” Vader stops that from happening, thus saving Luke from being irrevocably consumed by the dark side. He’s very outwardly aiding his son here. Next, during a pause in their duel there are more indications in Vader’s dialogue, in his response to Luke’s two statements.
LUKE: Your thoughts betray you, Father. I feel the good in you, the conflict.
DARTH VADER: There is no conflict.
Luke is misreading Vader’s energy here. There is a conflict, but it’s really in Vader being against the Emperor. He’s already back to being Anakin(‘the good’). In this way there is no conflict, at least not in the way Luke thinks.
LUKE: You couldn’t bring yourself to kill me before, and I don’t believe you’ll destroy me now.
DARTH VADER: You underestimate the power of the Dark Side. If you will not fight, then you will meet your destiny.
Vader is saying two things here. Basically, that Luke shouldn’t assume this is going as easy as he thinks, and that he’s doing well in choosing not to fight. A Jedi doesn’t fight unless he has to, and if he maintains this he will become one. Vader believes this to be part of Luke’s destiny in addition to destroying the Emperor; he’s giving Luke advice. Then, he throws his lightsaber at him to intensify the situation. He’s keeping the test valid.
Eugene Flores 