In A New Hope Obi-Wan tells Luke that Vader was his pupil, that he was seduced by the Dark Side, and that he betrayed and murdered his father. In Return of the Jedi he tells Luke that what he said was true, from a certain point of view.
Let's play a game of what if. What if Obi-Wan had told Luke exactly what had happened.
Luke: "How did my father die?"
Obi-Wan: "Oh, your father is still alive, young Luke. Many years ago I was tasked with teaching young Anakin Skywalker the ways of the Force. We fought in the Clone Wars in many battles. Under my watch your father was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force, became a Sith Lord, took the mantle of Darth Vader, and slaughtered many Jedi. He even went to the great Jedi Temple and murdered some thirty Jedi Younglings with that very light saber you hold.
"I confronted him, fought him, ended up cutting off his arms and legs, and left him for dead. Despite the atrocious acts he had committed I could not bring myself to kill him, to end his suffering. Because of my second bout of extreme negligence the Emperor was able to save the burned Vader and encase him in a cyborg body. In that body Vader executed the Emperor's will, serving up death and destruction throughout the galaxy."
Luke: "Oh look at the time. I think I left the oven on. Droids, let's go!"
Now, I'm not saying that this was the best way to tell the story. However, even if Lucas had planned this all out from the start I'm not sure that telling Luke that his father had become one of the most feared monsters in the Galaxy would be the best idea some thirty minutes after their first, real meeting. Not to mention Obi-Wan wanting Luke to learn the ways of the Force after telling him how his own father, under the guidance of Obi-Wan, fell to the Dark Side.
What do you all think?
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