Something that I will most likely integrate into my review of the various scenes of ROTS is the interesting connection between the re-worked Empire Strikes Back scene between Vader and the Emperor, and the scene in Revenge when Vader is "born".

As we go back to that scene, as Vader awakens, his first concern is for Padme. In his Vader-modulated voice, the request sounds out of place. That voice had only had one other moment of kindliness or concern, and that was in his death scene with Luke. He asks about Padme: "Is she alright?"

"I am afraid that in your anger you killed her", the Emperor lies with faux sympathy.

"No, I felt her! She was alive!", the disbelieving Vader protests, and sets to compressing the room for recycling droids.

Fast forward twenty years or so to the revamped Emperor's Hologram scene in Empire.

"We have a new enemy," the Emperor warns. " The young Rebel who destroyed the Death Star. I have no doubt that this boy is the offspring of Anakin Skywalker."

"How is that possible?", Vader inquires.

"Search your feelings, Lord Vader," the Emperor admonishes him. "You will know it to be true. He could destroy us."

And therein is the ominous subtext between Vader and the Emperor. You see, Vader knows about Luke, but hasn't let on yet. We'll discuss that in a moment. But the last time he and Palpatine openly discussed the status of Padme, and therefore his children, was when he first awoke as the fully-transformed Vader.

"I am afraid that in your anger you killed her."

So, indeed, Vader asks a purdy dern good question here, one he probably already knows the answer to: "How is that possible?" Translation: "How do I have offspring if you told me I killed Padme, old man? Because there sure weren't any babies on that platform..."

But, as I mentioned, Vader knows full well who Luke is. He's playing a dangerous game, and hatching a dangerous plot. As I've pointed out in other commentary, "Search your feelings" has become sort of a code between Palpy and Anakin meaning a) you're in denial or b) you're lying. It was used, for instance, as Palpatine digs for intel with Anakin at the Opera House in Revenge, inferring that the Jedi are plotting a coup, and are spying on him. Anakin feebly retorts, "I don't think that-" and Palpy cuts him off - "Search your feelings, Anakin..." He called him out then, he's calling him out now, about Luke.

"Search your feelings, Lord Vader. You will know it to be true. He could destroy us."

Vader, knowing he is for the moment pinned in a lie, spill his guts, or what guts he chooses to spill: "He's just a boy. Obi-Wan can no longer help him."

The fact that he knows about Obi-Wan's involvement in helping specifically Luke means he's been gathering his own intel, and tracking this for some time. He knows exactly who Luke is, and why Obi-Wan was grooming him. But he wasn't going to share this prize with the Emperor. Because we must remember this other little comment, shortly before Anakin chokes Padme on that Mustafar platform:

"I'm stronger than him! I can overthrow him!"

Such is the nature of Sith, either newly dubbed or old and grissly - they seek power. And so this has always been Anakin's plan. But back to the scene in Empire...

The Emperor warns: "The Force is strong with him. The son of Skywalker must not become a Jedi."

And now Vader sees his plan coming together and falling apart at the same time. He was hiding this treasure of information about his son from Palpy for use at a later time. But Palpy has discovered, albeit late, that Anakin has offspring, and that Anakin is aware he has offspring now. Therefore, Vader has to put his plans into motion. He has to get Luke to join forces with him, under the guise of delivering him to the Emperor.

Vader offers, "If he could be turned, he would become a powerful ally."

The Emperor apparently takes the bait: "Yes. He would be a great asset. Can it be done?"

"He will join us or die, Master."

But the dangerous liaison is perhaps more dangerous now than we realize. Because what is being proposed here has not been accomplished by the Sith in thousands of years. Always two there are. Never three. Because with three, two will inevitably form an alliance against the remaining one. It can't be helped. They're Sith, for Force's sake. And both Palpy and Vader know this, staring at each other in this holographic exchange of veiled threats and hidden plots.

This is why on Vader's next meeting with Luke, he is nearly desperate, in that relentlessly cold Vader fashion, to recruit Luke to his side, and to reveal his identity. His own survival depends on Luke helping to destroy Palpatine. He believes it to be his destiny, their destiny.

But is it something else, something not simply born of Sith power plays? Some of that burgeoning conflict between the vestiges of Anakin against the might of Vader? Something about the lie he was told? Something about the legacy he was denied all these years?

How could Palpatine have told him he killed Padme on that platform, if he had offspring? A good question indeed, Lord Vader...





(Here's a quick thanks to all those with comments - it looks like we filled up the maximum 50 allowed)