I'm certain this topic has been discussed many times here on the blogs. But I'm going to bring it up again anyway! I was just thinking about the "Hayden Ghost" from the newly renovated Episode VI. I think it's kind of neat that the image of Anakin as a young Jedi was put there, but it has also always disturbed me. Here are my issues:

First of all, why is he wearing a Jedi robe he never wore? Is it because his black tunic represented the part of the Dark Side within him, and now that he's a Light Side Ghost, he's reverted to the traditional style Obi-Wan robe? Honestly, I think Anakin should have been dressed in that style during Episode II, and that they should have saved the black tunic for Episode III, to show how the Clone Wars had affected him, and to reflect the darker part of him slowly coming out. Or is the real reason that they just stuck Hayden's HEAD on Sebastian Shaw's body? Also, Anakin never ever wore the floor length version of the tunic like the elder Obi-Wan did! At least at the end of ROTJ, before the special editions, we assumed back then that Anakin had dressed just like Obi-Wan did, back in the day!

Secondly, why does Anakin's ghost appear at all? As of Episode III, we now know that it takes years of training to be able to become one with The Force enough to return as a ghost. And we know Vader couldn't have known how to do this. George could have avoided this issue had he just, from the start of Episode I, done what we all thought already, which was that all Jedi disappear when they die. That way we wouldn't need to question why Anakin's ghost can appear. I think by saying that Yoda and Obi-Wan needed to train and commune with Qui-Gon in order to accomplish this, George was tryng to give reason to Obi-Wan's line in Episode IV, "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." Otherwise, that line doesn't make a lot of sense, although we can give it different reasons for its existence. (I digress, so look for my next blog, "Obi-Wan's Reasons for saying that).

Anyway, third, why does Anakin look young even though he was old when he died? We've all heard that it's because his ghost image reverts to what he looked like when he was last a Jedi, but for my money, I think I'd rather leave Sebastian Shaw's image in there. (I've realized there are a lot of changes made to the OT that, even though they're fun, I think need to be changed back)

I believe that Anakin/Vader's body did not disappear when he died, but I don't know whether or not that would affect him being able to return as a ghost. I don't believe that he should be able to, except that maybe he is the Chosen One, and that the Force grants him special rights for restoring balance and dumping the Emperor into that reactor shaft. Honestly, the real life reason is probably that George wanted to give Luke closure, and the saga as well.

It occurs to me that Luke wouldn't even recognize who the heck the young Anakin is; at least he saw the older Vader's face before he died!

Well, I guess that's all I can think of; I think I have thrown every idea I have had on this topic in there! Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading this far!