What was the point of telling Luke who he really was?

Is it possible that Vader used his paternity to manipulate luke into joining him?

 

Yes.

 

Bingo.

 

Absolutely. Luke was always curious about his father (he asked Ben a whole lot of questions) and Vader probably thought Luke would want to be with his dad-he-never-knew. When Luke declines I bet Vader was probably mad sad.

 

You hit it right on the head.

 

Totally.

AND maybe trying to weave a little more anger and despair into him (such is the way of the dark side, you know...).

I mean, how would YOU feel?

 

Don;t mind me, just seeing something about signatures...I'm new.

 

I'd be annoyed if Luke said:

I'm a farmer, like my father before me.

He had the inspiration to confront Vader and Sidious

 

Vader probably figured that if Luke gave into the dark side, his thrist for power would be just as great as his old man's. Which, assuming Luke wouldn't have turned on him, would have meant that Palp's would have been a goner in no time.

Luke + Vader > Palpatine