Why didn't Vader just let Luke kill Palpatine?

I was watching Return of the Jedi, and something hit me . . . if Vader wanted Luke to join him so that he could destroy Palpatine and take his place, why did he block the strike when Luke tried to kill Palpatine?

I mean come on, Vader would have killed Palpatine himself if he was strong enough. Luke started to do exactly what Vader approached him to do in Empire Strikes Back. Why stop him?

 

Vader wanted to wait for the right moment to say it. But he was overpowered by Luke and didn't have time to say it. Plus Vader wanted to let his Master to witness the turn or possibly the betrayal.

 

Vader needed Luke to turn, and killing Palps wouldnt of done that. And if he didnt block the strike I expect Palps would of done something as I think he could forsee exactly what Vader would do.

 

Now this bothers me. I always thought Vader was lying in ESB when he said they would destroy the Emperor. Then the dvds came out and on the commentary track GL says that was his plan. So why didn't he just let Luke kill Palpatine? Well the only thing i can come up with is that he needed Luke to turn to the dark side first, or else Vader wouldn't get to rule either.

 

Maybe Vader's good side was showing, and he knew if Luke struck Palpatine down, he would turn, and perhaps part of him didn't want to see his son suffer his fate.

 

I think it harks back to Revenge of the Sith. From there, we can see that Anakin Skywalker didn't agree with killing unarmed opponents. He didn't want to kill Count Dooku and he didn't feel that Mace Windu should kill Palpatine. So, I think Vader was simply trying to protect an unarmed opponent, even if it was the Emperor.

 

I agree with Jabba_The_Hutt (or smth)Imo Palpatine had ability to read people minds or smth like that.If u ask why he did not saw that Vader turn against him (ROTJ) then my answer is :He was too busy with killing luke

 

The PT came years later.
So the true answer is that he was loyal to Palpatine.
None of this -he didn't want Luke to turn crap.-

 

very good topic, god, i dont even know what to think...why does vader stop lukes strike againts palpatine...

1) vader seemed very conflicted at this time..Luke called him out on it too during the conversation on Endor before they go to the emperor...luke calls him anakin, tells him he feels the good and the conflict...its not to late, luke says...Vader sends him away and stares into space....crazy things must be going through his mind. Vader feels the conflict too, but isnt willing to admit it...

VSo #1 leads me to think- Vader is confused and conflicted... but has convinced himself that all his actions/decisions in the past were the right decisions...he is still trying to justify his chocies to join palpy/sith in ROTS...if he lets luke strike him down, just watching, then he would be admitting to himself everything he had done and the death of padme were for nothing (he does realize this later but not until he sees his son being torchered)


2)i always thought that "if" luke were to destroy the emperor, the only way he would be powerful enough to do so, would be to gain power from his hate, and in essence embrace the darkside...he almost crossed the line when defeating Vader...

So #2 leads me to think Vader may have felt Lukes hate building, and tried to prevent Luke from joining the dark side, although this would contradict everything in ESB...But, its very possible Vader has changed since Bespin and even since the coversation on Endor...


Even if Vader had ploted to kill the emperor before, he may realize that if luke strikes down the emperor now, Luke would become powerful enough to be the dominant sith not Vader...if luke could slay the emperor, he could also most likely slay Vader...Vader protected the emperor to protect his own place in the galaxy..Vader could tell Luke wasnt in this to join them...

edit:
3)"i must obey my master" is that the key phrase...vader believes he must obey the emperor, and until he sees his son about to die, and rethinks everything, Vader believes he must protect the emperor

 

Yes, we accept that the PT came out years later. But, as this is one saga now, we can reference the PT when re-evaluating the OT.
For the original pre-PT version, I have no idea.

For now though, it's an interesting point about Anakin not believing in killing an unarmed man, but he seems to have gotten over that by the end of RotS. Not only was Nute unarmed, but practically in tears begging for his life.
I think it's because Vader knows that Palpatine is hardly going to let himself be killed. We see from RotS that Palpatine is not a push over when it comes to the Force. Maybe if Vader didn't step in, Palpatine would have had severe punishment as a 'lesson' for Luke?
I dunno. That probably won't hold up under scruntiny.
The only one who'd know would be Lucas, and quite honestly, I think the real answer is probably just an 'oops'.

 

But Vader did want Luke to turn to the dark side. He told Luke in TESB that they could rule the galaxy as father and son. And even that line is kind of iffy. If Vader wanted to be the Sith Lord he would have killed Palpatine sometime in the 20 years after ROTS. It's not because he's afraid because he's weaker than Palpatine, it's because he had no desire to be the true leader. He was happy where he was. It's not like once he found out he had a son after ANH, that he thought that now he could finally be in charge since him and his son could defeat Palpatine together.

 

I don't know how loyal he was to Palpatine if his eventual plan was to kill him. And he did want Luke to turn to the dark side, so he and Luke could rule the galaxy together.

As JTH123 said, I think Vader knew that Luke was not committed to joining him yet. Vader was afraid that Luke would kill him as well, or else that Luke would still be able to turn back to the light side after killing Palpatine. Neither of these outcomes would be good for Vader. The ROTJ novelization says something to this effect.

 

That moment may have been a test of Vader?s loyalty as well as a test for Luke. In any event, I don?t believe that the Emperor was defenseless as he said. After all, he is the master of lies and half-truths.

 

If Luke had killed Palpatine, it would have meant that Luke had succumbed to his anger. Essentially, Luke would have turned to the dark side. By saving Palpatine from Luke's attack, Vader also saved his son from the dark side.

 

I'm not sure why vader didn't allow luke to kill palpatine. Maybe vader recieved some guidence from the force telling him to block Lukes strike.

 

Vader in ROTj seems like a very confused person to me. He didn't know who or what to follow. His heart or his master? If he were to let Luke kill the Emperor, it would be same as killing Vader (metaphorically speaking). Vader is tied to the Emperor. Once you kill the Emperor, Vader cannot exsist in the way he has existed before. (Again metaphorically speaking ofcourse) So Vader is a conlficted person.

 

Vader probably wanted Luke to turn first, ten the Emperor would train him in his skill, then Luke could kill Sidious.

Vader could not train him as Sidious could have .

 

For the same reason Lord Dooku went along with the plot to kidnap his master so he could be rescued by Anikan......

because the apprentice must obey his master.

 

Did you guys miss everything Palpatine said in this movie...

You want this, don't you? The hate is swelling in you now. Take your Jedi weapon. Use it. I am unarmed. Strike me down with it. Give in to your anger. With each passing moment you make yourself more my servant.

Good. Use your aggressive feelings, boy. Let the hate flow through you.

Good, I can feel your anger. I am unarmed. Take your weapon. Strike me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete.



Vader didn't want Luke to fall to the darkside. He was in a way preventing Luke from giving into anger and killing Palpy. Palpatine knew Vader would protect him, but he did not know why.

Vaderkin is very torn in this movie. He wants to save Luke, but at the same time he is hiding this from both Luke himself and the Emporer.

Now that Episode III has come out it gives this even more meaning. Anakin gave into his anger and killed Dooku and look how that turned out. Vader didn't want Luke to follow down the same path that he did.

 

"You don't know the power of the Darkside, I must obey my Master*

And who knows, perhaps Vader still wanted to learn the ability to stop people from dying and felt he needed Palpatine to do that, as Palpatine says in ROTS if they worked together they could discover the secret, if Luke killed Palpatine there goes Vader's chance of immortality.

 

He did it to stop his son from crossing that fine line that divides the Light from the Dark side.

 

I'm gonna say it's the other way around, palpatine must have realized that just having luke calmly execute someone wasn't going to push him far enough,
thus the setup was going to be to get Luke all worked up first, then have Vader block him, and let the intial anger grow during the duel, to the point where Luke either gave in to it, or gave up..

Vader was probably just playing his part

 

simple, everything would go wrong if Luke striked the emperor. Luke probably wouldn't turn to the dark side. The emporer would of coarse defend himself, strike Luke. And he didn't want Luke to get hurt yet. Plus he acting like he was loyal to Palpatine in front of him to make sure he didn't guess Vader wanted to overthrow him.

 

Some are not listening here. Vader was loyal to Palpatine, he would have killed him before, etc.
GL has stated quite clearly that Vader would have killed him but he was not powerful enough because of his injuries. He wanted Luke to do it, but he had to be turned first.

 

It is mentioned in the Novel that Vader was worried that without Palpatine to help fully emerge Luke in the ways of the Dark Lord of the Sith that Luke could go back to being good.

It's in the novel, but you know about the novel.