CT Do you think Anakin would voluntarily turned himself in if he had survived?

In my head canon, it was not solely Palpatine's lighting that killed Vader; he has survived multiple other times his suit was compromised:

In the comics, a guy named Cylo hacks Vader's suit and shuts it down. Vader slowly starts to die, he has a vision of Padme calling to him to let go, instead he gets angry and is able to overcome the shutdown.

I believe Palpatine also flat out shoots lightning at Vader in the comics and it does not kill him.

In Rebels he has his helmet sliced open, but he's able to limp his way, wheezing, back to his ship.

In Kenobi he has the life support system destroyed, has his helmet sliced open, and he survives.

There's symmetry in that Padme dies at roughly the same time that Anakin "dies" and Vader is "born."

I think once Vader let go of his fear and hatred and turned back to the light, he was doomed to die.

 

Nobody here seems to mention suicide as an option. Anikan is quite the dramatic type and I could see him doing this.

As far as turning himself in goes, I could see this since the story needs it to happen (classic good guy behavior), but doesn't really fit his personality. Honestly, it is a pretty stupid thing to do. The smarter thing to do is to go out in hiding and changing his identity with a different suit so as to not be identified as Darth Vader.

 

If he did that, then his redemption didn't take. He'd still be running away from his responsibilities and refusing to accept the blame for his crimes.

 

Accepting punishment for your crimes doesn't undo the damage that has been done. It is an indication for remorse, but it doesn't really accomplish anything positive other than having others get a sense of justice. People who turn themselves in for crimes are doing so because they will recommit the terrible things they did or are emotionally compromised in the moment with feelings of guilt. The first reason makes sense. The second reason is foolish.

To be clear, I think the way they did it in ROTJ was the correct way for story writing purposes. It is best that Vader died. Having Vader run off in hiding with Luke would have been an interesting twist to the story given the plan for a sequel later down the line, but ROTJ is more of a closure to the series so I think the right choice was made.

 

I disagree. Him turning himself in to take his medicine wouldn't be foolishness. Rather, it'd be the most courageous act he'd done in years. He'd be taking responsibility for his actions. No, it wouldn't bring back the lives of those kids he murdered, but, to quote Jim Kirk, "They may rest easier." Besides, his crimes (and they were, indeed, crimes) warrant some form of justice and punishment. The basic order of society demands it.
In this case, though, in an act of true grace, he was forgiven on a personal & spiritual level and was allowed to be at peace in Light Side Heaven. And his death balanced the books on an official level. Justice was served.
Better that than Palpatine's undignified fate: throwing a tantrum, then getting tossed to his doom while screaming in terror & outrage, followed by a one-way ticket to Dark Side Hell.

 

I think knowing that death is imminent also has a way of making people want to make things right. For instance, I have an estranged uncle that broke off contact from the family for like two decades. He was essentially dead to the family. My grandmother (his mom) never wanted to hear him mentioned. But towards they end of her life, she was trying to reach out to him and make amends.

In Star Wars Rebels, Maul goes to Tatooine with hate in his heart and an intention to kill Obi-Wan. Once mortally wounded, he asks about the Chosen One, and believes that he will be avenged by Luke. It's not exactly a redemption, but he's making peace with death in his own way, believing in the Chosen One in his dying moments. Something that surely would not have happened had he killed Obi-Wan.

Had Vader killed Palpatine, without a scratch, I'm wondering if his redemption would have carried through at all. Or like Kylo, would he have instead seen opportunity?