Darth Vader knowing Luke is his son

[Temis the Vorta]

One thing I've always wondered though is why Vader dueled Luke nearly to the death (and chopped off his arm) and only THEN gave him the big reveal about him being his father and suggesting that they form an alliance together against the Emperor?

Because he's a nutcase, maybe? He's always had a violent and psychopathic streak (even TCW, with its better and more plausible characterization of Anakin, retains this aspect of his personality, if to a less obtrusive degree) and spending 25 years encased in a metal suit, serving a total psychopathic loon of an Emperor, wouldn't do anything to mitigate that side of him.

He probably thinks he's behaving in a normal, fatherly way. If, for whatever bizarre reason, Luke had taken him up on the offer and they had managed to overthrow the Emperor, I don't see how their relationship going forward would be anything but weird and kind of vicious. How can you have a familial, loving relationship within the Dark Side? That seems like an impossible combination.

Also, I can see paranoia being a big part of the equation. Discovering Leia's identity would have upended the relationship because suddenly there's an option for one of them screwing the other over by recruiting her. Dang, this is sounding interesting as a fanfic or alternative-universe series.

 

[DarthPipes]

He was behaving like a Sith. He wanted to see if his son was worth it, if he was really that powerful. If Luke had fallen easily, he wouldn't have been worth it.

 

[Mr Light]

He was trying to turn Luke to the dark side, not appeal to his emotions. And we've always seen in the movies, to turn someone, you fight them, beat them down, fry them half to death, and that's when they're at their weakest to turn. You want them angry at you because that rage fuels the dark side.

 

[JediKnightButler]

One thing I've always wondered though is why Vader dueled Luke nearly to the death (and chopped off his arm) and only THEN gave him the big reveal about him being his father and suggesting that they form an alliance together against the Emperor?

Because he's a nutcase, maybe? He's always had a violent and psychopathic streak (even TCW, with its better and more plausible characterization of Anakin, retains this aspect of his personality, if to a less obtrusive degree) and spending 25 years encased in a metal suit, serving a total psychopathic loon of an Emperor, wouldn't do anything to mitigate that side of him.

He probably thinks he's behaving in a normal, fatherly way. If, for whatever bizarre reason, Luke had taken him up on the offer and they had managed to overthrow the Emperor, I don't see how their relationship going forward would be anything but weird and kind of vicious. How can you have a familial, loving relationship within the Dark Side? That seems like an impossible combination.

Also, I can see paranoia being a big part of the equation. Discovering Leia's identity would have upended the relationship because suddenly there's an option for one of them screwing the other over by recruiting her. Dang, this is sounding interesting as a fanfic or alternative-universe series.

Yeah, that does make sense (and wondering where all of that might lead had Luke chosen differently would've been interesting). At one point in the fight, Vader thought that he had beaten Luke and wondered aloud if he really wasn't as powerful as the Emperor had foreseen (when he thought that he had trapped Luke in the carbon freezing chamber). Of course, Luke had managed to take a huge force leap out of there.
What happened to Vader after Luke knocked him off the platform? That was always (for me anyway) the creepiest scene of the movie since Luke heads down into the tunnel and winds up in the room with the glass viewport that Vader suddenly appears in and begins mercilessly hurling objects at Luke.

 

[DarthPipes]

One thing I've always wondered though is why Vader dueled Luke nearly to the death (and chopped off his arm) and only THEN gave him the big reveal about him being his father and suggesting that they form an alliance together against the Emperor?

Because he's a nutcase, maybe? He's always had a violent and psychopathic streak (even TCW, with its better and more plausible characterization of Anakin, retains this aspect of his personality, if to a less obtrusive degree) and spending 25 years encased in a metal suit, serving a total psychopathic loon of an Emperor, wouldn't do anything to mitigate that side of him.

He probably thinks he's behaving in a normal, fatherly way. If, for whatever bizarre reason, Luke had taken him up on the offer and they had managed to overthrow the Emperor, I don't see how their relationship going forward would be anything but weird and kind of vicious. How can you have a familial, loving relationship within the Dark Side? That seems like an impossible combination.

Also, I can see paranoia being a big part of the equation. Discovering Leia's identity would have upended the relationship because suddenly there's an option for one of them screwing the other over by recruiting her. Dang, this is sounding interesting as a fanfic or alternative-universe series.

Yeah, that does make sense (and wondering where all of that might lead had Luke chosen differently would've been interesting). At one point in the fight, Vader thought that he had beaten Luke and wondered aloud if he really wasn't as powerful as the Emperor had foreseen (when he thought that he had trapped Luke in the carbon freezing chamber). Of course, Luke had managed to take a huge force leap out of there.
What happened to Vader after Luke knocked him off the platform? That was always (for me anyway) the creepiest scene of the movie since Luke heads down into the tunnel and winds up in the room with the glass viewport that Vader suddenly appears in and begins mercilessly hurling objects at Luke.

Yeah, the fact that Vader wasn't there and had moved into another part of the chamber with inhuman speed is pretty damn creepy.