Boy you guys are missing the point bigtime.
Are you saying that Luke, Obi-wan, & Yoda should not have had the choice to forgive
Annakin at all? Because that's what it boils down to.
JHU, you might want to check out some of the follow-on books that expanded on the
ideas given in the movies. One of the themes (IIRC in Dark Force Rising)
was of how Leia had to deal with the idea that Darth was her father too, and how
she had not forgiven him for the things he had done.
dutchboy,
WTF did you get the idea that there were no consequences on Annakin for his actions?
He was locked into that black body armor as permanent life support for whatever
injuries he had received in the past, he sold his soul to be little more than
the Emporers personal lapdog, and he had bad breath to boot.
Star Wars wasn't about what did and didn't make Annakin Skywalker a forgivable character.
It was about what made Luke Skywalker grow up from a simple farm boy to the type of
hero that could still see good in the hearts of his enemies, when even the Jedi Masters
who trained him could not.
Remember, ultimately Star Wars was not meant to be high art. I was basically a movie
length version of those old saturday adventure serials that took the classic
"White Hats vs. Black Hats" message to a higher level. To claim it is just a Cash Cow
completely misses the point of how pop culture had influenced its creation, and how
much pop culture it has generated in return.