3. Palpatine Totally Neglects Old Family Issues - Return Of The Jedi
From the prequel films, we now know that the reason that Anakin Skywalker ultimately fell to the dark side of the force was his desire to keep his family (Padme) alive at all costs. He wanted the power that Palpatine promised to save his love by any means necessary, even if that meant ultimately turning his back on the Jedi. Since we know that Darth Vader's one weakness in his otherwise pretty stellar being evil record is his affinity for family, severe threats by others to his only son are probably going to strike a bit of a nerve with the Sith lord. Palpatine, at the climactic moments of Return Of The Jedi, finds this out first-hand. After extensively torturing Luke using his Force Lightning powers, Darth Vader finally breaks, his desire to help his family coming out once more as he seizes Palpatine and chucks him immediately down the nearest chute. This decision is particularly baffling because Palpatine was the one who actually gave Anakin the nudge over to the dark side in the first place and knows fine well that Vader has these issues. Perhaps he thought years of servitude after massive suffering didn't leave a person with all kinds of problems?
2. Darth Vader Chooses To Throw The Emperor Down A Shaft - Return Of The Jedi
Darth Vader doesn't have it easy. Not only does he manage to basically kill his wife, thousands of other people and get his own limbs amputated and be burned to a semi-human flesh monster state before being grafted into a suit of armour, he also decides ultimately to kill the Emperor in an extremely idiotic way. After watching Palpatine torture Luke and finally snapping, Vader seizes the enwrinkled crazy Emperor from behind, lifts him over his head and chucks him down a big shaft. In the process Vader's life-saving suit is completely damaged by Force Lightning, leading to his death in the next few minutes. The main reason this is particularly idiotic is because there are surely more practical ways of killing the Emperor? Push him, even.
Dan Curtis is approximately one-half videogame knowledge, and the other half inexplicable Geordie accent. He's also one quarter of the Factory Sealed Retro Gaming podcast.
