Shared by u/Joseph_Laban:
So, even though Vader told both Ahsoka and Obi-Wan that he’d destroyed Anakin Skywalker, when push came to shove, he still identified as Luke’s father.
Like, despite claiming he had buried the identity of Anakin (he even said as much to Luke on Endor), he couldn’t fully detach from the fact that he was Luke’s dad.
The way I see it, being a father was his only way of reaching out to Luke. Let’s be real—Luke had zero reason to care about the cyborg monster Anakin had become. They were on opposite sides of a war, and both had hurt each other’s causes pretty badly. The only reason Luke would ever entertain joining Vader was to reconnect with the man he once believed to be his father.
That father-son connection was the one piece of Anakin that Vader refused to give up. And Luke, thanks to Obi-Wan, knew the key: the man who was truly his father wasn’t Darth Vader, but Anakin Skywalker.
In Vader’s mind, he’s thinking, “Sure, I destroyed Anakin Skywalker, but I’m still your dad, Luke.”
Meanwhile, Obi-Wan’s perspective is, “Luke, when Darth Vader turned, it wasn’t just Anakin’s old self that was destroyed—he essentially killed your father.”
In the end, when it came down to saving Luke or staying loyal to Sidious, Vader chose to be Luke’s father, no matter what happened next. He came back to the Light because of Luke, not the other way around.
I mean, if you think about it, Vader had already ditched his old life twice—once to become a Jedi, and again to become a Sith. So, why not one more time, to truly be Luke’s father?