I think the problem w/ Vader’s redemption is in trying to unpack it from Vader’s POV, which is damn near impossible because Vader isn’t really a character RIGHT UP UNTIL Lucas pulls out “I am your father” from out of nowhere late in the script game around 1978. For the sake of having a big twist to carry Empire into Jedi, Lucas almost ACCIDENTALLY gives Vader a completely different dimension.

But that’s still secondary to how it affects Luke. Vader’s status as Luke’s dad – again, one of those things that was made up as it went – is there mostly for LUKE’S benefit as a character, to complicate him that much more. It’s not really about making Vader a more well-rounded character at all, though that does (sort of) happen in Return of the Jedi.

So when Luke succeeds in his mission, does what Yoda and Ben think impossible, and becomes a TRUE Jedi against all the odds, getting his dad on his side IS THE REWARD. It’s for Luke’s benefit as a character, not for Vader’s. Vader turns because Luke is so good he has no choice BUT to turn. It’s the perfect fairy tale ending… for LUKE’S character, in LUKE’S story. I like that it’s there, and I like the way it happens in that movie.

All of “Anakin’s” importance as a character, independent of his utility to Luke’s characterization, was essentially retconned into the OT metatextually via a crush of self-congratulatory interviews with Lucas between 1983 and 1997, and then the Prequels cemented that (unearned) importance into canon. You repeat a thing enough times, even people who aren’t inclined to listen will start hearing it. Lucas’ choice to redeem Vader made sense for Return of the Jedi. His choice to then make that redemption the central point of ALL Star Wars was one of the most tedious and unfulfilling acts of retconning he ever visited on his own story.