Here's my 2 cents. I think its worth listening to.
In the fall of 1979, I had a college friend who had a good friend in Massachussets who was into special effects makeup. It seems this guy had been corresponding with Rick Baker, then creator of the cantina creatures in Episode 4. One day at lunch my friend told us these ridiculous ideas about the upcoming Star wars movies, and he mentioned that Darth Vader was going to be revealed as Luke's father, Leia would be his sister, etc... we all thought he was full of crap, and told him it sounded like a damn soap opera and dismissed the whole thing.
Until Return of the Jedi, several years later.
Needless to say, when those details became known, my jaw dropped, mostly because I'd heard these things years before. I tracked down my friend in Chicago and reminded him of those ridiculous stories and forced him to retell me the story his friend had relayed to him. This is what I remember him telling me about the WHOLE story:
Luke and Leia are the children of Darth Vader. The first trilogy would be about how Darth Vader bacame a badass. The sequel would be about how Luke follow in his father's footsteps into the Dark Side (sound familiar), and the emergence of the "real heroes" of the story, the children of Han and Leia. Oh, and the Emporer doesn't really die. :-)
Over the years, I've placed this "framework" up against all the details, misinformation, Lucas interviews, books, comics and wild-ass conjecture... I also became a buddhist. From a buddhist perspective, this original concept makes perfect sense. I think George Lucas took an eastern philosophical concept and wrapped it in western hollywood, "High Noon" mystique. The reluctant hero gets drawn into a battle after having lost his family, etc... he goes on a quest for revenge.
In the western world, especially in cinema, we easily accept this idea of vengeance, of justifiable violence, and we are supportive of Luke's journey. We sympathize with his wanderlust, his impatience, his ambition, his sadness, his fear and even his anger...
And if you re-examine the original trilogy, its those emotions that guide Luke along his path. At every point along his path of becoming a Jedi, he makes his decsions for exactly the wrong reasons. Luke's journey has not been very far from his father's. In fact, the parallels are very clear if you examine the two carefully.
This seems to be something that the Emporer knows, as does Darth Vader. The foreshadowing of Luke's future conversion to the Dark Side is constant throughout the original trilogy... on Dogobah when he enters the tree, with the mechanical hand he has similar to his father's, and in the Emporer's own words. He is warned many times throughout the 3 chapters, and he almost always ignores what he is told... just like his father. Anakin may be the more fiery of the two (woudn't you be if you were raised as a slave?) but the two characters' fates are intertwined and fatal. Neither Luke nor his father were strong enough to withstand the power of the Dark Side
Which brings is to the "real heroes". Why does this make sense? Mainly because with Han and Leia, you have a two strong-willed individuals who are easily influenced by too much. They were both intended to be strong, willfull characters for this purpose. Their children would benifit from their determination in two significant ways. 1. They inherited the same will power, and were therfore less likely to succumb to the dark Side seductions. 2. They were spirited away and shielded from the same influences that corrupted Luke and Anakin. They were would be the first "Skywalkers" to be raised properly and trained properly. They'd be as determined and disciplined as their parents and a lot less likely to flake out when the the time came to make the right decisions.
And very likely, they will be the ones to face down their Uncle.
I've poured through many interviews that GL has done, from the first ones in TIME or wherever they've appeared. Despite the fact that he is made a lot of efforts to "disinform" people about his true vision... and he has done a great job of this... I still believe he's always left us enough clues about the whats to come and the his real vision for Star Wars.
I think the best part of this story has yet to be told, and that we're in for an explosive ending. We all knew Anakin was a bad guy, but now we'll get to see the real tragedy and triumph that this tale has to share. A hero falls... a hero we've had on a pedestal for over almost 3 decades, a centuries old evil triumphs, redemption earned, and true balance is brought back to the force.
Its going to be a cinematic triumph beyond anything Hollywood's ever attempted, a philosophical shift in popular culture...
... and a helluva good story.
As far as the novels, comics, etc... I keep coming back to Dark Empire, the Dark Horse comic, as the next logical step for the story. In it, the Emporer returns in clone form and Luke continues down the path to the Dark Side. Leia's children are mentioned as holding the key to redemption in this story as well. There is more information in that graphic novel that is consistent with the original story, than I've seen anywhere else. It's my opinion that none of the current books, regardless of their quality, will be used for the movies. I believe that the "real" story of Star Wars is more about moral strength... real strength in the face of temptation, and the rejection of negative forces. Its a personal story, not a tale about fast ships, goofy aliens, exotic worlds or evil miltary officers with red faces.
To me the novels are side stories. The main story hasn't concluded yet. This is George Lucas' opus. Let's see what he had in mind all along.