I agree that this keeps the film from being a perfect stand-alone, but there is a mitigating factor in that we do see a lightsaber fight so the lightsaber as an object is paid-off. The fact that it belongs to Obi-wan isn’t to troubling to me. Star Wars is a universe of unbounded promise, so giving Luke a weapon that he doesn’t use in a fight only fires the mind to imagine him using it in a future battle against Vader.
I like this take.
A you can be a hero like your father, or be similar to your father, but without the need to actually fight in the same way. Or using methods and weapons that his father did.
I like that interpretation as well.
That Vader lives, the Emperor is still around, and the Empire not yet wholly defeated, just fires the imagination of those that watched it at that time.
Very much in keeping with the Flash Gordon serial vibes of the bad guys being around for the next installment. Or having kids make their own stories up as you said, but also talking about it with their friends, and then playing out situations with them. With lots of arguments over who gets to be the hero and who has the “bad guy”!