I have asked this question in a couple of different places, and I suppose it goes unnoticed in the context of a thread pertaining to another topic. So, hoping for an answer, I give this a thread all its own:

George Lucas has said that Anakin died when he was given his Sith name Darth Vader and that's why Hayden Christensen appears in Return of the Jedi: 2004 "Special" Edition.

My questions:

1) Does this mean Darth Vader threw Palpatine into the shaft?

2) Was Vader, up to the moment of his death, still trying to assume the title of Sith Master?

3) Doesn't this mean Anakin was never really redeemed? Or he was never really evil in the first place, since he died in ROTS?

4) If that was Vader who killed the Emperor, why was he acting like a sensitive, compassionate Jedi in the end? "Tell your sister...you were right." What self-respecting Sith says this kind of thing?

Of course, I know the real answer to all this - Lucas messed up - but can any of you find a way to validate his explanation?