Originally posted by: Number20
For me, the whole turn to the dark side bit was ruined by the prequels. In the OT, the Dark Side is like a drug. Once you use it once or twice, your hooked on it and it comsumes you, and controls you. So for me, thats why Vader said things like that he "must obey his master" because he was a slave to the dark side at this point. In ROTJ, the emperor and vader are both pretty sure that all it won't take much to turn Luke dark, with Vader simply telling Luke to 'join us', or make him mad enough to use the dark side once or twice and the emperor wanting Luke to get angry enough to kill Vader. So at this point, it looks like to me that it doesn't take much to make a person dark side.
For me, the whole turn to the dark side bit was ruined by the prequels. In the OT, the Dark Side is like a drug. Once you use it once or twice, your hooked on it and it comsumes you, and controls you. So for me, thats why Vader said things like that he "must obey his master" because he was a slave to the dark side at this point. In ROTJ, the emperor and vader are both pretty sure that all it won't take much to turn Luke dark, with Vader simply telling Luke to 'join us', or make him mad enough to use the dark side once or twice and the emperor wanting Luke to get angry enough to kill Vader. So at this point, it looks like to me that it doesn't take much to make a person dark side.
That was always my interpretation as well. But, apparently, killing one of your superior Jedis while overpowered by the emotion of WIMPY INDECISION is enough to enslave a man enough to where he'll instantly have no trouble performing the most disgustingly evil actions (killing children). From the addiction theory, the evil control of the dark side should increase in different steps from truly heinous decisions, not wimpy, angst-y decisions.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Anakin makes no sense unless he's a psychopath. Starting with the beginning of AotC, George made it extremely clear that Anakin was a character that only cared about himself. Killing children and murdering his wife make no sense in terms of the Dark Side's controlling influence, but they make perfect sense for a man who's a psychopath.
The most hilarious part is how the one, single version of himself that truly displays any self-sacrifice (Darth Vader at the end of RotJ) gets replaced by the force ghost of his younger, psychopathic self! George Lucas really should have stopped the saga before he got in over his head. It's sad.