Farlander-
Did you end up reading some of the other posts I linked you to?

In one, not that I could find it now, I was thinking about the whole Dark Side scene in Jedi, and I wondered aloud: What would Palpatine have accomplished if Luke killed Vader? At that point in time, would he have:

1: Sworn fealty to Palpatine to be an evil doer the rest of his days?

~or~

2: Get so empowered by the Dark Side that he runs Vader through and then attacks Palpatine next? Which either:
2.A Ends with Luke having killed both Vader and Palpatine.
~or~
2.B Ends with Palpatine killing or subduing Luke.

~or~

3. Luke is so shocked at what he has done and he fears the Emperor's words, "You will be mine!" and so he takes off. But that Dark Side action happened, and he's had his first taste of it... he'll be back.

~or~

4. Luke thinks the Emperor is an idiot! Of course one action won't turn him to the Dark Side forever, how retarded is that? Luke kills Vader. And look, I'm not Dark Side, so nyeah! So, now Luke is unafraid of the Dark Side. His lack of fear for it, or respect for it, causes him to start using it a little more. What's this? The remnants of the Empire won't go down without a fight? How about a little more Dark Side? POW! It's for a good cause, and the ends justify the means, right? And now what? The New Republic is falling apart due to greed and conflicting interests? BAM! Take that Dark Side, why don't you? Take it with!

And sooner or later, you have a new Emperor.

-----------

All Sarcastic comments aside, I tend to lean to option 4. I think the movie (or Palpatine), if taken matter of factly, seems to indicate option 1, which I will agree doesn't make any sense. The only way I can make sense of the Emperor's taunts are that he is trying to manipulate Luke, rather than actually warn him about the choice he's about to make. I mean, that makes more sense anyways, right? Why would the Emperor actually try to talk Luke out of joining the Dark Side, right? By saying that he'll join the Dark Side as soon as he strikes down Vader, he's making Luke consider his own immediate wishes ahead of his long term goals as a Jedi, and then he also puts Luke in a false sense of security when he finds that it's not the case.

This sounds, even to me, like the EU coming in and fixing problems in the films themselves... but I don't find it hard to believe that something like that is more the case than option #1.