Bingowings said:
He didn't side with Anakin.
He sided with Darth Vader, a Sith Lord and sworn enemy of the Jedi.
Once Vader takes a lava bath Vader's true identity would be a secret to all but a chosen few.
It's so handy for Palpatine that Anakin got his identity burned off it's almost as if he planned it that way.
Perhaps having Palpatine telepathically prompting Anakin to jump (like Obi-Wan prompting Luke to blow up the Death Star without the computer) could put a bit of a line under that?
Before Vader takes the lava breath, Vader is clearly Anakin, just as Dooku is still Dooku, and not darth Tyrannus, or Palpatine is Palpatine and not Sidious.
Anakin is supposed to be the Republic's greatest military hero (not because the PT stuff, mainly because of the "cunning warrior" line of the OT); he's also a Jedi, and Palpatine supports him. Then the Empire comes, what would happen with the "public" figure of Anakin? The Empire would remember him as a hero, or as a traitor?If the Empire held Anakins memory as a hero, then the people could ask ¿why, considering he was another Jedi traitor? And then, they could suspect that Vader, who still sides the Emperor could be Anakin.
It's a rather twisted critic, I know, but I just wanted to point out that you could always put Anakin in the exact opposite situation, of him confronting the emperor, and the plot line that change would generate would still be in line with many of the ideas ObiWan and Yoda throw us in the OT, of how the events developed.