walking_carpet said:

oh, man, I dunno...it would have been really difficult to picture luke still thinking vader had good in him at the start of jedi.

maybe....maybe the forgiveness angle could have been pulled off at the end of jedi. But not the benefit of the doubt part. Unless there was more footage of yoda and ben talking ot luke.

But doesn't Luke still have a lot to forgive even with Dad-Vader? His dad murdered his mentor, tortured all his pals, cut off his hand, and is a really bad guy.

If Luke only forgives him because it's his dad, that seems selfish. But (it seems to me) he forgives Dad-Vader because he senses there is still good in him, regardless that it's his dad.