“Luke I am your father” has got to be the single greatest twist of fate I have ever witnessed in a movie. Although the phrase has long since become cliché, in its time, it shook the ground of the theatres it graced. With the exception of Jar Jar, The Star Wars prequels biggest flaw was lacking the same emotional shock to the system that Vader gave the fans when he revealed the truth to Luke on Cloud City.

Had Lucas taken the time or given enough thought - here is one possible outcome:

Palpatine, then Senator of Naboo, had foreseen the birth of Anakin long before he was ever conceived. Knowing what a powerful Jedi Skywalker would surely become, the would-be Emperor saw his opportunity to rekindle the fire of the Dark Side through this boy who would become the greatest Jedi in the galaxy - if only he could lure him to the dark side.

In a matter typical of the Medieval treaty-making of another time and galaxy, the Emperor chose to use his own daughter, Padmé, as a catalyst to convert his new apprentice. Finally Palpatine would find a use for his disappointing offspring born completely inept of the force and thus no help in his quest to establish a new order.

His former wife, the princess of Naboo, had paid the ultimate price for her failure when the Sith Lord crushed her neck and contorted her meager body in a storm of rage. Hers was the most heinous of failures, the inability to produce a force-wielding, masculine child. She was dealt with accordingly - appropriately. The barren wretch would surely draw some solace knowing the otherwise useless child she had begotten would finally serve the cause of the Dark Side. He would use his daughter’s feeble kindness, combined with his own gift of manipulation to bring Anakin and Padmé together in a time of crisis where a bond was sure to develop.

In order to ensure that the Emperor’s cruel lineage continued to dominate the galaxy - his plan would include a mixing of the bloodlines - his own with that of Skywalker. The resulting children would undoubtedly be more powerful than Vader and Palpatine combined. Then, when the time was right - his daughter would die violently. As a martyr to the new Galactic Empire, her death would bring about the final transformation of this young warrior into the most powerful Dark Lord of the Sith in the history of the galaxy.

The grandchildren would of course be a threat to him, as would Vader. It would require careful manipulation of the truth to ensure the two Skywalkers’ hate was turned towards each other and not himself. Once his grandson had come of age - he would begin the Sith trials and kill his father, his only rival, to gain the favor of his master or die trying. It was the Sith way - the only way.

The Jedi would be no match for this unrelenting wave of Darkness that was now sure to envelope the galaxy. Everything was proceeding exactly as he had foreseen it.