Written by Old Bluffer 2nd Jun 2005

Skywalker senior finally gains redemption when he ends his Sith Master's reign of terror over the galaxy.

Emperor Palpatine has just been entertained by one of the most epic Sith vs Jedi light saber battles of the age, between his own servant, Lord Vader, and Vader's son, Luke Skywalker. At the end of the fight, Vader lies crippled and dying but in the grand scheme of things this is irrelevant to Palpatine. He can always corrupt another servant after all, in fact a perfect candidate is right in front of him.
Accordingly, he tries to manipulate Luke's emotions, to cause him to end his father's life. Vader hears these callous entreaties, so knows he is doomed, but can do nothing to defend himself now that his master has abandoned him.

Luke does not give in to the Dark Side though, showing that he has more strength of character than his father before him, and Palpatine reluctantly gives up on his attempts to turn him. This means Luke is useless to the Empire, and must be disposed of. The Emperor does not need to use a light saber to achieve this though, his mastery of the Dark Side allows him many more painful alternatives, and he chooses to wrack his victim's body with Force Lightning. Luke writhes in agony, and can do nothing to defeat such an attack - Yoda could only teach him so much after all.

Palpatine is in full on crowing mode at this point of the series. All of his evil plans have worked brilliantly and he is now allowing himself some quality gloating time. The only individual in the entire galaxy that could have possibly posed a threat to him is utterly in his power, and he can kill him whenever he tires of torturing him.

The one factor he hasn't considered though, is the broken shell of what remains of Anakin Skywalker, before he became Darth Vader. Anakin uses his last remaining strength to rise to his feet and grabs Palpatine from behind. The Force Lightning immediately turns on him but he ignores the pain, lifting his former master above his head and hurling him down a shaft into the reactor core.
With no other target to strike, the Force Lightning turns on its wielder, ensuring that the Emperor's last few moments of life are spent in excruciating pain.

For this action, Anakin is exonerated from all his past atrocities, and is allowed to join the other Jedi in the Force equivalent of the afterlife.
It is interesting to note though, that he wasn't interested in betraying Palpatine until he was mortally wounded and had proof that his life meant nothing to the Emperor. The Force was certainly more than a little forgiving in allowing him to join Yoda, Obi-Wan and other past heroes.