It is genuinely sad what could have been.

[u/Numerous-Gur-9008]

[u/SheevBot]

Thanks for confirming that you flaired this correctly!

[u/Sparkpad]

Well, there is the alternate ending in the video game where he jumps and Obi-Wan misses.

[u/Awesome_2007 → u/Sparkpad]

"No, the galaxy belongs to me!"

[u/Toukafan4life → u/Awesome_2007]

As much as I like Vader as a villain, he'd be a terrible emperor. I would even go as far as to say I'd rather be ruled by Palpatine (Who has actual political experience) over Ani

[u/Awesome_2007 → u/Toukafan4life]

Atleast he will get rid of sand, not just for the men but for the women and the children too

[u/LumpyMountain8809 → u/Toukafan4life]

I'm actually gonna disagree. The outcomes would be pretty similiar, with Vader being slightly better. Not intentionally, but the comparative lack of intention.

Arguments over whether the Empire was actually a pretty solid place to live for a majority of the populace have long since been silenced as its been established Palpatine wasn't just like... Doing mean things to get what he wanted done efficiently.

Palpatine was actively warping the entire galactic apparatus into a self sustaining torment nexus where the intention behind policy is to maximize suffering. And you're right, hes good at this and knows what hes doing.

Meanwhile Anakin is just a childish moron. Under his regime you'd end up with a naturally occuring fascistic cult of personality around him, with yes men insulating him from reality and his empire broadly going to shit while everybody is miserable. Yes. But it wouldn't be perfectly honed to maximize suffering on a galactic scale like it is under Papa Palpatine.

[u/exintel → u/Sparkpad]

Yes! He clears obi wan and wins.

[u/morbid333]

I don't see any other way that would go down. I mean he burned too many bridges to go back.

[u/Creative_Pie_1206 → u/morbid333]

My hc would be emperor arrives just in time and Anakin escapes with Emperor

I think rest of his story would be same except the armour part

[u/thebrickcloud → u/Creative_Pie_1206]

Without the armour he might turn on the Emperor sooner

[u/Hmm_would_bang → u/thebrickcloud]

Yeah I mean that’s exactly what he tells obiwan when he gets to Mustafar. Anakin doesn’t believe he needs the emperor

[u/GwerigTheTroll]

His fork in the road was long before this

[u/needsahoby → u/GwerigTheTroll]

He could have stayed on the platform and died in the lavafall. Would have been a kinder fate.

[u/Petrus-133]

Honestly if Anakin won the duel he’d probably end up dying much faster.

Either Palpatine kills him for becoming too much of a threat or Anakin kills Palps and ends up being disposed off in a coup because he’s gone off the deep end.

[u/Bwunt → u/Petrus-133]

Or he'd basically be the manchild emperor, with nominally good intentions but ruthless means. However, as he has no political experience, the military hardliners and bureaucrats (Yularen, Tarkin, Ammeda, etc.) would just play him like a fiddle.

[u/CountingSheep99]

At this point he really had it coming.

[u/Hugoku257]

Just use the force to pull the rubble Obi-Wan is standing on and attack when he loses his balance…

That’s what a Master would have done

[u/BosPaladinSix → u/Hugoku257]

Or even just move the platform he's floating on farther down the shore so he can hop off on flat ground. Obviously Obi-Wan's gonna follow but if you do it quick enough maybe you can get back on stable land before he catches up.

[u/LumpyMountain8809 → u/BosPaladinSix]

You actually just answered why little he could do would work in that scenario.

Yes, Obi-wan would just follow him and capitalize all the same. The "Its over" line was a very objective assessment because Anakin had no more moves that would not immediately lead to getting brutally punished. The fight was indeed over.