So why did Anakin/Vader stay with the dark side after Padme's death? The whole reason for him turning to the dark side was to save Padme. So why didn't Vader almost immediately turn on Palpatine or just rejoin the light side after her death and the apparent death of his children?
His wife is still dead and he has done nothing to pay for his crime. Anakin does not have even the slightest bit of remorse. By the end, he feels nothing but anger. Although he feels regret for killing Padme, he still helps the evil Emperor.
Because of Anakin's attachment to his wife, her potential death was the perfect excuse to step in and make false promises about the Sith. Palpatine even offered a way to save Padmé, and that the Sith could help preserve life. Of course, he never intended to save her, as she'd complicate his plans for Anakin.
Anakin's Force Choke begins the series of injuries that ultimately leads to Padme's death, and convinces Obi-Wan to fight him. Despite this, when Anakin learns of Padme's death, his immediate reaction of grief and regret shatters everything in the lab with a powerful force shockwave.
George Lucas Explains Padme's Death (NOT Palpatine)
What was Padme's dying words?
What he did not see, at the time at least, was that Padmé used her last breaths to tell Obi-Wan that she was certain that in regards to her husband, "there's still good in him." Now, those words are set to be revealed to someone other than Darth Vader himself.
Padme Amidala's secret marriage with Anakin Skywalker was one of the biggest reasons he eventually turned to the dark side. His emotions and love for her often clouded his judgment, and sometimes led him to be violent.
Why did Anakin continue to serve Palpatine after Padme died?
So, while it certainly wasn't his ideal, Anakin stayed on with Palpatine because he thought what Palpatine was morally correct. Would he have preferred to have shared that future with his wife and children?
In the main Star Wars timeline, of course, Darth Vader's attempts to resurrect Padmé on Mustafar were doomed to failure. But it's fascinating to speculate what would have happened had he been successful. In that scenario, Padmé Amidala's return from the dead would not have provided the solace Darth Vader sought.
However, when it comes to who Darth Vader hates more than anyone in the Star Wars galaxy, himself and Obi-Wan Kenobi don't hold a candle to the true point of Darth Vader's hatred, Emperor Palpatine.
1 Padme's Funeral (Revenge of the Sith, Tales of the Jedi)
Finally, the funeral of Natalie Portman's Padmé Amidala is one of the most heartbreaking moments in the entire Star Wars saga. Padmé dies of a broken heart because of Anakin's fall to the dark side, and her funeral sees her laid in a bed of flowers.
The canonical comic Star Wars: Darth Vader #7 confirms the younglings' deaths caused Anakin grief, self-loathing, hatred and pain, fueling his descent even further into the dark side.
Before Padmé's death, she still believed there was still good left in Anakin, and that one day he could be redeemed. During Anakin's time as the Emperor's enforcer, he continued to suffer from grief over Padmé's death, and guilt over his supposed hand in it.
Anakin truly did care for Padme, except Anakin was not at all in his right mind when he choked her. Anakin has many issues, he has tramua both from war and childhood, he has sever fear of loss and he is extremely loyal to the ones he chooses to befriend. This all comes into play in this moment when he chokes her.
Nonetheless, as she dies, Padme tells Obi-Wan that there is still good in Anakin. Even something as heinous as that couldn't fully break her love for Anakin.
Darth Vader awakens, and his first question is about the whereabouts of Padmé. Palpatine tells Darth Vader that in his anger he killed her, placing the blame for Padmé's death on Vader. Vader denies it, saying he sensed Padmé was still alive, which the audience knows she was as Obi-Wan escaped on the ship with her.
She appeared to have “lost the will to live.” The most common theory states that perhaps Palpatine used Padme's life force to heal the barely alive Anakin. Evidence In support of this theory includes how Padme appeared to die right when Anakin/Darth Vader's life-saving procedure was over.
that he had sensed padme's death through the force, but I believe that he simply assumed. that her death had come to pass. because all of Anakin other visions had come true. Palpatine knew that Anakin had the ability. to see the future, so he must have known that padme's death was inevitable.
The story is Anakin was manipulated to the dark side by Palpatine based on fears of losing Padme and appeals to his desire power and agency, over his life and the galaxy as a whole. Part of me wonders why he believed/ trusted Palpatine to begin with.
So Mace Windu would have gone to arrest Palpatine after Anakin alerts him that he is a Sith Lord. Palpatine would have been subsequently defeated (though likely R.I.P. to Kit Fisto, Agen Kolar, and Saesee Tinn) and killed, and Master Windu would have lived to see another day.
The final season of The Clone Wars reveals that freaking Darth Maul was aware that Anakin Skywalker would directly lead to the downfall fo the Jedi and the destruction of the Republic. Maul wasn't aware of these things because Palpatine slipped him a note, he, like other Force-users, saw into the future.
This fell in line with various fan theories and non-canon novelizations that suggested Obi-Wan and Padmé had an affair sometime during the Clone Wars. In the Star Wars prequel movies, Obi-Wan often has a duty to protect Padmé, but there was never any sense of romantic feelings.
If Anakin had never fell in love with Padmé, he would've never turned to the Dark Side because it was his fear for losing Padmé and his two unborn children which caused him to be easily seduced by the Dark Side of the Force. It was his fear which made it much easier for Palpatine to manipulate Anakin.
