Obi-Wan didn't lie...he told the truth "from a certain point of view".
I don't think Anakin actually made the request, Obi-Wan just said that to honor the spirit of the good man he once knew as Lukes father. Its interesting to me that Anakins fierce love of his mother is both one of his most virtuous qualities and one of the first steps in his path to the dark side.
In short, I think Obi-Wan saw these virtuous qualities in Anakin, and knew the Anakin he knew as a youth WOULD want his son to have his lightsaber.
Ok peeps....this is what I heard regarding that whole lightsaber thing. During the big battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin, Anakin drops it or something right before he falls into the lava. At that point Obi-Wan picks it up thinking Anakin is dead and keeps it to and then ends up giving it to Luke. Seems to me I read or saw this at the offical site or on a dvd extra...because Lucas was careful to make sure it is identical to the one originally used by Luke in ANH. I remember Lucas saying something to the effect...now you sure thats the one from A New Hope?
You know before the prequels ever started - I don't know about you people but I always had the picture of Anakin being "taken over" pretty quickly by the dark side.
As the prequels have shown, the story was much slower, with Anakin becoming angrier.
Now, I'd accept the whole "fall to the dark side" thing if it happened really quickly (like Isildur in Lord Of The Rings), but now it just looks like Anakin is some muppet who was just angry from the get go, and wasn't man enough to shut up.
So, therefore, where does the "good" Anakin end and "evil" Darth Vader begin?
In the OT it seems as though there were two moments in Anakins life - that of being completely-good Anakin, and being completely-evil Darth Vader - and we all now know this is not the case, as the Anakin character is stuck in between the two in his teenage years.
So - why does Obi-Wan think fondly of Anakin - as though he was always a good man, when he wasn't? Anakin doesnt exactly "fall", so much as "crawl" into the dark side?
Doesn't this mean that the last time Ani was a "true good guy" like Obi-Wan, was when he was like five years old?
Just a random thought. I was just thinking about the whole Anakin as a ghost at the end of ROTJ - and was wonderring which Anakin should actually be a ghost - kid Ani - Teen Ani - or post Vader Ani?