I think it would've made more sense to have Padme die because he used Force Lightning on her. That would make it more believable for the childbirth death, and it would help towards why he saves Luke in ROTJ, because he sees another family member dying at the hands of force lightning. But no...Lucas has to use a choke...something that Vader always uses, so it seems like it had no effect on him whatsoever.
I don't think it's ridiculous to say that were Vader to use force lightning it would fry him. Let's take the statement of the visual dictionary and ask what it means. First the statement:
"As a result of having artifical arms, Darth Vader will never be able to
conjure Sith lightning-nor be invulnerable to it."
How would one be invulnerable to force lightning to begin with? Yoda showed us in AOTC (which, btw, is likely one reason Dooku used it, so that we could see Yoda act as if it were nothing and realize just how powerful he is 😄). He used his HAND to defend himself.
Also, if we were to look at all 5 films presented already, we would see that Obi-wan (in ANH, TPM, AOTC), Yoda (in ESB, AOTC), Qui-gon (TPM), Vader in all three OT films, and Luke at various points in Empire and ROTJ move or gesture with their hands while using the force. (Ex.: "You don't need to see any identification", Yoda moves the X-Wing, Vader turns flips the switch on the carbon freezer, Qui-gon makes Boss Nass help them, etc.) This would seem to indicate that the hands play some important role in the use of the force.
This would make one wonder how Vader can use the force at all, but remember that there are scenes indicating that it is not necessary to use the hands. When Luke retrieves his lightsaber from the Wampa, he does not use his hands. When he is training and floating things (Yoda, R2-D2, a rock) around Dagobah, he does not use his hands. However in each case, he also must concentrate an incredible amount. This is no doubt due in part to the fact that he is just learning to use the force and is not experienced yet. However, it does also provide the possibility that the use of the force is HARDER without the hands. CONTINUED BELOW
(Why then does Vader make hand motions? Perhaps as a child he trained for a decade in the "proper" way to use the force and it is a habit that 20 years can't break. We all know that what we learn as children becomes a very deep part of us, especially mannerisms. Perhaps it is the arm which plays the key role and Vader is using his arms, which are weakened by lacking the lower half. In any case, there are explanation.)
This leads us to the question of the lightning. Maybe Vader cannot make the lightning because he lacks hands, hands which are important to the use of the force and NECESSARY to such a strong power as the lightning. Perhaps he COULD make the lightning but would get fried with it. Those saying that he would not get fried and it is a poor explanation are missing something. It doesn't matter how powerful the lightning is. So it's not powerful enough to kill a person with one blow. That doesn't matter. The lightning extends, as we can see by watching AOTC or ROTJ, from various points all along the multiple fingertips of the hands. This means that it contacts the hand at various points.
We assume the lightning has no power at the point it emits from the body, or else Dooku and Sidious would be injured. However, at the first point it is not in contact with the person, it must have power (fractions of a millimeter away from the skin). This being the case, we then consider that Vader's hands are robotic and electronic. Something as powerful (though not powerful enough to kill) as the lightning would charge the air electrostatically, and would facilitate a jump of electrons from the lightning to any surrounding, conductive material, such as the components that make up Vader's circuitry. Given the multitude of points the lightning comes from and that it is emmited over a wide surface, this provides much oppurtunity for a short circuit. (Remember, a 9-volt battery could fry most circuitry if you let two components that aren't supposed to be connected be connected! 😉 )
This would also support the visual dictionary's statement that Vader is not invulnerable to it. Either the hands are required for such a strong power as protecting oneself from the lightning, or to use the hands, which seems to be the way it is done, to protect oneself, would expose him to massive short-circuting! In any case, it seems far less like a poor explanation that GL thought up and more like one that required a lot of thought (if he actually took the thought process this far, which most people in his position wouldn't lol)
if anakin used force lightning, it would be generated at the stump of his limb, it would then travel through his mechanical arms. this would do three things-
1. Short circuit his arms and melt the wiring
2. melt the leather on his suit*
3. misdirect the lightning in every which way*
*unless his outer skin is rubber, in which case the lightning would be grounded and rubber would be melted
technically he would be able to use it in episode III, but only through his left hand.