the fck is this: StarWars.com: What can we expect from the Vader/Palpatine relationship? At this point, they’ve had one real bit of conflict: Palpatine telling Vader that he had killed Padmé in his anger, which Vader didn’t quite believe. Is any of that father-son dynamic, even if it was phony on Palpatine’s side, still left? Charles Soule: Absolutely, and I honestly don’t think it’s phony. That’s sort of the key to Palpatine and Anakin, in my mind. Palpatine does have an attachment to this guy. He’s a tool, and if he screws up I think the Emperor would discard him, but that’s not what he wants. He wants Vader to succeed, not just to further the goals of the Empire, but for his own sake. Vader and Palpatine are connected by true emotion, even if it’s twisted and dark. Palpatine is the only father Anakin ever knew, and just because their relationship has…evolved, let’s say…it doesn’t mean the core is gone. Fascinating dynamic to write — and we get a bunch of it in the series.
Sounds good to me. That's how I've always envisioned their relationship after RotS.