Darth Vader- Evil or Misunderstood?

Anakin Skywalker was born to Shmi Skywalker, a slave, and is believed to have been conceived by the Force itself, supported by the fact that when questioned, Shmi told Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn that "There was no father."
Anakin and his mother came to be on Tatooine when he was about three years old, the slaves of crime lord Gardulla the Hutt. They were then sold to Toydarian junk dealer Watto. He was an engineering and piloting prodigy, building and racing a fully functioning pod-racer, and building the protocol droid C-3PO. When he was nine years old, he was discovered by Qui-Gon Jinn when he and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, were escorting fourteen year old Queen Amidala of Naboo to Coruscant. When the Jedi received a midi-chlorian count for the boy, they were shocked to discover that he had 20,000 per cell-the highest ever. They then gambled and won Anakin away from Watto in the Boonta Eve podrace, forcing the child to choose between his dream of being a Jedi, and his loving mother Shmi, whom they had not been able to free. Heartbroken, but with a promise that they would see each other again, Anakin left Tatooine with his new friends, including handmaiden to the Queen, Padmé, to whom he had taken a liking.
When he arrived on Coruscant, however, Qui-Gon found that the Jedi were worried that Anakin was dangerous, and prone to negative emotions such as anger and hate, which lead to the Dark Side. They refused to train the boy, much to Qui-Gon's anger. Anakin was taken with them, however, when they went to Naboo to help the Queen's people, and it was revealed that Padmé was actually the Queen. While Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon defeated the Sith Lord Darth Maul, who killed Qui-Gon, Anakin destroyed the base of the Trade Federation, who had been taking over Naboo. Following Qui-Gon's death, the Jedi decided that they would allow Anakin to be trained, and he was taken to the Jedi Temple.

When Anakin was nineteen, he began having dreams about his mother, whom he had not seen in 10 years. In his dreams, she was dying, crying out to him to save her. He began to believe that these dreams were actually visions, and could rarely think of anything else.
When he, by himself, was assigned to protect Padmé (who he also had not seen for ten years) on Naboo, he was delighted and terrified at the same time. He and Padmé quickly renewed their old friendship, though, and everything was fine until Anakin's dreams started again. He became convinced that he had to save his mother, and decided to go to Tatooine. Padmé, who secretly shared Anakin's feelings of love, and had liked Shmi when they met her, decided that she would go with him. When they arrived, Anakin decided to go to their old master, Watto, to see what had become of her. He then followed the Toydarian's instructions to the Lars moisture farm, where, sure enough, he found Cliegg Lars, his son Owen, and Owen's girlfriend, Beru, and, to his shock, C-3PO. Cliegg explained that he had married Shmi, but she had been captured by Tusken Raiders the month before. He had lost his leg looking for her, and suspected she had died. Anakin, ever the loyal son, refused to accept this and went after her. He discovered her, tied up and dying, in a Tusken Raider camp. She died in her arms, content that she had seen her son one last time, and managed the words "I love you", before dying. Devastated by her death, the Dark Side preyed upon his anger and despair and drove him to murder the entire tribe before collecting her body and bringing it back to her now widowed husband. He later revealed to Padmé that he hated the Tuskan Raiders, then confessed that he should be better, receiving condolence from her that everyone gets angry. He insisted that someday, he was going to be the most powerful Jedi ever. Later, on the planet Geonosis, when he and Padmé were about to be put to death along side Obi-Wan, she confessed her love for him, sealing their fates. After a battle with their newly found army, the two were married, despite the Jedi's rules that emotional attachments are not aloud, as they lead to the Dark Side.

Three years after his mother's death, Anakin started to have dreams similar manner, but with his wife in the position where Shmi had been. Fearing that this had something to do with the recent news that she was pregnant, he began to be consumed by fear, leading him closer than ever to the Dark Side. Later, the Jedi Council began to grow suspicious of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, starting to realize that he was a Sith in disguise. They sent Anakin, who was close to Palpatine, to investigate. Anakin then discovered that Palpatine was a Sith, and he and Mace Windu went to confront him. But Palpatine tricked Anakin into believing that he was dying, and Anakin, blinded by his former respect for the Sith, cut off Windu's hand, causing Palpatine to kill him. Palpatine then told Anakin that he knew that he was fearing for Padmé's life, and that if he joined the Dark Side, he would have the power to save her. Still wounded from his mother's death, he decided that he could not bare to see Padmé die as well, he accepted, and became Darth Vader.

As we know, Vader then proceeded to kill the Jedi younglings, force choke Padmé, and nearly lose his own life when Obi-Wan chopped off his remaining arm, and his legs, and left him in a pit of lava with the heart-breaking words, "You were my brother, Anakin! I loved you!" Vader was found by Palpatine, and through his hatred, he survived in a suit that Palpatine had created so he could breathe and walk. Vader was told that Padmé died, and he killed her. To an extent, this was true, because without Anakin, whom she was told had died, she lost the will to live, too weak for even her children, Luke and Leia, whom Obi-Wan took to different planets-Luke to his step-uncle on Tatooine, and Leia to Padmé's good friend, Bail Organa and his wife. But...what drove Anakin to be more powerful in the first place? "But Lindsey," you say. "We know this! He wanted to be able to save his loved ones!" And that's true, but I honestly think that that's not the only reason. I think the other reason is that he wanted to prove that he was just as good a Jedi as them.

Ever since Anakin came to Coruscant, the Jedi were wary of him, partially because of his immense power, and partially because of the fact that he was not raised in the Temple, and would be prone to anger, fear, hate, and other emotions of the like. That must've been hard for a nine year old, to hear that the people you had hoped would save you and fulfill your dreams didn't even want you around. They didn't try to hide it-they told him to his face. That would sting. And then, for the rest of his life, they didn't trust him, and he naturally felt like less than he was, which gave birth to his constant need to be better. Obi-Wan was the only other Jedi who respected him as much as he deserved, and even he chastised him for getting angry and letting his emotions sweep him away instead of ignoring them as a Jedi should. Padmé was the only person he knew who didn't criticize his every move, reminding him that he should be better. I'd turn to the Dark Side, too.

My final thought is that even as a Sith, Vader/Anakin was still a decent person. I mean, he did destroy Palpatine.........
Anyway, those are my reasons why Anakin is simply misunderstood, not evil. I hope you liked it!