I agree that it should have remained Shaws ghost. He referred to Luke as "my son" before his death and appeared as a more noble character than Hayden ever portrayed. The brief story that Obi Wan references about Anakins history to Luke is far superior to witnessing the Anakin of the prequels. As for the notion that it would have been more accurate to depict Shaw with the scars that his body had at the time if his death, that is retarded.
"Luminous beings are we - not this crude matter" - Yoda.
Shaw's ghost depicted a recognizable entity to Luke that he had just encountered face to face, as a broken and scarred man. The image of his ghost, now made whole, was akin to the rebirth of the man.
To say that he forever ceased to be Anakin after the battle on Mustafar would ignore the redemption that we witness at the end of ROTJ entirely and the fact that "ANAKIN", not Vader, brings balance to the force by ending the imperial tyranny that no other individual was able to defeat.
If for some reason an audience wants to see the characters younger for no logical reason whatsoever, then toss Ewans image in there over Alec's and a younger CG Yoda along with them. But if that's what Luke sees, I agree that a bewildered look should come from Luke as if to say, "who are these guys?"
Saying that the Shaw ghost was a flawed choice means that all of us that knew exactly what it meant for the two decades preceding the prequels were just crazy and the scene has always been broken and George has now fixed it.
Not that I would prefer this, but - At the very most - to tie the two trilogies together - I would have shown all three ghosts appear in their older forms, all perfectly recognizable to Luke. Shaw can give his proud fatherly expression and Luke can smile in return. Then the three ghosts slowly begin to morph into their younger selves, in the forms familiar to the audience that Luke has never witnessed for himself. He then gets to behold all three masters of the force in their prime. Alec becoming Ewan, Yoda becoming a little younger, and Anakin returning to an image of youth. If the footage existed, the shot could return to Luke staring at the changing spirit images in reverence of their history. It would be like his glimpse into their past but each one equally depicted by their transformation.
Anakin didn't die until he fulfilled the prophecy. A part of him remained Anakin unless you want to tell me that Vader returned balance to the force.
That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
