regards

It's going to be a carefully contrived death of Padme, probably at the hands of Dooku (via Palpatine--he has his fingers in EVERYTHING, if all have been keeping their eyes open) and THEN the follow-up battle. (Possibly involving lava. I've heard that rumor as well, but haven't a clue as to where I heard it.)

Dooku is STRONG. He didn't defeat Yoda in EP2, but he got away alive (by being a slimeball and threatening the lives of Anakin and Padme and thus distracting Yoda... who at that point SHOULD have let them get killed if he was true to the Jedi...

Hmmm... but then there is this whole "he's going to balance the Force" thing, so maybe Yoda was FORCED to save the pair.

ANYHOO... that's what I think is going to happen in Episode 3. What else would make it darker?

Padme has to die. She had the twins, Luke gets sent to "Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen," and Leia is raised by whatsisname on Alderaan (Bail Organa?). There's a reason they were sent away, and it probably wasn't merely to protect them from rising political miasma....

Hmmm... then again, according to the story, they were sent away to be hidden from Vader. (Or was it Emperor Palpatine? I need to refresh on this....)

Obviously this post is just me speculating aloud and letting my thoughts go where they may. The only thing I know that makes any sense for Ani to become Vader is the death of Padme. Nothing else would affect him as much... and after the death of his mother would be the straw which broke that particular bantha's back.

1. Palpatine will have a huge role to play. Thats for sure. I believe he will manipulate Anakin into believing that he is able to right the wrongs of the Universe. Anakin in Episode 1 promises to free all the slaves. I believe Palpatine will tighten his grip on outer rim territories and planets such as Tatooine that had no republic influence in Episode I. On Tatooine in TPM we see Jabba as a supreme ruler. As Panaka states "that place is ruled by the huts". In Episode VI when we get to see Luke on the very same planet Jabba's rule has obviously been restricted to gangland crime. This is further evidenced by his sleazy palace being his own little empire in ROTJ. My point here is that Palpatine will introduce Anti Slavery laws, whilst at the same time impliment Empire control. Thus by doing this it will convince Anakin that his intentions are good. He is offering Anakin something that he wants to see. No matter how corrupt the system is.

2. The death of Shmi will be used in some way by Palpatine to convince Anakin to join him. My take on this is that the only reason the Tuskens kept her alive for "a month" is that Anakin was meant to first feel her suffering and then witness it in presence. I'm not saying Palpatine was behind her kidnapping and hostage, but something makes me feel that he had influence in it. The death of Shmi is when we really first get a glimpse of the rage and power that Anakin has been locking inside (perhaps against his nature) throughout his padawan days. I believe that Anakin will have to kill Dooku to replace him at the Emperor's side. Therefore Palpatine could once again manipulate Anakin into believing that Dooku was involved in the death of his mother, thus he would "strike Dooku down with all his anger and his journey to the darkside will be complete".

3. Anakin's jealousy and contempt for Obi-Wan's position over him will play a part. And yes I too have heard many a rumour of a duel at the planet named Vulcanus. The name of that planet says it all! There is a decent script that can be found at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Keep/5930/episode3.html which highlights the confrontation.

I personally do not believe that Padme will die, but Anakin will be made to think that she has been killed, and once again I believe that he will be convinced by either Dooku or Palpatine that, this time, Obi Wan was present when she died. Thus Obi-Wan's mere involvment will drive Anakin wild. His contempt that he already feels for his tutor will be heightened by his belief that Obi Wan could have prevented Padme from Dying.

Those really are what I feel will be used to get Ani into that Dark Suit that we as kids grew up in awe of. However, I have one more thing to say on the issue of the transformation, and that relates to how Lucas will go about putting this onto screen. My personal hope is that we wont see that Anakin is Vader in Episode III, otherwise the revelations of Episodes IV through to VI will become redundant for any new audiences viewing the movies in chronological order. Obviously we must be made to believe that Anakin is dead and we will see Luke and Leia as babies. If we see Anakin is Vader then we will know that Anakin was not "betrayed and murdered" by Vader in the sense that Obi Wan suggests in VI; We will know that Vader is Luke's father before that tense duel on Bespin in V; and we will know Leia is Luke's sister before that moment in ROTJ.

Of course, we as long existing fans already know all these things coming into this new trilogy. but picture yourself as a 5 year old watching star wars for the first time from episodes 1 through 6 and by the time you get to 3 you find out all this before you get to those pivital twists in the original trilogy.

Of course if we dont see that Anakin is Bader in Episode III then my points above will be rendered irrelevant. I personally would have Anakin "dying" as one of the very last scenes. A powerful scene that convinces kids watching the whole thing for the first time that Anakin is dead. I'd then cut to Obi Wan and Yoda separating the twins and leaving them with Owen, Beru and Bail Organa. A final scene would be Palpatine placing a helmet on a man from behind that we cannot see the identity of. A few short exchanges and a bit of the James Earl Jones in there for good measure and then the next thing we see is IV. How would this be achieved. Do all the donkey work with Anakin. See him turning to the darkside before he confronts obi wan. Make us believe that Obi Wan has killed Anakin to stop him from becoming the evil that he has hinted at. This would make for a much better viewing of the saga in its completion. Just imagine.... Anakin is being turned by palpatine, all the stuff with him beating Dooku etc happens before a death defying battle with Kenobi and then Bam! Anakin becomes Vader, but we dont know it really until episode V.