Ep III Clue from TESB

Space here for ATOC spoiler ...

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'Luke, I don't want to lose you to the Emperor the way I lost Vader.'

This is Obi-Wan speaking from the astral plane as Luke is preparing to leave Dagobah. Now, let us think what it was that Luke was about to do ... he was off to confront Darth Vader, the protege and apprentice of the Emperor.

From ATOC it appears that Dooku is the apprentice to Sidious/Palpatine, the future Emperor. We also have Anakin wearing an artificial arm thanks to Dooku, and it would be in Anakin's character to want revenge (as he revenged himself upon the killers of his mother).

So, 'the way I lost Vader' could be interpreted as: He (Vader, when still Anakin Skywalker) went off ill-prepared to challenge the protege of the Emperor. This points to a confrontation in Episode III between Anakin and Dooku which ends with the opposite resolution to that of TESB - Anakin will accept the invitation to take Dooku's place at Palpatine's side. After which Obi-Wan will be in the invidious position of having to deal with the newly-named Darth Vader, and we know what happens from there.

Of course, it may also be that Lucas writes something completely different and the line from TESB becomes yet another continuity glitch

thanks for that , lets hope GL DOES stick to his guns

TESB had Vader trying to get Luke to join him against the Emperor, which is similar to Dooku asking Obi-Wan to join him against the Sith in Ep II (although I believe that Vader was sincere in his offer; Dooku's motives are more confusing).

I picture Anakin's fall to the dark side to be similar to ROTJ, where the Emperor used Vader as a sacrificial lamb to get Luke to go to the dark side. In Ep III, I see Anakin beating Dooku in a duel, with Palpatine watching, telling Anakin to go ahead a kill him and complete the transition to the dark side (like he told Luke to finish off Vader). Whereas Luke didn't take the bait, Anakin does.

Lucas has said that he views a story like a song, where themes and events are repeated like the chorus part of a song.