Huh, yeah, I see what you’re saying.

It wouldn’t necessarily contradict the OT because it never said they fought. I think we were all expecting it though because George had always talked about the battle over the volcano.

I just feel like realistically the movie wouldn’t work without that last battle. I think it would be possible to do, I just do think cutting it would make the movie better.

You could just end Padmé and Obi’s conversation earlier, and imply she goes into hiding with Obi’s help, maybe use bits from Hal’s ROTS ending. We don’t see Anakin transform into Vader, and I guess the audience would be left to assume it is a gradual transformation that happens as he hunts Jedi over the years or something.

But you would still have to find a way to have Obi-Wan get Anakin’s lightsaber.

But to me, the movie would have trouble working without that duel because it is sort of what the whole movie, if not the whole trilogy, has been building up to. And I think Obi-Wan being the one to do that to Anakin adds a little to the reason why he hates Obi-Wan.

Speaking of that scene with Anakin and Obi-Wan saying goodbye, I honestly think that whole conversation should be almost completely cut. To me, it feels like a conversation Anakin and/or Obi-Wan wish they would have had, rather than one they actually did. Especially since the next scene we seek them together, their dispositions toward each other is a complete 180.

You could just have Obi-Wan say something about a wild bantha chase, maybe they look at each other for a second, contemplating saying more, but they don’t. Obi-Wan turns to leave and Anakin says, “May the Force be with you.”