Originally posted by: Anti-Matter It may be that the best--and perhaps only--candidate is Palpatine. That is, exploit the Palpatine/Emperor/Sidious element to contrive some confusion and/or suggestion that Anakin dies at the hands of someone other than Obi-wan. That other someone is revealed to be "Darth Vader" when we reach EP4, and then only in EP5 do we realize that (a) there have been two principal villains all along, and (b) Vader is in fact Anakin Skywalker, whom we believed had been betrayed and slain prior to EP4.
I see what you're getting at, how to create the sense that Anakin was killed by a "Darth Vader". One we never see ... hmmm...
But, couldn't the audience KNOW that Ben is lying to Luke in ANH but still think Darth Vader is a separate person? Nobody has to know that Anakin is Darth Vader just that Ben is lying about how Luke's father died because the audience knows Ben Killed him. Why would Ben tell luke he killed his father? But of course he is really lying because of who his father is. This can play out quite well..
Anyway, I just thought I'd link to these shorts I found on Youtube from "G4 Attack of the show"":
(They pretty much say it all)
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
It seems you have your work cut out for you, Anti-Matter ...
