Nathaniel Reed wrote: "It would be really great if Padme could be Jedi-trained or be in training, especially since the Skywalker family, "strong in the force", was quite a powerful and influential line.  

Her death ... it's got to be in the story, and it's got to be Vader that kills her ( a duel would be good ) - he has no emotion or feelings anymore, he does his Master's bidding, she could be a feared Jedi, she is one of the few who would be able to guess Vader's identity. And since Leia remembers her ( an important line, ROTJ would've been no different if it *hadn't* been delivered ) then she dies sometime in episode 3. Her role in *2 and *3 is important ; I hope she maintains a high profile, rather than be 'tagging along' or be being rescued, in *1.  

The twins' birth ... I agree, like TESB ending on an up-beat of sorts, after the magnificent duel and 'death' of Anakin, the film could end 'quietly', with hope, with the birth. After all, at this point in time, friend has been pitted against friend, the Republic is crumbling, and Palpatine is succeeding. As Padme christens her children, Obi-Wan would return with Luke's heirloom safely in his hands.  

HOWEVER, I've just had a thought : ( as referred to by a contributor ) the official timeline released in interviews, and visualised by the SW Insider, states Ep *1 at 40 years before ANH, Ep *2 10 years later at 30 years before, and Ep *3 two years on. Since we know Luke and Leia are 18 - 20 in ANH, *how* can we see their birth ?! Has the official word been wrong ?  Or been a red herring ? I personally think we should see these important events. If the prequels are not nudged along 10 years, there could be a tableaux epilogue ....  

A magazine last year picked up on the "familiar place" feeling of Luke's, and suggested that Dagobah is en route to Tatooine. I like the  idea, anyway.  "

ZAC wrote: "I also want to speculate on Padme death.  Aparently Episode's 2 and 3 are set 22 and 20 years before A New Hope.  If this is the case, the twins would have to be born DURING Episode 3, because Luke is cetainly NOT 22 years old in A New Hope (I actually thought he was more like 18).  He is obviously now 20 years old in A New Hope.  Now if Padme was to die during the same episode as the twins were born, it would seem to be very hard for Leia to remember her.  After all, Leia would only be a few days old ! Nevertheless, I still think Padme dies in episode 3. 
   
Hence, there has been some speculation that Padme's death occurs AFTER episode 3.  However, something George Lucas said has made it very clear to me that she will die IN Episode 3.  He said: 
  
 "I actually debated whether or not to have Leia remember her mother in Return Of The Jedi.  Since her mother was kind of a key character, I decided to let Leia remember her.  But I really debated whether she would or not" 
  
DOES ANYONE ELSE THINK THAT THIS STATEMENT PROVES THAT PADME WILL DIE IN EPISODE 3.  I THINK IT DEFINATELY PROVES PADME WILL DIE IN EPISODE 3 
  
Here's why: 
  
The fact that George Lucas debated whether Leia should remember her mother, proves that Leia was very young..........perhaps too young to remember her mother.  George Lucas certainly thought she COULD have been too young to remember her mother, that's why he was DEBATING having Leia remember her. He didn't know which way to go. He eventually decided that Leia would remember her mother (see ROTJ), hence Padme is killed off when Leia is an infant!  Obviously, George would NOT have made this decision about Leia's memory unless Padme dies.  He would not have said the above statement if he was planning on making Padme live at the end of Episode 3, would he? Otherwise there would have been no debate would there?  George could just say that Padme died a couple of years later.  But George said he DEBATED the fact that Leia would remember her mother. Hence Padme dies........obviously.   
  
I mean, WHY would George be debating the fact of whether Leia would remember her mother or not unless there was a close time period between her birth and her mothers death. Notice how Leia said "I only remember images, feelings".   This makes it seem more likely that Padme will die when Leia is an infant, and many of us will think, "she is way too young to remember her mother".  George obviously thought this too and he didn't know whether to give Leia the memory of her mother, or not. Hence he DEBATED whether Leia should have the memory.  He obviously decided she does have the memory (even though it is faint), and Padme will be killed off.  WHAT DOES EVERYONE THINK ?"

JEV wrote: "To ZAC: I agree with you, Padme will likely die in the third movie, or at least, will be dying of some uncurable illness, which will leave not doubt that her death is imminent. Maybe, after leaving Luke to Ben and Leia to Bail Organa, she goes of and tries to bring her husband back to the Light, like it has been speculated on this site by someone else. And knowing that she is probably the only person who could suceed at this point, Palpatine might have her eliminated by another dark jedi or by is troops. This would insure that Darth Vader will remain Vader, since not even is best friend and mentor, Obi-wan could turn him back.  What do any of you think of this?"

As far as Padme being sad, I think that having Ben take her son away from her certainly isn't going to make anyone happy.

Not to mention, I don't think Vader would have sensed it. I think Innate abilities would be harder to detect if you weren't looking for them- which Ben obviously would be."