Honestly, it would have been an interesting change of pace to have the protagonist sacrifice themselves for the good of others. It's not like this hasn't been done before, but not in a Star Wars movie (not counting Rogue One). We've seen the villain die for the hero, i.e. Vader in Return of the Jedi, but we haven't seen the hero die for the villain (just because Obiwan looks like Jesus doesn't make the Bible canonical).