ROTJ would have been better if Han died, even Han thinks so. Look at the size of the explosion of the shield generator, it's huge!
I could see Han getting in, with no way out, and having to blow the shield generator up himself. The lines just sound so much more meaningful, "Han will have that shield down, we got to give him more time!"
Star Wars starts out emphasizing the importance of sacrifice. The rebel troops in the beginning, Ben Kenobi, and all the rebel pilots sacrifice their lives for their cause.
In ESB, Yoda warns Luke not to go to Bespin because he will destroy all for which his friends have fought & suffered. They've been fighting to defeat the Empire, and Luke is the key element in making that happen. They all know it, including Vader & the Emperor. If Luke is turned to the dark side or defeated, then he fails and his friends sacrifice will have meant nothing.
If Han died, there would also be no need for Luke & Leia to be brother & sister and have an awkward incest moment in ESB. Biggest WTF moment in the classic trilogy.
ROTJ touches on sacrifice, with some of the anonymous rebel pilots being killed, and Vader but that's it.
Lando should have been sacrificed in the Death Star II destruction. When you watch that scene, you know that there is no way they are going to make it out alive. This goes back to the original article, if somebody dies, that will probably hurt toy sales for that character.
Never liked the ewoks either. The excuse that Lucas has always put out there was that ESB showed Chewbacca as technologically intelligent, so it couldn't be a primitive society anymore. I call BS, he was technologically proficient in ANH. They just went with cute & cuddly ewoks, I blame Care Bears.
Enslaved wookiee's would need to be technologically advanced if they were put to work on Death Star II, and it would not only have created an opportunity to expand on why Chewbacca has a life debt to Han (something never even mentioned in the movies), but also the needed uprising to help Han do his job after being captured.
The alternate ROTJ concept sounds like it would have been much better.
Which is now even heavier with the PT.
