What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker?

[Rolder50]

While I was fully expecting not all of the scions to make it over the finish line I have to ask does a character's death really make a story more meaningful/better?
I'd argue that in a lot of stories killing of main characters during the final moments of a story is usually only done to create a reaction or go for a cheap emotional impact.

To me, it's not so much that I need a character to die to feel invested in the story, it's more like they are so unwilling to do so, that if a scion is put into a threatening position later, I won't feel as much about it because I know they aren't going to actually kill them. So it dampens the mood / dampens the stakes later on down the line.