Quote Originally Posted by Excise View Post
I'd actually disagree with this. I care about more than 'just' whether Han, Luke, Leia and the others live or die. The threat of knowing the Empire will keep ruling the galaxy and do evil things to people is important. The stakes would be too low if it was just about the protagonists living or dying.
The Empire does keep ruling the galaxy—for two more movies. So clearly, that's not really what was at stake there. What was at stake was whether the protagonists (and their allies) would be alive to keep fighting the Empire.

If Yavin 4 had been blown up, but every single protagonist had escaped, it would have had no impact on the rest of the movies at all. The planet was narratively disposable, just like Alderaan before it (whose only purpose was to show how eeeeevil the Empire was). Conversely, if every protagonist died but Yavin 4 was saved, that would have still been an awful ending, because it's the protagonists we care about.

But I don't really want to argue Star Wars; it's an example, not my main point. It may not be the best possible example, but it's the one that popped into my head while writing.