I think had Luke not died at the end, the reaction would not have been quite as extreme. Brother Jack, your description of it being like emotional whiplash is pretty strong.
Pretty much.
Had Luke survived the events of TLJ, then there would have at least been some hope to do him justice in the next installment, let alone salvage his character and the Skywalker legacy.
Also, in all honesty, I don't fully get the criticism of people saying that anyone who had issues with the usage of Luke in this film are no more than fanboys who simply didn't just get their way (fan-fiction).
I see that criticism applied especially when it comes to anyone explaining on how they were disappointed with the fact that we never got to truly see Luke in action.
Honestly, after 40 years of not seeing Luke on the big screen and with the importance that they placed in locating his character for TFA, you can't tell me that it's not considered a HUGE waste of potential/missed opportunity to not present a scenario where we get to see Luke in action (where he isn't a freaking hologram) back on the big screen.
I mean it's the same issues that most fans had with Superman in "Superman Returns". With all of the technology that they had at their disposal back in 2006 and with how long the character had been absent from the big screen, bringing Superman back and not having a physical villain for him to fight was considered a joke by a lot of people back then, let alone a wasted opportunity.
Would anyone here really be against seeing something like Luke and Rey fighting alongside each other against the Knights of Ren or the Imperial guards?
When it comes to the content of THIS particular story, then yeah, I guess it'd make sense for Luke to be presented in the pacifist way that he was. But my argument towards that is was this the BEST story that they could have told regarding the character? And was it the right one? Most fans would probably be divided on that one, if not say otherwise.