Why He Could Live: Because he's the guy who started it all, the ultimate franchise protagonist, and to kill him off would likely just be too divisive with audiences to be worth the risk. Plus, given that Luke appears to be having a pretty rough time at the start of Episode VII, possibly hiding out somewhere with R2, he needs a little redemption, not death. Why He Could Die: Shock value would again be a huge part of it, but if they want Episode VII to truly be a "passing of the torch", then what better way to do that than have Luke die a heroic, emotional death at the end of the movie, giving the spotlight to Finn, Rey and Poe instead? Prediction: Luke lives, because why take such a huge gamble with the fan-base?