8. Obi Wan Kenobi - Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
Some people argue that Ben sacrificed himself so Luke will go on to hate his father and finally defeat him, but given the history between Vader and Kenobi, this seems a little silly. Kenobi really should have just seized the moment and finished what he started many years prior. This choice is a result of George Lucas' own doing, something that wouldn't be any problem if he had not put such an emphasis on the good to evil battle sparked between Kenobi and Vader in his prequel films. You would think, with the benefit of hindsight provided from the end of Revenge of the Sith, old Ben would be itching to finish the mad bastard off. Admittedly, this would render the entire plot of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi completely redundant, so maybe this choice is a little too hasty. But if this was real life, motivations would get the better of a character like Obi Wan, who would realise the threat that Vader posed and saved a lot of peoples lives by killing him off - leaving Luke to deal with the real antagonist; The Emperor. That or he would go home and marry his sister in a cloud of incestuous ignorance.