i'd still rather be the one to finish off alduin without dying in the process.
just giving a guy or yourself as a sacrifice to save the world feels like watching martin stealing the moment of glory all over again.
Why do I have to keep writing the game's story for you guys to get this? Can you not expand it in your heads?
Okay, so you've got the necromancer all tied up with ritual paint on him. He's primed for his soul to be svcked out of his body, and he's tucked away safely on the other side of Skyrim in Skyrim's equivalent of Cloud Ruler Temple (or hell, you've already killed him, extracted his soul and have it in Azura's Star). But you still have to defeat Alduin. You can't just blast a soul at him in all his strength to banish him: you have to weaken him first, and the player character is the one for the job being so proficient at combat and dragon shouts and such.
Cue epic battle with multiple dragons and Alduin cultists on the slopes of the Throat of the World. Eventually Alduin shows up manifest in the world. Everyone turns to you. It's your moment. You lead a band of warriors up the mountain to the top where Alduin is opening a rift in the sky. You fight through the cultists guarding him. Alduin fills the screen. This close you can see his leg and wing. You take a tentative step onto the wing, find your footing and then sprint up that [censored] like a [censored]. The rift in the sky is almost open now. You get to Alduin's head and take a swing at that bastard á la Shadow of the Colossus. He roars and takes off, shaking you to the ground. You have to fight him with your weapons and your shouts until he's weak enough to be flying low and slow (he is still a manifest being after all). This is when you have an opportunity to use an outcropping of rock to do a sprint jump onto him as he passes. You sprint up his body and back to his SotC style weak spot. You plunge your sword into that beast and open Alduin up. He screams, but it's broken up by time darting around as Akatosh's presence is weakened. You smash Azura's Star into the wound (or the necromancer's soul gets svcked across the sky with a nice cinematic to boot)... and you slip. Alduin was weak, though, and you fall - hard but unharmed - to the ground. He limply flaps away, but the light spewing out of his wound is growing and growing. Eventually it eclipses your view. Cue end game cinematic harping on about how wonderful you are. Cue credits. Cue end game play.
There. No guilt over killing an innocent or potential innocent, epic (for two minutes' writing) ending, no cowardice or other compromising personality traits shown by the player character. And I get to sacrifice myself if I like. How's that?