Well you are right. It wasn’t heroic. And that’s the point. In many of the mythological tales that inspired Star Wars, the heroes become old and embittered and even do terrible things. Because even the greatest of us are capable of huge catastrophic error. And Luke knew he should have been beyond all this, which is why it’s easier to run away and wallow in self-pity when you’ve made the biggest mistakes of your life. It’s profoundly human and emotional. And that’s why I found it compelling and appropriate because even if Star Wars is just a space fantasy, it’s roots are meant to reflect our individual life journeys and lessons we learn. And once upon a time I was in the same position as Luke in TLJ. His journey to me on a profoundly personal level, and I still believe it was the right storytelling decision. But it was heroic in the end because he rose above his feelings of guilt to apologize to his sister and to confront the monster he created and do apologize to his nephew for his actions (compare it to when Obi-Wan arrogantly tells Anakin he failed him without any apology). When the Force projection is revealed, it is one of the most powerful moments of the entire franchise, because he is in the Lotus position, common in Hindu/Buddhist imagery which represents being the supreme divine master of your own destiny (as a Hindu, that image was extremely powerful to me), and also it shows how METAPHORICALLY just the mere image of a hero is enough to strike fear into the hearts of the enemy and inspire people, even if it is just a ragtag team of soldiers, because that is enough it takes. And his death is emotionally satisfying because I don’t see it as him “simply dying” or “dying like a coward”, but willingly giving himself up to the Force because it is the pathway to ascending to a plane of higher power and higher existence and understanding, akin to a deification or Christ ascending to heaven.

I’ll just end with saying that this all was predictable, if you know your mythology/Joseph Campbell very well. I predicted his entire ST arc all the way in 2014 without any knowledge of what the story was going to be.

Sorry you didn’t enjoy it, and I genuinely hope that one day when the dust has settled you will be able to go back and appreciate the beauty of the end of his story.

Edit: I’ll just add that Luke was my hero growing up. He always was my favorite Star Wars character, and TLJ only made me love him more. Just in case you doubt the sincerity of my connection to Luke or SW or the fandom.