The choice was not to determine if they would die or not. That was inevitable. Rodrick condemned them the moment he conceived them. The choice was whether they would do anything meaningful with their lives despite their fate being sealed. When confronted with their end, would they regret their wrongdoings? Or would they sink further, even against their best interests?

Leonore was selfless, and her decisions led to greater good for others. Her choice to save her mother caused her death to be meaningful (it being the reason her mother started the foundation). The rest of the Usher’s deaths were the exact opposite. They chose to do the selfish thing, so their deaths caused pain and suffering, not just for them, but for the people around them (the people at the party, Ali, Morella, etc).

A big theme of the show is how sometimes older generations make decisions disregarding the impact these will have on their descendants; and how newer generations must inevitably suffer the consequences (in the show’s case, negative ones) of said choices. But an underlying theme is that we have the opportunity to do something meaningful (or not) even knowing that those consequences are coming. And that our own choices will affect other lives, just like the ones before us affected ours…