Han Solo was supposed to die in Return of the Jedi

The Alternate Endings of 20 Famous Movies - http://pulse.me/s/1WT8ye

Apparently, an initial draft of the script for Return of the Jedi had Han Solo die on a raid.

Lucas saved him for merchandizing reasons--obviously a good choice monetarily.

How does this impact the actual story of the Star Wars universe? Lucas clearly thought he was done, so he didn't want to kill a character when he didn't have to.

This is just another instance to me where Lucas had no overall plan like he has always purposed. In the words of another Harrison Ford and Lucas character: "I don't know. I'm making it up as I go."