Yeah, after reading the end credits about ascending to another level of reality or whatever you “die”. Is the rest of your gameplay after this the “afterlife”? Did Mojang intend to add something else after you leave the end but didn’t get around to it? It would be interesting to know why you die and don’t just change dimension.
For all that fanciful-ness I think it’s probably just to make you spawn back at your spawn point, rather than near the end portal.