On the Atton death scene, from reading the scripting posted in this thread and from his dialogue ingame, I kind of interpreted it as he would end up dying for you if you made him a jedi. It is foreshadowed in his dialogue. He says he want's to become a jedi to protect you or atleast to slow the bad guys down so you can get away.
Maybe if you don't make him a jedi, you get the 'tag along' ending. Though the force ghost does kind of make sense there if he did die. That would be easier to interpret if we knew what the PC's choices were in that scene. It could work either way I suppose.
Just had to chime in there. I've been a long time lurker, and you guys keep me entertained at work :ph34r:
Take care,
Mel