nisaba
I always saw the 10 of swords as a message that all hope is lost, that one needs to move out of a situation, leave a pattern. And this is also was death means...
They're similar, but different.
Ten Swords is hitting rock-bottom. We all hit rock-bottom sooner or later - some of us claw our way out of it, others of us never manage to.
Death is a sudden ending that you CANNOT reverse. It's not a fluffy, happy "I've graduated, I'm moving on to the next stage" - that is The World. Death is the ultimate full stop, the ultimate end of a sentence. Whatever you had is gone, and can never come back. (Something new might come, but then, it might not; but the old is over and done, never to return.)
The Ten Swords experience may lead to a Death experience, if the pit you've fallen into turns out to be too deep to climb out of; or the Ten Swords may lead to a Four Swords healing. But when Death comes along it is unmistakeable, and cannot lead to anything else. If you get Death for your career, for example, it does NOT indicate a promotion, more likely a sacking or a voluntary resignation. (That might lead to a better job, but the original job itself is over without any chance of a return). In a relationship, again, it indicates the energy of endings is around. It doesn't mean "taking the relationship to a new level" - again, that's The World, not Death. It means this one is either gone, or completely hollow, with none of the former feelings left or possible to regain. Sure, it leaves room for another love in your life when you are single, but it doesn't restore *this* one, whilst a Ten Swords card for relationships might just indicate going through a really, really bad patch.
See the difference?