Windom Earl felt completely pointless

The entire 2nd half of S2 was all about Windom Earl, they kept building him up as some big nemesis to Cooper, but in the end when they went into the Black Lodge its like none of it mattered at all.

Windom Earl uttered a few words asking for Cooper's soul and then Bob killed him, its like "Ok all this time in S2 was wasted on Windom Earl for what exactly?" Cooper could have found the Black Lodge without having to follow Windom Earl.