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Historically that's what happens with any concentration of power and skill, things break when the founder/monarch dies. Look at Rome's endless civil wars and the countless Chinese dynasties. Exception being when a capable successor is properly placed and accepted by the inner circle. Does Linus have an "heir"?

>Does Linus have an "heir"?

No formalized succession plan whatsoever.

Linus is not worried:

If Linus Torvalds Got Hit By a Bus Would Linux Die? (2012) <https://www.serverwatch.com/server-news/if-linus-torvalds-go...>

If I get hit by a bus, Linux will go on just fine says Linus Torvalds (2015) <https://www.theregister.com/2015/06/17/now_i_can_die_happy_w...>

Tens of thousands of developers around the world have contributed to the Linux kernel. Even Microsoft contributes.

It's not about the contributions, it's about the coordination.

Meanwhile a lot of boxes are still on RHEL-6 point releases that use linux-2.6. Not even those will be gone in 10 years.