Thought provoking if nothing else

Hello everyone,
Well, I have a small topic that was brought up in the chat and I thought it was interesting. It's a couple of parts and it will make you think but here it goes.
If any member of the fellowship did not exist would things have turned out differently? Of course, you are going to say "well yes they would" but, think about it really. Would they have? Or would someone else have filled the place they left? Or were some members of the fellowship just not needed at all? Like Boromir, he passed on very early in Lord of the Rings, would he have really affected the outcome all of that much? What if nothing ever happened to Gandalf at all?
It's more or less looking at each member and the need they posessed - or if they didn't posess one at all. Or, would it be true that one person no matter how small a part they played were actually needed. Just wanted to see what everyone else says

~Daisy Grubb