Quantum physics Multiple Universes...no LOTR

[InklingElf]

Our points of views regarding Miss Rowling's Potter are not even beside the question posed my Morsul. While I agree very much with Goomba's views let us ALL refrain from imposing further opinionated statements pertaining Harry Potter. Many respects.

[Encaitare]

Thanks for saying what I was just about to post, InklingElf. The HP series are books. They're not evil. Maybe nasty little LotR attention-stealers, but not evil. (Actually I like HP, so whatever.) But if there was no LotR, there also would be a lack of a lot of good music, such as the composings of Howard Shore, Blind Guardian's Nightfall in Middle Earth, and surely the musical stylings of a certain band would be drastically different, if existent at all, and this band is... Nightwish.

Now, where's Evisse?

[Elennar Starfire]

However, if anyone wants to debate whether or not HP is evil, I'm always game for a good PM discussion!

Now, back to the topic!

[Orominuialwen]

If it weren't for LotR, I probably wouldn't have ever met most of my friends. I'd hardly ever go online, and I'd be even worse at typing than I am now. I probably wouldn't be interested in sewing and costuming like I am, and I would have less incentive to practice my violin, without Howrd Shore's wonderful music to play.

[alatar]

Could be hallucinating, but think that someone once said something like if the gorilla did not exist, then surely we would have created it.

Guessing that if Professor Tolkien did not create Middle Earth, then someone would have filled the void with something similar - not an exact copy, yet satisfying the same need for a British fantasy mythology. Maybe elves would have been little creatures and goblins more friendly - dunno.

Something that I found scary it that (I think, again relying on a sub-par memory) Strider could have been named "Trotter." If that's how the final version went out, we would never have thought of Aragorn any other way. A major change for us now, but not enough to affect the timeline. You'd be as geeked out about Viggo being Trotter as you may have been when he was Strider.

So, anyway, the change in timelines is too far back for me to accurately see the consequences, but would guess that most of us would be here, now, discussing The Emperor of the Ring.

[Bergil]

I would still hate Harry Potter as its EVIL! Its portrays Evil as good! Since when have sorcerers been good? Does not the Bible say that "a sorcerer must die!"? Besides, The 'Wizards' in Lotr were Mara, nothing to do with sorcery.
In fact, I'm ashamed to admit it, but it was my hatred of Harry Potter that led me to Tolkien.

<edited out, let's just say I made a rebuttal.>

Back on topic, I could always fall back to "Wheel Of Time" (if it existed, I don't know much about these zen things)

[Hookbill the Goomba]

I don't think this is the place to start this discussion, Bergil.
There are other topics on the downs where such comments would be appropriate, but my post was a shorter and watered down version of my later arguments. Look elsewhere for not only my, but other people's opinions on this topic. It's not nice to discriminate against someone just because you disagree with his or her opinion.
(see the end line of this post.)

is not only absurd to say that an ability can change someone's morals

Although, I think it’s fitting to say this, "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely."

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But back to the topic.

In a world that is Lord of the Rings less, I suppose the biggest change would be my group of friends, how I spend my time (i.e. not looking around the downs endlessly) and other random things. I think I'd be some mainstreamer.

[Gothmog]

Encaitare:

and surely the musical stylings of a certain band would be drastically different, if existent at all, and this band is... Nightwish.

And what would we do without such a band as Nightwish? The world would be something less than it is.

Parallel universes doesn't have to mean LotR wasn't written, maybe it's written but differently in some other universe. Trotter-Strider for example. Think about it: there's a million things that could have been changed but we would still think the version we read was the best. Imagine a world with LotS, Lord of the Shoes. A dark lord who makes a shoe and filles it with his evil. When people wear the shoe, they can fly. But the shoe has it's own will and can slip off the foot of unwary users, making them tumble towards the ground 100 meters down...

Or what if Tolkien was a big fan of African myths and legends instead of nordic. Would the wizard known as Gandalf have a name like N'gmbuto or something?

Or what if...(repeated for all eternity....)

Every little choice we make leads to a different future. One minute late to school and you never meet that special girl, who would have been your future wife and 3 beautiful kids are never born. This sort of incidents gives us infinite number of parallel possibilities.

If one electron happened to collide with a certain atom in a certain plant at a certain time, we would be looking for three-leaf clover right now, ignoring all those four-leaf clovers (Douglas Adams anyone?). Think of all things that could have made Tolkien write a different story! And maybe he has. The truth is out there...

One thing is for sure: Didn't LotR exist, the Downs wouldn't exist, I wouldn't be sitting here instead of studying and the rest of the week would be much less stressful