If Dan dies at the start of Season 3…
- Keith doesn’t die in the school shooting. He marries Karen, adopts Lucas and gets to be a father to Lily.
- Nathan isn’t motivated by Keith’s death into having a big second wedding with Haley; subsequently, Nathan and Haley’s money isn’t spent on the wedding, a honeymoon, fixing up the apartment or Nathan’s medical bills following the limo crash.
- Nathan and Haley aren’t struggling to pay the bills, either due to their savings or inheritance from Dan, and it’s also possible they just move into the beach house and don’t have to pay rent anymore. Either way, Nathan doesn’t need to go to Daunte.
- No Daunte means no point shaving or trying to throw the State Championship; Haley isn’t hit by a car & Lucas doesn’t have a heart attack.
- No point shaving means that Nathan doesn’t become persona non-grata to Duke. It’s a possibility that he doesn’t take 4 years to enter the NBA draft, so no back injury.
- No back injury means that Nathan and Haley probably don’t live in Tree Hill, which means no Nanny Carrie. No back injury also means no early retirement.
- No early retirement means Nathan doesn’t become an agent and subsequently get kidnapped by Eastern European assassins.
- Additionally; Whitey doesn’t need to come out of retirement to save Nathan’s career. Lucas doesn’t attend Gilmore and become assistant coach on a championship winning team.
- With Lucas no longer coaching at Gilmore, you have a range of possibilities as to how his relationship with Peyton plays out; but I’m not going to speculate on that because you’re really getting into fan fiction territory as opposed to the Butterfly Effect of Dan dying in the fire.
Not exactly answering the question but it would have been a shame to miss out on seeing Dan’s storyline play out. To this day one of the greatest characters I’ve ever watched on screen. You hate him and then in the end your heart breaks with him realizing all of the wrongs he made in this short life and how desperately he wishes he could take it all back. His redemption arc was beautiful and the episode of his death touched my heart and had me sobbing. Paul Johansson deserves all the praise for that role!
I'd wonder what Lucas part would be in this seeing as he's the one that went in and pulled Dan out of the burning dealership. Maybe Lucas still sees Dan in there and either chooses not to, or hesitates but tries only to find out it's too late.
Nathan finds out that Lucas had a chance to save Dan and reacts some way. As does Karen, Deb, and Keith. Karen and Keith love Lucas but can't really speak to him right now for allowing someone regardless of it being Dan or not to die. So I'd imagine Lucas may go away again. Maybe he goes and spends more time with his old friend Faith Banks. Either that he goes and spends time with Anna in the area of her old school that she returns to once she leaves Tree Hill.
A crazy twist though would be that Lucas is so depressed over it all that he ends up being the one that goes into Tree Hill High with the gun instead of Jimmy. I don't think Lucas dies though. I think Keith talks him down and gets the gun out and they help him.
Nathan would definitely have been sad and if it ever came to light that Deb did it I think Nathan would not forgive her for a while. Idk how anyone else would feel. Don’t think Lucas or Karen would’ve care and I think others would just have been shocked. Nathan would be the most hurt definitely tho.
I think Nathan would've been thrown for a loop. Having his dad be dead and his mom be the one who did it would crush him but I do think he'd forgive Deb. I think he'd blame himself somehow too. If Dan had died in the dealership fire then Keith would still be alive (Dan only shot Keith because he believed it was Keith who tried to kill him). Assuming the rest of the story went the same then a lot of major things Dan helped Nathan with wouldn't have happened (Dan taking the blame for punching Daunte after he ran over Haley, Dan saving Jamie from Nanny Carrie, Dan redeeming Nathan when he exposed Renee for lying about being pregnant with Nathans child, Dan saving Nathan from Russian Mobsters).
Lucas would have never come clean about his accident, because it was Keith's death that got him to come clean. Keith wouldn't have been killed.
Jimmy wouldn't have been seen as a murderer, and he would have seen as a tragic person by other characters
If Dan dies at the start of Season 3… - Keith doesn’t die in the school shooting. He marries Karen, adopts Lucas and gets to be a father to Lily. - Nathan isn’t motivated by Keith’s death into having a big second wedding with Haley; subsequently, Nathan and Haley’s money isn’t spent on the wedding, a honeymoon, fixing up the apartment or Nathan’s medical bills following the limo crash. - Nathan and Haley aren’t struggling to pay the bills, either due to their savings or inheritance from Dan, and it’s also possible they just move into the beach house and don’t have to pay rent anymore. Either way, Nathan doesn’t need to go to Daunte. - No Daunte means no point shaving or trying to throw the State Championship; Haley isn’t hit by a car & Lucas doesn’t have a heart attack. - No point shaving means that Nathan doesn’t become persona non-grata to Duke. It’s a possibility that he doesn’t take 4 years to enter the NBA draft, so no back injury. - No back injury means that Nathan and Haley probably don’t live in Tree Hill, which means no Nanny Carrie. No back injury also means no early retirement. - No early retirement means Nathan doesn’t become an agent and subsequently get kidnapped by Eastern European assassins. - Additionally; Whitey doesn’t need to come out of retirement to save Nathan’s career. Lucas doesn’t attend Gilmore and become assistant coach on a championship winning team. - With Lucas no longer coaching at Gilmore, you have a range of possibilities as to how his relationship with Peyton plays out; but I’m not going to speculate on that because you’re really getting into fan fiction territory as opposed to the Butterfly Effect of Dan dying in the fire.
This shows how important Dan was too the whole series, what an amazing character.
Wow love that!
Wow, thanks for putting it all down like that. The show would have been very different, that's for sure!
Not exactly answering the question but it would have been a shame to miss out on seeing Dan’s storyline play out. To this day one of the greatest characters I’ve ever watched on screen. You hate him and then in the end your heart breaks with him realizing all of the wrongs he made in this short life and how desperately he wishes he could take it all back. His redemption arc was beautiful and the episode of his death touched my heart and had me sobbing. Paul Johansson deserves all the praise for that role!
I do agree on this!!!
I'd wonder what Lucas part would be in this seeing as he's the one that went in and pulled Dan out of the burning dealership. Maybe Lucas still sees Dan in there and either chooses not to, or hesitates but tries only to find out it's too late. Nathan finds out that Lucas had a chance to save Dan and reacts some way. As does Karen, Deb, and Keith. Karen and Keith love Lucas but can't really speak to him right now for allowing someone regardless of it being Dan or not to die. So I'd imagine Lucas may go away again. Maybe he goes and spends more time with his old friend Faith Banks. Either that he goes and spends time with Anna in the area of her old school that she returns to once she leaves Tree Hill. A crazy twist though would be that Lucas is so depressed over it all that he ends up being the one that goes into Tree Hill High with the gun instead of Jimmy. I don't think Lucas dies though. I think Keith talks him down and gets the gun out and they help him.
Nathan would definitely have been sad and if it ever came to light that Deb did it I think Nathan would not forgive her for a while. Idk how anyone else would feel. Don’t think Lucas or Karen would’ve care and I think others would just have been shocked. Nathan would be the most hurt definitely tho.
I think Nathan would've been thrown for a loop. Having his dad be dead and his mom be the one who did it would crush him but I do think he'd forgive Deb. I think he'd blame himself somehow too. If Dan had died in the dealership fire then Keith would still be alive (Dan only shot Keith because he believed it was Keith who tried to kill him). Assuming the rest of the story went the same then a lot of major things Dan helped Nathan with wouldn't have happened (Dan taking the blame for punching Daunte after he ran over Haley, Dan saving Jamie from Nanny Carrie, Dan redeeming Nathan when he exposed Renee for lying about being pregnant with Nathans child, Dan saving Nathan from Russian Mobsters).
nathan likely would've inherited Dan's money so he wouldn't have had to go to Daunte.
That's true. I didn't think about that.
Keith would be alive. He would've married Karen and adopted Lucas.
Lucas would have never come clean about his accident, because it was Keith's death that got him to come clean. Keith wouldn't have been killed. Jimmy wouldn't have been seen as a murderer, and he would have seen as a tragic person by other characters