Our in-class exercise yesterday made me think a lot about the interconnectedness of the plots in the story. The most important event that was lost in our alternative story was Gandalf's "death" and "resurrection" due to Moria. But the more I thought about it, the more I saw a chain reaction that would be set off by any plot change, and how the Fellowship's decision to destroy the Ring was really the only path to success. I am sure that Tolkien could have created the Fellowship's path in any way he chose, but he structured the world and story well enough that this plot is the only feasible one to the reader. As readers, we usually catch plot holes and ask, "why couldn't they just do this instead?", but Tolkien was thorough enough that this does not happen.
There is some willing suspension of disbelief to believe in the world of Middle Earth, but I do not think that the reader has to do this where the plot is concerned. This is one of the many reasons for why Middle-Earth and Tolkien's stories feel so believable and close to real life.
Although Tolkien is famously hostile towards allegory, Gandalf's death and "resurrection" is one of the most slap-in-the-face Christian allegories I could think of, rivaling CS Lewis himself. I find it humorous considering how much he disliked the use of allegory.
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