Why was Petrie left behind?

jansenov · **on:** January 14, 2011, 10:05:17 AM

I searched through this subforum and realized this wasn't asked before.

Petrie's mom has always been one of my favorite adults from the Land Before Time universe, but why did she leave her son behind? Sure, Petrie was clumsier than his siblings, but couldn't she carry him with her? Petrie was a baby after all.

Petrie could have been scared by the earthquake and ran away from his family, but still, wouldn't a flyer be able to find him? It's not like the chasm left by earthquake represents an obstacle to a flyer.

What's your speculation on this?

Adder · **Reply #1 on:** January 14, 2011, 10:13:15 AM

I think that it was mentioned in movie: like the other four, Petrie got seperated from his family because of the earthquake. Why? Its not know. Unlike Littlefoot and Cera, he wasn't shown getting seperated from his mother and siblings.

LBTDiclonius · **Reply #2 on:** January 14, 2011, 03:21:07 PM

Good question. Maybe he was seperated from his mother and she didn't notice until it was too late and went along with everyone else to find the great valley hoping her son would meet her there. But, like Adder said, it's never explained.

Malte279 · **Reply #3 on:** January 14, 2011, 05:05:30 PM

There once was a thread about this question (must be several years ago) where the author... (I don't quite remember who of us it was) suggested a somewhat dark interpretation of Petrie being left behind because his inability to fly would have slowed down the rest of the family too much in the wastelands where there would have been too little food to stay too long.

Almaron · **Reply #4 on:** January 14, 2011, 07:29:46 PM

I think it's probably just that they thought he was dead. We don't know whether Petrie's family was moving with the others towards the west (meaning Petrie would have needed to have been carried by his mother), or whether they normally lived where they did, but either way, by the time of the earthquake, Petrie was unable to fly.

The tree Petrie was in when he first made his appearance was probably his family's nest. In the earthquake, which took place in the early morning, Petrie and his family would have been shaken awake. Petrie would have fallen out of the nest (as he mentions when he meets the others that he climbed the tree he was in), and been lost somewhere on the ground. The ground may also have shifted as he fell, sweeping him away and making it appear that he was dead.

Because his family were capable of flying between the divide, they must have come back to search for him, and after failing to find him, assumed that he died and joined the others moving west.

Meanwhile, Petrie, who managed to return to his nest or nearby from wherever the earthquake took him, clambered to the top of a tree, knowing that not only was he safer up there, but that his family might return for him, or at least, they'd have a better chance of seeing him up there.

Petrie. · **Reply #5 on:** January 15, 2011, 09:45:48 AM

Because I failed English class, I was disowned.

In all seriousness, not being able to fly probably didn't allow Petrie to keep up with his family of fliers, so Social Darwinism at its best...the weak perish so he was left to fend for himself.

Almaron · **Reply #6 on:** January 16, 2011, 12:58:40 AM

Quote

There once was a thread about this question (must be several years ago) where the author... (I don't quite remember who of us it was) suggested a somewhat dark interpretation of Petrie being left behind because his inability to fly would have slowed down the rest of the family too much in the wastelands where there would have been too little food to stay too long.

The problem with that is that in the LBT Universe, the parents care for their young as humans would. Consider in LBT V, the inhabitants of the Great Valley are once again in a parched land with little food, and some children go missing. Instead of abandoning them, they actively follow them to rescue them, and linger around the area they went missing when the trail runs dry, all without regard for their own well-being.

It could be argued that they had bonded with them more over the years compared to when they lost them initially, and as such saw a greater need to save them, but again, that shows that they care for their young enough to seek them out, risking their own lives. If they abandoned them once to save themselves, why would they bother to find them the next time?

In the end, there's not enough information to make it clear, so it's up to the viewer to decide which way seems more logical to them.

WeirdRaptor · **Reply #7 on:** January 16, 2011, 03:58:22 AM

Following Almaron's last post, I would say Petrie was left behind probably because he fell from wherever his family was perched (remember, he climbed up into the tree Littlefoot grabs the limb of so he was obviously "grounded" before) when the eathquake struck.
Then after that any number of things could have happened to make him vanish from sight: dust, smoke, a stampede, debris sent flying, all the above, ect. Then mamma flyer, figuring he was dead had to get her other children out of there as quickly as she could.
As for why they couldn't hear him: heaven knows the earthquake would make enough noise even without other panicked dinos in the area to brown out any screams for help Petrie might have had. For something as small Petrie, I'm willing to bet he's very lucky to be alive and probably had one hell of a traumatizing experience before Littlefoot and Ducky showed up. Sheer terror alone probably sent him up the tree.

LBTDiclonius · **Reply #8 on:** January 16, 2011, 04:07:23 AM

And following WeirdRaptor's post, maybe he was so small his family just couldn't hear him. And since he climbed the tree, it doesn't nessicarily mean that it was his family's nest, it could've been just a random tree he climbed out of fear of getting stepped on by other frightened dino's running in fear.

WeirdRaptor · **Reply #9 on:** January 16, 2011, 03:49:10 PM

So his heart must have just been going "pitterpitterpitter" when Littlefoot tried to grab a snack off the tree, then just about had cardiac arrest with the resulting catapulting.

Saft · **Reply #10 on:** January 18, 2011, 04:25:59 PM

Can't really add anything from what other people have commented but it could have been a possibility that during the rush to escape the earthquake that Petrie tried to fly but crash landed on the floor and his mother (note we don't know about his father) probably miscounted Petrie's siblings druing the escape and although she might have wanted to return back to where the nest was, she couldn't because of her obligation to her other offspring. Although I got the impression that Petrie was smaller than his siblings?