When a Fire Destroys a Forest...

[The Friendly Sharptooth]

Were Bron’s actions for the best in the long run? (Yes, this thread has a symbolic title.) My stance is that they were. Scouting on ahead then staying behind when several kids needed his help seems best to me. For one thing, he may have never found his son again. Indeed, it was a rather large stroke of luck they met at all. So does anyone think he should have left those kids behind in order to search for a family he may never find? For one thing, he couldn’t have brought them along and returned to his family. It just wouldn’t work if you ask me. I doubt Littlefoot’s parents would want a bunch of kids around they have no relation to when trying to raise their own flesh and blood. Even if they tried, the favoritism would make things unbearable to the others (as already seen with Shorty). So Bron chose to save many lives rather to make a relentless search that may end up all for naught while trusting his wife and parents (parents-in-law?) to care for his young. Would anyone choose to possibly but maybe never find some over surely saving many?

If Bron had never left, I don’t believe Littlefoot’s mother would have died, but then where would the characters be? Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike may have easily perished, along with the orphans Bron found when he left. Furthermore, his leaving gave Littlefoot new family. He lost a mother but gained a brother. So while many criticize Bron’s actions, in the long run, I think things turned out far better than if he’d stayed. Littlefoot’s mother was strongly into the whole playing with your own kind thing, so her death, most likely caused by Bron’s lack of protection, made Littlefoot a better dinosaur by forcing him to accept others, a policy he kept. Looking even deeper, if Bron had stayed, Ali might never have played with anyone but other longnecks. (Interesting how one event can cause a chain reaction that goes so far, huh?) While Littlefoot’s mother’s death was very tragic, loss can come with great gain looking at the big picture. So I am glad Bron did what he did because it bettered and saved so many with only one casualty, but what do you guys think and feel about Bron’s actions of leaving and stopping his search for his family?

[Almaron]

I remember there were several debates a while back about Bron's actions, and whether or not they made sense. I got the idea that the plants were starting to die out in their original home, and so they were attempting to find a new place to live. Rather than wander aimlessly, Bron went ahead to scout out one of the routes, before returning to the others.

It occurs to me that it's never said what he found exactly - he could have found the place his herd resides in by LBTX, or he could have found nothing. If they hadn't split up, all of Littlefoot's family could have wandered into wilderness and all perished, or they could have come to live in a new location.

As for the others, Spike, Petrie and Ducky would have been left to fend for themselves indefinitely, while Cera could have been eaten by Sharptooth, without Littlefoot's mother fighting to save her and her own son. Alternatively, Cera's family could have come to the rescue, which would have left them on Cera's side of the divide when the Earthquake occured.

They'd have made their way to the Valley after this, and would probably have passed Ducky. Would they have left her to die in the wastes, or would they have begrudgingly allowed her to follow them?

Argh, there's plenty more I want to add, but I'm running short of time, and I'm haven't been able to think of the rest! I'll add more later!

[Malte279]

I still consider Bron's actions respectively lack of some actions inexcusable. The main problem is that LBT 10 was installed on the weak basis of utter and complete disregard for the original movie. I laid out my points about LBT 10 long ago in this thread and since nothing I heard since then changed my view about the points I made I hope it is okay for me to quote rather than write a differently worded note to the same effect on the actions of Bron:

1. To explain all the discrepancies of Bron's story, we need to remember the original movie. The story he is telling must have begun shortly before the beginning of the original land before time movie.
Yet where were Bron and Littlefoot's mother (whom they didn't bother to give so much as the same color she had in the original movie) in a lush, green, Great Valley like landscape. The landscape they showed was just a perfect nesting place for Bron and his wife. There was no point for him to leave his pregnant wife to look for a better place. They had a really good place already!
2. The way Bron tells the story it appears that almost the moment he left the world turned upside down and changed into the desolate wasteland we know from the original movie. This is highly unlikely and doesn't seem at all the way the situation is described in the original movie. Even if it was a sudden change from paradise to wasteland, would not a responsible Bron have returned immediately to find his wife and unborn hatchling? According to his tail he did, but if this was true, how come he didn't find them? First of all, if there was such a sudden change of situation I reckon Littlefoot's mother would have waited for Bron as long as possible, as she and her parents (the way the contact between Bron and Littlefoot's grandparents is shown we can take it for granted they are not Bron's parents) knew he was going to return as soon as he could (if he ever meant to return). Even if lack of food forced them to move on after all (Bron must have been really far away indeed not to be back by that time) it would have been easy enough for Bron to follow the fresh trail of three grownup longnecks (As Cera pointed out in LBT 10 they leave clear tracks) who certainly tried to leave a clear trail for Bron to follow. There is absolutely no justification why Bron didn't return to his wife right away!
3. So even if we assume that, in his overeagerness to find even better a nesting place for his dear wife, Bron had wandered so far off that he couldn't possibly be back in time to pick up the trail and reunite with his wife his eagerness to find Littlefoot may be doubted for the points I'm going to explain.
The existence of the Great Valley was obviously not a secret. Littlefoot told Ducky in the original movie that his mother had told him that all herds were heading there. Yet Bron, despite the fact he claims to have done everything to find his son (even after learning about the death of his wife) apparently didn't think to look at the most logical place. Was he the only one who never ever heard about the Great Valley? Even if nobody ever told him it is interesting to recall how Littlefoot's mother knew about the Great Valley "Some things you see with your eyes! Others you see with your heard!" Apparently Bron's heart never told him anything, a point I won't argue as I doubt so cold a heart as his would talk.
However, there is no justification for Bron never ever to search for his son at the place that was obviously the most logical destination for him to go!
4. I can hear the enraged shouts. How dare I calling this gentle longneck and great leader cold-heartet?
I'll lay it out to you. We are all very fond of him for taking care of Shorty and all the poor defenseless longneck kids he found when he was allegedly looking for his son. But he doesn't! Just take a look at that flashback. He checks whether his son is among the kids, finds he isn't, and moves on. Bron doesn't even open his mouth. No word of encouragement, no question if they know anything about the whereabouts of his son, and least of all an invitation to the kids to come along with him. He didn't decide to take care of the kids. They just followed him, knowing it would be safer for them and Bron apparently didn't mind. He did not offer his protection to them, they just took it.
Shorty in particular is a good example for Bron's indifference. You think Shorty (a character by the way whom I consider one of the positive points about LBT 10) would have ever turned into a bully if Bron had cared about him beyond saving him from being killed so long he stayed close enough? Throughout the whole movie the only scene in which Bron shows direct kindness to Shorty is when during the herd's departure he takes him onto his head. Shorty might have considered Bron a father, but Bron did not consider him a son. Just listen to what he told Littlefoot. All the others found parents, but not Shorty. I really pity Shorty. Bron seems to be more like a leader than a parent to him. It is not for kindness that Bron took care of anyone!
5. Speaking of taking care, let's take a look at how much Bron cares about his herd. He says he cannot accompany Littlefoot and his grandparents to the Great Valley as he has to go back to his herd. Now that's noble, isn't it? He would so much like to come along with his son, but he will sacrifice his personal luck for the wellbeing of his herd which apparently cannot survive a day without him...
But wait a second, is not the herd supposed to be right there, at the crater where the solar eclipse occurred? All longnecks were supposed to be there!
We know that all longnecks were not there. Ali and her herd was missing and so was Doc. There must have been quite a few who either didn't have that dream or didn't get there in time. But how is it possible that Bron and a part of his herd was there, but another part wasn't? There is no doubt that not all of Bron's herd was there, as he told Littlefoot he was looking forward to introduce him to the rest of the herd. Now can you give me a reason why Bron would leave what must be a considerable part of the herd rather than leading all of them there? I have a theory and as you may expect it doesn't cast a positive light on Bron, but I beg you to give me a better reason.
It appears that Bron left behind the part of his herd that was too slow to make it to the crater in time for the solar eclipse. If he really did, doesn't that mean that he must've left the old, the weak, the too young kids etc. behind? Not the kind of herd members a good leader should leave to their fate! I just hope he left some strong longnecks behind to protect them. Bron must have something that makes other dinosaurs follow him, but he doesn't show any of the responsibility true leadership demands!
6. Did you notice how Bron talked to Littlefoot about sharpteeth? "Sharpteeth are cowards!" Even though the statement seems to apply to the extremely harmless sharpteeth in the land before time 10 I wish he would say that into the face of the sharptooth who killed Littlefoot's mother!
Bron's statement is a generalization and it is also quite insensitive talking this way in front of Littlefoot whose mother was killed by a sharptooth. Also I wonder if Littlefoot thought of Chomper when his father said this. Wouldn't Chomper be a perfect counterproof? It does take courage to attack a grownup sharptooth while you are still a hatchling, and it does take courage (even for a grownup sharptooth) to attack huge leafeaters.
Bron doesn't need to fear sharpteeth, for he is invulnerable! We see a sharptooth biting his leg, but it doesn't cause much more than an "Ouch". We don't see a scratch, Bron doesn't limb or anything. They could've made all this so much more dramatic if they had stirred up some memories about the death of Littlefoot's mother. Bron is arrogant and invulnerable!
7. Bron had given Littlefoot up! Even though he apparently never heard anything about him after learning about the death of his mother, he just stopped looking. What Bron says to Littlefoot is: "I can't wait to introduce you to the others back home". The statement leaves no doubt that Bron's herd is not a herd of migrators (as Ali's) but has one place to stay, similar to the Great Valley I suppose. This fact does weaken the reproach of Bron being irresponsible for leaving the herd to head for the place where the solar eclipse takes place. So long he leaves them at a save, protected place...
However, it also raises the question why they depend on him at all. If they are in a place save enough to be left behind there by Bron (a place where they have stayed long enough to call it home), what for do they need a leader anyway? The Great Valley doesn't have one leader either, and there is not a one of the dinosaurs in the Great Valley that is so important for the Valley that his or her departure would cause any serious harm for the Valley's population.
8. Finally, if Bron was indeed so great and admirable character, how come that in nine previous movies he was so much ignored, that Littlefoot didn't even know he had a dad? Was there a good reason for Littlefoot's grandparents to try to conceal Bron from Littlefoot? Perhaps so. Littlefoot's grandparents may well have intended not to tell Littlefoot about Bron, fearing that he would risk his life trying to find his father. Still I'm not sure that explaination justifies leaving Littlefoot so ignorant he didn't even know he had a Dad.

[DarkHououmon]

I can't remember what I had posted in that topic, specifically (other than attempting to explain Bron's actions without labeling him as a bad guy). But at this moment, I am not sure what to think, or whether or not I still hold those views. To be honest, I hadn't really thought much of Bron's actions for quite some time.

[The Friendly Sharptooth]

I do apologize to you all for being generally unclear as usual. I read the earlier Bron discussion and so was not making a copied topic. This thread is completely unrelated to anything I’ve seen said on this forum about Bron. This was not made to see if his actions made sense, what he did do that he should not have, what he did not do that he should have, why he did what he did, was it right for him to do what he did, and so forth. The Bron discussions I’ve seen have been more general. This thread has a straight focus on a single aspect of his actions: whether or not they were for the best in the long run. Did things turn out better than they might have if Bron had stayed with his family? This is basically an examination of what might have happened if he had stayed and if that outcome may or may not have been better than what did come to pass. I created this topic because I have not seen to my knowledge a specific addressing of whether or not his choices made things better in the grander scheme of things or not.

Almaron’s reply is what this is about:

"If they hadn't split up, all of Littlefoot's family could have wandered into wilderness and all perished, or they could have come to live in a new location.

As for the others, Spike, Petrie and Ducky would have been left to fend for themselves indefinitely, while Cera could have been eaten by Sharptooth, without Littlefoot's mother fighting to save her and her own son. Alternatively, Cera's family could have come to the rescue, which would have left them on Cera's side of the divide when the Earthquake occured.

They'd have made their way to the Valley after this, and would probably have passed Ducky. Would they have left her to die in the wastes, or would they have begrudgingly allowed her to follow them?"

A compare and contrast to the what if had Bron stayed with his family.

For anyone else who may want to reply in this thread, again, it’s a very different premise than earlier Bron discussions, provided I didn’t simply forget something. It’s not a city like the other ones, and instead is a narrow road. For all the details of Bron’s mindset and so forth, the older discussions have that aplenty, but this is simply about whether or not his actions caused a more positive after effect than had he stayed. I think the problem was the last sentence of my original post. I did not do a good job of making sure it was known to be in sync with the first sentence of my original post. I will work on this, and I thank you all for your replies.

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

Hmm, when I first saw the title of this topic I thought it was gonna be aboout the wildfire in LBT 3.