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Rosie's hat hadn't flown into Steele's path? Yeah, seems like not much, right? Well first, take a look at this old proverb:

"For want of a nail, the shoe was lost;
For want of a shoe, the horse was lost;
For want of a horse, the rider was lost;
For want of a rider, the message was lost;
For want of the message, the battle was lost;
For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail."

Ok, see the point? Now think about it;

If Rosie's hat hadn't flown into the way, Balto wouldn't have ran in after it (he wasn't planning to get involved in the race at all, just watch). If Balto hadn't run after it, he wouldn't have outdone Steele. If Balto hadn't outdone Steele, Steele's musher wouldn't have questioned Steele's speed (or at the very least Steele wouldn't have aimed blame for the comment on Balto). Steele hadn't gotten angry at Balto for outdoing him and causing that comment (or at least blamed him for it), he'd not have be mad at Balto at all that day. If Balto hadn't returned Rosie's hat to her, Steele wouldn't have seen Balto and Jenna interacting. If he hadn't seen them interacting, then he wouldn't have been jealious of him and probably not messed with him and sent him home in a huff.

Now after this, what matters is how Balto and Jenna normally interact. Had Balto still came to see Jenna that night, Steele may have seen them together, but probably not be as mad at Balto as he was in the normal timeline. The details are rather hard to make out, but when Balto won the sled dog race, Steele wouldn't have been jealious of him for outdoing him before and not as jealious of him involving Jenna and thus he probably wouldn't have cared rather or not he was on the team or not so long as he was the Lead Dog still. If Steele decided not to stomp on Balto's paw because of that, he'd not have scared the mushers and been put on the team. Thus when, and if, Steele crashed, Steele may have ether been willing to listen to his help (due to not being so jealious of him) or the same thing happened as before, only earlier, meaning Balto would've returned to Nome earlier. Or, darker side, since Balto didn't have Jenna's bandana to stop Steele's bite, Steele may have torn out his throat or killed him, dooming Nome.

If Balto didn't go visit Jenna that night, he wouldn't have even been in the race to start with because he'd not have found out about Rosie's condition the night before. Now, Balto likely would've still gone on due to being a selfless person anyway, but Jenna wouldn't have had as close a bond to him, thus she probably wouldn't have gone after him and the bear would've killed him, dooming Nome.

Intresting how one of the smallest details in the film can have such a huge effect, isn't it? Just thought this up and decided to share this with you.

Very insightful. It's amazing how the smallest decision can have the greatest consequences.

^ I know. And another thing to wonder is how Balto would've reacted to the wolves if he hadn't saved Rosie's hat, because he'd not have been feeling down about his wolf half because no one would've made fun of him for it. The most likely is just howling back, but going with them is complete possible, which could've left Nome with no hero as well.

I just thought this was an intresting thing to think about, because you never think about it just causually watching the movie.

That might be true now that you mention it.

A real example of the Butterfly Effect right here.

I wonder if the fans of the film have thought more about the seemingly minor events in the film than the filmmakers did. It's certainly a lot of fun to read!

Yeah, I know. And thanks. I don't think the filmakers really thought it out that far, but it's still very intresting to think about.

You know I never really did notice that small chain reaction of events, then again I never do until someone points it out. You know, sometimes I wonder if the movie's creators intentionally wrote it that way to get the audience thinking a little. I agree, if Rosie's hat didn't blow into the street the movie would've turned out WAY different!

Is this kinda like a game when if something is changed and you figure out the results?

More like a discussion.