If they didn't go through with the shooting...

I'm sure this has been discussed, but I'd like to refresh this topic a little bit. What do you guys think would of happened if they actually didn't go through with it? Where do you see Eric and Dylan going in life? Do you'd think they would still become criminals, or would Dylan move away to college and never really talk to Eric much anymore?

I personally see it happening like this. Dylan graduates, going to AZ for college. Hates it at first because hes alone and doesn't know anyone, but after awhile he finds some "nerdy" type of kids who are into computers like him, maybe joins a computer club, where he meets more like minded kids, who have LAN parties playing DOOM and other FPS. Eventually he meets a girl who is probably sort of the nerdy type too, but Dylan likes all the things they have in common. They possibly start to date, and she opens up about how she wasn't popular in high school, and so does Dylan, and they laugh at the fact that they actually got so mad at what kids thought about them in highschool, (and the fact that he was going to blow the school up, although he keeps this a secret to everyone.) Would he still have depression issues, and issues about his looks? Maybe. But do I think he would still go on to kill? After he moves away and realizes there is so much more then high school and popularity in high school means jack, I'd have to say no IMO.

Eric on the other hand is a different story. After not being able to join the Military, he ends up getting dead end odd jobs around town that lead nowhere. Maybe even getting re-hired at Blackjack. The few girls that MIGHT of looked his way have moved away to college. He really hates life, and it really eats him up alive that Dylan is actually having a good time in college, when only a year before that, they planned on blowing the school up. Eric being the psychopath that he is, still wants to make a name for himself, but knows he can't do it alone, and needs a partner. So through either work, the internet, or playing DOOM, he befriends an underclassman (maybe someone in the TCM) who just like him, hates school and the people who inhabit Columbine. The thing is, although this person loaths the kids at Columbine, he isn't quite ready to kill yet. Eric being the master manipulator he is, eventually twists the kids mind into thinking he's going nowhere, and they will be "infamous" and "they will make a movie about us", etc etc. Thus using the kid who is still in school, and Eric's knowledge of the school to figure out when the most kids are in the cafeteria etc. They go on to do a shooting at Columbine. Now would there be as many deaths, and would the bombs actually go off this time, since Eric had another year to perfect his bomb making? Well thats left up to the imagination. Maybe he would of been able to get even more powerful guns, since he would be 18, thus resulting in more casualties.

Meanwhile Dylan turns on the TV one day to see that his highschool buddy actually went through with it  

Now this is just a theory I came up with out of bordem, but I'd like to hear what you guys think would of happened if they didn't go though with the shooting on 4/20/99.

my theory:

Dylan commits suicide (that one was easy).

Eric becomes increasingly angry at adult life, possibly kills someone or even multiple people (maybe that's a bit far fetched, I'm not sure if I could see him killing in a serial killer way rather than a school shooting way), if he is in a relationship probably becomes abusive - maybe even kills the partner (and himself afterwards as well??), if he is still alive after all of this then he kills himself.

Dylan completes his CompSci/BIT degree (unsure of American equivalent) at uni and finds work as a network admin, working his way up to a network engineer. Marries a friend of a friend sometime in the future and has two children.

Eric does not study anything and stays at Blackjack for a couple of years. After a while he does not require medication, in which he successfully enlists for the military in some form and ends up being deployed overseas. Never marries, keeps to himself.

Juicy Jazzy wrote:

Dylan completes his CompSci/BIT degree (unsure of American equivalent) at uni and finds work as a network admin, working his way up to a network engineer. Marries a friend of a friend sometime in the future and has two children.

Eric does not study anything and stays at Blackjack for a couple of years. After a while he does not require medication, in which he successfully enlists for the military in some form and ends up being deployed overseas. Never marries, keeps to himself.

Can you re-enlist into the Military if you were once previously denied? Especially people with mental health issues, I'm not to sure how that works.

If they didn't go through with the shooting ...

we'll never know what would have happened with them

sororityalpha wrote:

If they didn't go through with the shooting ...

we'll never know what would have happened with them

Obviously. Great observation

thank you lol

Eric goes military or community college drop out & @ best has an avg life with many personal struggles & setbacks centered around mental instability/anger/deviant nature, leading up to becoming a Timothy McVeigh clone.

Dylan works through &/or manages his awkward/depressed stage & becomes the avg middle-upper middle class American with good job, family & the usual highs & lows most encounter.

Based on my opinion that Dylan had manageable issues that weren't excessively uncommon. With time, possibly medication/therapy & personal development Dylan easily could have matured into an "avg American".

My opinion on Eric is that he had deep biological issues that were not going to be easily addressed & he was "wired wrong" & subsequently set for a tough run in life/his own worst enemy.

In short, I see Dylan as "I can work with this" & Eric as incorrigible or "born bad".

Everybody has their own opinion.. I developed my own analysis prior to reading any of those provided by leading psychologists involved in the case. My thoughts reflected a very similar tone. I'm good with that & sticking with my theory.

I actually think Eric would have had a somewhat decent life.

Dylan is the one I believe would have killed people. Remember, he was the one who first wrote about wanting to do a shooting in 1997.

I could easily see him strangling women or doing something else screwed up that would land him in prison.

Interesting points. I seem to side with the people who think Dylan would get through his issues, and Eric was just wired to be a psychopath, and would end up killing people somehow and someway if he didn't go though with Columbine.

I think Dylan would have killed himself eventually but I don't see him strangling women. That's too up close and personal, at least moreso than shooting or bombing.

Ivan wrote:

I actually think Eric would have had a somewhat decent life.

Dylan is the one I believe would have killed people. Remember, he was the one who first wrote about wanting to do a shooting in 1997.

I could easily see him strangling women or doing something else screwed up that would land him in prison.

To be honest I could see them both doing something like that. Although maybe more so Eric.

Both of them would have displaced all their rage and craziness onto a girl. Dylan is the kind of guy who would have killed himself after a breakup. Eric the kind to be a stalker or killer of a girl.

Actually if either had gotten a girlfriend senior year the shooting wouldn't have happened.

lasttrain wrote:

Actually if either had gotten a girlfriend senior year the shooting wouldn't have happened.

There is a possibility that is true

Eric is hard for me imagine going into adulthood. He probably would have gone off to a community college(most likely Arapahoe) or be employed full-time somewhere other than Black Jack to save up enough money to attend a real university.

I can picture Dylan graduating from ASU and getting married with kids. That is if he overcomes his depression. He may not be totally cured from it but upon realizing that life has so much offer him he can battle it with his head held high. The thought of Sue being surrounded by all the grandchildren she could have had just makes me feel jittery.

I don't see why most is underestimating Eric. If anything, he was the most structured, smart, detailed, extremely OCD and dedicates 100% on things he intends to do. He could actually get somewhere. Plus if he was a master manipulator he could kiss-ass his way to the top somehow. Just because Dylan was the more socially inclined of the two and had more friends and people liking him, sure he would've gotten somewhere too, he was already gonna go to college, doesn't mean he's better. they both might do exceptionally okay.

Eric doing dead end jobs or going to comm college? No way! and if they both had girlfriends, they might get by fine, but in terms of a girl letting them down, Dylan might self-harm whilst Eric would be violent to her. People seem to see and assume Dylan would get by much better cause he seems somewhat manageable of the two and his depressive state is something he can get over.....well, he has been lying to everyone the whole time. He thought of homicide first. If anything Dylan is the type of character you watch out for. Eric's case was biological issues alongside being chemically imbalanced aswell. Eric would never take being underestimated. Also, he seems like he would be a very attentive lover.

I don't know. I think I do somewhat agree about Eric doing a sort of tail spin. We will never know if he would have ever applied to college. He would have been good at college but I don't think he would want to go. If the marines didn't work out what would he have done? He had no other plans. He wrote about travelling. Perhaps he could have gone out and seen the world? If he would have seen just how other places live rather than just CO I think it would have done his mind a world of good.

Dylan....I don't think would have done well at all. Take an already depressed person and toss them into a new environment with no friends or family and that makes for a bad mix. I think if he had gone to college his depression would have ramped up. That is unless he met some good friends who could support him.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] "He wrote about travelling. Perhaps he could have gone out and seen the world? If he would have seen just how other places live rather than just CO I think it would have done his mind a world of good." Good point good point.

I think personalities like Eric and Dylan usually get involved in bad relationships/stalking/intimate violence.

I think you'd see Eric dating a girl, they break up, she gets a restraining order, etc. With Dylan you'd see a similar pattern except he might commit suicide when they broke up.

The thing is, even normal kids in high school will do stupid things. But then they grow out of it. Take two highly abnormal psychologies like Eric and Dylan and you get the ultimate stupid thing. But I think they too would have grown out of it. Of course, they would always be at risk for committing violence. Just not the kind you see in the national news.

liquorvamp wrote:

I don't see why most is underestimating Eric. If anything, he was the most structured, smart, detailed, extremely OCD and dedicates 100% on things he intends to do. He could actually get somewhere. Plus if he was a master manipulator he could kiss-ass his way to the top somehow. Just because Dylan was the more socially inclined of the two and had more friends and people liking him, sure he would've gotten somewhere too, he was already gonna go to college, doesn't mean he's better. they both might do exceptionally okay.

Eric doing dead end jobs or going to comm college? No way! and if they both had girlfriends, they might get by fine, but in terms of a girl letting them down, Dylan might self-harm whilst Eric would be violent to her. People seem to see and assume Dylan would get by much better cause he seems somewhat manageable of the two and his depressive state is something he can get over.....well, he has been lying to everyone the whole time. He thought of homicide first. If anything Dylan is the type of character you watch out for. Eric's case was biological issues alongside being chemically imbalanced aswell. Eric would never take being underestimated. Also, he seems like he would be a very attentive lover.

Eric said in IM logs that he wanted to go to a community college, and "definitely not a 4 year school" for computers, and where else would he work
at his age, with no college etc that wouldn't really be a dead end job"?

lasttrain wrote:

I think personalities like Eric and Dylan usually get involved in bad relationships/stalking/intimate violence.

I think you'd see Eric dating a girl, they break up, she gets a restraining order, etc. With Dylan you'd see a similar pattern except he might commit suicide when they broke up.

The thing is, even normal kids in high school will do stupid things. But then they grow out of it.  Take two highly abnormal psychologies like Eric and Dylan and you get the ultimate stupid thing.  But I think they too would have grown out of it.  Of course, they would always be at risk for committing violence.  Just not the kind you see in the national news.  

Thats true. Columbine aside, if he got a girlfriend and she breaks up with him, if he sees her or her new guy, I can see him on the news for an OJ Simpson type murder

slippy123 wrote:

Eric said in IM logs that he wanted to go to a community college, and "definitely not a 4 year school" for computers, and where else would he work
at his age, with no college etc that wouldn't really be a dead end job"?

Thanks for this, I missed out that he actually said he wanted that. Well he wants to but I think he was just underestimating himself, because I just think that he could do better if he bothered to. When he was talking to Jen, had he already started planning NBK? Because the duration of the convo could determine whether he meant what he wanted to do when talking to Jen or, he was just spouting to crap to cover the fact he was gonna die anywhere so his future didn't matter. He also told her he wanted to go to Costa Rica with a special someone for vacation or something like that which I thought was sweet.

liquorvamp wrote:

slippy123 wrote:

Eric said in IM logs that he wanted to go to a community college, and "definitely not a 4 year school" for computers, and where else would he work
at his age, with no college etc that wouldn't really be a dead end job"?

Thanks for this, I missed out that he actually said he wanted that. Well he wants to but I think he was just underestimating himself, because I just think that he could do better if he bothered to. When he was talking to Jen, had he already started planning NBK? Because the duration of the convo could determine whether he meant what he wanted to do when talking to Jen or, he was just spouting to crap to cover the fact he was gonna die anywhere so his future didn't matter. He also told her he wanted to go to Costa Rica with a special someone for vacation or something like that which I thought was sweet.

It was the summer of 98, I know things were being planned, but not sure how far in depth they were. Also I might of missed the Costa Rica comment, don't remember reading that in the logs.
He could of been underestimating himself, but I don't comment on things like that because its impossible to know how they felt, you know?

Eric was a really intelligent guy.

I would like to believe that Eric had so much potential to live a good life. But as to which path he could have taken, we'll never know but can only speculate. I can totally picture him becoming an electrical or mechanical engineer.

aquillina wrote:

I would like to believe that Eric had so much potential to live a good life. But as to which path he could have taken, we'll never know but can only speculate. I can totally picture him becoming an electrical or mechanical engineer.

They both did, and they both were smart. When they put their mind to something they liked, like computers they could of gone far.
Eric could of definitely made video games, and done computers, and so could of Dylan, but they both threw it away.

I see them going one of two ways. In the first scenario, Dylan gets the mental health care he needs due to a failed suicide attempt at some point before college, goes on through college, and lives a productive life. Eric gets help the mental health care he needs due to someone finally noticing his anger issues, goes through college, lives a productive life.

OR

Dylan doesn't get the mental health care he needs, fails out of college due to stress causing relapses, and ultimately commits suicide. Eric doesn't get the help he needs, works a series of jobs, and ends up unhappy enough with his life to take out himself and his significant other in a fit of rage.