This is a question that feels like it was building for a while before someone finally gave voice to it, especially since the possibilities of what would have happened had Qui-Gon Jinn survived would have been far-reaching. Looking back at his relationship with Anakin Skywalker, brief as it was, Qui-Gon was the closest to a father figure that Anakin had until Palpatine managed to start influencing him since the rest of the Jedi Order either saw the Chosen One as an oddity or as someone to be cautious around. To say that Anakin was fully accepted into the Jedi Order would be a little inaccurate, but Qui-Gon was firm in his belief that Anakin was meant to be the Chosen One, the individual that would bring balance to the force. Had Qui-Gon survived, it feels safe to state that he would have been one of the only real lifelines in the young Jedi’s life that would have been able to keep him balanced. Looking back, Obi-Wan tried, but the fact that he was more like a big brother to Anakin didn’t help. Yoda was there from time to time, but again, many of the Jedi simply saw Anakin as a token character in the order.
After surviving the fight with Darth Maul, had it happened, it’s easy to imagine that Qui-Gon would have kept Anakin on as a padawan, even if he’d had to defy the order to do so. Obi-Wan would have still become a knight due to his part in the battle to free Naboo, and it’s fair to think that Palpatine’s ambitions would have remained just as high. The differences that would have come about would have likely negated the emergence of Darth Vader, which would have enacted a massive change in the galaxy. Order 66 might not have had as much of an effect, which would have created another huge difference that would have shaped the Star Wars universe in a very big way.
One might guess that if Palpatine wasn’t able to do as he liked that his designs on domination might have to wait, or he might end up becoming even more violent. But with Qui-Gon’s attachment to the Living Force, it does feel as though he would have sensed a little more than many other Jedi might have. Qui-Gon was not the type to be taken in by someone like Palpatine, and his rebellious nature might have easily made it possible to detect something amiss in the Force, and perhaps he might have realized where the feeling was coming from. But there are so many questions that would arise in this scenario that one can’t help but think that his death was a better design, even if it was unbearably tragic. Had Order 66 never been enacted, and had Palpatine never been allowed to ravage the galaxy as he did, it feels certain that something even worse might have come along. That’s the natural law of any story, no matter how people want to look at it. By stopping one atrocity, it’s almost assured that something just as bad, if not worse, will come along, and those that prevented one calamity won’t be able to prevent them all.
It’s even possible that even Qui-Gon’s continued presence wouldn’t have been able to keep the Jedi Order from falling even further into the lethargic state that had already settled in years before. He would have likely fought against the settling state of the order, but Qui=Gon was only one person, and his antics had set him apart from the order more than once. He would have no doubt been instrumental in keeping Anakin from falling to the dark side, but even this would have been a tall order for Qui-Gon since Anakin’s power was so great that Obi-Wan had all he could handle just raising the young padawan, and only his added experience helped him to confront Anakin on Mustafar. It feels fair to say that he might have kept Anakin from becoming Darth Vader, but he wouldn’t have been able to see everything that could come next. It’s interesting to think of what he might have done had the relationship with Padme still flourished, since Qui-Gon’s feeling about attachment is far different than what the order might consider wise.
Sitting down to contemplate everything that could have happened had Qui-Gon survived is bound to create a headache for anyone that takes on that particular challenge, but it would be worth it. Maybe someone with enough ambition might even decide to create a comic book detailing an alternate universe in which Qui-Gon had lived. That would be quite the story, not to mention that it would invite a host of different possibilities that might very well redefine Star Wars in a way that might be tempting to explore further. It might never happen, but it’s fun to think about.