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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hriston" data-source="post: 6601831" data-attributes="member: 6787503"><p>Tolkien was reportedly a fan of the works of James Fennimore Cooper, and Hawkeye was probably a big influence on Aragorn's development as a character. However, I would suggest that Hawkeye is only one of many influences, and I don't see a lot of particular features of the Ranger class, other than those dealing with woodcraft, that would suggest a strong connection to Hawkeye. The multiple borrowings from the abilities and exploits of Aragorn, on the other hand, are hard to ignore. It seems to me that Aragorn represents a specific crystallization of disparate elements from multiple literary sources which resonated particularly well with the tone of early D&D. No matter what his predecessors looked like, I think it's Aragorn who is being represented by the 1E and earlier Ranger. I can't speak for 2E and on, emphasis on the bow as a weapon, for example, is obviously a departure from both Aragorn and the 1E Ranger, but we still find many elements of the original even in the 5E version of the class.</p></blockquote><p></p>