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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6444712" data-attributes="member: 4937">Healing touch and curing diseases are not part of the Ranger's suite of powers.  Rangers also have no 1e requirement to be born of noble blood.Those are features of an entirely different class.  As for the tales of Rennes-le-Chateau, I doubt Tolkien was familiar with them.  They didn't become popular until 10 years after The Lord of the Rings was published, and they have no ancient provenance, being invented pretty much whole cloth during the 1960's.  Aragorn's origins go back to the conception of Beren and Luthien, which in part is autobiographical, partly based on medieval romances (Tristan and Isolde, for example), and partly on more modern writings particularly Lord Dunsany's 'The King of Elfland's Daughter'.  I've seen some theory that Tolkien was influenced by the tales of Oswald of Northumbria, but I consider the evidence on that pretty weak.  Aragorn isn't a D&D ranger.  He's most easily read as a D&D Paladin.  His rangers of the north companions aren't D&D rangers.  They are D&D Cavaliers.   The D&D ranger and paladin diverge mostly over physical appearance - ranger's are woodsman, paladin's wear full plate.  As that happens, any relationship between the D&D ranger and the usage of the word that inspires the class is quickly lost.   The D&D ranger stops being Aragorn and becomes Robin Hood.  The Paladin goes on being Roland and Galahad, while Aragorn's relationship to Author and Charlemange is forgotten (indeed, in the original mythic conception, Arthur is almost certainly Aragorn's heir).  While Aragorn is wood crafty, that's just one aspect of his broad 'hardiest of all mortal men' skill set.  His status as a 'wild man' is really little more than a disguise he uses.  He's an elvish trained lore-master and healer, and a knight errant.  He is the true king of Gondor.  Once Aragorn reaches 'civilized parts', he drops his disguise as a 'wild man', claims his title, puts on mail, and thereafter in the story is in the role of a knight and no long (at least publicly) 'Strider the Ranger'.  And indeed, if you read the appendix, prior to the story he spent about 20 years in Rohan and Gondor as a famous 'black knight', that is a knight riding under a euphemism and without a device declaring his true identity.  Denethor's descent into folly appears to have begun with his realization regarding who this rival and friend's identity really was.  Strider the Ranger becomes to Aragorn something like 'Clark Kent' becomes to Kel-El.</blockquote>

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