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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 5802561" data-attributes="member: 4937">I don't know exactly what sense of the word inspired Tolkien's use of it, but the most common definitions of the word are:a) A magistrate of the law responcible for care of a park, garden, or forest and enforcement of the laws therein.b) A member of a military or law enforcement company employed to patrol a large districtc) Someone who wanders about a large areaFrom the usage, it appears the term is used most in the sense of 'b'.  Being outdoor is implied, but its not the definition of the term.Like a Texas Ranger for example?It's not an issue of whether the term 'Ranger' is a proper label to apply to Aragorn.  Tolkien applies the label.  The issue is whether the class Ranger truly captures want it meant to be a 'Ranger of the North'.   I believe 'Ranger' is Aragorn's profession, and is used in a sense akin to 'soldier' or the modern US military unit - elite commandos who can operate in enemy controlled territory.   But while his initial profession might be, "Captain of the Rangers of the North", his class is Paladin.I think its a bit spurious to argue that Paladins are archetypally not associated with the wilderness on the grounds that its D&D's take on the classes, because D&D created the archetypes as they now exist by the siloing of skills as class features.   Hense, if you are fighter you can't be stealthy (ergo, Conan must be multiclassed) and if you're a Paladin you can't have woodcraft (ergo, Aragorn must be multiclassed) and so forth.  But Tolkien didn't write his material with conforming to D&D in mind, and it wasn't woodsman, woodcutter, game warden, vagabonds, or even Robin Hood that was serving as Tolkien's archetypal inspiration for Aragorn.  We aren't dealing with a member of the Yeoman class.  Woodsman or vagabond is merely as it were his disguise.</blockquote>

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