Duties of a ranger

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Trystan Merrick
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Duties of a ranger

Post by Trystan Merrick »

While the skills of a ranger might be obvious, I'm curious as to what a ranger does. What are his or her duties? This could change with fantasy worlds I assume but, generally what do you guys and gals think a rangers function in society is or what they're goals are? What duties do they have?

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Re: Duties of a ranger

Post by Iodo »

I'm new here but as far as I understand the job of a ranger is to help and protect any people who need it. This would mainly include keeping a watchful eye on things, keeping check on who enters the land and if they are a threat, passing on and finding out important infomation /news and being prepared to fight to defend there people.
I'm sure others here have far more to add
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Re: Duties of a ranger

Post by Elleth »

From memory -

Within Middle Earth of the late Third Age specifically, I think it's fairly clear their primary role is something between border patrol and occasional expeditionary force. It's implied their primary foes are creatures of Sauron, but given how brigandage seemed to pick up on the East Road during the War of the Ring, they likely faced more mundane human adversaries as well.

One interesting additional thought Michael Martinez posits is that by maintaining a protective role over the peoples of Eriador, they also maintain the legitimacy of the line of Isildur over the former realms of Arnor.

http://middle-earth.xenite.org/of-thegn ... nd-things/

Speaking of "rangers" more generally, I think the common thread is smaller-scale military and/or law enforcement operations, typically in wilderness areas, typically detached from regular command and supply lines.
While not necessarily "general do-gooder" I imagine in the smaller communities of medieval fantasy generally there's some degree of "Sheriff Andy Griffith" overlap of responsibilities.
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Re: Duties of a ranger

Post by Taurinor »

In the words of Aragorn:
The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, Chapter 2: The Council of Elrond wrote:
'But my home, such as I have, is in the North. For here the heirs of Valandil have ever dwelt in long line unbroken from father unto son for many generations. Our days have darkened, and we have dwindled; but ever the Sword has passed to a new keeper. And this I will say to you, Boromir, ere I end. Lonely men are we, Rangers of the wild, hunters--but hunters ever of the servants of the Enemy; for they are found in many places, not in Mordor only.

`If Gondor, Boromir, has been a stalwart tower, we have played another part. Many evil things there are that your strong walls and bright swords do not stay. You know little of the lands beyond your bounds. Peace and freedom, do you say? The North would have known them little but for us. Fear would have destroyed them. But when dark things come from the houseless hills, or creep from sunless woods, they fly from us. What roads would any dare to tread, what safety would there be in quiet lands, or in the homes of simple men at night, if the Dúnedain were asleep, or were all gone into the grave?

`And yet less thanks have we than you. Travellers scowl at us, and countrymen give us scornful names. "Strider" I am to one fat man who lives within a day's march of foes that would freeze his heart or lay his little town in ruin, if he were not guarded ceaselessly. Yet we would not have it otherwise. If simple folk are free from care and fear, simple they will be, and we must be secret to keep them so. That has been the task of my kindred, while the years have lengthened and the grass has grown.
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Trystan Merrick
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Re: Duties of a ranger

Post by Trystan Merrick »

Elleth wrote:From memory -

Within Middle Earth of the late Third Age specifically, I think it's fairly clear their primary role is something between border patrol and occasional expeditionary force. It's implied their primary foes are creatures of Sauron, but given how brigandage seemed to pick up on the East Road during the War of the Ring, they likely faced more mundane human adversaries as well.

One interesting additional thought Michael Martinez posits is that by maintaining a protective role over the peoples of Eriador, they also maintain the legitimacy of the line of Isildur over the former realms of Arnor.

http://middle-earth.xenite.org/of-thegn ... nd-things/

Speaking of "rangers" more generally, I think the common thread is smaller-scale military and/or law enforcement operations, typically in wilderness areas, typically detached from regular command and supply lines.
While not necessarily "general do-gooder" I imagine in the smaller communities of medieval fantasy generally there's some degree of "Sheriff Andy Griffith" overlap of responsibilities.
Ok this makes sense. It's also a really cool idea, being a part of a community. I always hated the edgy rangers in RPGs that are always like "oh I'm so different I like trees and animals more than people. I feel so weird in towns I sleep in trees rather than inns." xD Not to say rangers don't feel comfortable in the woods, they surely do. I just feel like they'd have to fit into society in some way.
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Re: Duties of a ranger

Post by Greg »

The trick is to get past the idea that a Ranger is a "character class", which comes with a set of skills or stats. 'Ranger' in the Tolkien legendarium is, rather, the term given the wandering descendants of Numenor in Eriador circa 3rd Age Middle-earth by the Bree-folk, not knowing what else to call them. It was close to (but not quite) an insult. It was a label developed from a lack of understanding and a certain level of ignorance. Ranger, then, is not a character class, but rather an occupation that takes up enough of one's time to be considered a career without the perks of monetary pay. The job description/duties, then, once we get past the 'What is', is what Aragorn said at the Council of Elrond, which Taurinor quoted above.

The habits of Rangers, I might argue, are more worth noting than a list of 'duties', because they show us what was done, rather than what was 'expected'. For instance, the mention of storytelling, which tells us that they were people just like everyone else...just misunderstood and accepted cautiously.
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Re: Duties of a ranger

Post by Taurinor »

Greg wrote:'Ranger' in the Tolkien legendarium is, rather, the term given the wandering descendants of Numenor in Eriador circa 3rd Age Middle-earth by the Bree-folk, not knowing what else to call them. It was close to (but not quite) an insult. It was a label developed from a lack of understanding and a certain level of ignorance.
Greg wrote:The habits of Rangers, I might argue, are more worth noting than a list of 'duties', because they show us what was done, rather than what was 'expected'. For instance, the mention of storytelling, which tells us that they were people just like everyone else...just misunderstood and accepted cautiously.
If not an insult, I think the term is definitely a form of "othering", highlighting the strangeness of a (seemingly) totally nomadic people to a small agrarian society. There has been a fair amount of discussion here about the necessity of homesteads and the like to support the Rangers, but the Bree-folk don't seem to have any knowledge of those.
The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, Chapter 9: At the Sign of the Prancing Pony wrote:In those days no other Men had settled dwellings so far west, or within a hundred leagues of the Shire. But in the wild lands beyond Bree there were mysterious wanderers. The Bree-folk called them Rangers, and knew nothing of their origin. They were taller and darker than the Men of Bree and were believed to have strange powers of sight and hearing, and to understand the languages of beasts and birds. They roamed at will southwards, and eastwards even as far as the Misty Mountains; but they were now few and rarely seen. When they appeared they brought news from afar, and told strange forgotten tales which were eagerly listened to; but the Bree-folk did not make friends of them.
I think some of the names Bree-folk call Aragorn, such as "Strider" and "Longshanks", are meant as insults, and based on what he says at the Council of Elrond, he seems to take them as such. For all he says that the Dúnedain would have it no other way, I felt like there was a little bit of bitterness (or even contempt) in what he was saying, and his kinsmen might feel the same way. Just my interpretation, though, of course!
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Re: Duties of a ranger

Post by Trystan Merrick »

Greg wrote:The trick is to get past the idea that a Ranger is a "character class", which comes with a set of skills or stats. 'Ranger' in the Tolkien legendarium is, rather, the term given the wandering descendants of Numenor in Eriador circa 3rd Age Middle-earth by the Bree-folk, not knowing what else to call them. It was close to (but not quite) an insult. It was a label developed from a lack of understanding and a certain level of ignorance. Ranger, then, is not a character class, but rather an occupation that takes up enough of one's time to be considered a career without the perks of monetary pay. The job description/duties, then, once we get past the 'What is', is what Aragorn said at the Council of Elrond, which Taurinor quoted above.

The habits of Rangers, I might argue, are more worth noting than a list of 'duties', because they show us what was done, rather than what was 'expected'. For instance, the mention of storytelling, which tells us that they were people just like everyone else...just misunderstood and accepted cautiously.

I think you said it perfectly. The concept of a character class is at the root of all problems associated with these discussions. What a "wizard" does or whatever can lead to generalizing a wizard, ranger or what have you. I can see people from many walks of life turning to the ranger lifestyle.
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Re: Duties of a ranger

Post by Kortoso »

It's an interesting question. Since we are generally engaged in a realistic look at the Ranger culture in (mostly) LOTR, it makes sense to wonder what duties a Ranger would have.

"Defending the world against evil for little or no pay, with inevitable privation and a probable violent death": with a charter like this, I doubt if you could find anyone to sign up for this nowadays. :mrgreen:

Pirates, Vikings, mountain men, these groups ("job descriptions" rather than ethnicities, BTW) were mostly motivated by some dream of great wealth, sometimes well-founded, sometimes not.

Other groups such as the Templars, were driven by some sort of devotion to a cause, but had more well-formed leadership structures than the Rangers apparently.

From a simple military point of view, patrolling areas of danger, mostly lands frequented by ork-kind, would have been a concrete duty. If serious dangers were found during patrols, however, the Rangers would need to report to a central group in order to marshall greater forces. It's not clear how they would have communicated or assigned responsibilities.
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Re: Duties of a ranger

Post by Taurinor »

Trystan Merrick wrote:
Greg wrote:The trick is to get past the idea that a Ranger is a "character class", which comes with a set of skills or stats. 'Ranger' in the Tolkien legendarium is, rather, the term given the wandering descendants of Numenor in Eriador circa 3rd Age Middle-earth by the Bree-folk, not knowing what else to call them. It was close to (but not quite) an insult. It was a label developed from a lack of understanding and a certain level of ignorance. Ranger, then, is not a character class, but rather an occupation that takes up enough of one's time to be considered a career without the perks of monetary pay. The job description/duties, then, once we get past the 'What is', is what Aragorn said at the Council of Elrond, which Taurinor quoted above.

The habits of Rangers, I might argue, are more worth noting than a list of 'duties', because they show us what was done, rather than what was 'expected'. For instance, the mention of storytelling, which tells us that they were people just like everyone else...just misunderstood and accepted cautiously.
I think you said it perfectly. The concept of a character class is at the root of all problems associated with these discussions. What a "wizard" does or whatever can lead to generalizing a wizard, ranger or what have you. I can see people from many walks of life turning to the ranger lifestyle.
I think the point Greg was trying to make (although I could be wrong, and I don't want to put words in his mouth) was the opposite of that - in the case of Tolkien's Rangers of the North, it was only a very specific group of people who became Rangers. The Rangers of the North were people of a particular lineage fulfilling (or trying to fulfill, in any case) a set of expectations passed down through families. It was a culture that one was born into, not a lifestyle one chose.

"I am a Ranger, like my father before me..." keeps popping into my head :mrgreen:

The Rangers of Ithilien would probably be a somewhat different case, since they appear to be more of a military force. I imagine they are all men of Gondor, and there may be families in which multiple generations have become Rangers, but it seems less cultural than the Rangers of the North.
Kortoso wrote:"Defending the world against evil for little or no pay, with inevitable privation and a probable violent death": with a charter like this, I doubt if you could find anyone to sign up for this nowadays. :mrgreen:
Not to mention no appreciation from the folks you're protecting!
Kortoso wrote:If serious dangers were found during patrols, however, the Rangers would need to report to a central group in order to marshall greater forces. It's not clear how they would have communicated or assigned responsibilities.
Halbarad said that the Grey Company only consisted of 30 Rangers, and that that was all "that could be gathered in haste" (Return of the King, Book V, Chapter 2: The Passing of the Grey Company), so it seems like it was difficult to gather a large fighting force.
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Re: Duties of a ranger

Post by Greg »

Taurinor wrote:For all he says that the Dúnedain would have it no other way, I felt like there was a little bit of bitterness (or even contempt) in what he was saying, and his kinsmen might feel the same way. Just my interpretation, though, of course!
I'll venture to say that you're flat-out correct here, because Aragorn loses his cool at Butterbur over a fairly innocently worded distrust of "that Ranger Strider" as told to Frodo. He basically tells Butterbur to take on the Wraiths himself, calls him fat, and labels him a forgetful idiot, all in one line. There's definitely some pent-up angst there, and its been building for awhile.
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Re: Duties of a ranger

Post by Ringulf »

I agree with Greg and Taurinor on the disposition of Tolkiens Rangers, Especially of the North. The Ithilien Rangers were said to be drawn from the most skilled warriors in the kingdom, men who had proven themselves to be elite. As much as I love and cling to the writings of Tolkien and his vision of what a Ranger is, I tremendously enjoy and believe we can also learn from John Flanagan's Rangers as described in his Ranger's Apprentice series. Here is a parallel Medieval Europe we see the kingdoms in a feudal system and the Rangers have a more concrete and somewhat more common structure. They are still regarded with some mystery and awe by common folk but are part of a Royal Corps of rangers each assigned to a fife and each having an apprentice. there are mentioned other rangers that provide support training and leadership but this pairing and dispersion make the system work. They have certain constabulary obligations as well as being military scouts and at times even undercover spies. They use certain tools, weapons, and clothing and have certain skills and ways of doing things that is very interesting and fits very well with the type of structure I see here in our group. It is certainly an interesting addition to what we look to as a Ranger, along with certain literature about quasi-historical individuals in historical time periods like Robin Hood or Ducksworth in the Black Arrow. My focus is on the way that Tolkiens Rangers are supported by what we know of actual historic peoples and their professions. In The SCA we call the marshals of Archery and Thrown weapons "Rangers" however that does not mean we know anything more about the lifestyle than the use of period weaponry. I am very excited to be made aware of the Forester's Guild that is now becoming an established opportunity within the SCA to do just that, train and teach us the "Ranger" lifestyle. Several members of this forum have been involved in that group and can give additional information on it if requested.
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