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Of Thegns and Kings and Rangers and Things - Page 3

© Michael Martinez

The world exists, grows, and recedes in Tolkien's mind as he writes about it. The long, painful process of working out the geography, races, and history of Middle-earth must be viewed as distinct from the final product. The revisionism Tolkien introduced was a process of clarification, sometimes born of purely non-literary needs, but which optimized the development of the translation and capitalized on the rich depth that preceded it. In short, we can probably figure out a few things about the Rangers simply by looking at the facts we are given. The word itself, ranger, is a good, old-fashioned Middle English word which stems from a French root, which in turn goes back to ancient German, even Anglo-Saxon, roots. Ultimately, it is traceable back to a postulated Indo-European root-word. The modern meaning of the word is not clearly defined. It could denote a specific type of soldier, or merely a wanderer. And Tolkien does say that Aragorn's people were "a wandering folk" who dwelt in the wilds east of Bree. But was that really all he intended the word ranger to convey, or was there more? Actually, we are first introduced to the Rangers in "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony", as Tolkien introduces the reader to Bree: "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 roamed at will southwards, and eastwards even as far as the Misty Mountains; but they were now few and rarely seen." The name Rangers is thus associated with wanderers, but they are never referred to by an Elvish term, such as randiri. That is a curious omission from a story which seeks to marry the Dunedain to Sindarin traditions. Their names are Sindarin (Aragorn, Halbarad, Arathorn) in origin. The names of their kingdoms (Arthedain, Rhudaur, Cardolan) are usually Sindarin. Even their cities (Fornost Erain, Tharbad) are often named in Sindarin. So why are the Rangers not referred to by a Sindarin term, even by the Elven-folk, who seem to name everyone in their own language? And why do most readers believe that Aragorn's people lived some sort of nomadic life? Well, the answer to that last question is found in Appendix A, in the section titled "Of the North-kingdom and the Dunedain". This essay provides the only background information on Aragorn's people that is available to most readers. After the history of Arnor has been related, up through the defeat of Angmar, the essay notes:

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