Rangers - Definition and Overview

In general, a ranger is a keeper, guardian, or soldier that ranges over a region to protect the area or enforce law. See park ranger.

The mystique of the ranger has been harnessed for military, sports and governmental uses as well as appearing elsewhere in fiction. The Ranger program, for example, was a series of NASA unmanned space missions.

As used in J.R.R. Tolkien's fiction, a ranger is a guardian of the land who travels within the wilderness. This fictional motif was revisited by various fantasy roleplaying games.

See: Wiktionary - entry on 'ranger'.

Military

• The Queen's York Rangers (1st American Regiment) (RCAC)
• The Rocky Mountain Rangers
• Canadian Rangers
• US Army Ranger
• Royal Irish Rangers
• Irish Army Ranger Wing
• Pakistan Rangers

Sports

• Texas Rangers - Major League Baseball team
• New York Rangers - American ice hockey team
• Berwick Rangers - English-based Scottish League football team
• Rangers - Scottish football team
• Queens Park Rangers - English football team

Fictional Rangers

• Aragorn - from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
• Lone Ranger - fictional TV series
• Walker, Texas Ranger
• Role-Playing Game Ranger - Character class of Role-Playing Games like Dungeons & Dragons and Everquest (including Drizzt Do'Urden and the goddess Mielikki).
• In the Babylon 5 universe, The Rangers are a class of warriors founded by the Minbari to eventually play a key role in the Shadow War.

Government

• Texas Ranger Law Enforcement Body
• Arizona Rangers
• Park ranger

Science

• The Ranger program of NASA unmanned space missions to the Moon.

Related Topics

• List of character classes in Role-Playing Games
• Rangers of the North (Rangers from J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction.)