Does the nature-protecting Druid have any historical basis?

[NecessaryWeevil]

I'm wondering if the trope of the Protector of Nature (usually a Druid in D&D) actually has any (ancient) historical analogues, or whether it's a projection of our modern sensibilities into a medieval setting? I mean, when most of the continent is covered by vast, dark forests punctuated by the occasional road and little hamlets and home to dangerous wild animals, the idea that chopping down a few trees for your palisade to keep the bears out is going to earn you a lecture by some wandering holy man about the importance of protecting nature seems a little unlikely.

[atemu1234]

There are rangers and druidic religions that could be considered analogous.

[Ogh_the_Second]

The trope is bogus - both the notion of nature as something to be revered, and the notion of the druid as a 'noble (nature-priest) savage', derive from 18th-century Romanticism.

(Also, classic druidism is mainly a thing from the Iron Age, not from the Middle Ages.)

[Anlashok]

Nope. Just the same name because druids apparently did stuff with twigs.

Honestly from what we do know about actual druids, Divine Bard is probably a closer representation than druid.

[Dysart]

Also Druids in general (especially the ones referred to as Celts, another Romanisation) generally acted more like Anti-Paladins from DnD. They constantly made living sacrifices.

Though an arguement could be said that when Rome came to conquer Britain here was the Picts who were quite mad about it and tended to use the natural world they were used to against them and their progressive ways.

EDIT: Oh also, there's nothing noble about turning into a bear and shredding another living creature... that's just primal.

[Dolour]

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[Dysart]

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Except for their weapon names and descriptions.... which all suck. Oh and the armour too, the armour fails mega hard.

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[lsfreak]

From what I know, it doesn't really have historical basis. At a guess, it's an exaggeration (or misunderstanding) of having sacred trees and especially sacred groves. It's pretty common in world religions, but given D&D's European focus I'd guess it's based more off pre-Christian Germanic or Celtic beliefs than, say, Vedic or Shinto. But in reality, the groves are sacred because a particular deity is believed to reside there, or because the type of tree growing there has particular religious importance. There's also animistic beliefs where most of nature is inhabited by spirits deserving reverence, but again the reverence of nature itself seems rather incidental, it's the spirits that are important. And you've also got some of the South Asian beliefs that emphasize extreme non-violence, which if I'm not mistaken comes with an ideal of environmentalism. But none of those really match D&D-style druidism, especially the anti-technology (no metals), anti-civilization bend to them. It really seems more like how Romans would view those strange, uncivilized barbarians in Germania, Gallia, Hispania, and Britannia, and their weird tree-worship.

[Dolour]

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[Solaris]

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Not really.

Clerics are based pretty strongly on Biblical holy men.

Druids were pretty much invented whole cloth from Romanticism and Roman reports of incredibly dubious accuracy.

Fighters are, of course, warriors. Rogues (and their predecessors, thieves) are likewise obvious in their origins.

Paladins are based on the Arthurian knight and Charlemagne.

Monks came from kung-fu movies.

Rangers were based on Aragorn.

Wizards, on the surface, look like they arose from 'occultism'... but in actuality, came from fantasy literature. The similarity is superficial at best.

Elves and dwarves have their genesis in Germanic and Norse mythology. Gnomes come from British mythology (more or less), while halflings are lifted from Tolkien, as were orcs.


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It has the reputation it does because moral panics, xenophobia, and knee-jerk reactionism are a thing. D&D has more in common with Conan, the Bible, and classical mythology than it does occultism and mysticism.

[Dolour]

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[Deadline]

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[Dolour]

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[Deadline]

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[Dolour]

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[Deadline]

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For me, I like the sources that the various things in d&d draw from. Hmm, I think we had a thread on the various D&D monsters and the sources that inspired them. Does anyone have a link to that? If not, I may need to start a thread to talk about it. I find that kind of stuff interesting.

[Telonius]

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For me, I like the sources that the various things in d&d draw from. Hmm, I think we had a thread on the various D&D monsters and the sources that inspired them. Does anyone have a link to that? If not, I may need to start a thread to talk about it. I find that kind of stuff interesting.

Just going from the etymology, "occult" was from Latin, meaning "hidden" or "secret." "Pagan" was also from Latin, "paganus," meaning a person living in a rural district. (I'd translate it as "hick" or "redneck," for the connotation of being uneducated.)

[Haruki-kun]

The Winged Mod: Please do not discuss real-world religion on these boards, even if it is related to Gaming content.

Thread closed.