Nathaniel "Natty" Bumppo is a fictional character and the protagonist of James Fenimore Cooper's pentalogy of novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales. He appears throughout the series as an archetypal American ranger, and has been portrayed many times in a variety of media in popular culture.
Fictional biography
Natty Bumppo, the child of white parents, grew up among Delaware Indians and was educated by Moravian Christians.[1][2] In adulthood, he is a near-fearless warrior skilled in many weapons, chiefly the long rifle. He is most often shown alongside his Mohican foster brother Chingachgook and nephew Uncas.
The tales recount significant events in Natty Bumppo's life from 1740 to 1806.[3]
Aliases
Before his appearance in The Deerslayer, Bumppo went by the aliases "Straight-Tongue", "The Pigeon", and the "Lap-Ear". After obtaining his first rifle, he gained the sobriquet "Deerslayer". He is subsequently known as "Hawkeye" and "La Longue Carabine" in The Last of the Mohicans, as "Pathfinder" in The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea, as "Leatherstocking" (from which the series' title is drawn) in The Pioneers, and as "the trapper" in The Prairie.
Illustration from 1896 edition of The Last of the Mohicans, by F.T. Merrill. The drawing occurs when Hawk-eye attacks Magua in the cave where Alice is held captive.
Day-Lewis received a BAFTA Film Award nomination for Best Actor in 1993, won an Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor in 1993, and won an ALFS Award for British Actor of the Year in 1993 for his interpretation of the character. For the 1992 film, director Michael Mann changed the character's name to Nathaniel Poe, fearing audiences would laugh at "Natty Bumppo".[4] The character is also portrayed as the adopted son of Chingachgook and brother of Uncas.
Bumppo is known as Dan'l "Hawkeye" Bonner in Sara Donati's novel series, beginning with Into the Wilderness, meant as a sequel to The Leatherstocking books. The series centers on Hawkeye and Cora's son, Nathaniel Bonner.
Bumppo is featured in the comic book series Jack of Fables, both in name and as "Hawkeye", along with Slue-Foot Sue (Pecos Bill's first wife).
Bumppo is referred to in the graphic novel series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as being part of the 18th-century incarnation of the league.
Near the end of Mississippi Jack, the fifth in the best-selling Bloody Jack series of female adventures by L.A. Meyer, an adopted white Shawnee called Lightfoot, a rifleman who always travels with his native Shawnee "brother", reveals his white surname to be "Bumpus" in an obvious tribute to Cooper's Natty Bumppo. Thinly veiled or unveiled characters from the history and culture of the time of the Leatherstocking novels is a repeating feature of the Bloody Jack book series.
The Marvel Comics character Hawkeye takes his name from Natty Bumppo, whom he portrayed during his time as a carnival marksman before becoming a superhero.
The character Gus Brannhard adopts a Fuzzy and names him Natty Bumppo in H. Beam Piper's novel Fuzzies and Other People (ISBN0-441-26176-0).
Song of the Mohicans, written by Paul Block (Bantam Books, 1985, ISBN978-0553565584), is a direct sequel to The Last of the Mohicans. Taking up the story a few days after Uncas' death and burial, it recounts the adventures of Hawkeye and Chingachgook as they travel north to discover the connection between an Oneida brave and the Mohican tribe, and whether a sachem truly holds the key to the ultimate fate of the Mohicans.
Natty Bumppo is featured in the Marvel comic Deadpool Killustrated, as part of a group of time-traveling heroes (Beowulf, Hua Mulan, and Sherlock Holmes and his partner Dr. Watson), intent on stopping Deadpool from killing all literary characters.
Tinker, a major character in Amor Towles' novel, Rules of Civility, wants to be Natty Bumppo for the day.
There is an intelligent dog named Natty Bumppo in John Brunner's novel "Shockwave Rider".
Natty Bumppo, referred to as “Nasty” Bumppo, makes an appearance in Thomas King’s 1993 novel Green Grass, Running Water, in a scene in which he sets out to kill Old Woman, whom he calls “Chingachgook.”
The Lederstrumpfbrunnen (Leatherstocking fountain) in Edenkoben (Germany) contains a life-sized statue of Natty Bumppo
The British sculptor Thomas Nicholls designed a wooden sculpture of Natty Bumppo as part of an ensemble of six figures of American literature. The ensemble belongs to the interior design of Two Temple Place, London.[6]
Media
In Total War: Warhammer II the Skaven unit roster features a specialty unit named Natty Buboe’s Sharpshooters, who utilize long rifles to fire projectiles at an exceptionally long range. This unit also appeared on the tabletop in Warhammer Armies: Skaven (7th Edition).
↑James Fenimore Cooper Society's online plot summaries of the chronologically first (The Deerslayer) and last (The Prairie) novels, indicating the initial and final years of the Leatherstocking saga.
