Abstract
LEATHERSTOCKING S ROLE as the hero of the series that bears his name has never been seriously questioned. Despite Professor Henry Nash Smith's discussion of Natty's failure to qualify as a technical hero of romance,' the frontiersman's position continues to be secure. Arvid Schulenberger's comment five years later is illustrative: major unifying element in The Leather-Stocking Tales is the life of a single character, Nathaniel Bumppo, who is the hero of all five under a succession of names...2 (italics mine). Natty as the hero of The Deerslayer and The Pathfinder and symbol of mutability in The Pioneers and The Prairie poses no problems. But for the reader who comes to The Last of the Mohicans without prior conceptions of Natty as series hero, problems do arise. Although there is no falling off of his powers-he is in his prime, his eye is sharp as ever, and his forest skills are fully developed-his role as hero is usurped by Uncas, whose movement to the position of dominance at the novel's conclusion Cooper skilfully develops. Cooper introduces the novel's theme in Chingachgook's reply to Natty's query about the fate of the Mohicans:
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