#pretty confident this is the answer

That click when you finally realize that the classic D&D party isn’t based on the Fellowship of the Ring, it’s based on Robin Hood and his Merry Men.

People point to the Fellowship all the time as the archetypal D&D party but it really, really doesn’t fit. They’re all princes, well-educated landed gentry, and one literal angel, except for Sam who is very clearly marked as working/servant-class even as Tolkien interrogates the value typically assigned to that social status. There’s nothing accidental about the membership except in a very clear Divine Providence way. Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Boromir, and Gandalf are all experienced warriors and travelers; this is basically an escort mission centered on Frodo and the Ring, with everyone else as either psychological or combat support. There’s nothing rag-tag about them; they begin the journey well-supplied and are regularly resupplied by the governments they encounter.

Meanwhile, Robin Hood! We’ve got our chaotic good hero of secretly noble birth, the bard, the cleric, the bruiser, Maid Marian fills in as The Girl, they all have various escapades and adventures. They’re a ragtag band who meet by chance with no particular significance to their association. They live on the margins of society, making a living off theft and poaching. Depending on characterization and storytelling choices, they can be anywhere from the murder-hobo type party to politically involved revolutionaries.

And Robin Hood has a much longer history in pop culture! I really think this is one of those misattributions like the way a lot of pulp fiction tropes get attached to Tolkien’s work even though it doesn’t actually fit, because people aren’t familiar with the actual source material.