Having played enough D&D 5e and having lurked in enough internet spaces where people discuss the game, I can tell you that human fighters are statistically the most commonly occurring characters in D&D 5e (according to some old, published data from D&D Beyond here and here), but also the most criticized as being really basic, simple, or vanilla.
I take issue with this criticism. The fighter is not basic. It's a blank slate.
The Classic D&D Fighter
Classes in classic D&D determined your playstyle and your role in the party. Classic D&D did not balance the classes so that everyone was equally valuable in every situation. If you wanted to excel in combat, you picked fighter. No one else had as much HP, could hit as well, could get their AC as high, or use magic swords.
Fighters were the all-star in combat. Everyone else was back-up. Modern D&D powered everyone else up. The fighter doesn't stand out anymore. They lost their niche a hardest to hurt and hardest hitting to the Barbarian.
Every Culture has its own Fighter
The word fighter means one who fights. That's it. It's intentionally vague. It doesn't prescribe what kind of fighter you are; it just describes you as a fighter. It's up to you how you want to flavor your fighter within the setting. Are you an Amazon warrior, a Roman Legionnaire, a Samurai, a Knight?
What is a kung fu practitioner or a shaolin monk, what D&D effectively calls a Monk, but the fighter of its own culture? What is a Barbarian but a fighter from a technologically underdeveloped culture? What is a Paladin but a religious fighter? What is a Ranger but a fighter who traded heavy armor for outdoor survival skills?
If you're not sold, Barbarian, Paladin, and Ranger began conceptually as sub-classes of fighter. Barbarian appeared in issue 63 (1982) of Dragon magazine published by TSR. The Paladin first appeared in Supplement I: Greyhawk (1975). The ranger first appeared in a newsletter called Strategic Review (1975), published by TSR. All specifically as fighter sub-classes.
Fighter means fighter. Whatever your cultures' concept of a fighter is, that's what your variety of fighter is. You are your culture's warrior class. That's all. Sub-classes rather than separate, distinct classes, are a great way to capture that flavor and mechanical variety.
Military or Warrior Class
If you're a fighter, how do you fit into the setting? The easiest way to insert you into the world as a fighter in a way that makes sense is to decide that you are somehow a part of your culture's military or warrior class. This is easily done as many cultures have required men of fighting age to be able to fight. Where you a militiaman? Were you a soldier? Where you a conscript? Where you a knight? Did you become a mercenary when your service was done?
Lots of men went into military service, either as a rite of passage, societal duty, or by force.
Very rarely did some farm boy pick up a sword for the first time and go slay some monsters as some fiction will depict (Lunar the Silver Star anyone?).
The Fighter's Place in Society
Defending the homeland has always a need of civilization regardless of the size or scale of the home. This was the job of the soldier or warrior. Chances are that veterans are seen as protectors, valiant, strong, tough, and tested. They put themselves in danger for everyone else. They are typically worthy of some amount of respect, and they probably had a few inspiring stories to tell that each matched a mark on their body.
Fighters are the heroes of society whose deeds are rarely witnessed by the people they love, and some of those deeds come with aches and pains and nightmares that never go away. This is why they are respected.
When a Fighter Turns Rebellious
Deserters and traitors are what first come to mind when you think of a rebellious fighter. Deserters are the ones who ran. Traitors are the ones who sold out their homeland or their fellows for some reward, or to avoid pain. These are bad, but what happens when fighters turn their sword arms on the people in their own homeland?
A brigand is a soldier who came home, found it unrecognizable, banded with others like him, and they turned their violence onto the innocent. A dark knight is a knight lost his lord and so he painted his armor black and began to work for himself. The same goes for a ronin. These men are dangerous because they don't have the mentality to stop themselves, and their skill with arms and experience means they can't be put down except by seasoned soldiers.
Invaders are most likely to be fighters.
In fiction, we also like to romanticize a fighter who turns evil and comes back to punish society for stealing his life and deciding his fate. Maybe this is an evil paladin or a Sith warlord, or an ordinary man who became extraordinary through his trials and sheer willpower.
These are all fighters.
The Difference Between Fighters and Normal Men
Fighters are all men who have been initiated into a new world of violence. The reasons might not always be the same but are always justified to someone. Maybe you needed to eat. Maybe you needed to serve society whether you wanted to or not. Maybe you're rather join Gangis Khan's army than be slaughtered. Any reason is justifiable to someone who wants to be able to sleep at night. Even the ones with the most justifiable reasons may still struggle to get a wink.
Fighters are the ones who carry the mental and physical wounds of society for the greater good of society. Whether it catches up with all of them or not is uncertain. What makes the wounds worth enduring? Is does the individual glory? Is it the salvation, fortune, security, or prosperity you earn for yourself or others?
Some fighters fight for duty, some don't. Either way, I think what defines the fighter is resilience. Every soldier I've ever met has this one quality. They've gone through the initiation, and they've come out tougher. They know that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. They've taken wounds and they recovered. They've lost brothers and they've mourned. They've taken life and reconciled it.
The fighter isn't defined by weapon mastery or their cool armor. They're defined by this intangible thing: resilience. You are the one who gets back up.
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