Is Cervantes the inspiration for the saga of the Lone Ranger? Kemosabe and "Quien no sabe" are very similar.

Question

And they each have a sidekick, Tonto and Sancho. So "Who knows not" travels with "Fool", and an insane old man tilts windmills with a groom.

Answer 1

I doubt that either Fran Striker or George Trendle had ever heard of Cervantes, but Don Quixote and the Lone Ranger were both characters of ideals. The Lone Ranger never killed anyone, was a gentleman and used good grammar. His only family was an older brother who was killed by the Cavendish gang that killed all the other rangers but he. He made the mask out of material from his dead brother's vest. He was now sole heir to his family's silver mine, from where he fashioned his silver bullets. (Pure silver, by the way would be too soft to be a good bullet, unless you're going after werewolves.) The point, which I'm getting to, is that unlike Don Quixote, the Lone Ranger did not forswear life's comforts.
I don't know where this goes as far as answering your question, but a good question it is.

Answer 2

That's really two separate questions.

First, on the Kemosabe thing - it was indirectly a corruption of the Algonquian word for "spy" or "scout," but it was actually taken from the name of a boy's camp. See first reference. And Tonto, when referring to the other half of the duo, was taken to mean "Wild One" or "Untamed," rather than "fool."

Secondly, probably not. The hero/sidekick thing goes back at least to Achilles/Patroclus.

But, according to the new myth, the Green Hornet was either the son or the nephew of the Lone Ranger.