History Main / HalfRobinHood

[[redirect: KarmicThief ]]

RobinHood stole from the rich and gave to the poor. Some thieves [[JustLikeRobinHood follow his example completely]]. Others only do the first part. This trope is about the latter.

A Half Robin Hood is a thief who steals from a rich person for selfish reasons. What distinguishes a Half Robin Hood from a run-of-the-mill thief is the target. The target will always be wealthy and [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney will]] [[RichBitch usually]] [[UpperClassTwit be]] [[CorruptCorporateExecutive unlikable]]. The target might be a thief himself. Expect stories of how he made his fortune by stealing, scamming or extorting money from poor, middle-class or even sympathetic rich people. Also expect a few KickTheDog moments just to make you really not like this guy. A Half Robin Hood will never steal from those who are poor or honest.

Unscrupulous rich people are widely considered AcceptableTargets in fiction. The Half Robin Hood's actions are "justified" because they're being done to an AssholeVictim. This turns the thieves into heroes for whom the audience can cheer more easily. If the thieves are themselves poor, the story might contain implicit themes of class conflict.
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!!Examples

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[[folder:Literature]]
* At one point, ArtemisFowl chooses to focus his efforts solely on stealing from the wealthy and corrupt. However, he explicitly says he is not aiming to become a RobinHood.
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[[folder:Film]]
* The team from ''OceansEleven'' target two unscrupulous casino owners and a thief.
** In the third movie, they move closer to true RobinHood territory. They steal money from the villain but, instead of keeping it for themselves, they give it to all the casino guests by rigging the games. They later give $11 million to a ButtMonkey character who was a pawn in their scam. Not exactly "stealing from the rich and giving to the poor", but close.
* The film ''TowerHeist'' involves a Wall Street banker being targeted by the workers in his penthouse building.
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[[folder:LiveAction]]
* The crew from {{Hustle}} operates primarily on this. They're are times when they'll pet the job, but they primarily only care about making money for themselves through conning people who earn their ire.
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* The crew from {{Hustle}} operates primarily on this. They'll find a mark who has earned their ire, con them, then take the money for themselves, most of the time.

* The crew from ''Hustle'' operates primarily on this. They'll find a mark who has earned their ire, con them, then take the money for themselves, most of the time.

A HalfRobinHood is a thief who steals from a rich person for selfish reasons. What distinguishes a HalfRobinHood from a run-of-the-mill thief is the target. The target will always be wealthy and [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney will]] [[RichBitch usually]] [[UpperClassTwit be]] [[CorruptCorporateExecutive unlikable]]. The target might be a thief himself. Expect stories of how he made his fortune by stealing, scamming, or extorting money from poor, middle-class, or even sympathetic rich people. Also expect a few KickTheDog moments just to make you really not like this guy. A HalfRobinHood will never steal from those who are poor or honest.

Unscrupulous rich people are widely considered AcceptableTargets in fiction. The HalfRobinHood's actions are "justified" because they're being done to an AssholeVictim. This turns the thieves into heroes that the audience can cheer for more easily. If the thieves are themselves poor, the story might contain implicit themes of class conflict.

** In the third movie, they move closer to true RobinHood territory. steal money from the villain but, instead of keeping it for themselves, they give it to all the casino guests by rigging the games. They later give eleven million dollars to a ButtMonkey character that was a pawn in their scam. Not exactly "stealing from the rich and giving to the poor," but close.

[[/folder]]

A HalfRobinHood is a thief who steals from a rich person but keeps the money for himself. What distinguishes a HalfRobinHood from a run-of-the-mill thief is the target. The target will always be wealthy and [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney will]] [[RichBitch usually]] [[UpperClassTwit be]] [[CorruptCorporateExecutive unlikable]]. The target might be a thief himself. Expect stories of how he made his fortune by stealing, scamming, or extorting money from poor, middle-class, or even sympathetic rich people. Also expect a few KickTheDog moments just to make you really not like this guy. A HalfRobinHood will never steal from those who are poor or honest.

Unscrupulous rich people are widely considered AcceptableTargets in fiction. The HalfRobinHood's actions are "justified" because they're being done to an AssholeVictim. This turns the thieves into heroes that the audience can cheer for more easily. If the thieves are themselves poor, the story might contain implicit themes of class conflict.