History Myth / RobinHood

* ''Series/RobynHood'', a 2023 series set in the Canadian town of New Nottingham and featuring an [[RaceLift African-Canadian cast]] (and a GenderFlip for the main character, named Robyn).

Certain early elements of the legend, such as [[PatronSaint Robin's devotion to the Virgin Mary]] and his antipathy to the higher clergy, have largely dropped out, to be replaced by his charity to the poor (probably developed from the early statement that he did no harm to poor farmers, yeomen, knights, or squires) and his opposition to tyranny (likely derived from his opposition -- entirely natural in an {{outlaw}} -- to the local Sheriff). He is the TropeCodifier for much of the ArcherArchetype, especially the [[ForestRanger association with nature]] and the rebellious personality. Many of the [[ImprobableAimingSkills specific feats of archery]] associated with this archetype (most famously, SplittingTheArrow in two) are first seen in Robin Hood legends or [[NewerThanTheyThink modern adaptations]]. He's also known to be [[BowAndSwordInAccord pretty handy with a sword]] and a quarterstaff.

* ArcherArchetype: Robin is the TropeCodifier. Gilbert Whitehand and Clorinda also fit as they're both rather independent excellent bow users with connections to nature.

* EvilCounterpart: Guy of Gisbourne, who like Robin is an ArcherArchetype BowAndSwordInAccord type who may-or-may-not be an outlaw himself, and even his name mirrors Robin's own "Robin of Locksley". He's also oftentimes depicted as [[VillainousCrush being in love with]] Marian too, albeit in his case it's typically a twisted obsession and/or more about what he can gain from marrying her than genuine affection.

* HeroesPreferSwords: {{Downplayed|Trope}}; while Robin Hood is skilled with both [[BowAndSwordInAccord the bow and the sword]], he's more [[ArcherArchetype strongly associated with the former]] than the latter. This is closer to being played straight in film adaptations, due to RuleOfPerception: it's more exciting to see Robin Hood [[{{Flynning}} clash swords]] with his enemies than pick them off with well-aimed shots of the bow.

* GenderFlip: More common than most folklore heroes, but Robin Hood has a tendency to get this treatment in a handful of depictions, likely due to his name being gender-neutral. Sometimes Marian is AdaptedOut or they're made JustFriends, though not always. Unrelated, but some adaptations will due this to various Merry Men, in order to add more women to the narrative.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Ever since it became customary to set the story during the Third Crusades, Kings Richard and his brother John, though some stories have set the tales later and utilised different monarchs.

* LegacyCharacter: Recently, it's became common for Robin to be depicted as this, as a way of either utilising the MultipleChoicePast options from the ballads, explaining the multiple settings, or to explore the idea of someone trying to pick up an existing mantle (quite often, Robin's daughter or another descendant). Some cases, it's Marian herself taking up Robin's name in order to carry on her lover's legacy.

* MarriageBeforeRomance: The old knight generally brings this up to the bride, but she's not having it. She knows what she wants and he's not it and she is not happy that her father found a corrupt clergyman to marry her to the old knight regardless of her wishes or prior engagement.

* MasterArcher: He's a folk hero known specifically for being a Master Archer who [[JustLikeRobinHood robbed the rich and gave to the poor]]. He'd use his bow and arrow to accomplish several impressive feats towards this goal. Many tropes related to archery, such as {{Multishot}} and SplittingTheArrow, originated with him or was popularized by an adaptation of the legend.

* NamedByTheAdaptation: The bride wasn't given a name in the old ballads, and originally neither was her chosen spouse but later ballads named him Alan a Dale. The bride's been given several names by later authors often a variation of Ellen. Pierce Egan the Younger's name for her, Lady Christabel, has also been used in several other adaptations.

** The ballads feature at least two Wills among the outlaws (Scarlet and Stutely). Almost all adaptations invoke this trope by either [[CompositeCharacter combining the two (and usually referring to the result as Will Scarlet)]] or else completely doing away with one of the Wills altogether.

** A few adaptations have Marian be given as a relative of King Richard, usually his niece or cousin, or even just his ward (Richard did actually take in several of his niblings and the kids of his relatives as wards, so there's some precedence here). Others have instead related her to Richard at the Lee, the Knight Robin aided in ''A Gest of Robyn Hode''. In probably the oldest case, one early play gave her as the daughter of Robert Fitzwalter, the baron who led the rebellion against King John in the First Baron's War[[note]]CompositeCharacter is in play with this one; Fitzwalter had a daughter, Matilda, who he claimed was raped by John and it was this that inspired the rebellion, and Marian is sometimes said to have originally been called Matilda until she left her noble life behind to join Robin in the Greenwood and changed her name[[/note]].
* RunawayBride: The bride's father usually has her well watched by guards so that she can't accomplish this on her own, meaning the Merry Men rescue her at the ceremony itself. Some adaptations of her story let her escape earlier to her desired fiance, but in all she chooses to forgo the comforts of her station as nobility to live with the man she loves in the greenwood.

** Guy Of Gisbourne is killed by Robin in the only ballad that mentions him by name, as he does in most other adaptations, but in Series/RobinOfSherwood, he actually manages to survive the entire show’s run, as does the Sheriff, who is also killed in most the ballads. The Sheriff also survives the entire run of Series/RobinHood. However, these survivals probably have more to do with the fact that both the shows were suddenly cancelled, rather than what the writers actually had planned for the characters in subsequent series.

* WarriorMonk: The curtail friar, who is often combined with Friar Tuck in modern adaptations, is an excellent swordsman.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: Early on, Robin did this to everyone. In fact, the only supporting character who's origin story ''isn't'' based on Robin getting into a fight with them first was Will Scarlet (as he was Robin's nephew/cousin), while Little John, Friar Tuck, and even Maid Marian have stories of them fighting Robin. Unusual for the protagonist, Robin is usually the ''loser'' in these bouts.
* {{Demythification}}: Has happened a few times, though the ballads themselves were rarely particularly unrealistic that there's little to "de-mythificate". Some mythologists have actually proposed the idea that the ballads themselves were this, and that Robin Hood the figure actually began life as a Pagan figure[[note]]this is actually quite common, as a number of legendary heroes in Irish, Gaelic, and Welsh mythologies were originally venerated as deities, but became merely humans of epic badassery as time went on to avoid conflict/erasure by Christians[[/note]]. Maid Marian herself is definitely a case; before being linked to Robin, she was originally the May Queen in May Day festivities, which descend from Pagan worship of a maiden goddess; when this became linked with Robin Hood, she morphed from a goddess into "merely" a noble woman.
* DisguisedInDrag: Robin dresses as an old woman once to escape from a situation where he was vastly outnumbered by the Sheriff's men. Marian disguised herself as a pageboy to meet with Robin, in one of her more famous ballad appearances.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Besides having an unidentified, but most likely to be Edward II as his monarch, Robin was a native of Yorkshire rather than Nottingham[[note]]though, he does go to Nottingham in the oldest surviving ballad[[/note]] and Little John's real name was Reynold Grenlefe, rather than John Little. Also originally, Robin was a yeoman (essentially, a freeman commoner) and Maid Marian was nowhere to be found; later stories added the idea of him being exiled nobility.

* ActionGirl: Marian and Clorinda were both action girls, with Marian being able to disguise herself as a page and match Robin in a sword fight and Clorinda being able to pull of impressive feats with a bow. Both women are thought to have originated as the nameless May Queen or Queen of the Shepherds, and in Clorinda's only ballad appearance she is specifically stated to be a shepherd. Later adaptations vary widely.
* AdaptedOut: Modern adaptations tend to play loose with the number of the Merry Men, with the band sometimes being limited to just the named members instead of having [[MenOfSherwood a small army]]. Sometimes it's even smaller, with only a handful remaining, sometimes even to the point the band are just Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck, and Maid Marian (the latter two possibly not even being members). Possibly justified as, outside of those four plus Will Scarlet (and/or Stutely), Much the Miller's Son, and Allan-a-Dale, the others were largely just unnamed extras or one-off figures who never got more than a name and some base characterisation.

* Also in 1972, a FrancoBelgianComics parody titled ''Robin Dubois'' was released and is an ongoing series. Here, Robin is an outlaw that rob travelers, but doesn't give money to the poor. The sheriff, named, Fritz Alwill, [[ButtMonkey is the frequent victim of many gags]], but is otherwise a decent fellow. Robin is friends with the sheriff, [[WithFriendsLikeThese although that doesn't stop him from robbing him blind several times]].

* ''Maid Marian'', a comic strip which appeared in the British girls' comic ''ComicBook/{{Bunty}}'' circa 1977 to 1983, made Marian the leader of the Merry Men as Robin had left to pepare for King Richard's return.

* ''Franchise/TheMuppets'' again in the 1980 book ''Robin Hood: A High-Spirited Tale of Adventure starring Jim Henson's Muppets''. Miss Piggy gets to be Maid Marion this time, but the rest of the main cast is much the same.

* Also from 2006 is Stephen R Lawhead's ''Raven King'' trilogy (Hood; Scarlett; Tuck), [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace a retelling of the Robin Hood story... IN WALES.]]

** Stephen R. Lawhead's ''King Raven'' novel trilogy similarly sets the story post-Conquest, though in this telling Robin and his followers are Welsh due to the setting specifically being the Norman invasion of Wales during William II's reign ("Robin" being a corruption of "Rhi Bran", supposedly Welsh for "King Raven", though since Robin's actual name is Bran then it should be "Bran Rhi").

Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw first alluded to in William Langland's [[TheHighMiddleAges fourteenth century]] poem ''Piers Plowman'', though the reference indicates he existed much earlier in oral tradition. The oldest surviving ballads featuring him all date from a century or so later; the Literature/ChildBallads include an entire book solely of Robin Hood ballads.

It is unclear when Robin Hood first emerged as a character in folklore. The earliest ballad to give any sort of indication of a date (the ''Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode'') is set during the reign of a quasi-mythical "Edward, our comely [''i.e.'', handsome] king." Three kings named Edward ruled England between 899 and 1066, and another three in succession from 1272 to 1377 (allusions to the Robin Hood legends started appearing in other works, such as court documents and ''Piers Plowman'' during this second period), but none of these were ever known as "the Comely" -- which is, in any event, a wholly conventional epithet not firmly attached to any historical figure. Another, later ballad names a King Henry and Queen Katherine (Henry V's queen was Catherine/Katherine (the spelling wasn't standardized at this point) of Valois, but no other King Henry had a queen named Katherine until UsefulNotes/HenryVIII); still others leave the monarch wholly anonymous. As such, there is no exact consensus on when the myth first came about, though most modern scholars place it somewhere between 1270 and 1350.

The possible inspirations for the myth are equally varied and unclear. While there ''is'' limited evidence that he may have been a historical figure, or at least named after one, the modern consensus is that he is a distillation of multiple figures -- historical ''and'' mythical -- from the early 2nd millennium. One of the most prominent is Hereward the Wake, a historical but somewhat mythologized individual dating back to the 11th century and the Norman conquest of England. While records of his life are limited and somewhat contradictory, it is generally held that he was an Anglo-Saxon noble who was exiled to Europe by King [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWessex Edward the Confessor]] some time before the Norman invasion. He eventually returned to England a few years after the invasion, and joined in a popular revolt against [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy William the Conqueror]] (a RoaringRampageOfRevenge for his murdered brother, according to legend) before escaping into the woods to live as an outlaw. In contrast, one late [=19th=] / early [=20th=] century theory held that Robin's legend is a remnant of pre-Christian pagan belief in some form of nature spirit, "Robin Wood" the "Spirit of the Forest". Nowadays this theory is not very favored in historic and folklorist circles, although it remains influential in more mystical retellings.

* In 1521, Scottish historian John Major published his ''Historia Majoris Brittaniae'', the first version of the legend to assign Robin Hood to the time of UsefulNotes/RichardTheLionHeart; Major also suggested that Robin not only avoided robbing the poor, "[[JustLikeRobinHood but rather enriched them from the plunder taken from the abbots.]]"

* PetTheDog: What stopped Robin from merely being a VillainProtagonist doling out KickTheSonOfABitch against corrupt law enforcement was how he treated the poor. Even before the "give to the poor" aspect of his character was codified, he outlined early on he never robbed from those who couldn't afford to be robbed, and if he stopped someone who was down on their luck, he'd happily give them what they needed to get back on their feet.

* '''The Saracen''' or '''Moor'''. In recent years, an Arab or African character -- FishOutOfWater as they might be, being (at least implied) Muslim in England during the Crusades -- has begun to show up as a member of the Merry Men. The Saracen Nasir in ''Series/RobinOfSherwood'' was the first, followed by the Moor Azeem (Creator/MorganFreeman) in ''Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves'' (reportedly because the writer watched ''Robin of Sherwood'' instead of doing proper research and thought Nasir was a traditional character), the Moor Kemal in the [[Series/XenaWarriorPrincess Xenariffic]] ''Series/TheNewAdventuresOfRobinHood'', and Djaq, a Saracen ''woman'' character (played by relative newcomer Anjali Jay) in [[Series/RobinHood the 2006 UK series]], and most recently being [[CompositeCharacter combined]] with Little John as a Moor named Yahya, Arabic for "John" (played by Creator/JamieFoxx) in the 2018 ''[[Film/RobinHood2018 Robin Hood]]'' film. This addition was spoofed (along with just about everything else Robin-related) in the Creator/MelBrooks film ''Film/RobinHoodMenInTights'' (with Creator/DaveChappelle as Achoo), and in the series ''Series/MaidMarianAndHerMerryMen'' which has a ''Rastafarian'' Merry Man[[note]]For those who don't get just how whacky this is, [[AnachronismStew Rastafarianism didn't even exist until the twentieth century]][[/note]].

* In 2013, the AnimatedSeries ''WesternAnimation/RobinHoodMischiefInSherwood''.

** Characterizing Maid Marion more as an ActionGirl than a DistressedDamsel.

* BreakoutVillain: Guy of Gisbourne; he only appeared initially in one ballad, where he's killed at the end. Subsequent retellings and adaptations have given him a much larger role, often as the sidekick of the Sheriff or an independant villain, and sometimes as Robin's more personal arch enemy. Part of this can be explained by the fact he's Robin's EvilCounterpart, which is such a cool concept that it writes itself, though oftentimes it's simply to add a named henchman or flesh out the villains side, or to be the villain with the most personal connection to Marian.

* {{Chickification}}: Marian suffered this, going from being an independant entity and firmly a badass who could hold her own against Robin in a fight, to becoming (over time) more commonly depicted as a DamselInDistress. Sometime during the late 20th century, feminist readings lead to a pushback to restore her warrior lady credentials.

Whatever the case, most modern retellings have settled on the [[UsefulNotes/TheCrusades Third Crusade]] as the [[TheHighMiddleAges time frame]] for the stories, thanks to his portrayal as “Locksley” in Sir Creator/WalterScott’s ''Literature/{{Ivanhoe}}'', widely considered the most influential depiction of the character. It is worth noting, though, that Scott's work ''also'' popularized the use of the conflict between the Anglo-Saxons and Normans in the legend, [[AnachronismStew which had more or less ended by the Third Crusade,]] so take your pick.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: Guy Of Gisbourne is killed by Robin in the only ballad that mentions him by name, as he does in most other adaptations, but in Series/RobinOfSherwood, he actually manages to survive the entire show’s run, as does the Sheriff, who is also killed in most the ballads. The Sheriff also survives the entire run of Series/RobinHood. However, these survivals probably have more to do with the fact that both the shows were suddenly cancelled, rather than what the writers actually had planned for the characters in subsequent series.

* SparedByAdaptation: Guy Of Gisbourne is killed by Robin in the only ballad that mentions him by name, as he does in most other adaptations, but in Series/RobinOfSherwood, he actually manages to survive the entire show’s run, as does the Sheriff, who is also killed in most the ballads. The Sheriff also survives the entire run of Series/RobinHood. However, these survivals probably have more to do with the fact that both the shows were suddenly cancelled, rather than what the writers actually had planned for the characters in subsequent series.