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| 3 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks! |
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| 8 | %% Image selected via crowner in the Image Suggestion thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/ImagePickin/ImageSuggestions72 |
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| 11 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pg11461_1024x1024.png]] |
| 12 | |
| 13 | -> '''Monsieur Hood:''' I steal from the rich, and give to the needy!\ |
| 14 | '''Merry Man:''' He takes a wee percentage--\ |
| 15 | '''Monsieur Hood:''' But I'm not greedy! |
| 16 | -->-- ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'' |
| 17 | |
| 18 | In essence, a thief or other kind of criminal, usually of the [[GentlemanThief gentleman kind]], who targets people who [[PayEvilUntoEvil probably deserve it]] in order to help the downtrodden. Myth/RobinHood, is, of course, the {{Trope Namer|s}} and in his original stories actually not a strong example, robbing mainly from the governing elite, but not [[KarmicThief necessarily]] for charity. Sociologists have noted that these characters tend to [[RealitySubtext enjoy their greatest popularity during times of economic recession or (especially) depression]]. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | Depending on the writer, this kind of character can be anything from a hero to an AntiHero to an AntiVillain, but they are rarely ever portrayed as outright villains. Academic texts sometimes use the term "Social Bandit" to describe these kinds of characters. Usually ChaoticGood. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | Can also be used more generally to describe a mysterious or eccentric character who is unmistakably a foe of tyranny and a (usually superficial) friend to ordinary folk, especially if large doses of ThinkNothingOfIt are present. A common trait of the Depression-era ProtoSuperhero. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | Sister trope of StealingFromThieves where the targets are thieves instead of rich people. Compare and contrast KarmicThief, who similarly targets oppressors but neglects the whole "give to the poor" bit. Might be the aftermath of HitThemInThePocketbook. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | See LovableRogue, GentlemanThief, JerkWithAHeartOfGold, HonorAmongThieves, NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters, ScoundrelCode, AntiHero, RobinHoodlum. See also InvoluntaryCharityDonation. Bonus points if the character is also an AloofArcher and/or MasterArcher. |
| 27 | ---- |
| 28 | !!Examples: |
| 29 | |
| 30 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 31 | |
| 32 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 33 | * ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'': Isaac and Miria philosophize away their thefts by stealing from the mafia, or from those that they feel money is causing more harm to than good. |
| 34 | * In ''Manga/TheDaughterOfTwentyFaces'', the GentlemanThief Twenty Faces is portrayed to some degree like this, although the primary motive for his actions is to set right the wrongs caused by war, such as recovering national treasures that were looted. |
| 35 | * ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'': A cat burglar claims to do this. [[spoiler:Her real motivation is more complicated. Her goal isn't so much to save the poor but to give her dying city publicity.]] |
| 36 | * ''Manga/GreatTransporterRyuji'', a spinoff of ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka'', has a teenage girl named Mimon Ishikawa, who claims to be a descendant of Ishikawa Goemon, sometimes considered the Japanese equivalent of Robin Hood. She only robs corrupt officials and companies (or gangsters), and gives the money back to the people it was stolen from, or to hospitals. |
| 37 | * ''Manga/KaitouSaintTail'' does a variation of this in that the titular PhantomThief strictly only uses her "heists" to help desperate people with problems that she knows the legal system is unlikely to address, mainly through tips she receives from [[NunTooHoly a nun violating confessional secrets]]. Most of her thefts involve taking illegitimately obtained items and returning them to their proper owners, but some of them are her "[[ExactWords taking]]" things in ways that expose fraud or prevent many an EvilPlan. Notably, the series doesn't take a purely optimistic stance on this: the high amount of secrecy involved with the job means she can't form any meaningful connections with anyone she helps, so the degree she can actually help people is limited, and the SecretIdentityIdentity problem ends up poisoning her (already low) sense of self-worth. |
| 38 | * ''Manga/{{Kurosagi}}'': Kurosaki swindles money from other swindlers and gives it back to whomever they stole it from. He does, however, make a point to note he is not a social bandit nor does he care to do it for justice. |
| 39 | * ''Franchise/LupinIII'': Social Banditry isn't really Lupin's shtick, but he is willing to make the occasional exception. [[Recap/LupinIIIS2E155 The last episode]] in the ''Anime/LupinIIIPartII'' series features Lupin planning to give the jewels back "less a small service charge", claiming the thefts are actually being done to showcase the robots that the Ministry of Defense ordered to be created. |
| 40 | * ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': In the very early days of heroes, decades before the series takes place, there was a villain named Oji Harima, the Peerless Thief, who robbed from corrupt and selfish heroes and redistributed his goods to the people on the streets. In the modern day, he's considered one of the greatest villains to ever live. [[spoiler:His descendant, Mr. Compress, seems to feel he's carrying on that legacy by joining the [[CarnivalOfKillers League Of Villains]] to challenge modern-day hero society.]]. |
| 41 | * ''Anime/QueensBlade'': Risty robs nobles and gives the gold to orphanages. |
| 42 | %%* ''Manga/SaintSeiya'': Thor, before becoming one of the Ansgard Saints. |
| 43 | * In ''Anime/SoltyRei'', Rose Anderson and her brothers steal to provide medicine and other essential supplies to the cities 'unregisted' people, who legally cannot buy anything. |
| 44 | [[/folder]] |
| 45 | |
| 46 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 47 | * ''ComicBook/AstroCity'': |
| 48 | ** The Mock Turtle gives all of the money he steals, apart from that which he spends on his own maintenance, to help with the "charitable works" of his childhood love Lucia. Too bad she's actually a ManipulativeBitch who uses his naivete and [[GadgeteerGenius intellect]] to build her own criminal empire. |
| 49 | ** Mister Cakewalk, the [[AnthropomorphicPersonification personification of counterculture music,]] first manifests at the start of the twentieth century as a defender of local African-Americans. He stole from the rich and redistributes their wealth to the exploited, protected striking rail workers, and once redirected a parade of {{Rich Bitch}}es through the slums of the city. |
| 50 | * Franchise/TheDCU: |
| 51 | ** ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': |
| 52 | *** In the UsefulNotes/GoldenAgeOfComicBooks, Two-Face, who decides what actions he takes by the flip of a coin, would always rob someone, but if the "good" side of the coin came up he would give the entire haul to a random charity afterwards. |
| 53 | *** The d-lister the Cavalier is sometimes depicted as subverting this; he ''says'' he robs from the rich and gives to the poor, but in reality, he keeps most of the loot and only donates a small amount to make himself look good, and so the poor will act as his informers and defenders. Batman's having none of it and busts him just like any other crook. |
| 54 | *** ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} does this DependingOnTheWriter. She comes from a poor background in most continuities and is often shown looking after her neighbourhood strays. |
| 55 | *** In ''[[{{Elseworld}} Batman: Golden Streets of Gotham]]'', Batman is Bruno Vanekow, a railroad worker whose parents die in a fire similar to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. He dons a bat costume and becomes a self-styled Robin Hood, stealing from the city's [[CorruptCorporateExecutive rich and powerful]] and donating to charity. |
| 56 | *** Oddly enough, the Penguin had this personality (anti-villainous type) in his very first appearance in ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'' (based on ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''). He's extremely arrogant, has a HairTriggerTemper, and complains about being SurroundedByIdiots -- but he's also given the quasi-sympathetic trait of half-scorning, half-envying the richest men in Gotham City, and (with the help of ComicBook/TheJoker) executes a series of clever robberies of the homes and businesses of these plutocrats and then gives most of the money to charities of all kinds, [[VillainWithGoodPublicity making himself a respectable figure in Gotham]] and nearly winning an award for his "altruism". When the award goes to Bruce Wayne instead, the Penguin tries to avenge himself by robbing Wayne Enterprises [[MuggingTheMonster (unaware that Wayne is actually Batman)]], and when his gang is defeated and Batman [[EngineeredPublicConfession tricks him into publicly confessing to his crimes]], the Penguin explains that his motivation for the robberies was partly to win himself some respect and partly to take out his resentment on the "fat cats", whose behavior always "made me sick." We also see the Penguin looking over [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible a pretentious, nearly abstract piece of modern art]] in the lobby of the Wayne building and expressing his contempt for it ("Now, what's this supposed to be? It doesn't even look like anything!"). He tells his {{Mooks}} that, if anything, he's doing society a favor by making sure all that money isn't spent on anything wasteful. |
| 57 | ** ''ComicBook/GreenArrow'' does this DependingOnTheWriter. Of course, Green Arrow also helps the poor through things like governmental power (he's been mayor of his {{Adventure Town|s}}) or business (anti-Big Business multi-millionaire fighter. Irony) and of course fighting crime. |
| 58 | ** ''ComicBook/JonahHex'': Railroad Bill would rob trains and then redistribute the money he stole to those who had been forced off their land by the railroad companies. |
| 59 | * ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': |
| 60 | ** The motivation for Fantomius, a GentlemanThief who Paperinik is a sort-of LegacyCharacter to (his equipment is based on Fantomius' designs, updated from the roaring 20s and he has access to Fantomius' old {{Elaborate Underground Base}}s). This trait is more marked in Danish stories: Italian Paperinik stories, including the one where Paperinik debuted and first mentioned Fantomius, make clear that Fantomius stole from the riches only out of a personal vendetta (as they called him a good for nothing just because of his British nationality, much like Donald Duck became Paperinik due having enough of being called a lazy good for nothing in spite of all his efforts), and as much as he'd give to charity any cash he stole he usually grabbed jewels and other rare and valuable things. |
| 61 | ** In some Danish ''Paperinik'' stories, this is the motivation of immortal ClassyCatBurglar Ireyon, who used to just steal for herself until [[LoveRedeems she fell in love with Fantomius]]. |
| 62 | ** Spoofed in the ''Papernovela'': a parody of the neverending South American soap operas, has a ShowWithinAShow based on the concept of ThrowItIn with Scrooge and relatives playing the characters... And in one episode Gladstone's character appeared as the Masked Avenger, declared that he robs the rich to give to the poor, and robbed Scrooge's character... Only to give him back the money as soon as it's pointed out he's now poor, and then, when it's pointed out he's now rich again, the Masked Avenger decides to ''rob him again''. He'd have likely continued for a while had it not been for [[ItMakesSenseInContext a Beagle Boy disguised as one of the Triplets, only much larger and fatter, not shown up claiming to be the fourth Nephew]]. |
| 63 | * ''ComicBook/{{Harbinger}}'': This is Kris' justification for using mind control powers to rob banks. They have the "rob from the rich" part down, but never quite get around to the part where you give the money away. |
| 64 | * ''ComicBook/LadyRawhide'' does this. She is even specifically compared to Robin Hood in the first issue of the Dynamite mini-series. |
| 65 | * ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'': Parodied with UsefulNotes/JesseJames, who fancies himself the new Robin Hood, but is a bit reluctant about the "giving to the poor" part. His brother Frank has a brilliant idea: Jesse will give everything he steals to him, Frank, who currently is poor; by doing this, Jesse will become poor too, so Frank will give everything back to him, and so on. Robin-Hooding stays in the family. |
| 66 | * ''ComicBook/APeoplesHistoryOfTheAmericanEmpire'' has the real-life example of the Nicaraguan outlaw Augusto Sandino and details his raid on an American owned mine. |
| 67 | * In ''ComicBook/RobynHood'', Robyn briefly indulges in this -- throwing the money she stole from a Wall Street bank to the crowd -- before ultimately deciding that her campaign of revenge is empty and that she needs to find something more worthwhile to do with her life. |
| 68 | * ''ComicBook/SouthPoleSantaClaus'': The titular Claus takes toys from naughty children on Christmas Eve and gives them to good children instead. |
| 69 | [[/folder]] |
| 70 | |
| 71 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 72 | * ''Fanfic/ArrowRebirth'': Oliver, even more so after [[spoiler:he's exposed]]. For further comparisons, Laurel is often called his "Maid Marion" and Police Commissioner Nudocerdo his "Sheriff of Nottingham". Henry even asks if he's going to start wearing a green cap with a feather in it. Oliver ''really'' hates the comparison. |
| 73 | * ''Fanfic/{{Champion}}'': The Seven Sons are a guerrilla movement in District 7 that robs the rich to feed the poor and tries to reconcile the district's warring religious factions. |
| 74 | * ''Fanfic/TheFreeportVenture'': Subverted in ''More Equal Than Others'', where Starlight Glimmer claims to be robbing banks to redistribute wealth in the name of equality but actually keeps 75% of the loot. This overcomes any moral issues Sunset Shimmer might have had over taking her down and bringing her in. |
| 75 | * ''Fanfic/TheVictorsProject'': |
| 76 | ** Some time before the books' timeline, a ring of thieves skim the grain from the top of collected sacks and distribute it to the poor. The Peacekeepers uncover the plot, and as a reward Gloss is sent to attend a banquet in the Head Peacekeeper’s honor. |
| 77 | ** As a pre-adolescent, Dido is constantly stealing food and medicine from well off people. Sometimes it's for herself, other times it's for girls she sits with at school who don't have anything for lunch or her elderly babysitter (who has pneumonia). This is slightly deconstructed, as Antigone claims that it wouldn't have been very difficult for Dido's friends to take out tesserae rations and her babysitter to ask for financial assistance to buy medicine. |
| 78 | * ''Fanfic/ForgingABetterFuture:'' Once again, people keep comparing Oliver to Robin Hood, [[RunningGag and he keeps insisting he's not Robin Hood]]. Taken to extremes during the MobWar arc, when [[spoiler:Trimble, Alex, Clark, Lois, Jimmy and Helena]] are all staying in the bunker and upon denying that he's Robin Hood, everyone can only stare at him increduously. |
| 79 | ** Lois Lane eventually writes an article about Green Arrow, and comments on his obvious Robin Hood similarities and how deep in denial he is over it. |
| 80 | * In the ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' mod ''Race to the Bottom'', Hosea and the Vultures rob NCR supply caravans to distribute the supplies to the poor people of Vegas. While Hosea does consider feeding the hungry a goal in and of itself, he also does so to attract recruits and build goodwill with the people of Vegas, in hopes of rallying them to force the NCR out of Vegas after they beat the Legion at Hoover Dam (or to finish off the Legion if they prevail). |
| 81 | [[/folder]] |
| 82 | |
| 83 | [[folder:Films -- Animated]] |
| 84 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'': The titular character tends to be fairly altruistic in his robberies, keeping what he needs to survive and often using his gains to help others. |
| 85 | ** He gives a pair of kids the bread he stole at the beginning of the original movie. |
| 86 | ** In [[WesternAnimation/AladdinTheReturnOfJafar the second movie]], Al is shown robbing Abis Mal in order to spread the gold and jewels he stole among the people. |
| 87 | ** In [[WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries the series]], this is what takes up a good portion of his spare time. |
| 88 | * ''WesternAnimation/FlushedAway'': Parodied and inverted when Roddy (a rich rat) steals Rita's boat (Rita being a poor rat) after a misunderstanding, causing her younger brother to quip that it's "like Robin Hood in reverse". |
| 89 | * ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'': Robin Hood and his Merry Men appear and, after a big (and quite humorous) musical number explaining his motives, it's clear he sees Shrek as a monster and intends to cut the ogre's heart out in an attempt to impress Princess Fiona. She is not impressed and promptly kicks all their asses with Matrix-esque ease. This trope is subverted in that Robin is something of a jerk who is implied to keep at least a percentage of the money he steals. |
| 90 | * ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDarkApokolipsWar''. Harley Quinn reveals that the Suicide Squad has gone freelance after the death of Amanda Waller, and has been raiding Lex Luthor's trucks to gain their supplies. |
| 91 | -->'''Harley Quinn:''' We're real Robin Hood types. Rob from the rich, sell to the poor!\ |
| 92 | '''Lois Lane:''' Give to the poor.\ |
| 93 | '''Harley Quinn:''' [[EvilCannotComprehendGood Huh?]]\ |
| 94 | '''Captain Boomerang:''' That can't be right... |
| 95 | * In the Swedish Christmas short film ''Sagan om Karl-Bertil Jonssons Julafton'', known in the UK as ''Christopher's Christmas Mission'', (adapted into a feature length live-action movie, ''A Christmas Tale'', in 2021,) Karl-Bertil idolizes Robin Hood and uses his job at the post office to steal gifts meant for the wealthy, then goes around the slums and hands them out to the poor. Since he's giving out random gifts with no knowledge of the contents, the presents rarely fit the receiver, but are still dearly appreciated. When Karl-Bertil's father insists that he go to all the rich people he stole from to apologize, they all praise him for it. |
| 96 | [[/folder]] |
| 97 | |
| 98 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 99 | * Lawrence from ''Film/BedtimeStory1964'' cons rich tourists in order to fund {{starving artist}}s in his town, like a silversmith who takes four months to complete a piece to his satisfaction and has been outcompeted by factories, a man who wants to invent a better violin, and a dance studio that would have gone under, because he believes in the importance of art and culture. |
| 100 | * ''Film/BlackButterfly'': The titular heroine is the daughter of a retired warrior, who secretly adopts the alias "Black Butterfly"; a thief who steals from corrupt officials, ministers and land barons, distributing the stolen loot to the poor. |
| 101 | * ''Film/TheCherokeeKid'': Isaiah robs banks owned by Bloomington and gives the money to the poor. |
| 102 | * ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'': Bruce Wayne uses the trope name almost word-for-word to describe [[ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} Selina Kyle]]. |
| 103 | * ''Film/{{Fantozzi}}'': Spoofed in the fifth movie, ''Superfantozzi'': focusing on the "evolution" of Fantozzi in History, the Middle Ages Fantozzi, being dirt poor, receives money from Robin Hood himself, but as soon as he tells his wife and daughter "We're rich!" Robin Hood arrives and takes back the money. |
| 104 | * ''Film/FunWithDickAndJane'': The remake focuses largely on a plot by the eponyma to steal a corrupt CEO's savings (which he had in turn swindled from his own employees), and eventually set up a pension plan with the money. |
| 105 | %%* ''Film/Ghost1990'' |
| 106 | * ''Film/TheHighwaymen'' (as an overall SpiritualAntithesis of ''Film/BonnieAndClyde'', which portrays the eponymous couple as this trope) defies this: two times someone says that they (as well as the American public) think that Bonnie and Clyde are this and both times the lawmen talk back that they are a pair of sociopaths not above [[EvilIsPetty killing innocent people so they won't have to pay for what they want (like a gas refill)]] and [[CopKiller killing any cops that get in their way]], even showing Bonnie [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown toying with a cop that was already fatally wounded]] [[ForcedToWatch so he could get a good look]] at his own CoupDeGrace. |
| 107 | * ''Film/HeroOfSwallow'', a 1990s martial arts film starring Creator/YuenBiao as a Robin Hood clone trying to save his love interest from forced prostitution. |
| 108 | * ''Film/HongKilDong'' features the title character going around and kicking the crap out of the evil landlords and governor, forcing them to distribute rice and goods to the people rather than hoarding money and supplies for themselves. The character of Hong Gil Dong has been called the Korean Robin Hood. |
| 109 | * ''Film/InTime'' has an interesting example: instead of the main characters stealing ''money'' from the rich, they steal ''time,'' which is basically currency in their world. [[spoiler:They steal a million years, to be exact, and proceed to disseminate it through the slums, thus causing epidemic inflation and collapsing the economic infrastructure of their entire society.]] Which was their goal in the first place. |
| 110 | * ''Film/IronMonkey'': The titular Monkey robs from the very corrupt city governor and gives it directly to the poor in need, or he buys medicine to give to the poor. He's a bit more specific in his giving than many Robin Hood types. |
| 111 | * In the third ''Film/JakaSembung'' film, the titular hero finds an unlikely ally in Bajing Ireng, a female Robin Hood-esque thief clad in face-concealing veils who steals from the Dutch governors oppresing the Indonesian populace, and distributing stolen loot to the poor. |
| 112 | * ''Film/{{Lajja}}'': Bhulwa is a thief who lives out in the woods with a band of followers, just like Robin Hood. |
| 113 | * ''Film/MirrorMirror2012'': Snow White learns that the seven dwarfs are robbing the evil queen's wagons as revenge for her tyranny. Snow convinces them to distribute the food and riches to the impoverished citizens. The dwarfs at first think she's crazy, but they accept when the citizens celebrate them as heroes. |
| 114 | * ''Film/NowYouSeeMe'' centers on a team of stage magicians who pull off elaborate bank robberies as part of their stage show, and shower their audiences with the money. |
| 115 | * ''Film/OnceUponATimeInMexico'' alludes to a dark version of this: Armando Barillo, the main villain of the film, is a [[TheCartel Cartel]] kingpin who we're told has purchased hundreds of homes in his area of operation only to turn around and donate them to the poor, turning him into a folk hero and making it extremely difficult for the President of Mexico to rally support against him. Downplayed in that [[spoiler:Barillo's attempt to overthrow the President in a military coup is prevented when the common people of Culiacan rise up against it]], suggesting he was never as popular as he believed. Since the person explaining his popularity as a folk hero turns out to be [[spoiler:a corrupt politician in league with Barillo]], it's an open question whether the story of his giving homes to the people is even true. |
| 116 | * ''Film/RobinAndTheSevenHoods'' loosely readapts the legend into a gangster comedy starring the Creator/RatPack. |
| 117 | * ''Film/TheRock'' gives us a hostage-taking version of this. The main antagonist, General Hummel, is trying to extort millions of dollars from the U.S. government... to be distributed to the families of close to a hundred Marines who died under his command, on various covert missions whose secrecy the Pentagon used as an excuse to lie to those families and deny them the benefits they were entitled to. |
| 118 | * ''Film/TheSaint1997'': Averted for most of the movie. Unlike the original character, this version of Simon Templar is a very straightforward thief who will steal anything for anybody as long as he gets paid for it. This goes away when he develops an attraction to the scientist he was supposed to be stealing from; by the end of the movie, he's helped her thwart and expose the CorruptCorporateExecutive who originally hired him, and make her cold fusion technology available to the world (or at least to the people of Russia), suggesting that he may have become like his literary counterpart. |
| 119 | * ''Film/TheSaint2017'': Played straight in the opening scene, as per Simon's usual MO, when he steals gold from [[AssholeVictim arms dealers and their terrorist clients]] and is then seen instructing his fence about the various charities the profits should be going to. Inverted for the rest of the movie: the plot concerns millions of dollars in aid money that were stolen by the (already very rich) villain, and Simon's attempts to return the money to its intended recipients. |
| 120 | * In ''Film/ShootOutAtMedicineBend'', Devlin steals Clark's loot and returns it to the wagon trains he had originally stolen it from. |
| 121 | * ''Film/{{Sneakers}}'': The hackers do this: electronically stealing large sums of money from those they deem undeserving, and anonymously depositing it into the accounts of worthy causes. The ending implies that Robert Redford's character has returned to his old ways. |
| 122 | * PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers1993'', when the title characters find themselves fleeing through the streets of Paris in a carriage stolen from the Cardinal, which turns out to be full of secret compartments containing various hidden treasures. Since the Cardinal's guards are in hot pursuit, they need a distraction to slow them down, and the people of Paris are poor and starving: |
| 123 | -->'''Aramis''': D'Artagnan! Would you be so kind as to [[MoneyToThrowAway redistribute this wealth?]] |
| 124 | * ''Film/TheThunderboltFist'': The ActionGirl heroine, Butterfly, besides being a resistance fighter, is also a heroic thief who steals from the Japanese, looting their vault for the silver they had robbed from raiding the town, and then secretly tossing silver coins into houses of the poor after leaving the vault. |
| 125 | * ''Film/TimeBandits'': When the bandits run into Robin Hood, they're dismayed that he volunteered them to become this. "He's obviously a dangerous man, unbalanced if you ask me. Giving away what isn't even his!" |
| 126 | * ''Film/ToCatchAThief'': This is discussed when the retired cat burglar John Robie is being questioned on his motives for stealing. When asked if he performed like Robin Hood, he freely admits to keeping everything for himself and makes no excuses toward being a criminal. The only thing he offers in his defense is that he only stole from "people who wouldn't go hungry". |
| 127 | * ''Film/ToRobAThief'': The heist is done because Moctezuma made his fortune selling bogus products and the planner has the intention of returning the values to the affected people. |
| 128 | * In Australian Westerns, historical bushrangers like Film/TheOutlawMichaelHowe, Film/NedKelly1970, Film/NedKelly2003, Film/MadDogMorgan, and Film/CaptainThunderbolt are often portrayed as heroic defenders of the weak. |
| 129 | * ''Film/TheWanderingSwordsman'' have the titular character, a drifter and sword-expert who steals from bandits to help the needy, as a Ming Dynasty Robin Hood (albeit one who kills tons of enemies throughout the film). |
| 130 | * In ''Film/YouAndYourStupidMate'', Philip plays [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Kelly Ned Kelly]] in a play. He raps, "I rob from the rich to give to the poor! So don't worry, missus, if I come to your door!" |
| 131 | * ''Film/Zorro1975'' combines the Zorro mythos with elements from Robin Hood, with the titular hero being a GentlemanThief who takes on a corrupt governor and help liberate a small town from tyranny. |
| 132 | [[/folder]] |
| 133 | |
| 134 | [[folder:Folklore]] |
| 135 | * Myth/RobinHood, [[TropeNamers obviously]], though notably, this wasn't originally a trait of his. Rather, [[{{Flanderization}} it became more and more a part of his personality as time went on]]. |
| 136 | ** In the original myths, Robin Hood actually stole from the political class (including the politically empowered church), and ''usually'' left alone the common people and those among "the rich" who came by their wealth honestly. |
| 137 | ** Robin Hood goes from this to resistance fighter against the Normans depending on the teller. |
| 138 | ** In the Howard Pyle story "Robin Hood Aids a Sorrowful Knight," Robin has the Bishop of Hereford as his "guest," along with the caravan of goods the Bishop and his men are with. Robin doesn't touch some of the goods, depending on his evaluation of the person or place they're destined for. The rest he divides into thirds; one third for himself and the Merry Men, one third for charity, and one third for the owners, even if that owner is a SinisterMinister like the Bishop himself. |
| 139 | ** Aiding the knight is one of his oldest tales, occurring centuries before any tale where he gave anything to the poor, and in the oldest variant, he carefully checks what sort of knight he is; only when the man assures him that [[BlueBlood his family have been knights for centuries]] does Robin agree to aid him. |
| 140 | ** Some adaptations explicitly have this trait as something he came up with so that the locals wouldn't be inclined to sell him out to the sheriff. |
| 141 | * This is the reputation of Japanese folk hero UsefulNotes/IshikawaGoemon. A more cynical interpretation -- used in the original ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors'', among others -- is that he was really just a self-serving thug and his reputation is wholly undeserved. |
| 142 | * This was also the folklore surrounding Nezumi Kozou. The real person almost certainly didn't actually live up to it in this case, though. |
| 143 | * Stepan Razin of the UsefulNotes/{{Cossacks}}. After a long war between Russia against Poland and Sweden, massive increases in conscription and taxation disaffected many. Many disaffected joined Razi's cossacks, including members of the unrepresented lower classes. His ''first'' great robbery was to destroy the great naval convoy consisting of the barges holding the treasury, the wealth of the Patriarch, and the gold and goods of the rich merchants of Moscow. |
| 144 | * Literature/TheGraveMound: In this lesser-known Brothers Grimm story, two men con ''{{Satan}} himself'' out of his gold and redistribute it to the poor, living WealthyEverAfter on the rest. |
| 145 | [[/folder]] |
| 146 | |
| 147 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 148 | * ''Literature/CatwomanSoulstealer'': Luke calls Selina Robin Hood after learning she gives a lot of the money from her thefts to help the poor (after having grown up in poverty herself, struggling to make ends meet). |
| 149 | * ''Literature/CryptocracyNovel'': Ariadne and her crew steal from the rich and immediately distribute the goods amongst the poor. |
| 150 | * ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Parodied by Cohen the Barbarian, who robs from the rich "because the poor haven't got any money". However, since his men nearly always spend their money, it does typically end up in the hands of the poor, provided one considers taverns and brothels "the poor". |
| 151 | * ''Literature/DominoLady'': Ellen Patrick (a.k.a. Domino Lady) steals ill-gotten loot from her criminal targets, deducts enough to cover her lifestyle, and donates the rest to charity. |
| 152 | * ''Literature/DonQuixote'': Deconstructed by Roque Guinart, a deconstruction of the GentlemanThief that leads a band of [[TheHighwayman highwaymen]] at Barcelona’s CivilWar. He is an ''armed beggar'', that takes only a part of the money of his victims... ''by asking them.'' His 60 men assault two soldiers (300 crowns), a Noblewoman (600 crowns), and some pilgrims (60 reals). That would have been 15 crowns and a real for each TheHighwayman. Roque asks for 60 crowns for the soldiers (20%) and 80 crowns from the Noblewoman (13.6%). That’s 140 crowns. He gives 2 crowns to each highwayman and the 20 crowns left he gives 10 to the pilgrims (that’s almost 100 reals) and 10 crowns to Sancho Panza in a clear attempt to BuyThemOff. The people who attacked are happy to keep most of their own money, and Roque Guinart is considered a hero. Everyone is happy! [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Well, the highwaymen were cheated of 13 crowns and a real]], but Roque manages to MakeAnExampleOfThem by murdering the one who dares to be a DeadpanSnarker. Notice that the most rich person (the Noblewoman) ''gave'' proportionally less than the ''middle class'' victims (the soldiers). |
| 153 | * In ''Literature/EveryShinyThing'', Lauren steals from people and stores in her wealthy neighborhood in a misguided effort to raise money for autistic kids, because she feels sorry for the kids whose family can't afford the high-quality occupational therapy her brother got. |
| 154 | * ''Literature/TheExecutioner'': Averted in ''Cleveland Pipeline'' when a journalist asks [[VigilanteMan Mack Bolan]] why he doesn't do this with the money he got RobbingTheMobBank. Bolan goes into a MotiveRant on exactly where this money came from (e.g. drugs, prostitution, and gambling) and if he gave it back to the people, they couldn't wait to spend it on exactly the same thing. |
| 155 | * ''Literature/TheFallibleFiend'': The leader of a bandit gang announces that they rob from the rich and give to the poor -- and since they themselves are the poorest people they can find... |
| 156 | * ''Literature/ForestKingdom'': Book 3 (''Down Among the Dead Men'') has Scarecrow Jack, who lives in the woods, steals from the rich and gives to those in need. His frequent targets are tax collectors. |
| 157 | * Railroad Bill in ''Literature/FriedGreenTomatoesAtTheWhistleStopCafe'' is a black man who hops government supply trains and tosses food off the sides for the people of Troutville (the even-poorer black hamlet adjacent to the titular white hamlet of Whistle Stop) so they won't starve. He always gets away with it because [[spoiler:nobody could recognize "him" when ''she'' is out of [[BlackFace disguise]], plus the [[NobleBigotWithABadge sheriff]] is collaborating with her]]. |
| 158 | * The ''Literature/{{Illuminatus}}'' trilogy romanticized John Dillinger to be like this. It is partially TruthInTelevision, to the extent that people at the time felt the same way about him in many cases. It was during the Depression, after all, so robbing a bank basically ''did'' mean "stealing from the rich." |
| 159 | * ''Literature/TheLastUnicorn'': The outlaws aspire to this, but later one of them admits that they actually rob the poor (who can't fight back) to pay off the rich (who therefore tolerate their presence). |
| 160 | * Creator/ErleStanleyGardner, the creator of ''Franchise/PerryMason'', also wrote over 50 short stories protagonized by Literature/LesterLeith, a wealthy man who solves crimes, steals the profits from the criminals, and uses them to fund charities. |
| 161 | * ''Literature/TheLiesOfLockeLamora'': The legendary Thorn of Camorr is rumoured to rob the rich and give to the poor. The ''actual'' Locke Lamora, on the other hand... well, he does rob the rich... The rumor is made all the more appropriate by the fact that his gang's resident heavyset bruiser's name is "Jean", the modern French version of "John" (pronounced "Zhaun"). |
| 162 | * ''Literature/MythAdventures'': In one of the books, there's a group of men with the same names as Robin Hood's crew (Robin, John, Alan, Tuck, etc.) who have been robbing royal tax collectors. The heroes go into town to investigate and actually end up unknowingly talking to some of the men in the group, who are naturally very nervous and refuse to tell them anything about the robbers. The heroes can't figure out why no one will talk to them and theorize that the gang must be splitting the take with the locals. |
| 163 | * ''Literature/{{Oathbringer}}'': Deconstructed when Shallan, under her Veil persona, decides to assist the countless refugees in Kholinar all starving in the midst of a long siege. She confidently raids the store houses of the various nobles for food and then distribute it to the populace. Only when it's too late does she realize that her escapades brought unwanted attention to the people she was trying to help from the various gangs who stole the food from and killed the now much easier targets that she created. |
| 164 | * ''Literature/{{Paranoia}}'': Adam Cassidy's boredom working as a CubicleDrone and seeing the injustice of Wyatt Industries instituting cost-cutting measures across the board while its executives go on lavish vacations and have lavish parties, is to impersonate one of the board members and have the company pay for the exact same lavish party for a retiring security guard. The CEO, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Wyatt]], does not approve, and threatens jail for him if he doesn't become his personal spy on another company. Cassidy notes that if he had instead stolen the money and used it to booze up with his friends or pay for an expensive car, Wyatt would probably have approved. |
| 165 | * ''Literature/ThePatricide'': Koba. UsefulNotes/JosefStalin was a big fan and used it as his revolutionary pseudonym when he was robbing banks for the Bolsheviks... as well as in later life, when he was doing less virtuous things. |
| 166 | * ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'': Creator/AynRand, as might be expected from her philosophical outlook, considered Myth/RobinHood -- at least, as he is portrayed in ''this'' trope -- deeply evil, and created an "inverse Robin" in the pirate Ragnar Danneskjold, who stole relief shipments to various failing socialist states and gave the money back to those who had earned it. Ragnar explicitly states that his motivation is to erase the false idea of Robin Hood -- and he actually uses the phrase "steal from the poor and give to the rich" (more specifically, he stole from those poor who ''thieve'' from the ''productive'' rich). In the book, Ragnar himself notes that the myth of Robin Hood was ''originally'' about fighting unfair taxation -- which is a goal he certainly would have approved of. It is, in essence, ''this'' specific trope that he is fighting, rather than the original version of the myth -- but he says that the name of Robin Hood has become so closely associated with this idea that it must be destroyed entirely. |
| 167 | * ''Literature/TheReynardCycle'': Subverted in that, while Reynard tends to rob from the rich, he rarely gives to the poor. When he does so, his motivation for doing so is usually to win [[VillainWithGoodPublicity the hearts and minds of the common people]]. His success in maintaining this image is why he is loved by the poor and generally despised by the nobility. |
| 168 | * ''Literature/RonjaTheRobbersDaughter'': Mentioned when Mattis (the robber chief and Ronja's father) defends himself by claiming that he only robs the rich and gives to the poor. The oldest bandit -- much to Mattis' annoyance -- confirms that indeed they give to the poor... once every ten years or so. |
| 169 | * ''Literature/TheSaint'': The Saint regularly steals from criminals and, after deducting a small percentage for his expenses, gives the money either to the criminal's victims or to charity. |
| 170 | ** In "The Man Who Was Clever", the closest thing Simon Templar has to an origin story, Simon specifies that he takes a 10% commission and donates the rest to charity (in the first case, the London Hospital). Later, in "The Man From St. Louis," Simon robs Tex Goldman, one of the new RuthlessForeignGangsters in London; this haul is to be divided up among the InnocentBystanders and RedShirt cops who got shot, except what Simon keeps for himself: "I take a rather larger share, because I was getting shot at all the time." |
| 171 | ** Deconstructed in the late short story "The Spanish Cow", in which Simon comes close to seducing and stealing from an unattractive, lower-class wealthy woman purely because he doesn't like her, and only realises at the last minute that he was about to do something completely cruel and evil to an innocent person out of social and intellectual snobbery because he thought she wasn't cool and sexy enough to deserve her lifestyle. |
| 172 | * ''Literature/TheSicilian'': The bandit Guiliano, the novel's hero. Unfortunately one man isn't enough to make a difference in the [[CrapsackWorld entrenched corruption of a Mafia-dominated Sicily]], no matter how much of a folk hero he is. |
| 173 | * ''Literature/TheSupervillainySaga'''s protagonist, Gary Karkofsky a.k.a Merciles: The Supervillain without [=MercyTM=] starts off as a simply disgruntled thief but by ''Literature/TheSecretsOfSupervillainy'' has started donating vast amounts of what he steals to charity in order to rebuild his city. This is because he has ''so much of it'' and [[PragmaticVillainy also because it has the effect of making the locals grateful to him in a way that renders his life significantly easier.]] |
| 174 | %%* ''Literature/TheTaleOfHongGildong'': The title character. |
| 175 | * ''Literature/TravisMcGee'': The titular character runs his salvage operations on a 50-50 split with the victim: "When a man knows his expectation of recovery is zero, recovering half is very attractive." It's averted in ''Pale Gray For Guilt'' though - it's only his friend Meyer's intervention that saves [=McGee=] from ruining his "professional standing" with an "unadulterated, unselfish, unrewarded effort in behalf of [[spoiler:even the grieving widow of an old and true friend]]." |
| 176 | * "Literature/TrueNames": Some of the members of the Cabal like to view themselves this way. One even uses Robin Hood as his [[OnlineAlias Nym]]. How accurate this self-assessment is may be subject to question, but there's no question that some of them play with the trope, redistributing wealth to a lot of people. |
| 177 | * ''Literature/WaterMargin'': The bandits, led by the chivalrous Song Jiang, are very much the Merry Men of Song-dynasty China. Not only do the tales of these rebels with a cause compare to Robin's, but there are parallels in the history of the stories as well. Song Jiang was a real person in the 12th century, transformed into a semi-legendary folk hero, and eventually immortalized in ''Water Margin'' and other works a few centuries after the fact. Indeed, there's a good case to be made that the Chinese Robin Hood stories are [[OlderThanTheyThink older than Robin Hood himself]], possibly even the UrExample, developed on the opposite side of the world from Sherwood Forest. |
| 178 | * ''Literature/TheWitcher'': The Rats give a fair portion of their take to the local poor, albeit for purely selfish reasons. After all, carrying large amounts of money when on the lam is impractical, and you can't really buy ''that'' much that's more useful and less cumbersome, so, all in all, spending their take on buying sympathy and aid from the local peasants really is the best use of the money they steal. |
| 179 | * Creator/RoaldDahl's short story "Literature/TheWonderfulStoryOfHenrySugar" has the title character pulling this on the casinos he gambles at. He has, over the course of several years, developed the ability to see through the backs of playing cards, and while he was originally going to use the power for self-gain, [[NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction the lack of challenge left him empty]]. After a policeman suggests maybe putting the money into an orphanage, he decides to use this power to fund not one, but eventually twenty-one first-class orphanages. He specifically compares himself to Robin Hood, "robbing" the casinos (which are often run by shady figures anyway, which later necessitates him visiting the casinos in disguise once the mobs start to recognize him) and giving to those who really need the help. |
| 180 | * ''Literature/XWingSeries'': |
| 181 | ** Corran Horn is dismissive of the concept, saying that during his law enforcement career he encountered plenty of criminals who ''claimed'' to rob from the rich in order to give to the poor, but none who actually ''did it''. |
| 182 | ** Ironically, in the fourth book he and the rest of Rogue Squadron become pirates who steal [[{{Panacea}} bacta]] shipments from the BigBad and give it away to colonies who can't afford it. This becomes something of a DeconReconSwitch as the Rogues are forced to face and overcome the implications of this trope. If you steal from oppressive tyrants and distribute the stolen goods among the common people, what's the first thing the tyrants are going to do? Take it out on the people you helped. And if you distribute the goods you've stolen as charity, how do you fund your own efforts to overthrow the tyrants? The Rogues do their best to address the first problem by dealing through intermediaries, and the second problem by turning their base into a trading outpost that raises revenue for their own efforts (with the secondary effect of drawing all kinds of people to their doors who might bring valuable information with them and be willing to trade it). After the Rogues partner with smugglers Booster Terrik and Talon Karrde, this trope turns into "steal from the rich, give to the poor, and sell to those who can afford it": most of the bacta stolen still ends up given as charity, but a sizable amount is fed to the black market. Karrde points out, not unreasonably, that given the spike in demand from the ongoing Krytos pandemic, the bacta cartel's stranglehold on the legitimate supply, and the illegality of the Rogues' own operation, a fair amount of bacta is going to end up on the black market no matter what. Partnering with people like him at least allows the Rogues some say in how it's allocated. |
| 183 | [[/folder]] |
| 184 | |
| 185 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 186 | * ''Series/ABitOfFryAndLaurie'': Parodied with "Tony of Plymouth", a dashing swashbuckler who fights for the poor...in [[CorruptCorporateExecutive hyper-capitalist]] [[TheEighties deep-1980s]] England, instead of the traditional pre-modern setting. He admits at the end that you could just write your MP. |
| 187 | * When ''Series/AllMyChildren'''s Laurel Banning was angrily confronted by her husband Jack about being a con artist, she revealed that she'd been stealing the money to pay for her autistic daughter's care, resulting in her being EasilyForgiven by everyone. |
| 188 | * ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. When Oliver Queen starts operating as a hooded vigilante armed with bow-and-arrow, who begins by stealing $40 million from a CorruptCorporateExecutive to give to the poor in the [[TheCityNarrows Glades]], everyone naturally assumes this trope is in play. Only Oliver and the people behind The List know otherwise, and Oliver specifically denies the trope when confronting a high-class thief [[NotSoDifferentRemark who argues they're not that different]]. In fact, it's the [[TheHeart other members of Team Arrow]] who push Oliver to start doing more than just cross names off a list. |
| 189 | * ''Series/Batman1966'': One story had a villain called the Archer, who styled himself after Robin Hood and distributed some of his ill-gotten gains to the poor. However, it's not portrayed as a good thing; the people he gives money to aren't ''that'' poor and don't ''really'' need the money, nor does the Archer have any genuine affection for them, with him eventually even robbing one of the Wayne Foundation's charity programs. He only gave out money to sway public opinion in his favor, and after pulling off his last and biggest heist, he and his men try to flee the country with the entirety of his score. |
| 190 | * ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'': |
| 191 | ** In the first season, the [[CarnivalOfKillers band of the six most evil men in England]] that Prince Edmund assembles seem like [[EvilCounterpart evil counterparts]] of Robin and co. One of them, Three-fingered Pete, is an archer who dresses like Robin (and is introduced killing a competitor in an archery contest who might actually be Robin). The lecherous Friar Bellows is an obvious counterpart to Tuck, and the murderous dwarf Jack Large is used to allude to Little John. It's also worth noting that one of the members is a Guy de Glastonbury (shades of Guy of Gisborne) and Prince Edmund himself smacks of the traditional portrayal of King John. |
| 192 | ** Parodied in the closing Credits for the 5th Episode of Series 2, Beer, by a ''very'' drunk Minstrel. |
| 193 | --->'''Minstrel:''' Blackadder! Blackadder! A bit like Robin Hood! Blackadder! Blackadder! But nothing like as good! |
| 194 | ** In the third series, notorious highwayman "the Shadow" is described as being ''half-way'' to being the new Robin Hood -- he steals from the rich, but hasn't gotten around to giving to the poor yet. |
| 195 | ** In "[[TimeTravel Back and Forth]]", the 20th-century Blackadder met the ''actual'' Robin Hood, and promptly got him shot by his own merry men for being an insufferable git that doesn't pay them anything for their work. He ends up reversing this later due to the damage to history. |
| 196 | * ''Series/CopRock'': One song mentions a "supermarket Robin Hood" who gains neighborhood heroism by stealing food from the store to give to those who can't afford it. |
| 197 | -->''And you foot patrols keep a lookout''\ |
| 198 | ''For the supermarket Robin Hood''\ |
| 199 | ''He's been stealing from the store and giving to the poor''\ |
| 200 | ''He's the hero of the neighbourhood'' |
| 201 | * ''Series/CovingtonCross'': In one episode, Eleanor runs away with a bandit who describes himself like this. When she finds out how small a percentage he actually gives to the poor, she goes back to her father in disgust. |
| 202 | * ''Series/DeadMansGun'': Invoked by Robert Cosgrove in a ButHeSoundsHandsome moment in "The Highwayman", when he attempts to justify the actions of his alter-ego 'The Red Mask Highwayman' by saying that the Highwayman is like Robin Hood because he only robs the rich. None of his guests agree with this: possibly because Robert is keeping the money for himself and not giving it to the poor. |
| 203 | * ''Series/DoctorSynTheScarecrow'': The title character is a smuggler rather than someone stealing ''directly'' from the rich, but he uses the profits from his activities to help the townsfolk pay their taxes and debts. When a general comes in to try and put a stop to it, his plan is to find whoever's suddenly paid off their back rent and squeeze them for information. (This is partly why Syn cultivates a very GoodIsNotNice persona as the Scarecrow--his reaction to this is to fake-hang the traitor.) |
| 204 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': While the Doctor is not known for robbing the rich to give to the poor, they ''are'' an aristocrat (a Lord of Time) who turned renegade to fight for the lives and freedom of others. This similarity is pointed out by ''Robin Hood himself'' in the episode "Robot of Sherwood" when the Twelfth Doctor admits he still is not convinced Robin Hood is real (not least because he's the same flamboyant LargeHam the Doctor is). |
| 205 | -->"Is it so hard to credit? That a man born into wealth and privilege should find the plight of the oppressed and weak too much to bear... [[NotSoDifferentRemark until one night, he is moved to steal a TARDIS? Fly among the stars, fighting the good fight?"]] |
| 206 | * ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'' according to their ThemeSong, which ends thus: |
| 207 | -->''Just the good ol' boys, Wouldn't change if they could''\ |
| 208 | ''Fightin' the system like-a two modern day Robin Hoods.'' |
| 209 | * ''Series/TheEndOfTheFuckingWorld'': Alyssa describes her absent father this way, [[spoiler:but it later turns out he's just an immature drug dealer and deadbeat parent]]. In a flashback, he's seen imparting his wisdom to a young Alyssa, and in the present, she imparts it to James -- specifically, that robbing independently-owned businesses is unacceptable, since the owners are likely just ordinary Joes like them trying to make a living. Large, mega-wealthy chains, however, are fair game. |
| 210 | * ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier'': The flagsmashers are initially presented as this, stealing government supplies to give to those displaced in the blip, before veering headlong into terrorism later in the show. |
| 211 | * ''Series/FamilyTies'': |
| 212 | ** In one episode, Andy dresses up as Robin Hood and erroneously describes him as "robbing the poor to give to the rich". His parents say that's not Robin Hood, that's UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan. |
| 213 | ** Elyse's brother(played by Creator/TomHanks) once embezzled funds from his company to prevent a business deal that would result in a factory closure and dozens of people out of work from going through. |
| 214 | * ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': |
| 215 | ** Jayne Cobb is portrayed as one of these by the people of the mud-farming slave town of Canton. Emphasis on [[AccidentalHero "portrayed"]]. |
| 216 | ** A variation happens in a later episode, where Simon helps the crew stage a raid on an inner planet hospital, stealing a bunch of pharmaceuticals that are badly needed on Rim planets. The plan is to sell those pharmaceuticals, not donate them, but it's still more likely to get to people in need that way than through the Alliance bureaucracy. |
| 217 | * ''Series/GameOfThrones'': The Brotherhood Without Banners is a band of outlaws who fight the nobility on behalf of the smallfolk and features pretty clear expies of the Merry Men such as a revered leader ShroudedInMyth and an alcoholic BadassPreacher. They're far from clear-cut heroes though. |
| 218 | * ''Series/{{Hustle}}'': The crew occasionally does this -- they usually rob from the rich (and corrupt) and keep it for themselves, but they'll occasionally give some or all of a particular take to charity and they usually try to make sure that the decent or honest they encounter come out better off for helping them. There's at least two or three examples of this in the later series. (They steal from the rich and corrupt... [[ChewToy and Eddie]].) |
| 219 | * ''Series/KnightRider'': The episode "K.I.T.T. the Cat" features a burglar who only targets people that got their wealth through questionable or outright criminal activities, both to teach them a lesson and to make sure they can't call the police without risking that their own crimes will be discovered. The money he steals is all donated to charity. |
| 220 | * ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' has this as its premise, with the addition that they generally give their take to the specific people that their rich targets got their money from in the first place. Often, their clients aren't even looking for money, but revenge, or some other compensation. In these cases, they use the payout to bankroll their operation. |
| 221 | * ''Series/LieToMe'': One episode involves a game of cat and mouse with a crew robbing a museum. Only it turns out the item they're stealing was itself stolen back in history, and they just want to return it. |
| 222 | * ''Series/MoneyHeist'': Despite their motives for the heist are generally more selfish, the heist of the criminals includes this trope as a strategy: As the Professor explains, they have to appear as generous and Robin Hood-like fighters against the law in the public eye to succeed, having the general population of Spain on their side. So their plan includes giving some of the money they steal to the public. |
| 223 | * ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'': Lampooned in the ''Dennis Moore'' sketch. He starts out stealing ''Lupins'' from the rich to give to the poor, only to discover that the poor have no use for flowers. Then he moves to stealing money and possessions but is stymied when he realizes that this merely makes the rich poor and the poor rich. The sketch concludes with him holding up a stagecoach and forcing everyone on board to redistribute their wealth amongst themselves. |
| 224 | -->'''Singers:''' (speaking) We sang... he steals from the poor and gives to the rich. \ |
| 225 | '''Moore:''' Wait a tic... blimey, this redistribution of wealth is trickier than I thought. |
| 226 | * ''Series/MurdochMysteries'': In "[[ChristmasEpisode Once Upon A Murdoch Christmas]]", a figure dressed as Crabtree's comic book character Jumping Jack steals items from rich shoppers, specifically the ridiculously expensive presents bought at the luxuries section of a department store. Since the items are completely useless to the needy, and [[spoiler:the parcels contain the receipts, Jumping Jack then returns them for store credit to spend on more practical items for the poor -- a system which works because one of the two people in the Jack suit is actually the returns clerk]]. |
| 227 | * In ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'', Joy once stole a loading truck from a store after they refused to let her return an expensive TV shelf that she didn't have room for. |
| 228 | -->'''Joy:''' Earl, this is not about the law. It's about right and wrong, and isn't that what your list is about, rights and wrongs? Doing unto others all that Myth/RobinHood[=/=]ComicBook/{{Batman}}[=/=]UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} stuff?\ |
| 229 | '''Earl:''' Well, you got a good point. The store ''did'' do you wrong. I don't know if Jesus or Batman would sell a truck, but Robin Hood might. |
| 230 | * ''Series/{{Narcos}}'': Early on Pablo Escobar draws comparisons to Robin Hood due to his tendency to distribute drug money to the poor in the form of providing housing, public stadiums, and even cash handouts. However, the people eventually turn against him as casualties rise from his indiscriminate campaign of violence and bombings. |
| 231 | * The ''Series/{{Numb3rs}}'' episode "Robin Hood" has the safety deposit boxes of several criminals robbed, sending the profits to children's charities. Interestingly, while the thief does care about those charities, his primary motivation is ruining the [[MorallyBankruptBanker corrupt bank president]] for causing his brother's death. |
| 232 | * ''Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue'': Artie's a skateboarding petty thief who relishes being chased, but he gives a lot of what he steals to the homeless and has no intention of actually letting the demons have the dangerous monster egg he's holding for ransom. |
| 233 | * ''Series/PowerRangersSPD'': At the start, Jack and Z are stealing food and clothing for the homeless. The SpacePolice soon catch up with them but offer them the chance to serve as Rangers instead of rotting in jail (Z jumps at the chance, Jack takes more convincing). |
| 234 | * ''Series/ThePractice'': Subverted when Eugene asks Alan about the nature of embezzling, to which Alan replies that it's "a half-Robin Hood thing" -- he takes from the rich and keeps for himself. |
| 235 | -->'''Eugene:''' And who'd you give it to?\ |
| 236 | '''Alan:''' I kept it. Thus the half-Robin Hood. |
| 237 | * ''Series/PushingDaisies'' had a whole episode devoted to the investigation of a rash of thefts of this nature. Of the two leads, Chuck is sympathetic to the perpetrator, Ned is not. [[spoiler:The events of the episode eventually show Ned as the correct one]]. |
| 238 | * ''Series/RememberWENN'': Turned around in an episode where Betty tells Scott that he is like Robin Hood -- "You're doing a good thing, but somehow you're a criminal anyway." |
| 239 | * ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'': April and Andy compare themselves Robin Hood in one episode, but don't quite fit -- they do rob from the rich, but keep the gain for themselves. |
| 240 | -->'''Andy''': We are like Robin Hood. We steal from the club [[{{Dissimile}} and we give to ourselves]]. |
| 241 | * ''Series/ThievesOfTheWood follows the adventures of HistoricalDomainCharacter Jan De Licht as he robs stagecoaches to feed the starving vagrants. |
| 242 | * ''Series/WhiteCollar'': One episode deals with a young thief who does just this. He steals valuable items from really rich people and then makes donations to charities. Neal jokingly calls him Robin Hoodie (the thief's trademark clothing item is a hoodie). The rest of the team picks up on the name and continues to use it, much to Peter's amusement and Neal's chagrin. |
| 243 | --> "We're not seriously gonna keep calling him that, are we?" |
| 244 | * ''Series/TheWire'': |
| 245 | ** Omar Little generally just steals from drug dealers, but he's been seen on more than one occasion giving money to poor kids. Additionally, Stringer tells Avon at one point that his 'Robin Hood' style is why he's so untouchable, despite the sizable bounty on his head; he's known to share his take of the drugs with addicts in the areas he settles in, so they won't pass on his whereabouts to the Barksdales. |
| 246 | ** Marlo Stanfield also tries the trick of giving money to neighbourhood kids, possibly inspired by Omar, but that was more trying to buy their allegiance. |
| 247 | * The Freevee show "Sprung" features ex-cons in 2020 robbing jerks who deserve it. |
| 248 | [[/folder]] |
| 249 | |
| 250 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 251 | * Music/{{Aqua}}: "My Oh My" is about a princess who's looking for a prince on a white horse...and finds him in a bandit outside the castle walls, but he's [[MarriedToTheJob too busy for love]]: |
| 252 | -->Gotta steal from the rich\ |
| 253 | when they don't know I'm comin',\ |
| 254 | Gotta give to the poor,\ |
| 255 | No time for lovin' |
| 256 | * Music/CelticThunder: In ''Storm'', Keith plays a highwayman who steals from the rich and gives to the poor. Or, at least, to one village, where they apparently pile the goodies in a chest. |
| 257 | -->No doubt, the gold that's been excised\ |
| 258 | Will be given to the poor.\ |
| 259 | Whoah oh oh, for the poor are being squeezed ev'ry day.\ |
| 260 | My fine friends, give it up, now it's your turn to pay.\ |
| 261 | Who will stand up for the weak?\ |
| 262 | Yes, mine is the voice that will speak. |
| 263 | * The Literature/{{Discworld}} folk song "What Cohen Did Next" by Martin Pearson (as heard in the film adaptation of ''Troll Bridge'') also refers to Cohen the Barbarian's personal take on this: |
| 264 | -->His motives for battle were noble and pure,\ |
| 265 | He robbed from the rich, now, to give to the poor,\ |
| 266 | Which included himself, he was reasonably sure,\ |
| 267 | And that wasn't really surprising.\ |
| 268 | That wasn't really surprising. |
| 269 | * Music/BobDylan: "John Wesley Harding" depicts the 19th-century gunslinger as a "friend to the poor". His name was actually spelled Hardin (without the G), by the way, and he wasn't much of a friend to anyone (He once shot a man for snoring.) |
| 270 | * Music/EazyE is ''[[AvertedTrope not]]'' like Robin Hood, 'cause he wants more: steal from the rich, hang with the poor. |
| 271 | * Music/{{Genesis|Band}}: "The Battle Of Epping Forest": |
| 272 | -->To save my steeple, I visited people\ |
| 273 | And for this I'd gone when I met Little John\ |
| 274 | His name came, I understood\ |
| 275 | When the judge said, "You are a ''robbin' hood''." |
| 276 | * Creator/WoodyGuthrie applied a similar HistoricalHeroUpgrade in "Pretty Boy Floyd", patterned after the folk song "The Ballad of Jesse James"; the latter actually includes the line "He robbed from the rich and gave to the poor". "Pretty Boy" Floyd is listed as paying off the mortgages of farmers facing eviction, leaving a $1,000 bill under a hungry stranger's napkin, and dropping off a carload of groceries with a note that reads "You say that I'm an outlaw, you say that I'm a thief, Here's a Christmas dinner, for the families on relief." |
| 277 | * Music/TheHouseOfPain: In ''It Ain't a Crime'', one of the lines refers to Johnny being an outlaw and thinking it's fun because it's sorta like Robin Hood. |
| 278 | * The music video for "Say Say Say" by Music/MichaelJackson and Music/PaulMcCartney has them scamming people with a fake "super strength elixir"... only to donate the profits to an orphanage. |
| 279 | * Music/LilWayne: The music video for "Got Money" has Wayne and his buddies staging a bank robbery to fund the relief effort for Hurricane Katrina. [[BittersweetEnding Wayne gets arrested, but his friends get away with the loot in the end]]. |
| 280 | * Music/TheRamones' ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7DykTWuVKE Howling At The Moon (Sha- La- La)]]'' |
| 281 | [[/folder]] |
| 282 | |
| 283 | [[folder:Print Media]] |
| 284 | * An Australian newspaper comic had UsefulNotes/NedKelly handing a bag of gold to a poor farmer, saying he's decided to rob from the rich and give to the poor like Robin Hood. The farmer is overjoyed, shouting, "I'm rich, I'm rich!" So Ned Kelly robs him. |
| 285 | [[/folder]] |
| 286 | |
| 287 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 288 | * ''Radio/JohnFinnemoresSouvenirProgramme:'' Thoroughly deconstructed in one sketch with the Sheriff of Nottingham, who points out the logical end consequences of stealing from the rich; the poor, being poor, see someone Robin Hood's just given a lot of money, and a fight tends to break out. The victor is usually the strongest person there, and quite possibly the dumbest, who then heads to a nearby inn to get drunk, and is either distracted while everyone gets the authorities or just mugged for his money, which is gradually returned to the original owner (albeit likely with some money skimmed off the top). So in the end, all Robin Hood's actions do are cause more pain and injury and ultimately help fund Prince John anyway. |
| 289 | |
| 290 | [[/folder]] |
| 291 | |
| 292 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 293 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Atmosfear}}'': Nof started out stealing from the rich to give to the poor. |
| 294 | * In the fifth edition of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', one of the ideals the criminal background can choose is "Charity. I steal from the wealthy so that I can help people in need." This is explicitly referred to as a good ideal (vs. neutral, evil, lawful, or chaotic). |
| 295 | * ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'': |
| 296 | ** ''GURPS Robin Hood'' specifically refers to this trope (though not by name) in its description of the "Robin Hood Mythos". Basically, as long as a dashing and pure-hearted hero of the oppressed is fighting the oppressors in ways that only make them look foolish and evil, it might as well be Robin Hood. The book itself presents six different such campaign settings, only one of which is the actual medieval Sherwood forest. (The others are 16th century Scotland where a mysterious "Black Rider" is harassing the religiously oppressive English, 19th century America where the leader of a native tribe fights the encroachment of the white man, a modern-day superhero setting starring a bitter Batman-like vigilante, a cyberpunk world where master hacker "Robin Hood" steals credit from the megacorps and gives to the poor and a far future one about rebellious space miners.) |
| 297 | ** The introductory solo adventure "All In A Night's Work" hangs a lampshade on this; the player character is explicitly a thief who steals from the rich because "[t]he poor folk don't have any money!". |
| 298 | * ''TabletopGame/NetRunner'': Referenced in ''Android: Netrunner'' with Gabriel Santiago: "Of course I steal from the rich. They're the ones with all the money". |
| 299 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'': "Hooding" is Runner slang for taking jobs that pay, if anything, very little but help the helpless strike back at their oppressors in some way. Such as rescuing a kidnapped kid, running the new go-gang out of town, or stealing a shipment of overpriced medicine. In earlier editions, this was one of the primary means of accumulating [[ExperiencePoints Karma]], and in later editions, it's still useful for building Rep. |
| 300 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'': Bretonnia, as part of its Arthurian-and-chivalric-romance pastiche, has its own Robin Hood equivalents in the form of the Herrimaults, a loose-knit group of outlaws and runaway peasants forced to flee Bretonnian society for a variety of crimes and misdeeds (poaching, levy dodging, [[DisproportionateRetribution getting too close to a noble's horse]], etcetera), with some disgraced nobles and {{Sweet Polly Oliver}}s thrown in. They seek to fight back against Bretonnia's stifling caste system and oppressive nobility, live in hiding in the woods, and protect the peasantry from both the Beastmen and Orcs in the forests and the worst of the nobles' punishments; unsurprisingly, they're quite popular among the poor. They live by a very strict code requiring them to uphold chivalry and protect the helpless and are very protective of their reputation -- groups claiming their name do turn up with less than scrupulous intentions but are very quickly targeted by the more genuine Herrimaults. They're even outright called the Merry Men. |
| 301 | [[/folder]] |
| 302 | |
| 303 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 304 | * ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth'': Kay Faraday (self-proclaimed 'Second Yatagarasu' and HighlyVisibleNinja) refers to the Yatagarasu as a "modern-day Robin Hood". The original Yatagarasu stole documents revealing corrupt dealings and sent them on to the media to be exposed. While Kay is flamboyant and dramatic about her work, the real Yatagarasu is [[spoiler:dead, evil, and mostly concerned with finding Faraday's murderer rather than showing off. [[CollectiveIdentity Yes, at the same time]].]] |
| 305 | * ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'': The Assassins seem to do this a lot. Throughout the series, we see them engage in theft, piracy, cybercrime, and, yes, assassination, but all their activities target the Templars, who are evil, oppressive autocrats. We do see that Assassins haven't always changed society for the better, though. |
| 306 | * ''VideoGame/BlazeUnion'': Mizer plays as close to the Robin Hood archetype as possible, but hates being considered a noble thief -- partially because he does have to use some of what he steals to survive. The original members of Gram Blaze -- Garlot, Siskier, and Jenon -- also operated something like this (to the point of holding a rich slave merchant for ransom early in the game), but never kept anything they stole or won. |
| 307 | * In ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII'', the current party set about to do this, stealing from a greedy village mayor and giving the money to the village. Except that they seem to be the only people in the village not to realize that the mayor is a front of a huge mafia syndication. [[OhCrap Oops]]. It takes only one day for the hitmen to obliterate the party and split them across the world, and the hero is forced to spend the next quarter or so of the game (failing at) running from the said hitmen. |
| 308 | * In ''Videogame/DarkParables'''s version of ''Jack and the Beanstalk'', Jack is a treasure hunter who grew up in poverty. He couldn't stand to see the wealthy get wealthier and the poor get poorer, so he started stealing from them to spread the wealth. He went into treasure hunting specifically to find and share the loot with the less fortunate, but that doesn't stop him from locking up the loot from less noble thieves. |
| 309 | * ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'': |
| 310 | ** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', [[MeaningfulName Gentleman]] [[GentlemanThief Jim Stacy]], leader of the Thieves Guild, offers a set of quests in this vein known as the "Bal Molagmer" quests, named after an ancient order of thieves who operated in Morrowind with this as their modus operandi. The quests involve practicing [[KarmicThief Karmic Thievery]] on the wealthy/corrupt, and then returning/gifting what you stole to the rightful owners and/or those more deserving. This serves two purposes -- it is a good thing to do, and it is an excellent propaganda move (both for being known to do good things and by invoking ancient Dunmer traditions in a way that contrasts with their native Camonna Tong rivals, thus making the Thieves' Guild seem less foreign). |
| 311 | ** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' has the Gray Fox, the leader of the Thieves Guild. The [[BeneathSuspicion beggars]] are his [[ParanoiaFuel spies]], are under protection by the Guild, and it is implied that much of the Guild's wealth is shared with them. |
| 312 | ** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'': Subverted, as the Thieves Guild are more like an actual crime syndicate due to having fallen on hard times (well, and just not having that kind of leaders -- the Thieves' Guild weren't particularly Robin Hood-y in ''Daggerfall'', either). They're even close allies of the [[MurderInc Dark]] [[ReligionOfEvil Brotherhood]]. [[spoiler:Completing the Thieves Guild campaign will reveal this is due to the Guild's JerkAss leader, who's both secretly stealing from the entire organization, and also pissed off the [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Prince]] who backs them. This led to the Guild falling on such hard times that by the time you join them they've been reduced to Flim-flam schemes and loan-sharking, and causing them to act like a crime syndicate. At the end of the storyline you kill the old Guildmaster, patch things up with the Goddess, and restore the Guild to its former glory, moving it much closer to this trope.]] |
| 313 | * In ''VideoGame/EternalSonata'', Allegretto and his younger companion Beat are both this, stealing bread from a bakery to take to orphans who are living in a sewer. |
| 314 | * ''VideoGame/Fallout1'': Loxley ran the [[ThievesGuild Thieves Circle]], and idolized Robin Hood to the point where he took his name (Robin of Loxley) and [[{{Fauxreigner}} faked having a British accent]]. He despises the Water Merchants for hoarding the town's water at the expense of the poor and gives about twenty percent of the money stolen to the Old Town mutants as charity. |
| 315 | * ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'': Mireille Dudley uses her "Angel of the Slums" identity to steal from rich people and give her spoils to the poor and needy. |
| 316 | * ''Franchise/FireEmblem'': |
| 317 | ** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'': The Dawn Brigade. Interestingly an example that behaves like Robin Hood actually did, stealing from the tyrannical occupying government and giving to the citizens that it was taken from. |
| 318 | ** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'': Patty. She became a thief to help feed the kids of the OrphanageOfLove that she and her brother Febail were raised in. When Seliph balks at accepting her stolen funds, she points out that the Imperials are far worse plunderers. |
| 319 | ** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'': Nina involves herself in chivalrous thievery, with a Robin Hood mentality. In her paralogue, she along with some thieves raid a mansion belonging to a man that, according to Nina, obtained his wealth in a corrupt manner. |
| 320 | %%** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776'': Pahn and the Dandelion Thieves. |
| 321 | * In ''VideoGame/KingdomComeDeliverance'', we have the character of [[https://kingdom-come-deliverance.fandom.com/wiki/Hanekin_Hare Hanekin Hare]]. Although the in-game codex says he was based on the real-life Vilem Zajíc of Valdek, his voice, mannerisms, swagger and attire (stereotypical green "Errol Flynn"-style Robin Hood outfit) tell a different tale. A former nobleman and Master Huntsman, he was wrongly accused of a murder, and now poaches and fights in Talmberg Forest with a band of men, in an attempt to clear his name. He doesn't steal from anyone (other than the poaching), but he is a local hero among the peasants and a vexation on the nobility. |
| 322 | * In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', old ex-Jedi Jolee Bindo did this in his youth. He was a minor space pirate and smuggler in a system ruled by a despot and will fondly reminisce about the ol' Force-trick-the-customs-agent routine when you pull the same thing to get out of landing fees. |
| 323 | * In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfTianding'', you're a heroic GentlemanThief in 1900s Taiwan, stealing from the Japanese tyrants and corrupt local businessmen who's stomping on the peasants, including raiding the Japanese weapons plant for the LaResistance and having your allies empty the vault of a corrupt local tea merchant who runs a counterfeiting business. Of note - your titular character [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liao_Tianding is based on a real-life, Robin Hood-esque]] hero. |
| 324 | * ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'': The "Robbin' Hood" monster is a borderline example, in that it steals from the rich (i.e. you) and, er, drops the money on the ground. |
| 325 | * ''VideoGame/{{Lunar}}'': |
| 326 | ** ''VideoGame/LunarTheSilverStar'': Kyle is a bandit chief who runs a MonsterProtectionRacket...but he's chivalrous about it. [[DoubleStandard He doesn't charge women and children]]. (He charges the men double.) |
| 327 | ** In ''VideoGame/LunarEternalBlue'', Nall ends up leading a gang of orphaned children who may or may not rob passing travelers. The game is vague about this. |
| 328 | * In ''VideoGame/MapleStory'', in the Sand Bandits line of missions, you are tricked into thinking you are doing this by a band of not-so-virtuous desert bandits, and you are recruited by a band of actually virtuous bandits to [[DoubleCaper steal back what you helped them take and spread it among the poor]]. |
| 329 | * ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'': Lucio, in response to [[MegaCorp Vishkar Corporation]] damaging his turf and forcing his people into cheap labor with promises of "better living" (that they never fulfilled), stole sonic technology from them and shared its benefits with the people, and then rallied the people to an uprising that managed to drive Vishkar away. This action eventually gave him fame as first a DJ, then a worldwide superstar, and a possible hero by the standards of Overwatch (the organization). |
| 330 | * ''VideoGame/PAYDAYTheHeist'': Subverted. Yes, Bain and the crew do declare themselves to be "modern-day Robin Hoods", and yes, at least ''some'' of the heists they pull do target the greedy and undeservedly wealthy, but at the end of the day, they keep every cent they steal. This is lampshaded with the promo song "Steal From The Rich (Give To Myself)". |
| 331 | * ''VideoGame/{{Pirate101}}'': Many quests have [[PlayerCharacter The Pirate]] steal the ill-gotten gains of powerful and corrupt enemies and give them to the less fortunate. |
| 332 | * ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'': |
| 333 | ** John Marston used to run with a gang that by his own account stole from the rich and gave it to whomever needed it the most. However, their leader Dutch eventually came to the revelation that no matter what he did he was unable to make any meaningful change to society, which promptly drove him insane and caused the gang to split apart. |
| 334 | ** Nigel West Dickens, meanwhile, frequently questions whether they actually ''gave'' the money to anyone, or whether that was their cover. Marston is never able to give him a straight answer since he isn't entirely sure himself (he can't ''guarantee'' Dutch put the money where he said), the crux of Dickens's {{Not So Different Remark}}s. He even attributes their beliefs as being "A Robin Hood with spurs" and declares that it's just poppycock. John himself concludes that this ideology was just an excuse he and the gang used to commit various crimes. [[spoiler:He says as much to Javier when he captures him]]. |
| 335 | ** ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'' delves further into into this topic. John frequently questions whether or not the gang's past is really how he and Arthur Morgan remember it. There is indication that the gang did sincerely adhere to this philosophy in the past. Arthur, one of the earliest members of the gang, states several times that in the beginning the gang did in fact distribute some of their ill-gotten gains to the poor, and Hosea Matthews states he operated with these ideals in mind. However, it's ''heavily'' speculated both in-game and out just how sincere [[AmbiguouslyEvil Dutch]] is/was about these ideals. |
| 336 | * In ''VideoGame/ShounenKinindenTsumuji'' features Goemon who takes treasures and gives them to those who need it, and by the end of the game, it is revealed that Goemon is Tsumuji's father. |
| 337 | * In ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'', all [[SkyPirates Air Pirates]] attack ships, but only the Black Pirates attack unarmed ones. Blue Rogues will only fight armed ships (in practice this amounts to TheEvilEmpire and the aforementioned Black Pirates), and they use the loot to both keep themselves afloat and to help folks who need it. [[spoiler:Nothing is mentioned as to what they do when TheEvilEmpire turns over a new leaf after the game's end, but the fans have [[{{Fanon}} plenty of opinions]] on that.]] |
| 338 | * ''Franchise/SlyCooper'': The titular RascallyRaccoon is occasionally shown donating his purloined wealth to charitable causes such as orphanages. Considering the rich, evil sorts that he steals from, and the fact that he sends said evil rich sorts ''and their underlings'' to jail more often than not, leaving the treasure unguarded, they must donate a fair amount; the Cooper Gang pretty much lives in their van -- though they do have [[WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys some pretty wonderful toys]]. |
| 339 | %%* ''VideoGame/SoulSeries'': Yoshimitsu in ''Soul Calibur'' and his descendant in ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}''. |
| 340 | * ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'': Subverted with Garrett. While his usual targets are {{Rich Bastard}}s by virtue of them having more money, he has no qualms about stealing from the less fortunate, either, and any wealth redistribution from paying his landlord or buying equipment for his next heist is purely incidental. He does occasionally express sympathy for certain poor and downtrodden individuals, however, and occasionally the player may have the option to give Garrett a PetTheDog moment (such as capping off a mission helping an associate rescue his love interest from indentured servitude by stealing a pair of rings to give to them as wedding rings, or refusing to steal a blind widow's money.) |
| 341 | * Parodied in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' with the late [[EvilOverlord Mogu Emperor]], Subetai the Swift, a masterful archer and genius thief. |
| 342 | -->'''Lorewalker Cho''': He stole from the rich, and kept everything for himself. |
| 343 | * White Cat of ''VideoGame/YsIXMonstrumNox'' tries this, robbing the richest merchant houses in Balduq and distributing money in the slums. Unfortunately, after a while some of the slum inhabitants decide that if she's giving away free money on a regular basis, they don't need to work, and spend their days drinking and gambling her charity away. |
| 344 | [[/folder]] |
| 345 | |
| 346 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 347 | * ''Webcomic/{{Oglaf}}'': Parodied. Technically, the Robin Hood stand-in does distribute the money to the poor... by offering to pay them for sexual services. |
| 348 | * ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': Parodied when Haley has a talk with another member of her old Thieves' Guild -- as it turns out, her dad would rob from the rich to give to the poor, but keep a very generous cut for himself. |
| 349 | -->'''Hank''': That was your dad's schtick, wasn't it? Rob from the rich, give 40% to the poor?\ |
| 350 | '''Haley''': 40%, '''after''' reasonable expenses.\ |
| 351 | '''Hank''': Well, obviously. |
| 352 | * ''WebComic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'': Inverted. [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2006-03-08 "Now and then, just for fun, Robin Hood likes to switch things up a little"]] and steal from the poor to give to the rich. |
| 353 | -->'''Rich guy:''' Two coins? What the hell am I supposed to do with this? |
| 354 | * In ''Webcomic/WitchesAmongHumans'', having been born and raised as a wild witch, this version of Luz is a vigilante that undermined the governing bodies on the Boiling Isles. When she winds up in the huamn world she becomes a full-on {{Superhero}}. |
| 355 | [[/folder]] |
| 356 | |
| 357 | [[folder:WebOriginal]] |
| 358 | * ''Website/TheOnion'' parodies this trope [[http://www.theonion.com/video/modernday-robin-hood-living-in-woods-shooting-rich,30797 here.]] |
| 359 | [[/folder]] |
| 360 | |
| 361 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 362 | * ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Jet leads a group of bandits who look like traditional "merry men" and rob from Fire Nation citizens. Somewhat uniquely, he is actually presented somewhat negatively, being a WellIntentionedExtremist who initially has no problem with beating up a weak old man simply because he's a Fire Nation citizen. He is willing to flood a village to get rid of Fire Nation troops. It doesn't work, because Sokka warns the villagers in time and is backed up by the aforementioned old man, whom Sokka had tried to help. |
| 363 | * In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Catwoman commits her robberies to fund animal reserves and conservation efforts. However, her actions are clearly portrayed as wrong, and she doesn't get off easy -- she's caught, convicted, and sentenced to five years' probation. This aspect of Catwoman's character takes a backseat to other motives, however -- in "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE9Catwalk Catwalk]]", we see that she wanders the streets and robs people not just for funding, but out of a desire for what she thinks of as "freedom". |
| 364 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}}'': Thoroughly subverted in an episode-length parody of the Myth/RobinHood stories. Beetlejuice starts out this way, robbing the evil Sheriff of Rottingham and giving the riches to the poor... at least until he gets greedy and begins keeping all the wealth for himself. This leads the Sheriff and the poor peasants to patch up their differences and form an EnemyMine alliance against Beetlejuice. |
| 365 | * ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': Parodied in "[[Recap/CodenameKidsNextDoorS4E8AOperationLUNCH Operation: L.U.N.C.H.]]", where Robin Food and the Hungry Men steal school lunches from the young to feed the old -- much to the annoyance of the senior citizens Robin Food was supposed to be cooking for because they can't chew the kids' meals. |
| 366 | * ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'': In "Public Enemy No. 1", Danger Mouse suffers amnesia and is convinced by Baron Greenback that he's the White Shadow, a daring criminal who robs from the rich to feed the poor. ("Oh. Just like... um.... thingamybob!") This then gets parodied and deconstructed, since his idea of doing this is to pile all his loot in front of the home of a poverty-stricken mouse, who has no idea what he's supposed to ''do'' with the crown jewels or the Mona Lisa, and is very nearly arrested for receiving stolen goods. |
| 367 | -->'''Police officer:''' (''interrogating the poverty-stricken mouse'') Pull the other one, sir. It's got Big Ben on it. |
| 368 | * ''WesternAnimation/ElTigre'': Spoofed when Grandpapi tells Manny and Frida about a legendary ''bandito'' called Ruben Hood, who stole from the rich... and just that. When Manny asks whether or not Ruben gave to the poor, Grandpapi just stares at him in [[EvilCannotComprehendGood confusion]]. |
| 369 | * ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'': In "[[Recap/FosterHomeForImaginaryFriendsS2E5CookieDough Cookie Dough]]", Bloo convinces his friends to help him steal Madame Fosters secret cookie recipe because it's apparently for a good cause, just "like Robin Hood". However, his view of "the needy" they're going to steal for mostly focuses on himself. |
| 370 | -->'''Bloo:''' We need to get that cookie recipe from Madame Foster.\ |
| 371 | '''Wilt:''' But, that would be stealing.\ |
| 372 | '''Bloo:''' No no no! We're like Robin Hood. Stealing from the rich, giving to the needy.\ |
| 373 | '''Wilt:''' So we'll give away the cookies to the needy?\ |
| 374 | '''Bloo:''' No, ''we're'' the needy. We need that dough! Hehe, get it? [[AccidentalPun Knead dough?]] |
| 375 | * ''WesternAnimation/HoppityHooper'': Parodied and inverted in a story where Waldo tries to capture the Masked Martin, who stole from the poor and gave to the rich. |
| 376 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'', Robin Goodfellow was an obvious Robin Hood expy with a surprise twist. The greedy monarch he led a resistance against was a usurper, who was holding the true king -- Robin's father -- a prisoner. When the tyrant was ousted, Robin is revealed as the heir, with the promise of a far-more benign ruler in the future. |
| 377 | * ''WesternAnimation/SaganOmKarlBertilJonssonsJulafton'' (known as ''Christopher's Christmas Mission'' in one English translation): Karl-Bertil Jonsson is fourteen and works part-time in a post office and, since he idolizes Robin Hood, sends rich people's Christmas gifts to poor people instead of to the listed addresses. This outrages his rich father (who, according to the narration, "was [[TakeThat one of those people]] who believe that anyone who willingly gives something away must be a Communist") but eventually earns him the admiration of the community, at least until the end of the film. |
| 378 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "The Heartbroke Kid", Springfield Elementary brings some vending machines to their school, and Bart gets so addicted to their junk food that he gains a signficant amount of weight before suffering a heart attack. Afterwards, Homer and Marge send him to a fat camp so he can lose weight. However, it's incredibly expensive, so they turn their home into a youth hostel to try to make extra money, but even then, they're struggling to get by. In the end, Bart breaks into the school and smashes up the machines, stealing the money inside and they use it to help pay for his therapy in the fat camp. |
| 379 | * ''WesternAnimation/TimeSquad'': Inverted, as Robin Hood steals from the poor and gives to the rich. |
| 380 | * ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'': The supervillain Angry Archer jokingly tells Wreck-Gar that he robs the rich to feed the poor -- namely, himself. Wreck-Gar, being fifteen minutes old and not all that sane in general, thinks that this is awesome. |
| 381 | [[/folder]] |
| 382 | |
| 383 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 384 | * Butch Cassidy was known for being a generous thief. |
| 385 | * We ''should'' be saying that Robin Hood is [[http://badassoftheweek.com/paleokostas.html Just Like Vassilis Paleokostas,]] only not Greek, bald, and mind-blowingly awesome. |
| 386 | * UsefulNotes/JohnDillinger was one of the few outlaws of his era to cultivate this type of image in any successful way. Compared to the other gangs of the time -- the Barker-Karpis gang and the UsefulNotes/BonnieAndClyde gang -- his group was much less violent (although the gang did kill a number of police officers -- an East Chicago police officer by Dillinger himself, a Chicago detective by John "Red" Hamilton, an Ohio sheriff by Pete Pierpont, and a South Bend traffic cop by Homer Van Meter), and his famous statement to a bank patron, "I don't want your money, I'm here for the bank's money", helped to solidify his reputation as a put-upon farm-boy who was just out to take back from the banks which had [[TheGreatDepression screwed everyone over]]. Whether or not he was actually like this is open for debate, but his scrupulous adherence to this character means that he has managed to survive the revisionist historical examinations which have exposed the true natures of his contemporaries with his reputation still largely intact. |
| 387 | ** Clyde Barrow attempted to cultivate this type of image after noticing the popular support which Dillinger was garnering. To such extent that he once quoted the "I'm not here for your money, I'm here for the bank's money" line that Dillinger used in his January bank robbery in East Chicago. Because Barrow was, in reality, an AxCrazy narcissist, he was rather unsuccessful. |
| 388 | ** UsefulNotes/AlCapone tried to consciously give himself this image as well, distributing cash to various people and organizations; it didn't work out as well for him since it was fairly transparent and had just as much to do with flaunting his wealth as it did with sharing it. |
| 389 | * Like many other historical outlaws, UsefulNotes/JesseJames has been depicted in this manner by ballads, dime novels, and movies. It is doubtful that such a reputation is justified, however. Especially the notion of him (like so many others listed) "stealing from the rich and giving to the poor" has little to no evidence supporting it. |
| 390 | * A common (and possibly [[TruthInTelevision accurate]]) portrayal of the legendary Slovak highwayman Juraj Jánošík. |
| 391 | * The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst in 1974 and demanded a ransom -- in the form of a food distribution program. |
| 392 | ** This was in the midst of several activities that didn't fit the trope as well. After two of their leaders were arrested for using cyanide-filled bullets to murder a school superintendent who had proposed an identification card system, the Symbionese Liberation Army demanded their release in exchange for Hearst's. They switched it to a food distribution demand later. |
| 393 | ** Hearst herself got Stockholm Syndrome and joined them, eventually being convicted of bank robbery, getting a 35-year sentence, and serving just 22 months after some VERY high-profile officials (e.g. UsefulNotes/JimmyCarter) commuted her sentence. |
| 394 | * The pop culture idea of a Communist revolution works like this; revolting against the upper class and redistributing their wealth to the poor (and [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis keeping a significant amount of wealth and power for themselves]], as per several failed historical attempts). [[UsefulNotes/{{Socialism}} The reality/theory is more complex]], mostly involving "private property"[[note]]Marxist theory makes a distinction between "private", "personal" and "public" property[[/note]] like factories, heavy machinery and land becoming publicly owned for everyone to use rather than a direct transfer of wealth. |
| 395 | * It's been suggested that the Robin Hood archetype is the result of simple good sense: In specie-currency economies, the rich normally carried large amounts of coin on their persons. So robbers would take the coin, and then spend generously in poorer areas to make themselves popular enough not to be turned in. |
| 396 | * Many real-world criminal organisations see themselves this way and often try to promote the illusion to those around them. In particular, the Mafia and the Yakuza have their own variations of this, portraying themselves as downtrodden resistance fighters whose crimes were actually striking back at their oppressors. While it's possible that they may have started out this way, it's clear in both cases that they've long since left the truth of it behind. |
| 397 | * Related to the above, when grad student Sudhir Venkatesh from the University of Chicago got a chance to analyze the finances of one branch of the Black Gangster Disciple Nation crack gang, he found that a non-trivial portion of the group's income was funneled into local charity projects and events like block parties, in order to buy goodwill with the local community. |
| 398 | * Australian Bushranger UsefulNotes/NedKelly is often considered this and among the poor, he was seen as a hero especially since when the Kelly Gang robbed the Jerilderie bank, Kelly's destruction of mortgage records helped the poor leaseholders of the area. Whether that was his intention can be debated. |
| 399 | * Japan, Edo. In 1831, Nakumura Jirokichi, aka Nezumi (rat/mouse) Kozo (errand boy) worked as a labourer and volunteer firefighter by day, but by night he robbed over 100 Lord's estates and stole 30,000 Ryo (oval-shaped round gold coins). He was so named Nezumi for his facial features that resembled a rat and using live rats to mask the sound of his larceny. He was branded with a tattoo prior to his execution, as he was caught committing similar crimes 10 years earlier and exiled from Edo. This evidence condemned him to beheading. He was found to have little gold on him, despite stealing 30,000 Ryo. This led to the legend of his generosity to the poor. However, it is also theorized that he squandered most of the money on gambling and lavish luxuries such as prostitutes. He was popular among the commoners of Japan nonetheless as he humiliated the elite samurai Lords and their poor security measures. 30 years later the oppressive Tokugawa military junta shogunate collapsed. |
| 400 | * The most famous Japanese example, of course, is UsefulNotes/IshikawaGoemon. Historically speaking he was a road bandit who attempted (and subsequently failed) to assassinate UsefulNotes/ToyotomiHideyoshi. The fact nobody knew ''why'' he tried to do that (why would a thief try to assassinate the most powerful man of Japan?), Toyotomi Hideyoshi's (not entirely undeserved) reputation as a ruthless tyrant, and the fact Goemon wrote a poem before being executed that stated that [[YouCannotKillAnIdea as long as society endured, thieves would still exist]] led to the belief that Goemon was some sort of freedom fighter thieving from Hideyoshi's tyrannical government to spread amongst the common people. |
| 401 | * Heraclio Bernal, leader of a gang of pistoleros in the late 19th Century, was portrayed this way frequently in songs and poems. |
| 402 | * Many seaside communities from the Golden Age of Piracy were quietly welcoming to visiting pirates because most cargoes that RealLife pirates stole were trade goods, not gold. Having little use for most mundane goods beyond what they needed to keeps their ships floating and crews alive and happy, the pirates unloaded them on the sly for rock-bottom prices. This made imported goods affordable to colonials who otherwise couldn't buy such items. The colonists got bargains, and the pirates got the chance to come into port without being reported to the authorities. This was almost certainly more a case of practicality than goodwill, but the point stands. |
| 403 | * UsefulNotes/TheHashshashin. They could fairly be called a cult, and their military tactics give us the word "assassin"; in addition, the word "hashish" is also derived from their name. This might make them sound a bit menacing, but actually their use of assassination (or wherever possible, simple intimidation) was intended to prevent widespread bloodshed as much as possible (also, they weren't many, so facing enemies head-on wasn't an option). They were also known to be protective of the surrounding community, even winning over local Ismali support by helping them build irrigation systems, and were very accepting of traveling scholars, with their home castle of Alamut boasting a rather impressive library. |
| 404 | * 18th century Ukrainian (Hutsul) outlaw leader Oleksa Dovbush, according to popular tradition (in RealLife, not so much). |
| 405 | [[/folder]] |
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