History Main / Outlaw

The term "outlaw" reaches back to at least Old Norse; it denotes a person who has been declared guilty of a crime in absentia and has chosen to escape for whatever reason, and is thus placed outside the protection of the law. Members of the community were forbidden to aid the outlaw in any way lest [[PunishedForSympathy they suffer the same punishment as the outlaw, and were permitted, even encouraged, to kill them]]. Thus, the outlaw could not live in the community, but was forced to flee to the wilderness or another country to try to survive until their sentence of outlawry expired or their relatives could somehow lift it. At the time, there were no established prisons or dedicated police, so long-term imprisonment was rare. In the medieval age, an outlaw was called a "wolfshead," meaning that he or she was equated to a wolf in the eyes of the law, and was to be hunted down like one.

An individual outlaw, or the leader of an outlaw gang, will often overlap with TheGunslinger. Other members of an outlaw gang will generally be the Western's equivalent of the {{Mook}}. If the {{Outlaw}} is the protagonist, or otherwise meant to be sympathetic, expect them to be shown as having a Robin Hood-like code of ethics as to who they rob, or be an AntiHero who does "what he has to do" to survive in a lawless land.

The term "outlaw" reaches back to at least Old Norse; it denotes a person who has been declared guilty of a crime in absentia and has chosen to escape for whatever reason, and is thus placed outside the protection of the law. Members of the community were forbidden to aid the outlaw in any way lest [[PunishdedForSympathy they suffer the same punishment as the outlaw, and were permitted, even encouraged, to kill them]]. Thus, the outlaw could not live in the community, but was forced to flee to the wilderness or another country to try to survive until their sentence of outlawry expired or their relatives could somehow lift it. At the time, there were no established prisons or dedicated police, so long-term imprisonment was rare. In the medieval age, an outlaw was called a "wolfshead," meaning that he or she was equated to a wolf in the eyes of the law, and was to be hunted down like one.

The term "outlaw" reaches back to at least Old Norse; it denotes a person who has been declared guilty of a crime in absentia and has chosen to escape for whatever reason, and is thus placed outside the protection of the law. Members of the community were forbidden to aid the outlaw in any way lest they suffer the same punishment as the outlaw, and were permitted, even encouraged, to kill them. Thus, the outlaw could not live in the community, but was forced to flee to the wilderness or another country to try to survive until their sentence of outlawry expired or their relatives could somehow lift it. At the time, there were no established prisons or dedicated police, so long-term imprisonment was rare. In the medieval age, an outlaw was called a "wolfshead," meaning that he or she was equated to a wolf in the eyes of the law, and was to be hunted down like one.

* Turin Turambar from ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' and ''Literature/TheChildrenOfHurin'' and his Gaurwaith gang are modelled after medieval outlaws.

''Wanted: Dead or Alive.''

In TheWestern, the outlaw is not completely removed from the protection of the law, but is wanted for crimes that make it impossible to stay in the community. Often, he will have a price on his head, making him the prey of the BountyHunter. Most outlaws will continue to lead lives of crime while in the wilderness, unless unjustly accused.

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* [[LandDownUnder Australian example]]: Ned Kelly, infamous for the home-made suit of armour worn in his last stand. During Australia's colonial days, outlaws were known as 'Bushrangers', and there's a number of songs about them.

* From the Icelandic ''Literature/VolsungaSaga'' (a legendary saga): Sigi, the ancestor of the Volsungs, is outlawed in his home country for murder, and generations later, his descendants Sigmund and Sinfjotli are forced to live as outlaws in the forest for years.

* ''TheOutlawJoseyWales''
* The Jesse James gang, of both RealLife fame and many, many movies.
* Wyatt Earp was an example of an outlaw becoming a lawman.
** It seems as though many if not most renowned gunfighters have spent some time as both outlaws and lawmen.
* RobinHood and his Merry Men are perhaps the most well-known medieval outlaws in fiction.
* Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid tried going straight in RealLife as well, working as guards. It was the first time Butch Cassidy had ever killed anyone. In TheMovie, they're given the RobinHood treatment.

* Irregulars from ''TowerOfGod'' who broke the rules of the Tower by entering it on their own volition. But because they were capable of doing that, nobody feels [[TheDreaded an ounce]] [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast of urgency to]] [[OneManArmy pursue them.]]

* [[LandDownUnder Australian example]]: Ned Kelly, infamous for the home-made suit of armour worn in his last stand. During Australia's colonial days, outlaws were known as 'Bushrangers', and there's a number of songs about them.
* Famous heroic outlaws from Literature/TheIcelandicSagas are Grettir Ásmundarson (''Literature/TheSagaOfGrettirTheStrong'') and Gisli Súrsson. Grettir supposedly survived almost 20 years as an outlaw on Iceland, Gisli twelve years, before they were tracked down and killed by their enemies. Outlaws also occur as villains in other sagas, as outlaws often would turn to robbery, waylaying or even murder to feed themselves.

* The Seablite gang in Literature/DarkLife are undersea outlaws who prey on ocean-floor pioneers.

* The ''Jon Shannow'' books by DavidGemmell, being set in an AfterTheEnd western, has a lot of them, like Daniel Cade. They're usually the main antagonists of the book until the real BigBad shows up.

* Turin Turambar from ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' and ''Literature/ChildrenOfHurin'' and his Gaurwaith gang are modelled after medieval outlaws.

* Famous heroic outlaws from Literature/TheIcelandicSagas are Grettir Ásmundarson and Gisli Súrsson. Grettir supposedly survived almost 20 years as an outlaw on Iceland, Gisli twelve years, before they were tracked down and killed by their enemies. Outlaws also occur as villains in other sagas, as outlaws often would turn to robbery, waylaying or even murder to feed themselves.
* Turin Turambar from TheSilmarillion and ChildrenOfHurin and his Gaurwaith gang are modelled after medieval outlaws.

Several of the Literature/{{Icelandic sagas}} have outlaws as main or supporting characters, and some versions of RobinHood will have this be the explicit status of the Merry Men.

* Famous heroic outlaws from the Literature/IcelandicSagas are Grettir Ásmundarson and Gisli Súrsson. Grettir supposedly survived almost 20 years as an outlaw on Iceland, Gisli twelve years, before they were tracked down and killed by their enemies. Outlaws also occur as villains in other sagas, as outlaws often would turn to robbery, waylaying or even murder to feed themselves.

The term "outlaw" reaches back to at least Old Norse; it denotes a person who has been found guilty of a crime but has chosen to escape punishment for the crime for whatever reason, and is thus placed outside the protection of the law. Members of the community were forbidden to aid the outlaw in any way lest they suffer the same punishment as the outlaw, and were permitted, even encouraged, to kill them. Thus, the outlaw could not live in the community, but was forced to flee to the wilderness or another country to try to survive until their sentence of outlawry expired or their relatives could somehow lift it. At the time, there were no established prisons or dedicated police, so long-term imprisonment was rare. In the medieval age, an outlaw was called a "wolfshead," meaning that he or she was equated to a wolf in the eyes of the law, and was to be hunted down like one.

Several of the {{Icelandic sagas}} have outlaws as main or supporting characters, and some versions of RobinHood will have this be the explicit status of the Merry Men.

* Famous heroic outlaws from the IcelandicSagas are Grettir Ásmundarson and Gisli Súrsson. Grettir supposedly survived almost 20 years as an outlaw on Iceland, Gisli twelve years, before they were tracked down and killed by their enemies. Outlaws also occur as villains in other sagas, as outlaws often would turn to robbery, waylaying or even murder to feed themselves.

The term "outlaw" reaches back to at least Old Norse; it denotes a person who has been found guilty of a crime but has chosen to escape punishment for the crime for whatever reason, and is thus placed outside the protection of the law. Members of the community were forbidden to aid the outlaw in any way lest they suffer the same punishment as the outlaw, and were permitted, even encouraged, to kill them. Thus, the outlaw could not live in the community, but was forced to flee to the wilderness or another country to try to survive until their sentence of outlawry expired or their relatives could somehow lift it. At the time, there were no established prisons or dedicated police, so long-term imprisonment was rare. In the medieval age, an outlaw was called a "wolf's head," meaning that he or she was equated to a wolf in the eyes of the law, and was to be hunted down like one.

* The heroes of ''WildBoys'' are all bushrangers.
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* ''The Outlaw Josey Wales''

* By the futuristic setting of ''OutlawStar'', the term has decayed even further; "outlaw" means that they don't have a formal allegiance to the government or a pirate gang.

The term "outlaw" reaches back to at least Old Norse; it denotes a person who has been found guilty of a crime but has chosen to escape punishment for the crime for whatever reason, and is thus placed outside the protection of the law. Members of the community were forbidden to aid the outlaw in any way lest they suffer the same punishment as the outlaw, and were permitted, even encouraged, to kill them. Thus, the outlaw could not live in the community, but was forced to flee to the wilderness or another country to try to survive until their sentence of outlawry expired or their relatives could somehow lift it. At the time, there were no established prisons or dedicated police, so long-term imprisonment was rare.

** It seems as though many if not most renowned gunfighters have spent some time as both outlaws and lawmen.

* Famous heroic outlaws from the IcelandicSagas are Grettir Ásmundarson and Gisli Súrsson. Grettir supposedly survived almost 20 years as outlaw on Iceland, Gisli twelve years, before they were tracked down and killed by their enemies. Outlaws also occur as villains in other sagas, as outlaws often would turn to robbery, waylaying or even murder to feed themselves.

Several of the Icelandic sagas have outlaws as main or supporting characters, and some versions of RobinHood will have this be the explicit status of the Merry Men.