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"A man is judged by his enemies." A legend as large-hearted as Robin Hood attracts followers such as his Merry Men, Women, and Children. And friends of all colors and stripes. And enemies. Here, in no particular order, are some of the people who've come to Sherwood Forest and crossed paths with the living legend. |
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Sir Guy of Gisborne is Robin Hood's archenemy, and will be until death. |
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Robin, Guy, and Marian knew each other as children. At one point, Marian was betrothed to Guy. Marian rebuffed Guy, and he's hated her and Robin ever since. Guy's
obsession with revenge leads him to partner with Taragal the
witch. She seduces him for her own purposes, but is in turn
seduced by the resurrected Kite. In the end, all Robin's foe who
revel in death find it. When Guy dons the fabled horsehide, Robin
kills him in a gory battle. But Robin receives a shoulder wound
that plagues him whenever he draws an arrow. Guy keeps causing
pain long after his death. Sir Guy appears in the original ballad,
"Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne". Guy might actually have had his own
cycle of adventures, now lost. Art © 2001 by Stephen Hickman from Nancy Springer's Rowan Hood: Outlaw Girl of Sherwood Forest. See his website for stunning fantasy and science fiction art. |
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Robin Hood's Robin Hood |
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Puck, the famous fairy, is both a blessing and curse to Robin Hood. A "frenemy", in modern terms. |
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And he's a friend and advisor and tease
for Robin Hood. Ageless, Puck befriended the child Robert
Locksley. And led him into the forest for fun and
instruction. And perhaps to prep Robin to be the future guardian
of the forest himself - either as a man or a man-god. The message is never clear with Puck, and
drives Robin crazy. The fairy pops up at odd moments, often the
worst of times, and doesn't speak, just mimes "Trouble!" because he
doesn't speak any human language. If Robin goes along, it'll be
bad. If Robin ignores Puck, he might miss vital
information. All that's ever sure is, Puck is a habinger of
disaster. The traditional Puck may be a flying fairy or satyr-fairy like Pan. My version is a duergar, a "self-appointed guardian of the faery peoples", according to A Witch's Guide to Faery Folk
by Edain McCoy, "an almost vanished race." He has a large head
and skinny body, wears a moleskin jacket and breeches in imitation of
Robin Hood, and resembles a bunch of cattails. |
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King Richard I crosses paths, and words if not swords, several times during Robin Hood's career. |
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Later, despite his personal distaste for
his monarch, Robin Hood exerted time and effort to help raise the
"king's ransom" to free King Richard. When Richard visited Sherwood Forest disguised as an abbot, Robin hosted the king's party - with disastrous results. Still later, Robin had to crawl to Richard to find Little John, who'd been enslaved in London. Soon after, Richard returned to France, besieged the castle Chaluz, caught an arrow in the neck, and died. In the movie Robin and Marian,
the dying king ruefully notes that Robin Hood had always treated him as
an equal, which was intolerable. But Robin treats everyone as an
equal. My Richard refers to Robin as "my most prickly subject". King Richard I, called the Lionheart, was a historical figure. Considering
himself king of both England and much of France, Richard spoke only
French and only visited England when he needed money. At this time Richard was about 30 years old,
tall and blonde and vital, a true king swinging his famed Danish ax.
(For some reason, in movies, kings are always old, which is how
Richard is often portrayed.) He never had the chance to grow old: he died at 33 from an arrow in the neck. Image by C. Walter Hodges from Rosemary Sutcliff's |
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is a witch, or sorceress, who becomes a plague on Robin Hood's house. |
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She lives outside Sherwood Forest in a tower on a hill with her own fief of terrified peasants. Her name means "Tower on the Hill". Taragal enters the story in BEASTS at the behest of Sir Guy of Gisborne, who only wants some magic curse leveled against Robin Hood. The witch is glad to oblige. The more hell she can stir up, the better. As payment, Taragal hypnotizes and seduces Guy. Taragal is an interesting study. She's getting older, and without admitting it, is lonely. Her ambition is to unleash something BIG, and damn the consequences. She gets more than she expected when she resurrects The Kite, and he vies to summon a demon. Taragal is WAY in over her head. Taragal is vain, and when she loses her looks in hideous fashion, goes mad. Oddly, when Marian finally meets the fearsome witch, her only reaction is pity. Taragal was created by Clayton Emery. Art is detail of a painting of Morgan Le Fay by Anthony Frederick Sandys. | |
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Sir Richard |
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Less so later... When Robin and His Merry Men fled Nottingham
Fair and the famous archery contest, Little John was wounded. The
Merry Men
took refuge in Sir Richard's castle. And under siege, ate him out
of house and
home, seduced his maids, wrecked the place horsing around, and
otherwise
made themselves unwelcome. Sir Richard at Lea, or of the Lee, appears in "A Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode". Art from Robin Hood, retold and illustrated by Margaret Early. | |
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The Sheriff of Nottingham is Robin Hood's most popular foe. |
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You can't have a Robin Hood adventure without the Sheriff of Nottingham. They go together like peanut butter and jellyfish. A sheriff was a "shire reeve", or county lawman: a word so handy it eventually crossed the Atlantic to the Wild West. The Sheriff would, by tradition, wear blue for the city color (I think), and a big silver chain with a hart's head as his badge. That said, the Sheriff belonged in the town of Nottingham, not Sherwood Forest, which has royal foresters as police. Robin Hood sometimes reminds the Sheriff he's strayed out of his jurisdiction. We know of two or three sheriffs. Early on was Sir Nicholas, a bumbling greedy pest see in "Robin Hood's Treasure". A later sheriff is Sir Rowland, a knight gone to fat, also greedy and annoyed when he must work. It's noted in BEASTS that Robin killed the sheriff before Rowland (was that Nicholas?). In DEMONS, Robin kills Sir Rowland too. Robin doesn't especially like killing sheriffs, but sometimes it's necessary. All said, it's to the good. Later sheriffs never enter Sherwood Forest. Any Sheriff of Nottingham is a historical figure - and a current one, since sheriffs still serve in a ceremonial post. Art from The Adventures of Robin Hood and His Merry Men, adapted by Bruce Grant and illustrated by William Timmins, based on actor Alan Wheatley of the 1950s TV show. |
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Sherwood is invaded by |
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The "Hawk Men", as the peasants call
them, are Sicilian Muslims. With a foot in two worlds, they value
neither side and will kill on command. Sir Guy hires seven - "one
for each deadly sin" - and turns them loose on the people, the forest,
the Merry Men, and Heaven itself. The Faris were historical figures. Art by Christa Hook, from David Nicolle's Osprey book |
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Wormwood is actually Wyrmeon, master of Castle Craddock.
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Art cribbed from the TV show Catweazle. The actor is |
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The Bishop |
Robin Hood stops the bishop on the road, "invites" him to dinner, and for his pay, makes his dance by pricking his fat legs with arrows. Later Robin hears of the bishop again, as he holds the mortgage on Sir Richard at Lea's castle. When Robin provides the money, he skunks the bishop again. Don't think Robin Hood hates clerics. He treasures Friar Tuck, who lives poor and ministers to commoners, as did Jesus. No, Robin hates puffed-up churchmen who are too worldly. And he pops their balloons whenever possible. "Robin Hood and the Bishop of Hereford" is an original ballad. The bishop in Sir Richard at Lea's story may be a different bishop, but I've lumped them together. Art from Tales of Robin Hood Told For Children | |
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| Vikings were called Northmen by the English. Viking
raids had still happening even in 1066 AD, and I've pushed some last
small raids to Robin Hood's time. These raids were for loot and
slaves, not land, so were savage and cruel. The outlaws, maybe
with something to prove, take it upon themselves to drive out the
Vikings, but the hardest part was catching the raiders.
Dragonships could sail a hundred miles while outlaws on horses might
ride twenty. Pluck, luck, diligence, and guile finally help Robin
Hood bring the Vikings to heel, but the battle costs the Merry Men in
lives. Art from The How and Why Wonder Book of Vikings written by Brenda Ralph Lewis and illustrated by Edward Mortelmans. |
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The Prioress |
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No one knows her name, or why she hates Robin Hood. She's supposed to be Robin Hood's cousin. Her name maybe Ursula. Some speculate Sir Guy of Gisborne was her kinsman, or her former lover. But no one knows. And it's ironic that Robin Hood, who exhalted all women as images of Mary, and lived so honestly, and who fought so many vicious men, was brought down by a treacherous woman. In his old age, when an ancient wound from Sir Guy troubled him, and Marian was gone, Robin went to the Prioress for medical help. As his cousin, he trusted her. He let himself be bled, but she locked the door and left him. Dying, Robin summoned Little John to shoot one last arrow. And forbade John from taking vengeance on the Prioress. So Robin's killer went unpunished. The Prioress of Kirklees appears in the original ballad, "A Gest of Robyn Hode". Kirklees Abbey (extant?) is a real place in Mirfield, Yorkshire. Art by Michael Foreman from Michael Morpurgo's |
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Robin Hood's Robin Hood |
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