Geek Syndicate
HISTORICAL VIEWPOINT: THE MODERN HOOD
It’s a trend that has struck storytelling across the board
that our heroes are a little darker and more grey than they
were before. The world has become a more cynical place
and the modern tales of Robin Hood also reflect this trend.
While rarely coming across as an outright nasty piece of
work (the exception being Toby Venables’ Knight of Shadows which I shall come back to), Robin is usually out for
himself and quite brutal in his methods. He is often a godless man. Or at least he does not worship the Christian god.
In many ways, this Robin is more akin to the early character from the ballads and so it shouldn’t seem so jarring
when our hero dispatches foes without mercy, gathers
money for himself and indeed, acts primarily for himself
– if sometimes also for the people around him. Our heroic,
swashbuckling hero of the sixteenth to twentieth century
is so prevalent and iconic, that this “new” Robin can seem
strange when first encountered.
In the Dissecting Worlds podcast that I guested on, I made
the point that Robin Hood is something of a template
hero. He is malleable and can be (and has been) whatever
a particular author needs him to be. This certainly seems
to be the case with the recent versions. I’ve read several
different adaptations or original stories and they are all
unique.
In Stephen Lawhead’s trilogy,
the name “Robin Hood” is (cleverly) a bastardisation of the Welsh
“Rhi Bran y Hud” (King Raven the
Magical), a princeling in the Welsh
Marches from just after the Norman conquest. When his lands are
taken by the Normans, Bran takes
to the woods, encounters a wise
woman and raises a small army
around him, including the Forester,
Will and the Monk – Tuck.
One of my favourite book series’
at the moment is Angus Donald’s
“Outlaw” series. Set at the time of
Richard I, these books follow Alan
Dale and his life with Robert Odo
(future Earl of Loxley) and as a
knight in Richard’s Army through
the Crusades and (in the most recent book at the time of writing)
Richard’s campaigns in France to
reclaim his lands from the French
king, Phillip. These books are pseudo-historical in the vein of Bernard
Cornwell’s excellent output.
18
This Robin is quick to anger and acquisitive. He would give
his life for those in his “circle” of friends but has no regard
at all for those outside it. He can be cruel. He is openly antichristian, refuting god and (more particularly) the church.
Abaddon Books have published books featuring two very
different incarnations of Robin. One is a trilogy set in a
modern world – but one ravaged by a virus. This postapocalyptic version features an ex-policeman living in the
woods. He grows to become the protector of the survivors
of Nottinghamshire and is a very believable character. Given the situation anyway! Of more interest to this article is
the recently published novel by Toby Venables.
In A Knight in Shadows, roles are
reversed. Guy of Gisburne is the
noble protagonist and Robin is
a villainous outlaw living off his
own legend. Through flashbacks,
it is revealed that both Robin and
King Richard are far from their
usual noble portrayals. Richard
happily sends a knight who has
questioned him to his death. Robin
performs many a villainous deed.
Contrarily, John is portrayed as a
shrewd monarch making the best
of a kingdom left in debt by his
predecessor’s warmongering ways. It always surprises me
how Richard I is lauded as a great monarch when he spent
merely six months of his six year reign in the country, could
not speak a word of English and taxed the country to the
hilt so that he could wage war in Europe and beyond…
These grittier, greyer versions of Robin with a slightly more
accurate view of history are certainly indicative of modern
story telling. Even Saturday morning adventure cartoons
have moved more into this vein, touching on the darker
realities than their 1980s counterparts managed. In these
cases, the authors are painting more adult stories and so
they paint a more believable hero for our reading or viewing pleasure.