Robert of Huntingdon (generally referred to as Robin Hood) is the protagonist of the third season of the HTV television series Robin of Sherwood.
He was portrayed by Jason Connery.
Biography[]
Robert was the son of a powerful nobleman, the Earl of Huntingdon. Despite this, he seemed to feel some kinship with the common people. Following the death of Robin of Locksley, he was recruited by Herne the Hunter to be the new Hooded Man. He rescued four of Robin's band, Little John, Will Scarlet, Friar Tuck and Nasir, who had been captured by the Sheriff of Nottingham but, after witnessing their memorial for Robin from afar, gave up the mantle and walked away from them.
A year later, Robert again encountered Robin's widow, Marion of Leaford, when she attended a gathering at his father's castle. Although his father was under instruction to make an alliance with him, Robert protected Marion from the unwanted attention of the warlord Owen of Clun. However, Owen responded by kidnapping Marion and trying to force her to be his bride. With both his father and the Sheriff reluctant to assist, Robert instead gathered several of Robin's old band: Little John, Will, Tuck and Much. Together, and joined by Nasir who had become Owen's champion, they managed to infiltrate the castle and rescue Marion, with Owen being killed during their escape.
Robert joined the outlaws in the forest and they resumed their role of robbing from the rich and protecting the poor and oppressed. To his discomfort, he was soon known as Robin Hood by everyone, including his band. He initially attempted to keep his separate identity as Robert of Huntingdon so he could move about among the nobles, but the Sheriff's henchman, Guy of Gisburne, identified him by an injury sustained during an encounter with a torturer and he was officially outlawed.
Robin received a request for help from an old family friend, Agrivaine, who had been charged with protecting King Arthur's Round Table. He defeated a brigand, Raven, who attacked the castle but declined to replace Agrivaine as the table's guardian, suggesting Agrivane's daughter Isadora instead. During a visit to a friendly abbot, he encountered Gisburne's mother Margaret and learned that Guy was the illegitimate son of his father, making him Robin's half-brother. Gisburne remained unaware of this fact.
Robin had a number of further adventures, including a revenge attempt by Gulnar, the sorceror of Owen of Clun, who tried to trap him and his band in a cursed village, and an attempt by King John to ruin his reputation with a band of imposters preying on the poor. He reawakened the idealism of the ageing outlaw Adam Bell, defeated the Sheriff's temporary replacement Philip Mark, and thwarted a coup by the Duke of Gloucester, using a pretender and Robin's band in an attempt to assassinate the new queen.
Robin was contacted by his uncle Edgar, who revealed Robin's father had been arrested after being accused of using witchcraft against the king. In fact, it was Edgar who was behind the allegations, hoping to seize the earl's lands. An ambush saw several of Robin's band captured, but Robin managed to rescue them and expose Edgar. Afterwards, Robin met with his father, who had been forced to disinherit him when he was outlawed but made it clear he was proud of him.
Robin and Marion had become close and he finally proposed marriage. He and his band recovered some grain supplies stolen by the Sheriff to supply the King's army, but encountered a great threat: Gulnar, who had set up base in a nearby abbey with Owen of Clun's old troops. Capturing them, Gulnar constructed a homunculus of Robin and sent him to kill Herne. Robin fought with his double and killed him. However, Marion saw the homunculus' body and believed Robin was dead, retreating to a nunnery and taking holy orders. Robin found her there but was forced to accept he had lost her, returning to his band in the forest.