Merry Men

History

Known Merry Men

• Little John – Robin's lieutenant. Later stories depict him as a huge man who joins the band after fighting Robin with quarterstaves over a river.
• Much, the Miller's Son – A grown man and a seasoned fighter in the early ballads. Later stories depict him as one of the youngest of the Merry Men.
• Will Scarlet – Another very early companion, appearing in ballads like "A Gest of Robyn Hode". In "Robin Hood Newly Revived" he is a skilled swordsman and Robin's nephew.
• Arthur a Bland – He appears in only one ballad, "Robin Hood and the Tanner". He is an accused poacher who bests Robin in a fight and joins the band.
• David of Doncaster – He appears only in "Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow". He warns Robin against going to the Sheriff of Nottingham's archery contest because it is a trap. In his novel The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, Howard Pyle identifies David with the anonymous wrestler of "A Gest of Robyn Hode".
• Will Stutely – He appears in two ballads, "Robin Hood and Little John" and "Robin Hood Rescuing Will Stutly". In the former, he gives Little John his outlaw name; in the latter, he must be rescued after he is caught spying by the Sheriff of Nottingham. He is occasionally confused with Will Scarlet.
• Friar Tuck – The resident Clergyman of the band. Tuck developed separately from the Robin Hood tradition; similar characters appear in 15th- and 16th-century plays, and an early 15th-century outlaw used the alias Friar Tuck. A fighting friar appears in the ballad "Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar", though he is not named. Robin and the friar engage in a battle of wits, which at one point involves the holy man carrying the outlaw across a river, only to toss him in. In the end, the friar joins the Merry Men. Later stories portray Tuck as more ale-loving and jovial than belligerent.
• Alan-a-Dale – A roving minstrel. He appears in the later ballad "Robin Hood and Allan-a-Dale", in which Robin helps him rescue his sweetheart who is being forced into marriage with another man. Despite his relatively late appearance, he became a popular character in later versions.
• Gilbert Whitehand – Portrayed in "A Gest of Robyn Hode" as a skilled archer nearly equal to Robin. He appears along with other Merry Men during the shooting match for the gold and silver arrow, and again in Barnsdale Forest during a visit by the disguised king.
• Reynold Greenleaf – Although this name was used as an alias by Little John in "A Gest of Robyn Hode" when he tricked his way into the Sheriff's service, there is another Reynold presented later in the ballad as a separate member of the Merry Men who competed in the archery match for the gold and silver arrow alongside Robin, Little John and others of the band.
• Maid Marian – Robin Hood's romantic interest. Marian developed separately from the Robin Hood tradition; the medieval French play Jeu de Robin et Marion tells the story of the shepherdess Marian and the knight Robin, and is unrelated to Robin Hood. The medieval archetype of Marian became associated with English and Scottish May Day festivities, and was eventually associated with Robin Hood. She is the protagonist of the ballad "Robin Hood and Maid Marian" and is mentioned in "Robin Hood and Queen Katherine" and "Robin Hood's Golden Prize". In "Maid Marian" she joins the Merry Men by fighting Robin to a draw while both are in disguise. In some Victorian literature she takes a more passive role as a noblewoman and Robin's desired, but this all but ended in the 20th century as Marian resumed her role as a cross-dressing tomboy and a capable fighter. She is depicted as such in the 1952 film The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men, the television series Robin of Sherwood, and the 1991 film '. The children's comedy television series Maid Marian and her Merry Men takes this a step further by placing Marian in charge of the group. In the 2006 series Robin Hood, Marian works as a double agent, feeding Robin critical information about the Sheriff.
• The Tinker – A tinker who tried to capture Robin for the reward money, but eventually became one of his Merry Men. Though he is not named in the original ballad "Robin Hood and the Tinker" he is given various names in later adaptations. Howard Pyle calls him Wat o' the Crabstaff, while in Bold Robin Hood and His Outlaw Band by Louis Rhead he is named Dick o' Banbury.
• The Cook – A cook who lived in the household of the Sheriff. Sometime after Little John tricked his way into the Sheriff's service, he and the cook fought each other with swords. Neither one besting the other, they became friends and the cook was invited by Little John to join Robin's band. Though he is not named in "A Gest of Robyn Hode", he is given various names in later adaptations. In The Life and Adventures of Robin Hood by John B. Marsh he is known by the epithet Firepan, and his skill as a cook is matched by his fame as a swordsman. In Stories of Robin Hood and His Merry Outlaws by J. Walker McSpadden, it is none other than Much himself who originally served the Sheriff as his cook until he joined the Merry Men after his duel with Little John.
• The Ranger – A forester who was responsible for protecting the king's deer. When he encountered Robin and learned that he was poaching, they fought each other with swords and then with quarterstaves. The forester defeated Robin who then offered him a place among his company of outlaws as told in "Robin Hood and the Ranger".
• The Pinder – A pinder who encountered Robin, Little John and Will Scarlet together. Like other tales in which Robin duels an opponent and meets his match, they engaged in swordplay until a truce was made. The pinder was then invited to join the Merry Men which he pledged to do after the day of Michaelmas when the contract with his former employer ran out, as told in "The Jolly Pinder of Wakefield". Though the character is not identified in the ballad, he is named George a Greene in the Robin Hood play George a Greene, the Pinner of Wakefield printed in 1599, the 1632 chapbook The Famous History of George a Greene, Pinder of Wakefield, and other similar works of the period. This is the name likewise used by Maude Radford Warren in her 1914 collection Robin Hood and His Merry Men where he also serves as a self-appointed guardian of the peace. Henry Gilbert in Robin Hood calls him Sim of Wakefield.
• The Scotchman – A Scot who Robin met while on a journey north. He offered to serve Robin who refused at first, thinking that he would prove false, but then he agreed on the condition that they first engage in a duel. The Scot won the fight and became a member of Robin's band, as told in "Robin Hood and the Scotchman".
• The Three Yeomen – Three yeomen who were about to be hanged by the Sheriff of Nottingham for poaching until they were saved by Robin and a company of archers. They were taken back to the safety of the greenwood and joined Robin's band, as told in "Robin Hood and the Beggar".

• This began with the 1984–86 television series Robin of Sherwood, which included the character Nasir, a former hashshashin who joins the Merry Men.
• The character influenced the writers of the 1989–94 BBC TV children's series Maid Marian and Her Merry Men, which featured the black character Barrington
• 1991's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves included the Moor Azeem.
• The 1993 Mel Brooks comedy ' featured Dave Chappelle as Achoo, a parody of Freeman's Azeem comically depicted with modern African American mannerisms and speech.
• The 1997–99 television series The New Adventures of Robin Hood featured Kemal, a Saracen who was a professional assassin in Palestine.
• The 2006 series Robin Hood introduced Djaq, a Saracen ex-slave. A twist in Djaq's description is that Djaq is actually a girl disguised as a boy.
• In a 2012 episode of Once Upon a Time, Robin Hood asked Mulan to be a part of the Merry Men. She accepted the offer and became, on the show, the first female member of the band.
• In the 2018 film "Robin Hood" Jamie Foxx portrays Little John as a Moor.