I actually conceived of this idea a few months back but have just started to revisit it now. It's my personal adaptation of the Robin Hood legend, one which I hope to be much more multicultural than most. In it Robin is a ancient Germanic warrior who teams up with Nubian martial artists to liberate his people from a Roman invasion.
Let's begin with a little plot summary of my idea, tentatively titled The Legend of Robin Hood:
The Romans have invaded the Germanic country of Angeln. After they slaughter his father Chief Locksley and their village, young Robin escapes to the Sudanese kingdom of Kush where he trains to become a warrior alongside the wise and beautiful Meritamun. With the help of a wise-cracking priest and a band of redeemed rogues, Robin and Meritamun must liberate the Anglic people from Roman oppression. But first he must face his fears and ask himself whether vengeance is always the right path.
And now for a cast of major characters!
Robin: The protagonist of our story, Robin is an Anglic warrior whose special affinity for archery goes back to his childhood. After his father Chief Locksley dies at the hands of Roman general Gaius, Robin travels to Kush to train and prepare himself for revenge. For all his proficiency with the bow and arrow, Robin struggles with hand-to-hand combat and fears getting to close to his enemies. Though he suffers from a short temper and vindictive personality, Robin does have strong empathy for the less fortunate.
Meritamun: Robin’s faithful companion and love interest, Meritamun is a Kushite martial artist whose beauty belies her lethal agility and skill with the spear. Smarter and more even-tempered than Robin, she resents having to help him get out of his own trouble all the time, but nonetheless believes she can steer him back onto the right path. Later generations will remember her as Maid Marian.
Djehuti: Remembered in the Robin Hood mythos as Little John, Djehuti is the ringleader of the desert brigands known euphemistically as the Merry Men. He cultives a ruthless and ambitious persona on the outside, but he does have a sensitive and honorable side and only got into the bandit profession out of economic desperation. At first he gets into conflict with Robin and Meritamun but then joins his cause to liberate the Angles from Roman tyranny. Djehuti is most skilled with the sword and military strategy.
Tahar: This is my Friar Tuck figure. He started out a priest of Amun but got kicked out for his hedonistic gluttony and lechery. Nonetheless he is a brilliant mage, healer, and scholar who joins Robin et al after they rescue him from an enraged brothel owner. He lugs around a papyrus encyclopedia which he peruses when not chasing food, drink, or ladies.
Iohannes: A Roman governor who takes control of Robin’s homeland Angeln, Iohannes leads the story’s major antagonizing forces. He is a vain and calculating man with a ravenous appetite for luxury and prestige. His charisma and manipulation of legions of henchmen more than compensate for his personal cowardice (or “pragmatism” as he would prefer to call it). He is of course the conceptual progenitor of the mythos’s Prince John figure.
Gaius: Conceptual ancestor of the Sheriff of Nottinghamm, Gaius is a zealous and brutal general who fights on behalf of the governor Iohannes. His hatred of Northern Europeans stems in part from a traumatic loss of his father to a German sacrificial ritual. Gaius is the man who slays Robin’s father and the man he vows to slay in the beginning.
Any thoughts or ideas on this?
08 Aug 2013, 2:32 pm
