Robin Hood (TV series)

Robin, plus the (typical configuration of) outlaws.

"Will you tolerate this injustice? I, for one, will not!"

—Robin, Will You Tolerate This?

2006-2009 British adaptation of the Robin Hood legend, with Jonas Armstrong playing the title character. The show made some interesting changes to the legend. Friar Tuck was omitted for the first two seasons, and when he appeared in Series 3, he was turned into a Black warrior priest. Marian was not referred to as "Maid" and became something of an Action Girl in her "Nightwatchman" Secret Identity. The Merry Men (which included a Saracen Woman) were not referred to as such, being only called "the outlaws". Green tights were conspicuous by their absence.

The show was best known for its anachronistic take on medieval history and its superb cast. It is now probably remembered most for its controversial decision to kill off Marian. Despite initial comments by the BBC that actress Lucy Griffiths had left of her own accord, further controversy arose with the release of Series 2 on DVD in which creators Dominic Minghella and Foz Allen not only revealed that it was their choice to kill Marian in an attempt to "rock the show", but that the death scene was purposefully shot with markedly sexual overtones. Dominic Minghella, the man responsible for the episode wherein Marian was killed, was not involved in Series 3 and seemingly provided no consultancy concerning what "storytelling opportunities" he had in mind for the follow-up to Marian's death.

Series Three was a Retool of the show, with new writers, characters, costumes and storylines. Although new cast member Isabella and guest star Prince John were generally well received by fandom, Tuck and Kate, the replacements for Will Scarlett and Djaq the Saracen (written out at the same time as Marian) were not. The show eventually revealed that Guy and Robin shared a half-brother called Archer, in an attempt to set up Robin Hood as a Legacy Character that could carry on the show after the mass cast exodus that took place at the end of the series.

The show concluded with the Sheriff, Isabella, Guy and Robin all killing one another with assorted swords, poisoned daggers and explosions. Robin was taken to Sherwood Forest, and as he dies, he is reunited with Marian in the afterlife. Although only two out of the nine original cast members remained, the writers left room for the series to continue, with mention of King Richard being held hostage in Austria (as per historical record), Prince John still in power, and Archer taking up the mantle of Robin Hood as the outlaws' leader.

The show was not renewed for a fourth series. Has a Character Sheet and an Episode Guide.

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Tropes used in Robin Hood (TV series) include:

• Abel and Cain: Finn and Tiernan, the two Irish brothers in the episode Cause and Effect.
  • Also Guy and Isabella
  • And of course, King Richard and Prince John.
• Aborted Arc: Throughout the first two-thirds of the second season, Robin and the outlaws are concerned with the accumulation of Black Knights in Nottingham. The Sheriff is getting them to sign the Pact of Nottingham, a document that will set Prince John up as King and which goes on to be a McGuffin that an important Recurring Character actually dies for in order to deliver it to Robin. In episode 12 this entire plot is dropped completely when the Sheriff decides to travel all the way to the Holy Land in order to assassinate King Richard himself. The Black Knights are given some degree of closure in season three, when it’s said that they’ve disbanded, but it doesn’t change the fact that a whole season worth of set-up went precisely nowhere.
  • In season three, the writers seem to be setting Kate and Allan up as a potential couple. After episode 8, Allan loses all interest, and has no reaction whatsoever when Robin hooks up with her instead. Neither is there any closure on the Will/Djaq/Allan Love Triangle. Much/Kate doesn't go anywhere either, though it's given a bit more attention.
  • In his first appearance Tuck mentions that the outlaws should be Training the Peaceful Villagers to stand up for themselves, instead of just providing them with food and protection. Unless you count Tuck's failed attempt to stage a peaceful protest (which ironically is sabotaged by a helpless villager that Tuck had plenty of opportunity to train in combat) this idea goes nowhere.
  • For an example of an arc that's aborted before it's even had a chance to begin, the series ends with the surviving outlaws discussing the need to raise King Richard's ransom money. The show's cancellation was announced about a week later.
• Abuse Is Okay When Its Female On Male: Both Invoked and Averted. Marian punches Guy in the face (and deliberately uses a ring as a knuckle-buster) just before she bails on their wedding; this is largely Justified as he's already physically tried to prevent her from leaving the chapel and threatens her father's safety if she doesn't go through with the ceremony. However, in a later episode she punches Robin in the stomach so hard that he doubles over in pain just because she's frustrated. This is played for laughs.
  • Inverted in the third season with the arrival of Isabella. Guy and Robin repeatedly man-handle her (choking her, pushing her, slapping her across the face) in ways that are never treated as that big a deal, but whenever Isabella reciprocates, it's meant to demonstrate how she's Jumping Off the Slippery Slope.
• Achilles in His Tent: Robin in the first season episode Tattoo? What Tattoo? in which he captures Guy and refuses to help the other outlaws rescue Djaq, despite their pleas for help.
  • Much in A Dangerous Deal once he realizes that Kate wants to hook up with Robin. He returns as soon as he the gang is in danger.
• Action Girl: Marian and Djaq. To a lesser extent Isabella can be described as a Dark Action Girl, though she tends to rely more on cunning and letting others do the grunt-work. Kate tries, but the sheer amount of times she gets captured or injured puts her firmly into Faux Action Girl territory.
• Actor Allusion: In the episode Lardner's Ring, Guy tells Marian that: "you're coming home with me." This is what Thornton says to Margaret Hale at the conclusion of North and South. Both characters were played by Richard Armitage.
  • In addition, both Richard Armitage and Gisborne have the same middle name: 'Crispin'.
• Adrenaline Makeover: Accidentally inverted with Kate. On joining the outlaws Kate loses the forehead braid and the simple peasant outfit; but her new green dress is of a severely impractical length that obviously impedes the actress's ability to move, and she's constantly shaking or tipping her head in order to keep her unbound hair out of her eyes.
• Adult Child: Much.
  • Kate may also fit into this category, though this was possibly accidental on the writers' behalf (it didn't help that a grown woman was playing the part of a teenage girl).
• Advertised Extra: Prior to the airing of the third season, the introduction of Tuck was treated as a huge draw-card, with actor David Harewood mentioning in interviews that his character had a dark back-story as to why he left the church and that a power struggle with Robin for the role of leader would take place. Neither of these storylines materialized in the show, and Tuck only gets one character-centric episode before he's relegated to extra.
• Aesop Amnesia: A particularly disappointing one in Too Hot to Handle. For the first time since the season premiere Robin is displaying pangs of grief over the death of Marian. This leads to Robin breaking up with Isabella, basing it on a) his duty to the King and England, b) his acknowledgement that he's never going to get the chance to have a normal life, c) the danger that Isabella is in if she's known to be in league with Robin, and d) the fact that he still misses Marian too much. The episode ends with him looking wistfully at a happy family, knowing that it's a future he can never have...only for him to hook up with Kate two episodes later.
  • To make matters worse, Robin's other Aesop throughout the show is that he needs to treat Much with more respect. Starting a relationship with Kate, the girl that he knows Much has a crush on, is probably the cruelest thing he's ever done to his best friend.
• A Father to His Men: Robin, though he is by no means a perfect father.
• Affirmative Action Girl: Djaq is introduced; whereas beforehand Marian was the only woman on the show. Later, Marian and Djaq leave the show...cue Isabella and Kate.
• All Girls Like Ponies: After an argument with Marian, Guy tries to appease her by bring her a new horse. It works.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Guy of Gisborne (played by Richard Armitage) has an army of fangirls, and according to the creators, Marian's attraction to him stems from the fact that "women like 'em a little rough." Likewise, Allan-a-Dale gained a mysterious boost in popularity after his Face Heel Turn and defection to the Dark Side and subsequent upgrade to black leather, though the trope is Subverted within the show in that love interests Marian and Djaq ultimately prefer Robin Hood and Will Scarlett over their bad boy counterparts.
• Alliterative Name: Guy of Gisborne.
  • Averted with Maid Marian who is always refered to as "Lady Marian."
• Almost Kiss: An interesting variation occurs in Brothers In Arms in which Guy moves in to kiss Marian after she's accepted his marriage proposal. The Moment Killer is the fact that Marian is tearful and frightened, having just been threatened by Guy over the whereabouts of a missing necklace that links her to Robin and been forced to accept Guy's proposal in order to assuage the suspicion. Realizing that now is not the best time to kiss his bride-to-be, Guy backs off.
  • It provides a much darker comparison with an Almost Kiss between Robin and Marian earlier in the episode, in which Robin tries for a kiss and Marian coyly draws away.
• Aluminum Christmas Trees: In a show with this many anachronisms, the average viewer might be forgiven for rolling their eyes when Prince John appoints Isabella as the Sheriff of Nottingham. However, Prince John (after he was crowned King) was actually responsible for appointing a woman in the position of Sheriff in Lincolnshire.
• Always Save the Girl: In Get Carter Robin is clearly more concerned about Marian's safety than that of any of the other outlaws.
  • In Season Three, the outlaws will usually drop everything in order to rush off and rescue Kate.
• Amazon Brigade: Saladin's Assassins.
• Ambition Is Evil: Guy of Gisborne's entire Story Arc is based on this premise.
• Anachronism Stew
  • Marian wearing a modern sweater, inventing hand grenades and the hang-glider.
  • Of course in some instances, the anachonisms are intentionally funny, such as in the casino episode.
  • In series 2 episode 2, what appears to be an electric buzz-saw shoots out of the wall of the strongroom.
  • There's a scene in an early episode that has Marian practice Tai-Chi outside her house at a time when Tai-Chi hadn't even been invented in its country of origin. The scene itself is pointless, and seems only to exist in order to include a random anachronism.
  • In one episode the Sheriff uses the phrase "tick tock, tick tock", in spite of the fact that clockwork wouldn't be invented for another century.
• And the Adventure Continues...: A subdued version at the end of season three as the surviving outlaws carry Robin's body deeper into the forest after vowing to fight on in his name.
  • This trope is also invoked between Robin and Marian in their Together in Death scene, wherein Marian tells Robin that: "the greatest adventure is yet to come."
• Animal Motifs: Pigeons = love, apparently.
• Annoying Arrows: Played straight, but then averted big time with Allan's death.
• Anyone Can Die ( Edward, Marian, Allan, Guy of Gisborne, the Sheriff, Isabella, and finally Robin himself.)
• Apathetic Citizens: Many of the peasants don't really seem to care what's going on around them (in Total Eclipse, nobody has a very strong reaction to the sight of Guy grabbing a child and waving her over a cliff). However, this may be because most of the extras were Hungarian, who presumably had little idea as to what was going on in any particular scene.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Both played straight (Sheriff Vaizey, Guy, his sister Isabella and the Black Knights) and subverted ( Prince Malik and Count Friedrich of Bavaria). Also averted with Robin himself, who is a good (if outlawed) aristocrat. Also averted with Marian, Sir Edward and Queen Eleanor.
• Arrow Cam: Two examples, one from Total Eclipse and another from The Enemy of My Enemy.
• Arrows on Fire: Typically to blow things up, most importantly Nottingham Castle in the Grand Finale.
• Attempted Rape: Though not explicitly stated, it's doubtful that Prince John was going to visit Kate in the dungeons in order to bring her some tea.
  • Guy also tells the Sheriff that he will: "take her (Marian) by force" in the finale of the second season.
• Audio Adaptation: Big Finish Productions produced six audio books read by members of the cast featuring original stories (not to be confused with the audiobook adaptations of the four novelisations that were produced by BBC Audiobooks). They can be bought from Amazon.UK but transcripts are available here.
• Ax Crazy: Isabella, after Robin dumps her.
• Badass Adorable: Djaq
• Badass Crew: The outlaws. Unless you're talking about Kate.
• Badass Grandma: Matilda, who cusses at the Sheriff whilst she's being dunked in the lake. True to the trope, this occurs as her daughter gives birth in Sherwood Forest.
• Badass in Distress: Robin in Sisterhood.
• Badass Longcoat: Little John.
• Badass Nickname: "Robin Hood" itself.
• Badass Preacher: Tuck.
• Bad Dreams: Robin and Guy suffer from them.
• The Baroness: Davina, the Sheriff's sister.
• Batman Gambit: Tuck pulls one of these in his first episode in which he tricks the outlaws into walking into a trap in the hopes that it will force Robin to re-embrace his role as a hero to the people.
• Battle Couple: Surprisingly, not Robin and Marian (they are rarely seen fighting together) but certainly Will and Djaq (albeit only for the two episodes in which they were an actual couple).
• Behind the Black: How exactly did Carter manage to sneak up on the outlaws in the middle of a desert unawares?
• Being Evil Sucks: Guy: "I lived my life in shame."
• Being Good Sucks: Robin: "I am tired of doing the right thing!"
• Being Tortured Makes You Evil: At least, this is Allan's excuse when Robin finds out he's been working for Gisborne.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Robin has this with all three of his Love Interests: Isabella, Marian and Kate (in that order). The first one ends up killing him.
  • Guy and Marian had this too. It also ends in murder. Yeesh, are the writers trying to tell us something?
    • Initially it seemed that this was the route the writers were taking with Allan and Kate, but then it...went away.
• Beta Couple: Will and Djaq.
• Betty and Veronica: Kate (Betty) and Isabella (Veronica), right down to the hair colour.
  • Does that make Marian the Third Option Love Interest?
• Bifauxnen: Djaq. To the delight of many.
• Big Bad: The Sheriff (Vaizey), then later Prince John. Vaizey seemed like he'd becone this again for the finale, but was actually working for Prince John too.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Technically Isabella, though most fans would be quick to point out Kate as a more obvious example.
• Black Dude Dies First: The first character to die in the series (who is not a nameless, faceless Mook), is De Fortenay, the Sheriff's Master of Arms. Played by a black actor. In 12th century England. It can't possibly count as Unfortunate Implications; it's just too preposterous!
• Bloodless Carnage: Various characters are shot, run through, stabbed, at one point somebody gets decapitated, and not a drop of blood is ever seen. However there are a few exceptions; blood is seen on Allan's corpse, Robin is visibly bleeding after he's shot in Parent Hood and blood is seen on the dagger Gisborne uses to stab Marian in The Return of the King.
• Blue Eyes: Over half the main cast have big, beautiful blue eyes.
• The Big Damn Kiss: Robin and Marian's first on-screen kiss occurs at the end of season one, after Robin has dramatically whisked her away from her aborted wedding. He drops her off at the castle, and she's rushing away when he calls her back again. As their love theme swells, he leans down in the saddle, she stands on her tippy-toes, and...awww.
• Birth-Death Juxtaposition: As Rosa gives birth to her baby daughter, her mother Matilda is being dunked in the lake. However, this trope is somewhat subverted considering Matilda only fakes her death and is rescued by Robin mid-dunk.
• Bittersweet Ending: Robin is reunited with Marian...he just has to die first.
• Body Horror: Cutting out tongues in the second episode.
• Bolivian Army Ending: Subverted in the second series, in that they were all for it.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: The snake pit, the lion, the duel over the boiling oil, the sealed overflow chamber that slowly filled with water (which Guy wandered away from before the water was even over Robin's head), the Sheriff's endless refusals to kill Robin because he preferred to torture him slowly...after a while you begin to wonder if Guy and the Sheriff actually wanted Robin to live for some reason.
  • Lampshaded in the audiobook story The Dambusters, where the Sheriff wonders out loud why he doesn't just kill Tuck on the spot as he decides to leave Tuck in the middle of a water mill to drown and then leaves before Tuck is even slightly injured for no clear reason.
• Book Ends: In the first episode, Robin gently touches runs his fingers through a blossom-tree as he walks down into Locksley. In the final episode, he trails his hand over the long grass outside Sherwood. It's not quite the same, but the Call Back is obvious.
• Bottle Episode: Tattoo? What Tattoo? features no characters outside the regular cast and two recurring characters.
• Brats with Slingshots: A small group of young Robin-wannabes totes these around.
• Breaking the Fellowship: The end of season 2.
• Brick Joke: In the season 1 episode A Thing or Two About Loyalty, Allan suggests they could use the black powder to blow up the whole castle. Two and a half seasons later...
• Brief Accent Imitation: Allan-A-Dale, notably in Will You Tolerate This? and A Dangerous Deal.
  • The Audio Adaptation CDs were stories read by one of the cast, and they all mimicked the voices of their co-stars for the other characters. Sam Troughton and Richard Armitage were quite good at this, but David Harewood didn't even attempt an impersonation of Kate.
• Bring News Back: Throughout series 2 the Sheriff aims to stop Robin sending a messenger to alert King Richard of Operation Shah Mat.
  • Kate tries to warn the outlaws under siege in Castle Nottingham that the King has been captured before reaching England, and provides news that no help is coming from the King's army.
• Brother-Sister Incest: Technically no actual incest ever occurs, but it's hard not to think of it when Isabella drugs her brother Guy and ties him to her bed posts, or when the first meeting of half-siblings Archer and Isabella has flirtatious overtones, or when Isabella and Robin make out extensively without any knowledge that if not for an accidental fire when they were children, they would have ended up as step-siblings. The Sheriff and his sister had strong overtones of this as well.
• Brother-Sister Team: Sheriff Vaizey and Davina. Guy and Isabella, when they're not trying to kill each other.
• Broken Bird: Isabella. Dead parents? Check. Abusive Marriage? Check. Failed Relationships? Check. Driven insane by one too many betrayals? Yes.
• Broken Pedestal: Sheridan, the man that trained Robin, eventually turns against King Richard out of resentment at being put out to pasture.
• Bullet Dancing: Robin does this with arrows to Little John and his men in Will You Tolerate This?
• Bumbling Sidekick: Poor Much.
  • And Kate isn't a bumbler, either?
• Burn the Witch: Or in this case dunk the witch.
• Butt Monkey: Much, to the extent that the fanbase started a "Treat Much Right" campaign.
• California Doubling: The series was shot in Hungary.
• The Caligula: Prince John, the Sheriff and eventually, Isabelle.
• Canon Foreigner: Kate, insofar as the legends of Robin Hood can be considered "canon".
  • Actually, in some stories there was a "Kate the Kitchen Maid" who ended up almost ruining the rescue of Alan-a-Dale's love Lucy because she nearly gave the outlaws away by screaming. Much kept her quiet and when they saved Lucy, he brought her along. Depending on the source, she and Much may have eventually married.
  • Isabella and Archer may also count, though they are related to one of the main characters, and the former eventually becomes the new Sheriff of Nottingham, and the latter would have presumably been the new Robin had the show not been cancelled.
• Cardboard Prison: Whether Nottingham Castle's dungeons are this varies Depending on the Writer; sometimes they manage to break out, but many other escape attempts fail. Played more straight with various other prisons, such as the "Vault" in Cause and Effect
• Cat Fight: The inevitable conclusion to Kate and Isabella's rivalry over Robin. Despite the fact both are armed with swords and daggers, they resort to hair-pulling and face-slapping instead.
• Catch Phrase: '"We are Robin Hood!"
  • "La dee da dee da." and "A clue: no." from the Sheriff.
  • "I'm not being funny," from Allan.
  • And Little John's "Him/her/that, we like/do not like."
• Cerebus Rollercoaster: The third series at times, on one hand offering Meg's death and Isabella's descent into insanity, on the other Robin converting a canopy into an impromptu hang-glider and the lion.
• Chained to a Bed: Guy. By his sister. Who then refers to him as "a present for Prince John."
• Changed My Mind, Kid: Will and Allan at the end of season one.
• Character Development: Quite a lot in the second season; one reason for the show's new beard.
• Characterization Marches On: In the first episode Robin and Marian have opposing points of view when it comes to dealing with the Sheriff. Marian is more political, whilst Robin is more personal. By season two, their viewpoints have been switched around.
• Character Title
• Chekhov's Gun: The Greek fire ledger that Djaq rescues from the campfire. Technically the ledger itself never appears again, but what Djaq learns from it sure does.
  • Marian's hair-clip, which also doubles as a dagger.
    • Marian's lock-pick, first seen in the late season one episode Peace? Off, turns up again completely unannounced and unmentioned in the season three episode Cause and Effect.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Isabella.
• Classy Cat Burglar: Years before Robin is doing it, Marian stealing from the rich to give to the poor as the Night Watchman.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Kate asks, unimpressed, "what's the reason for her?" before Isabella is even in plain sight.
• The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: The outlaws rob from the rich and give to the poor, keeping nothing for themselves despite the fact that without any homes, jobs or resources, they are even poorer than the poor. This paradox is one of the reasons that Allan performs his Face Heel Turn.
  • The episode Show Me the Money shows that Robin actually has a substantial amount of money kept in reserve (before he manages to lose it all to the Sheriff, a fact which is never mentioned again).
• Collective Groan: "Much! Shut up!"
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Bad guys wear black leather. Outlaws wear shades of green, grey and brown (except for Djaq, who wears shades of purple, being a more exotic character than the others). "Halfway" characters like Isabella and Marian wear bright, jewel-like colors; usually reds, golds and blues.
• Combat Pragmatist: Djaq and Allan-a-Dale. The former isn't above attacking someone from behind or throwing pepper in a man's face (Justified in that she is tiny and needs every advantage she can get), and the latter has a Grey and Grey Morality. When the other outlaws insist that an enraged Robin not kill Guy of Gisborne, citing his "no killing" policy back at him, Allan just shrugs.
• Comedic Sociopathy: Personified in the Sheriff and Prince John.
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Kate outright objects to several of her rescues.
• Composite Character: Kate seems to be a deliberate blend of Marian (as Love Interest), Djaq (as Token Girl) and Will (as Oppressed Peasant), standing in for all three of them, albeit rather unsuccessfully, in Season Three.
• Concepts Are Cheap: As a rule, the outlaws fought in the name of Richard the Lionheart, despite his portrayal as a rather misguided, easily duped king.
• Conveniently Precise Translation: In "Treasure of the Nation", everybody renders thesaurus patriae as "treasure of the nation", never (what would have the episode's roots a bit too blatant) "National Treasure".
• Covers Always Lie: The UK box set for season one has a line-up of the outlaws, including Roy and Djaq. In the show, Roy died before Djaq was introduced. The box set for season three has Tuck displayed front-and-centre, even though he's relatively minor.
• Create Your Own Villain: Robin, Guy and Thornton contribute heavily toward Isabella's downward spiral into insanity, and all pay dearly for it.
  • As do Meg and Kate. They also come out worse off. You do not want to mess with this woman.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Much. People keep forgetting that the talkative, clumsy, sensitive, perpetually hungry Bumbling Sidekick fought in the Holy Land for five years. Then a fight comes along and suddenly he's taking names and kicking ass.
• Cruel Mercy: Robin spares Gisborne's life after he has killed Marian, the woman they both loved, and Robin's wife. Gisborne begs Robin to end his life; instead Robin spares him and forces him to live with his guilt.
• The Crusades: Robin and Much are returning home from them at the start of the show.
• Cry for the Devil: Guy and Isabella in the Whole-Episode Flashback are portrayed as socially awkward and ostracized kids. In the finale Guy strokes his sister's hair and later Isabella casts a regretful glance over her brother's body, reminding the audience that (as Isabella said earlier) they loved each other once.
• Cute Bruiser: Djaq
• Cute but Cacophonic: Wincing was a natural reaction from viewers whenever Kate decided to open her mouth whilst angry.
• Dating Catwoman: Robin and Isabella.
• Dawson Casting: Two inversions: In S1 and S2 twenty-one year old Marian was played by then-nineteen year old Lucy Griffiths, and eighteen year old Will Scarlett was played by twenty-two year old Harry Lloyd.
  • Played straight in S3, in which twenty-eight year old Clive Standen plays twenty year old Archer, and thirty year old Joanne Froggat plays Kate, whose age is never specified, but who is clearly meant to be a young teenager judging by the way she behaves and is treated by other characters.
• Death by Falling Over: Ghislaine; Gisborne and Isabella's mother, gets elbowed in the face, falls over, and dies.
• Death by Secret Identity: Marian being unmasked as the Nightwatchman by Gisborne ultimately leads to her death two episodes later.
• Death by Sex: Well, death by symbolic sex at least. Dominic Minghella is on record as stating that Marian's death was "the consumation of Guy and Marian. The death scene involved Marian in a white dress and with loose hair, getting impaled in the lower abdomen with a sword, which is then pushed further into her as she throws her head back and gasps, before she looks into the eyes of her killer and slides down his body to the ground. In the background, a fountain gushes water from Guy's direction toward her.
• Death Seeker: Little John, what with his "today is a good day to die" mantra, embracing the idea of death out of guilt that he abandoned his wife and child.
• Delaying Action: In the show's Grand Finale, the outlaws and their allies hold Nottingham Castle in the hopes that King Richard will arrive with his armies to tip the balance in their favour. When this falls through, they call for an evacuation.
• Deleted Scene: According to the DVD commentary, the Season Two finale included a scene in which Djaq gives Allan the pigeon carrier that he is seen carrying in the final shot of the episode. This scene would have presumably given closure to the Will/Djaq/Allan Love Triangle, but as it stands, the audience doesn't even get to see these three characters say goodbye to each other.
• Demoted to Extra: Allan-a-Dale has one of the most dramatic story-arcs in Season Two what with his The Mole, Face Heel Turn and Welcome Back, Traitor storylines, and in Season Three is lucky if he gets three lines per episode. The writers remember him eventually, just in time to kill him off.
• Depending on the Writer: Guy veers from sadistic killer to noble anti-hero on a whim.
• Derailing Love Interests: Isabella goes insane and tries to kill Robin so that the writers can start focusing on Robin/Kate and set Isabella up as the next Big Bad.
• Determinator: All the outlaws.
• Died Happily Ever After: Robin is welcomed by Marian as he dies, who promises him that now they have eternity together.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Marian dies in Robin's arms, as does Edward and Guy. Davina dies in Sheriff Vaizey's arms. Meg dies in Guy's arms.
• Dies Wide Open: Guy closes Meg's eyes, Tuck closes Allan's eyes and Robin closes Guy's.
• Did Not Do the Research: To say this is an understatement is itself an understatement.
• Did Not Get the Girl: Allan, twice; he loses Djaq to Will and then Kate to Robin (as does Much).
  • A variation of Did Not Get The Guy happens between Robin and Kate. Though Kate does get herself into a relationship with Robin, it's clear she means very little to him, to whom he barely gives scraps of his attention, and in whose emotional well-being he takes so little interest that he brings her brother's murderer into the gang. Though they are separated by death, Robin foregoes the opportunity to die in Kate's arms in order to meet Marian's spirit in Sherwood, indicating that he knew she was waiting for him.
• Dirty Harriet: Kate does this in a seedy pub, acting as a drunken tavern wench in order to distract a man that the outlaws want to rob. Of course, she's nearly raped two seconds later...
• Disappeared Dad: Robin's father
• Disney Death: Marian at the end of season 1, and Vaizey in series 3.
• Damsel in Distress: Beatrice, in the S2 episode Show Me the Money is a young woman held against her will by a canon of the church.
  • Also Kate.
• Dog Food Diet: The outlaws are forced to eat squirrels and rats sometimes.
• Domestic Abuser: Squire Thornton
• The Dragon: Guy for the Sheriff, the Sheriff for Prince John.
• Dramatic Curtain Toss: Twice, once when the Sheriff reveals a captured Robin, and again when he displays the tax money in a cage overlooking the courtyard.
• Dramatic Necklace Removal: Averted. When this trope is played straight, the necklace is easily pulled off by the villain without any pain on the part of the wearer. Here, the first time Guy takes Eleri's necklace, he gently unclasps it (even taking off his glove to do so); the second time he yanks it off, but it visibly hurts her.
• Dramatic Unmask: When Guy finally learns who the Night Watchman is.
• Dressing as the Enemy: Constantly. On one occasion the outlaws get their guard uniforms from a group of guards that Gisborne has already reported dead, and yet the castle guards let them in anyway.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Allan, who dies a cruel, meaningless, partially off-screen (he is seen being shot down by the Sheriff's men, but his actual death is never seen) death that turns his entire life into a Shoot the Shaggy Dog story.
• Drowning Pit: An overflow chamber for the River Trent that Prince John has blocked up to cut off the water supply becomes this in Too Hot to Handle when Robin and Isabella enter it to restart the water flow and Gisborne has it blocked off.
• Dumb Blonde: Kate.
• Dying Alone: Carter and Allan die alone, as does Robin. Somewhat averted in that last case as he chooses to die alone in Sherwood, and is greeted by Marian's spirit as he does so.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: The fact that The Sheriff, Isabella, Guy and Robin are all killed, but not without taking each other down with them (either before or during their own dying moments) is somewhat awesome.
• Easily Forgiven: Robin forgives Guy for running Marian through with a sword, an act that sets off Roaring Rampages of Revenge in dozens of other movies and television shows. Yet by the final episode, Robin is referring to Guy as "my friend." This is somewhat justified, as the two are thrown together out of circumstance rather than choice.
  • Allan is also taken back into the fold with relative ease, though it is subverted at the end of the third season after Sheriff Isabella releases a proclamation that Allan has been pardoned.
    • In her first episode Kate rats out Robin's location to Guy in exchange for her brother's freedom. Robin is only in the castle in the first place because he tried to help Kate free her brother, but the outlaws express shock at her betrayal for about two seconds before being completely fine with it. The episode ends with Robin apologising to her for her brother's death. When Isabella turns up, Kate is the first one to suspect her of treachery, and nobody points out that Kate is just as culpable.
    • Tuck also introduced himself to the gang by leading them into a trap as a motivational tool for Robin to get his mojo back by saving them. At the end of the episode Robin admits Tuck to the gang, barely acknowledging complaints from the rest of them that, oh yeah, HE was the reason why they were almost executed. Tuck's explanation is something along the lines of "You've got to gamble big to win big." Justifiable in that Tuck was very helpful to Robin during the episode, but when Robin is captured in the next episode it's a little surprising that the gang is willing to follow Tuck
    • Archer sold Guy and Robin out to Isabella for money, and also sold Vaizey Byzantine fire. He ends up a member of the gang with little comment to him being untrustworthy. Admittedly, like Guy, he was thrown into the situation with them and they didn't really have much of a choice in the matter.
• Emphasize Everything: Tuck's speech patterns often lent themselves to this.
• The End - or Is It?: The Sheriff was thought to have been Killed Off for Real in the series 3 episode "Do You Love Me?", but as his body was being taken away his fingers moved, indicating that he may be was Not Quite Dead.
• Enemy Mine: Happens Once a Season; the Sheriff briefly teams up with Robin when his life is threatened in Peace? Off!, Gisborne asks Robin to help find the Sheriff in Walkabout before Prince John's men destroy Nottingham, and Gisborne joins the outlaws near the end of series 3.
• English Rose: Marian.
• Epic Fail: The Foregone Conclusion to the Sheriff's attempt to kill King Richard.
• Erotic Eating: Isabella eating strawberries. "Mmmm...juicy..."
• Erotic Dream: Or at least as erotic as one gets on a kid's show. Guy has a dream about Marian massaging his shoulders. It gets weirder when Marian turns into Allan...
• Even Bigger Bad: Prince John.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Guy is frustrated and baffled by Robin's willingness to leave behind his aristocratic wealth and live as an outlaw, but eventually tumbles to the explanation that it's because Robin is a glory-hound who gets off on the love of the peasantry. It never once occurs to him that Robin embraces outlawry not because the people love him, but because he loves them.
  • Prince John is a very weird case of this mixed with It's All About Me, as he is a Complete Monster character who believes essentially that because he is Prince John, everything that he does is inherently good. When Isabella tries to call him out on it, pointing out that burning villagers to death in a church is not the mark of a benevolent king, his response is "but I AM being benevolent!" Basically, he's an Evil character who can't comprehend that he's not Good
• Evilly Affable: The Sheriff fits this trope like a glove, performing heinous acts in the most hilarious ways possible. Prince John is this, but even more so, if that's possible.
• Evil Costume Switch: Both Isabella and Allan upgrade to leather after their Face Heel Turns.
  • Less-Evil Costume Switch: In the first two episodes of series 3, Guy wears brown leathers instead of his usual black. It fits with how he actually feels guilt and remorse for the first time in his life, brought on by killing Marian. Then he leaves, comes back and has an Eviler Costume Switch, mixing the black leathers with reds and golds.
• Evil Gloating: The Sheriff, Guy, Prince John and Isabella love to do this.
• Evolving Credits: Series 3, to the point that with two exceptions, the credits were never the same two weeks running.
• Exact Eavesdropping: Marian is always in the right place at the right time to hear Guy and the Sheriff's evil plans. Sometimes they talk about them right in front of her.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Gisborne's hair throughout the third series; in the first two episodes it's been grown long and greasy to indicate the aftermath of his murder of Marian. When he returns following a two-episode break in episode 5 it's still long, but he seems to have found the time for a shampoo.
  • Likewise, when we first see Isabella her hair is loose and maidenly; after her Face Heel Turn and elevation to the position of Sheriff she wears it in a severe-looking bun, and finally, when she reverts to Axe Crazy mode, her hair becomes wild and loose again.
• Exposition Party: A darker version than usual. Robin's birthday party is the pretext for getting the gang in a barn, but the exposition comes about when the party turns out to be a trap, and the characters decide to share their secrets, thinking they will all be dead by morning.
• Expy: Guy of Gisbourne has been part of the legends for centuries, but give Richard Armitage an eyepatch and he'd be Space Commander Travis.
• Face Heel Turn: Allan in series 2, Isabella in series 3.
• Failed a Spot Check: The Sheriff's guards seem to be completely blind to everything unless it is staring them directly in the face. And maybe not even then.
• Fake-Out Make-Out: Marian and Count Frederick after they've been to see the outlaws in Sherwood.
  • Much and Eleri when a patrol of soldiers go by.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: Marian.
• Fan Service: Marian's cleavage-revealing costumes, Guy's shirtless scenes, Allan-a-Dale's shirtless torture scenes, every outfit Isabella wears. Robin, Guy, and Allan manage to get their shirts off for the most paltry of reasons, the funniest of which is when Guy tries on armour over his bare skin.
  • Another amusing incident is in Sheriff Got Your Tongue?, in which Robin, Much and Allan are tried to trees by outlaws in the forest. For some reason, they've taken Allan's shirt but left Robin and Much's, even though the latter characters would have been wearing more expensive clothing. On the DVD Commentary, Lucy Griffiths enlightens us: Joe Armstrong was the only one who had been going to the gym.
• Fan Disservice: The Sheriff leaping out of his bath stark naked in Booby and the Beast.
  • Kate's painful attempt at being sultry at the start of Enemy of My Enemy.
  • An interesting case is the "courtship" between Guy and Marian. Richard Armitage is on record as saying that he "wanted the audience to squirm" every time Guy got near Marian, what with his leering glances and oily smirks, and the entire relationship played out as an immensely dysfunctional one of threats, deception, intimidation and violence. Many were creeped out by it, particularly since the actress playing Marian was only eighteen years old at the start of the show, however, a large portion of the fanbase found Guy's antics even more of a turn-on.
• Fan Service Pack: Anjali Jay's transformation from scruffy Sweet Polly Oliver to gorgeous Saracen woman.
• Faux Action Girl: Despite being shilled as “a good fighter” and insisting that “I can look after myself”, Kate is...well, to say “completely useless” is putting it mildly. She appears in eleven episodes, and in that time she is held captive five times, ^[1] endangers her own life by wandering into a volatile situation and making it worse four times, ^[2] almost raped three times, ^[3] held in the Standard Female Grab Area hold twice, ^[4] and seriously injured in combat once.^[5] Every single time she needs a man to extract her from the situation.
  • Even in one of the Audiobooks she ends up getting accused of witchcraft and nearly burnt at the stake.
    • The writers throw her a bone occasionally and have her do something helpful (she's good at finding things), but it's never anything that one of the other outlaws couldn't have done just as easily.
• Fighting Irish: The Irish brothers in Cause and Effect, one of whom arbitarily picks a fight with Gisborne whilst hung-over.
• Final Season Casting: To compensate for the loss of three cast members at the end of season two, the writers introduced five new ones in season three. Had a season four been commissioned, only one original cast member (Gordon Kennedy) would have remained on the show; everyone else having been killed off (Jonas Armstrong, Lucy Griffiths, Keith Allen, Richard Armitage, Lara Pulver, Joe Armstrong), written out (Harry Lloyd, Anjali Jay) or moved on to other projects (Sam Troughton).
• Finger-Twitching Revival: The first Sheriff of Nottingham.
• Final Speech: Marian's father and then Marian herself. And Vaizey, even though he doesn't really die. Guy and Robin in the Grand Finale.
• Fish Out of Water: Largely averted with Djaq, as she adjusts to life in England reasonably well.
• Five-Man Band
  • The outlaws and the roles they played were surprisingly complex and fluid, but the configuration (for the first two seasons) was:
    • The Hero - Robin Hood
    • The Lancer - Will Scarlett (though John was second-in-command and Much had the role of "best friend")
    • The Big Guy - Little John (with The Lancer's job of vocally disagreeing with Robin)
    • The Smart Guy - Djaq (and sometimes Allan, depending on the situation, and before his Face Heel Turn)
    • The Chick - Much (and just as often Djaq, considering she was the designated peacemaker and "heart" of the gang).
    • Sixth Ranger - Marian
  • In season three, with the departure of Marian, Will and Djaq, the Sixth Ranger became Isabella until her Face Heel Turn (becoming a Sixth Ranger Traitor instead), Tuck became both The Lancer and The Smart Guy, and Kate became The Chick. John was still The Big Guy, but Much and Allan were little more than extras.
• Flanderization: Much goes from the somewhat hard-done-by Bumbling Sidekick who nevertheless is a well-trained soldier, commands a reasonable amount of respect, and who manages to make one of the Sheriff's spies fall in love with him, to a completely emasculated buffoon who lets Robin and Kate walk all over him, thinks that walking up to a girl and randomly telling her "I think you're perfect" is the quickest way to her heart, and who off-handedly reveals that he doesn't even know how to count (though he manages to get some of his dignity back in the Grand Finale).
• Forceful Kiss: How Kate finally lets Robin know that she's interested.
• Forgot About Her Powers: Marian forgets all about her She Fu in the finale of season two, and instead decides to stop Guy from murdering King Richard by pushing his Berserk Button (his hatred of Robin). It does not end well.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: Roy who?
• Friendship Moment: After Allan-a-Dale's brother is executed, Djaq takes him aside and comforts him as he weeps, opening up for the first time about her own brother.
  • There are tons of these among the outlaws: Allan and Will's handshake in Walkabout, Robin and Much's hug in Get Carter, Marian's thank you to Djaq in The Return of the King, everyone's reaction to Will in The Angel of Death, even Much holding out his hand to Djaq so that she can balance on something as she crosses the campsite in Treasure of the Nation.
• Freudian Excuse: Allan gives one of these to Robin after he is exposed as The Mole.
• Full Name Ultimatum: When Allan tries to tell Djaq that he's sorry for betraying the gang's trust, she tells him that she believes he's a good man, addressing him as "Allan-a-Dale" for good measure.
• Gender Flip: The character of the Saracen is played by a woman (Anjali Jay) for the first time.
• Generation Xerox: The episode Bad Blood reveals that the Gisborne/Locksley feud began with a Love Triangle between Malcolm of Locksley and Roger of Gisborne, both of whom were in love with Ghislaine of Gisborne. However, in the flashback, it is Locksley who is responsible for their mutual love's death rather than Gisborne (and it was accidental, rather than Guy's deliberate murder of Marian.)
• Geographic Flexibility: Right when the outlaws need to dispose of a gang of children, an orphanage suddenly appears on the outskirts of Locksley.
• Girl Next Door: Apparently, Kate is this to Robin, having lived in Locksley all her life. Oddly, Robin doesn't recognise her when they first meet, even though he's on a first-name basis with her mother and all the other villagers.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: Subverted. In the Grand Finale the outlaws and their allies are under siege in Nottingham Castle, though they manage to sneak out one of their own people in order to seek out King Richard's armies. However, it emerges that (as the Sheriff gleefully gets to inform them) that King Richard is being held hostage in Austria, so no help is coming.
• Gorgeous Period Dress: Many of Isabella's gowns.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck: The strongest swear words we ever hear are 'hell' and 'damn', and those are confined almost entirely to the third series. Two exceptions: an early series 1 episode does feature the expression "Son of a cur", and in 'Ducking and Diving', where Matilda calls Vaisey a 'whoreson', which was pretty serious in 12th-century swearing.
• Go Out with a Smile: Marian, in a scene that has divided viewers: she's either heartbreakingly brave or bizarrely cheerful for a young woman with a sword in her stomach.
• Go Seduce My Arch-Nemesis: Played with. Robin relies on Marian as his spy in the castle, and though he never specifically orders her to use "feminine wiles" in order get information from Guy, this is the unspoken assumption between them.
• Grand Finale: Although it did try to set up for a forth season.
• Groin Attack: Only used twice; when Marian sends a skittle ball below the belt of Count Frederick and in 'For England!' when Little John waves the bells on his staff in Guy's face before jabbing him in the groin with them..
• The Guards Must Be Crazy: There is likely at least one instance of this in every episode.
• Guyliner: Extra points for being worn by a character who's actually called Guy.
• Hairpin Lockpick: Robin uses Marian's hairpin thusly.
• Handsome Lech: According to Richard Armitage, this is how he was playing Gisborne, especially in the first season, saying that he "wanted the audience to squirm every time he got near Marian." Judging from the Fan Preferred Coupling that goes on, he failed utterly.
• Heartwarming Orphan: Walt.
• Heel Face Turn: Allan again, at the end of series 2. Guy of Gisborne and Archer in series 3.
• The Hero Dies: Season Two ends with Marian's death, Season Three ends with Robin's.
• Heir Club for Men: Guy makes it clear on a number of occasions that he expects Marian to provide him with a male heir. After her father's death he tells her that the best way to grieve is to get pregnant. It was awkward.
• Hesitation Equals Dishonesty: Guy and Marian, usually to each other.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: Robin and Much. Guy and the Sheriff in the first two seasons, though their relationship is extremely dysfunctional.
• Hey, It's That Guy!: Wedge Antilles is Lord Winchester and William Shakespeare is Robin's Dad.
• High Heel Face Turn: Eve, after getting to know Much.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The Sheriff is blown up by the explosives that he himself has brought into Nottingham Castle.
  • In hindsight, Guy probably wishes he'd been nicer to his little sis.
    • Robin probably wishes that too.
• Holding Out for a Hero: Tuck thinks that Robin's defence of the village people prevents them from standing up for themselves, and that they should be training them to fight instead of making them rely on outlaws for protection. Nothing comes of this.
• Hope Spot: The show could be downright sadistic about these at times, particularly in the Season Two finale.
• Hot Shounen Mom: Ghislaine, mother of Guy and Isabella.
• How Did You Know? I Didn't.: "How did you know there wasn't some kind of infectious disease?"
• Ho Yay: Does no one notice the sheer amount of times Much says "I love you" to Robin. It's a little ridiculous.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Will and Djaq. Though he's not so much "huge" as "really, really tall".
• Hotter and Sexier: According to interviews, the costume designer was instructed to dress Lucy Griffiths in "sexier" costumes for season two, whereas in season one her outfits were meant to "appeal to young girls". Then Marian was killed off and Isabella was introduced, who was walking Fan Service.
• Human Ladder: Little John in the first episode, and Much in the second-to-last episode.
• I Am Spartacus: Inverted and Played for Laughs in The Enemy of My Enemy, when Guy tries to find Archer in York Dungeon; he announces he wants to free Archer from the dungeon and all the prisoners start claiming they're Archer in a bid to be rescued.
• I Don't Like You and You Don't Like Me: Guy to Kate, and by proxy, the rest of the outlaws.
• Iconic Item: Robin's bow, Little John's quarterstaff, Will's axe, Much's shield (and hat!)
  • Kate is renowned for her forehead braid, though this is more the result of Memetic Mutation considering she only wore it for three episodes in total.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every episode in series 1 was named for a line of dialogue taken from that episode. The finale's title was a catchphrase of the Sheriff's that had been prevelant throughout the series.
• Idiosyncratic Wipes: A spinning target and a shooting arrow would often segue scenes.
• If I Can't Have You: There are multiple theories as to what exactly was going on when Guy stabbed Marian, but this trope is certainly one of them.
• I Fight for the Strongest Side: Isabella. Somewhat subverted considering this attitude (and Robin's badly timed "it's not you, it's me" speech) is what makes her choose Prince John's team.
• Idiot Ball: Everyone, always.
  • The notable exceptions are Will and Djaq. Easily the most intelligent people on the show, the fact that they were Put on a Bus at the end of Season Two has lead to fan speculation that they were never given much dialogue (and were absent from important scenes) simply because they could have solved all the outlaw's problems had the others just shut up and listened to what they had to say. Example: Djaq figures out that Allan is The Mole, but Robin tells her to be quiet just as she's in the middle of telling him.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Firstly, Guy runs Marian through with his sword at the end of S2, and Guy then dies a Karmic Death at the end of S3, after the sheriff impales him.
• Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: The Sheriff's guards are hilariously useless, to the point where you could probably make a reasonably good case for renaming this trope "Nottingham Castle Guard Marksmanship Academy".
• Important Haircut: Marian has one in an early episode of series 1. Ostensibly this is punishment for defying the Sheriff, but afterwards her tougher "Night Watchman" persona comes more into focus.
• Improbable Hairstyle: Marian looks just like she's stepped out of a shampoo commercial, Allan-a-Dale seems to have access to lots of hair gel, and Kate's forehead braid belongs in a book of optical illusions.
• Improvised Zipline: One of Robin's favourite escape plans.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: Some of the episode names, such as Parenthood and Sisterhood.
• Instruments Of Murder: Will makes these as part of a plan to break into the castle in For England..!, including a dart-shooting flute and a lyre that conceals a sword and shield
• In the Back: Allan's death
• Ironic Echo: A possibly unintentional one. In the first episode of the first series, Robin tells Much one of the most important rules of combat is "never forget the last man" when Much breaks his cover before the last of the Sheriff's guards has gone by. Whilst escaping from the castle via the escape tunnel in the final episode of series 3, Robin proceeds to break this rule - the Sheriff's guards are coming down the tunnel, and Robin breaks from his hiding before he's out of sight of the last one. Given the completely different writing team for series 3, it's difficult to tell if this was a deliberate call back or a coincidence, although the episode had been written by the one series 3 writer who had also worked on the first two series (Simon J Ashford).
• It's Going Down: Castle Nottingham, foreshadowed as early as series one (though perhaps accidentally).
• I Want My Mommy: The Sheriff in one or two early episodes when he's in serious peril (such as in Dead Man Walking when he believes Little John is about to kill him).
• I Want Them Alive: This trope is perhaps the only reason these outlaws manage to survive three whole seasons, particularly since the Sheriff and Guy still want them alive even after they've been captured.
• I Will Only Slow You Down: Edward utters this trope by name after he's fatally stabbed.
• Just Eat Gilligan: The Sheriff takes absolutely no affirmative action into trying to round up the outlaws. There are no bounty hunters sent out, no rewards placed on the outlaws' heads, no wanted posters, no extra guards on the castle parapets, no hanging innocent people until they show up, nothing.
  • A £500 bounty on Robin's head is mentioned in passing in Get Carter!, but apparently nobody wants to or can be able to try, as the Sheriff needs to explicitly seek out an assassin with a grudge against Robin to take him up on the offer.
• Karmic Death: Guy dies after he's impaled on the sheriff's sword, the same way he killed Marian at the end of S2. Likewise, Isabella manages to stab him in the back with a dagger dipped in a poison that he himself had given to her as retribution for selling her as a child to a sadistic husband.
  • Thornton dies at the hands of the wife he'd tortured for seventeen years.
  • Arguably, there is twisted sense of justice in the deaths of Robin and Marian, as both are killed by the Gisborne siblings, after having their hearts jerked around one too many times by the Official Couple.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Archer's swords - he even appears to Dual Wield them somehow (despite them being two-handed weapons).
• Killed Off for Real: Roy, Marian's father, Marian herself and now Allan - but probably definitely not Vaizey - see The End - or Is It?. Guy of Gisborne, the Sheriff, Isabella and Robin Hood don't make it through the Grand Finale.
• Kill the Ones You Love: Gisborne kills Marian and repeatedly tries to kill Isabella, though YMMV as to what extent he "loved" them.
• King Incognito: King Richard hides amongst his men to avoid detection in the Holy Land.
• Kiss of Distraction: Marian uses this technique all the time on Guy of Gisborne. Whenever he's about to catch Robin or his gang breaking a law, outwitting the Sheriff, or sneaking into the castle, she'll kiss him, or promise to marry him, or otherwise take advantage of his obsession with her.
• Knife Nut: Marian. She keeps them in her boots, in her cleavage, and in her hair.
• Kung Fu Jesus: What Tuck seems to want to turn Robin into in "Total Eclipse" by having him rescue the other outlaws during an eclipse, with it ending just as Robin is perched dramatically on the battlements.
• Lady in Red: Isabella quite often, usually when she's at her most seductive; and Marian on a couple of occasions, most notably when the sheriff tells her to wear something to "stimulate the imagination."
• Lady of War: Lady Marian, particularly in her role as the Night Watchman
  • This provides an interesting contrast with Djaq, the Cute Bruiser. In most versions of these two tropes, it is the Lady of War who is the elder of the two women, whilst the Cute Bruiser is younger. Here, the clear-headed Djaq is clearly several years older than the more temperamental Marian.
• Large Ham: The Sheriff. Prince John turned it Up to Eleven.
• Laser Hallway: Not actual lasers - even this show isn't that bad - but the episode The King is Dead, Long Live the King features a hallway of ropes that, if disturbed, set off hidden crossbows.
• Last-Episode New Character: Not exactly the very last episode, but Archer was introduced in the third-to-last episode as a future Suspiciously Similar Substitute for the role of Robin Hood. Cancellation put a stop to this.
• Last Kiss: Guy bestows one of these on Meg. Made especially poignant considering it was also her first kiss.
  • Robin also gives one to Marian, right after they wed and just before she dies.
    • Kate tries for one of these with Robin in the Grand Finale, but has to make do with a platonic hug instead.
• Last-Name Basis: Robin and Guy never refer to each other as anything but "Gisborne" (or "Gizbin") and "Locksley" or "Hood." This is averted in the last few episodes where they finally start using each other's first names; they don't even seem to realize that they're doing it.
• Late Arrival Spoiler: The back of the Season 3 DVD boxset has written on it: "Marian's death was just the beginning."
• Legacy Character: Robin would have become this, but for the show's cancellation.
• Leitmotif: Him I Liked is the show's "death music", appearing for the deaths of Roy, Edward, Matthew and Gisborne.
• Lethal Chef: Much. Though to be fair, it's not like he has a lot to work with. Djaq also describes herself as "a rubbish cook," though on several occasions she's seen helping Much prepare the food.
• Letting Her Hair Down: Marian does this when she joins the outlaws in the forest; as does Kate. Subverted with Isabella: she is first seen with her hair down and then starts wearing it up after her Face Heel Turn.
• Limited Wardrobe: The outlaws get one outfit per season. They even recycle their clothing considering that Much's yellow waistcoat was originally worn by Robin in the first episode. Justified on account of the fact that they're outlaws.
  • Subverted with Marian and Isabella, who get a new outfit each episode (Lucy Griffiths jokes on one of the DVD commentaries that half the show's budget was spend on her clothing). It is especially extraordinary in Marian's case considering her house is burnt down at the start of season two, and yet she still manages to have brand new outfits at the ready.
  • Gisborne's leathers. Lampshaded thusly:

The Sheriff [mockingly relaying a message from Marian to Gisborne]: ...and for God's sake, change your clothes once in a while.

• • Though the Sheriff later implies that leather is part of a bad guy ranking system when his response to Alan helping seal the secret entrances is "Upgrade this boy to leather."
• Long Lost Sibling: Isabella, Gisborne's sister, and Archer, Robin and Gisborne's previously unknown brother (it's kinda complicated).
• Lovable Rogue: Archer and Allan-a-Dale.
• Love Hurts: Only one couple makes it out alive, and only because they get Put on a Bus.
• Love Makes You Crazy: Robin dumps Isabella. Isabella responds by trying to kill him. As you do.
  • Invoked by Robin in Show Me the Money.

Marian: What's that man doing? Has he gone mad?
Robin: Yes! He's in love!

• Love Makes You Dumb: Marian. Oh Marian. What made you think that running up to Guy of Gisborne and yelling: "I love Robin Hood! I'm going to marry Robin Hood!" was a good idea in any way, shape or form?
• Love Triangle: Robin, Marian and Guy, and to a lesser extent Will Scarlett, Djaq and Allan-a-Dale.
  • In the third season this is stretched into a Love Dodecahedron: Much and Allan have a crush on Kate, who pines for Robin, who quite fancies Isabella, who flirts with Prince John, who is pretty much in love with himself.
• Loving a Shadow: Robin seems to fall for Isabella due to her passing resemblance to Marian. Likewise, Much's devotion to Kate may well have stemmed from his memory of Eve, who also had fair hair and a distinctive braid. It's also hinted that Kate's feelings for Robin are no more than hero worship, though he seems more aware of this than her.
• MacGuffin: The Pact of Nottingham, Eleri's necklace, the tax money, a pigeon, Prince John's crown, Gisborne's tattoo, and a baby, to name a few. Even water of all things, when a drought hits Nottingham.
  • Used best in the episode Brothers In Arms in which Guy takes a necklace off a young peasant girl to give to Marian. Throughout the course of the episode, the necklace exchanges hands between eight different characters. It has particular significance to each of them, and they all get a turn to steal, find, return or give it away, until finally its whereabouts lead to Marian being forced to agree to Guy's marriage proposal.
• Magical Negro: Tuck.
• McNinja: Harold in Peace? Off!
• Mean Character, Nice Actor: Richard Armitage states on the DVD commentary that after he learnt that his character was going to murder Marian, he had several nightmares in the days leading up to the shooting of the scene.
• Meaningful Name: Archer.
• The Medic: Djaq in seasons one and two; Tuck to a lesser extent in season three.
• Medical Horror: Plenty of this when Djaq tells Marian she has to sew her up with a blunt needle.
• Missed Him by That Much: In the final episode of season two, Robin and Much have a whispered conversation outside the cell that Marian is being held in. She hears their voices and hurries to investigate, but by the time she gets there, they've moved on and she dismisses it as her imagination.
• Mugged for Disguise: The way Robin infilitrates the castle (by getting disguises from the guards).
• Murder Is the Best Solution: When Marian hears that the Sheriff is planning to assassinate King Richard, her solution is to murder him first.
  • Robin chooses to murder all the Black Knights - including the Sheriff and Gisborne - for no clear reason in series 2, episode 6.
• Narcissist: Prince John, a lot. "Do you love me?"
• Never My Fault: Rufus from the episode Sins Of The Father seeks revenge on the Sheriff for the death of his father. the reason his father was executed was because he took the heat for Rufus, who stole money from a wedding couple.
• New Neighbours as the Plot Demands: Kate has apparently lived in Locksley her whole life, even though she's not seen or heard from until Season Three.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Kate's attempt to save her brother from enforced conscription leads directly to his death.
  • Likewise, the gang's insistence that Isabella can't be trusted leads to Robin doubting her and eventually breaking up with her. Turns out she was completely loyal to him until she was humiliated and dumped, and for some reason, Robin looks surprised that a Gisborne has taken rejection badly.
  • In Too Hot to Handle, the outlaws steal Prince John's water to give to villagers in a drought. When Prince John arrives with water to give them, he realises that the villagers have taken his water from Robin Hood, destroys it, adds an unaffordable price to his own supplies and drowns a villager to boot.
  • Everyone treats the mentally-unhinged Isabella like crap, and then they look surprised when she goes mad and starts killing everyone. Just about the only person to show her any consideration and respect is the megalomaniacal Prince John, explaining her loyalty to him.
• No Sparks: Robin begins a relationship with Kate for no real reason beyond the fact that she has a crush on him. After he's fatally poisoned, he notably can't bring himself to kiss Kate goodbye, despite her obvious attempt to get a Last Kiss.
• The Not Love Interest: Robin and Guy at the end of season three.
• Not Quite Dead: Robin's father and Vaizey.
  • There's also a (very good) chance that Isabella survived the castle explosion considering the writers were expecting a forth season and most of the newly introduced characters had been signed on for at least one more season.
• Novelization: Exists for the first four episodes.
• Now or Never Kiss: Will and Djaq.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Marian, to a degree, around the Sheriff and Guy.
• Oblivious to Love: It takes a Forceful Kiss from Kate before Robin realizes that she's got a crush on him.
• Odd Friendship: Quiet, self-righteous Will and outgoing, amoral Allan.
• Oh Crap: Vaizey gets an epic one in the series finale when he realizes what's in the barrels he's standing next to.
• Once an Episode: One of the outlaws will invariably sneak into the castle and beat up some guards.
• One-Scene Wonder: Or rather, one episode wonder; Legrande.
• One-Shot Character: Every episode included a guest star who (with only a couple of exceptions) was either killed off by the end of the episode or Put on a Bus and never mentioned again.
• One of the Boys: Djaq. Much nearly mentions this trope by name with regards to her:

Much: Apart from being a girl, Djaq is one of the lads.

• One Steve Limit: Averted; both Robin's manservant Thornton (a recurring character throughout series 1) and Isabella's husband share the same name, and there was a villager in an early series 1 episode called Kate unrelated to the series 3 regular.
• Only One Name: Much, Djaq and Kate.
• Operation Blank: Operation Shah Mat, for Vaizey's plot to kill Richard I. Which is a Meaningful Name as "Shah Mat" is Persian for "The King is Dead" and is the origin of the word checkmate.
• Outdoor Bath Peeping: How Djaq's gender is revealed, when Will Scarlett accidentally interrupts her bathing.
• Outrun the Fireball: Guy does this in A Thing Or Two About Loyalty.
• Overprotective Dad: Sir Edward, Marian's father.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: The outlaws' hoods also seemed to double as invisibility cloaks, as no one ever seemed to notice them when they raised them over their heads. Funny hats also seemed to do the trick.
• Parents for a Day: once in each season, with a baby, a gang of small boys, and a red-headed kid respectively.
• Pet the Dog: For such a woman-hater, the Sheriff has a surprisingly affectionate relationship with his sister, and is visibly shattered by her death (even though he never mentions her again).
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: The outlaws more or less abandon the whole 'rob to the rich to give to the poor' idea in the second half of series 3 to concentrate on Robin and Guy's secret half-brother and removing Isabella as Sheriff.
  • Mind you, considering that Isabella was actually half-competent when it came to hunting down and killing outlaws, it probably makes sense that getting rid of her became a priority.
  • Lampshaded at one point in series 2 when Much attacks Little John for accidentally letting the Sheriff into the camp, and he responds "I was trying to help the poor! Remember, like we USED TO DO?"
• Playing Possum: Season Two opens with Robin doing this.
• Please Wake Up: Marian uses this trope by name when she finds her father has died.
• Plucky Girl: Djaq.
  • And "feisty village girl" Kate.
• Poisoned Chalice Switcheroo: In Do You Love Me?, when both the Sheriff and Gisborne worry that one has poisoned the other's meal, they keep on switching the two bowls of food over.
• Politically-Correct History: It is amazing how many non-white people apparently lived in 12th century rural England.
  • Especially considering that in 12th century England many people were unaware that anywhere beyond Turkey existed.
  • They sort of give a good explanation for Djaq turning up in England (although presumably it would have been easier or cheaper to sell Saracen slaves in Italy or somewhere else on the Medeterrean, as opposed to carting them all the way to England), but barring Peace? Off! and a few episodes where it is a minor plot point, no one really comments on the fact that she is a Muslim in a time and place where non-Christianity was associated with Devil-worship and/or heresy (Christians at the time thought Muhammad was a Christian heretic).
• Positive Discrimination: Tuck, Kate and Djaq.
• Posthumous Character: Roger and Ghislaine of Gisborne (Guy and Isabella's parents).
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: How good or evil a character is depends entirely on how big a fan they are of Robin Hood. In fact, Isabella turns evil when Robin breaks up with her, and Guy eventually credits Robin with his redemption.
• Puppy Dog Eyes: Much and Djaq were the masters of these.
• Put on a Bus: At the end of Season 2 Will and Djaq opted to stay in the Holy Land for reasons that are never specified.
• The Quiet One: Will Scarlett.
• Race Against the Clock: Walkabout is an episode in which the Sheriff must be found by sundown or Nottingham will be destroyed.
• Race Lift: Friar Brother Tuck.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Robin Hood's team included his long-suffering manservant, his noble-born girlfriend, a woodsman, a carpenter, a Saracen prisoner of war, a thief/poacher/con-artist, a warrior monk, and...uh...a girl who made pots.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Marian.
• Redemption Equals Death: Royston White, Guy of Gisborne and (belatedly, given that they die several episodes after their redemption) Allan-a-Dale and Carter.
• Random Events Plot: Let The Games Commence. Guy has a sister! There's a lion! Throw mustard powder at it! Little John is a gladiator! Elite guards! Defeat them with giant fishing nets! Run away, run away! Robin lurves Isabella! Inexplicable behaviour from everyone!
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: In the season two finale Guy tells the Sheriff that he will: "take Marian by force." Whether he was bluffing or not probably depends on your shipping preferences, but it's clear that this line and the murder that follows was behind why Richard Armitage described this episode as "the point of no return" for Guy.
• Recurring Character: Sir Edward (Marian's father) in Seasons One and Two; Rebecca (Kate's mother) in Season Three.
• Redemption Demotion: Inverted with Allan-a-Dale, who seems to lose a lot of street-cred once he's joined up with Guy of Gisborne. Among other things, he loses a sword-fight to a one-legged man.
• Replacement Love Interest: Robin replaces Marian with Isabella, and then replaces Isabella with Kate. Then he dies and ends up with Marian again. Oy.
• Reset Button: Richard Armitage himself expressed frustration in interviews regarding the relationship between himself and Marian. No matter how many awful things he did to her (burning her house down, punching her father, coercing her into marriage, etc) the writers kept "resetting" the relationship so that the two of them could have tender moments together. Any sane female would flat-out refuse to have anything to do with him, and the fact that Marian kept crawling back for more made her look like an abuse victim. Eventually Richard Armitage decided that Guy was legitimately in love with Marian, only to learn that Guy would stab Marian to death.
• Revealing Injury: Averted between Guy and Marian. Whilst she's dressed as the Night Watchman, Guy slashes her arm with his sword; later he notices that Marian has a similar cut. She passes it off as an accident with the knife she's currently using to slice up an apple, and although Guy looks mildly suspicious, he lets it go and never mentions it again.
• Revenge Before Reason: Robin, after Marian's death. For all of twenty minutes, anyway.
• Rich Idiot With No Day Job: Marian and her Secret Identity as the "Nightwatchman".
• Rightful King Returns: Subverted and Averted. In the episode that carries the same name as this trope, King Richard is rumored to have returned to England, though it's just a ruse for the Sheriff to flush out conspirators against him. By the end of the show, Richard is being held hostage in Austria.
• Roof Hopping: Marian does this in Angel of Death in order to get into the quarantine; later the Scarlett brothers do this to get out.
• Rousing Speech: Robin specialises in these, beginning in the first episode with the "Will you tolerate this?" outburst. Tuck gets quite a few of them too.
• Rule of Cool: A cursory look at one episode should prove the entire series follows "whatever would be awesome", as evidenced in the Politically-Correct History, the Anachronism Stew, and depending on your views, Marian's aforementioned costumes.
• Runaway Bride: Marian in The Return of the King
• Samus Is a Girl: Will and Djaq, ticking off nearly every part of the trope.
  • Also the Night Watchman.
• Sassy Black Woman: The Abbess of Rufford who turns out to be a con-artist.
• Scars Are Forever: Robin and Marian both sustain wounds from Gisborne, and the scars are relevant plot-points.
  • Guy's facial scar that Robin gives him at the beginning of the third season remains, but the wound that the Sheriff caused by dripping acid on his arm disappears.
• Scarpia Ultimatum: Completely deconstructed. In this case, it is not Guy that demands Marian's hand in order to spare Robin's life, but rather Marian who offers herself to Guy if he assassinates the Sheriff (believing that Robin is dead). Further subverted in that Guy seems disgusted by the deal and instead agrees to the Sheriff's orders to kill King Richard, telling him that he plans on taking Marian anyway, whether she likes it or not.
• Screaming Birth: When Rosa gives birth to Alice amidst a group of uncomfortable-looking outlaws.
• Secret Relationship: Robin and Marian.
• Secret Stab Wound: Marian is stabbed as the Night Watchman by Guy in the first season finale and does not reveal her injury until she and Robin have made their escape.
• Secret Underground Passage: Nottingham Castle appears to be filled with these.
• Shallow Love Interest: Kate's purpose is essentially to act as Robin's default girlfriend when he's exhausted all his other options, because god forbid the Designated Hero be without a makeout session for more than five episodes.
• Shark Pool: Robin being dangled over a pit of harmless boa constrictors venomous snakes in the first episode of Series 2.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Djaq in the casino episode.
• She Fu: Marian. At one stage she is seen practicing Tai Chi outside her house. In 12th century England.
• Shipper on Deck: Bizarrely, Little John encourages Robin to hook up with Kate, despite all the problems inherent in that pairing.
• Shoot the Rope: Most episodes.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Allan-a-Dale. Where to begin? His only brother betrays him and is then purposefully hanged long before the outlaws arrive to rescue him. He's captured, tortured and coerced by Guy of Gisborne into becoming The Mole. He looses his first love interest to Will, and his second love interest to Robin. His two best friends abandon him right after his Heel Face Turn, deciding to stay in the Holy Land together. He's framed by Isabella, resulting in the gang instantly turning on him without giving him a chance to defend himself. On his way to warn Robin that Prince John's army is on the march, he's shot repeatedly with arrows in the back and dies believing that his friends consider him a traitor.
• Shout-Out:
  • The episode title "Lardner's Ring" is a reference to screenwriter Ring Lardner Jr., who was a writer on The Adventures of Robin Hood (among other notable but not Hood-related credits).
  • Little John's Today is a good day to die!
  • "We must catch the pigeon! Catch the pigeon now!" From "Lardner's Ring", no less!
  • The fact that Isabella's husband is called "Thornton" is presumably a Shout-Out to the character that Richard Armitage played in North and South.
    • In fact, there had already been a character called Thornton in series 1, which probably was a Shout-Out; the series 3 writers probably just forgot there'd already been a character called Thornton.
  • The episode title "Get Carter" references a Michael Caine movie of the same name.
  • The episode "Treasure of the Nation" involves following a needlessly-elaborate series of clues to find a National Treasure.
  • One of the Saracens in the series 2 finale is called Nasir.
• The Siege: The premise of the Grand Finale.
• Siege Engines: Trebuchets and Battering Rams both show up when the Sheriff attempts to reclaim Nottingham in the Grand Finale.
• Simple Staff: Little John's quarterstaff.
• Slipped the Ropes: In Sheriff Got Your Tongue?, after Little John's group leaves the tied-up outlaws, Robin instantly frees himself from the tree.
• The Smurfette Principle: Possibly the only reason why Kate exists, as the Token Girl of the outlaws.
• Somebody Set Up Us the Bomb: How the Sheriff and Isabella meet their deaths.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: The triumphant-sounding music played over the end credits can fall into this depending on the episode, particularly on the DVDs where the "Next Time" trailer is removed and the episode cuts straight to credits.
  • The most astounding example is at the end of the second season finale. Shellshocked viewers have just witnessed Marian get run through with a giant sword at the hands of Gisborne, followed by her burial and a Really Dead Montage. We then get a quick goodbye to Will and Djaq and the severely depleted gang of outlaws heading back home across the desert. The music throughout all this is fairly soft. Once the outlaws are on their way, cut to the triumphant soundtrack over the credits.
• Spoiler Opening: He had already been given a Finger-Twitching Revival, but the Sheriff's return in the penultimate series 3 episode is ruined by the inclusion of Keith Allen's name in the opening titles.
• Stalker with a Crush: Guy.
  • To a lesser extent, Much in S3, who continues to pursue Kate long after she's made it clear that she's not interested.
  • Even Kate is something of this in regards to Robin; always ensuring that she's partnered with him during missions, getting aggravated if he's not paying her enough attention, and turning into a Clingy Jealous Girl the very second that she claps eyes on Isabella.
• The Starscream: Invoked by Prince John, who tells Gisborne that he can become Sheriff if he murders Vaysey.
• Status Quo Is God: Subverted hard in season 3 - after a while it becomes impossible to predict what will happen next episode as everything is switched up so much.
• Standard Female Grab Area: Beautifully Subverted in the first episode of season two with Djaq. A Mook grabs her and shouts: "I've got the girl!" Djaq calmly head butts him, retrieves her sword, and marches off, muttering: "A woman you'll find."
  • Played straight with Kate (who spends a lot of time struggling against them) and Isabella, who is caught in one within ten seconds of her first appearance. Though in the latter case this is perhaps Justified considering she was never toted as an Action Girl, unlike Kate.
• Stay in the Kitchen: Robin averted this for the most part, except one time when he was really, really pissed off at a wounded Marian's claim that she did the whole "Rob from the rich, give to the poor" thing with more intelligence.

Robin: Every time you go out, you get arrested or stabbed or betrothed. You should stay at home and do your embroidery!

• • Of course, he apologised for saying that a few seconds later.
• Stockholm Syndrome: Arguably (very arguably) Marian had this in regards to Guy of Gisborne, particularly in the first half of season two.
• Storming the Castle: The outlaws storm Nottingham Castle and take Isabella hostage in the penultimate episode of series 3. The the real Sheriff turns up having survived from Gisborne's seemingly successful attempt to murder him and surrounds the castle with an army, sort of turning this into All Your Base Are Belong to Us.
• Straw Misogynist: Subverted by Sheriff Vaizey. Though he makes several disparaging remarks toward women, and often refers to them as "lepers", there was an interesting subtext that suggested that it was all a show for Gisborne, who he didn't want getting too close to any female who could threaten the influence Vaizey held over Guy. The only character Vaizey shows any love for is his sister, and he never underestimates Marian, even when Guy and Robin do. When an Abbess comes to the castle and a guard argues against letting her into a room where the tax money is kept, the Sheriff's response is not "she's just a woman", but "she's just a nun."
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Kate, who replaces Djaq as a female gang member and Marian as Robin's potential love interest. Tuck also fills Will Scarlet's spot in the gang, and Gisborne's sister Isabella seemed to be another replacement Love Interest until her Face Heel Turn.
  • The last four episodes of series 3--if not the whole of series 3--was setting up Archer to use a Suspiciously Similar Substitute for Robin if the series got renewed. It didn't.
• Swiss Cheese Security: Nottingham Castle for much of the series (barring Something Worth Fighting For where the difficulty of getting in is a major plot point).
• Take Off Your Clothes: Robin instructs Isabella to take off her dress whilst they're floating in a water tank. He combines it with his arrow to make a rope.
• Taking the Bullet: Meg takes a spear that was aimed at Guy.
  • Subverted for comic effect earlier that season when an arrow meant for Guy is blocked by an enraged man crying out "I'll kill ye Gisborne!"
  • Isabella also takes an arrow for Prince John, fired by Guy and as a result is awarded the postion of Sheriff.
• Taking You with Me: Although this is not the direct intent of the characters involved, this is what Robin, Guy, Isabella and Vaizey manage to do to each other in the Grand Finale. Guy gives Isabella poison to kill herself with, which she instead uses to coat a dagger's blade. She tries to stab Robin with it, but Guy intervenes, opening himself up to a killing blow by the Sheriff (with an extra stab in the back by Isabella). However, Guy's sacrifice gives Robin enough time to escape and light the fuse that kills Vaizey and Isabella. However, Isabella managed to nick Robin with her dagger, sending him to his own death via poisoning.
• A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: Marian's death. She might have gotten away with throwing herself between King Richard and Guy's sword had she not brought up her marriage to Robin Hood.
• Technical Pacifist: Robin. Whilst in series one the only time he actually kills someone is when Marian's seeming death causes him to go berserk, it goes downhill from there; the majority of his kills in series two are only people immediately threatening him or someone else, but in season three, his killing policy is completely arbitrary - in episode 8, he shoots a guard in the back without warning, and then next episode he claims to only kill when there is 'no alternative'.
• Ted Baxter: A rare female example is Marian, who would quite often voice her opinion that she was altogether better than Robin. At one stage she tells him that "I do exactly what you do, only with more intelligence." Considering she's saying this whilst lying wounded after breaking into Guy's house, trying and failing to steal his money, getting stabbed and having to be rescued by Robin, this claim is dubious.
  • Also played to some extent with Kate (although this may have been unintentional on the part of the writers).
• Tempting Fate: Robin says of his engagement to Marian: "Let's hope we live to enjoy it." They don't.
  • In the Grand Finale, the Sheriff says "That is the last time Robin Hood makes a fool out of me!" Immediately after, he decides to attack the castle via the escape tunnel, which will result in Robin making a fool out of him by way of blowing the castle up.
• Ten-Minute Retirement: Robin in The Return of the King and again in Total Eclipse.
• The Three Faces of Eve: Kate (the child), Marian (the wife), Isabella (the seductress). All of them provide romantic interest for Robin at one stage or another.
• Those Two Guys: Will and Allan in the first season; Much and Allan in the third season.
• Three-Month-Old Newborn: Newborn Archer looks at least six months old.
• Together in Death: Robin and Marian.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Three variations: Marian (girly) and Djaq (tomboy), followed by Isabella (girly) and Kate (tomboy). Alternatively, both Marian and Djaq could be described as tomboys given their tendency to wear practical clothing and their Action Girl status in comparison with Isabella and Kate who are never seen in anything but dresses and spend a fair amount of time as Damsels In Distress.
• Tonight Someone Dies: The series 2 finale's promotional material stated that either Robin, Marian, Guy or the Sheriff would die.
• Too Dumb to Live: Kate, is generally seen as this by fandom.
• Too Happy to Live: Seconds before she's stabbed to death, Marian simultaneously frees herself from Gisborne's control and declares her intentions to marry Robin Hood, with a look of pure rapture on her face.
• Two Guys and a Girl: Allan, Djaq and Will in seasons one and two.
• Tragic Keepsake: Marian's ring, presumably her wedding or engagement ring except it looks totally different to both of those, retained by Robin in the first episode of series 3. He buries it at the end of the episode after deciding he can't dwell on it.
• True Companions: The outlaws.
• Troubled Production: Nobody is quite sure of what happened behind the scenes on series 3, but it seems to certainly fall under this.
• Tsundere: Marian (definitely Type A) and Kate (mostly Type B after her first episode, and then only in regards to Robin).
• Twang! "Hello."
• Twofer Token Minority: Djaq, as the woman and ethnic minority of Robin's gang.
• Unequal Pairing: Marian and Guy; Robin and Kate.
• Unkempt Beauty: Djaq all the time, Marian when she joins the outlaws, and Isabella once she loses her mind.
• Unnecessarily Large Interior: The escape tunnel designed specifically for the Sheriff's use in Something Worth Fighting For. Heck, it even had windows!
• Unusual Euphemism: Burying a corpse in the forest?
  • Getting some honey?
  • Apparently Archer showed Gweneth one of his "wonders of the Orient".
• Unwanted Rescue: Kate. The first time in Sins of the Father is arguably justified as Robin and Much's intervention leads to her being outlawed, but a later example in The King is Dead, Long Live the King outright shows her shout at Much for rescuing her from a man holding a knife to her throat.
• Unwanted Spouse: Thornton. Isabella flees from him, and eventually kills him.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In season three Robin attempts to forge an alliance with Isabella, the new Sheriff of Nottingham (also his ex-girlfriend) and the two come to a tenuous agreement. Unfortunately, Robin asks Little John to escort Isabella home, during which John feels the need to tell Isabella that Robin "has eyes for Kate". This achieves nothing except pissing Isabella off, making her question just how much influence she has over Robin, and leading her to turn on him at the next available opportunity. Nice job antagonising the valuable ally, John.
• Vasquez Always Dies: Four Action Girls and only the Faux Action Girl gets to see the end of the series.
  • Granted, one got Put on a Bus, but still...
• Victim of the Week: Usually a suppressed peasant or sympathetic noble that needs help, including a midwife accused of witchcraft, a maiden whose necklace was stolen, a knight whose beloved is being held for ransom, and the general mass of starving hoards. In the third season Kate became the Designated Victim.
• Villainous Breakdown: Guy, after Marian's death - though being sent to Prince John causes him to snap out of it pretty quickly. Also the Sheriff, after he learns Prince John is not happy with how he's dealing with Robin Hood up to his apparent death. Like Gisborne, he returned having got over this spectacularly. Isabella becomes more and more psychotic as the series progresses.
• Viewers are Morons: Someone must have spent a lot of money on the software that shoots an arrow across the bottom of the screen with the scene's location on it, because they never stop using it. It is used to point out the obvious, such as "Nottingham Castle" over an establishing shot of the castle, or "Sherwood Forest" over a panning shot of the forest, just in case we forgot where Robin Hood lives. Other highlights include "The Meadow" and "Somewhere in France."
• Villainy Discretion Shot: In the fourth episode of the show, Guy leaves his infant son in the woods to die of exposure, having promised the birth-mother that he would see him safely to a convent. We don't see Guy do this, only ride up on his horse once the deed is done, and after the episode, the fact that he has a son is never brought up again. It's all so vague that many chalk it down to Canon Discontinuity.
• Visual Innuendo: In the episode Treasure of the Nation, Little John meets one of the Queen's bodyguards, who carries a staff that's bigger and longer than John's. Little John spends a good part of the episode eyeing it with suspicion, and the two men engage in a fair amount of dick-measuring.
  • As noted above, Marian's death scene was shot with deliberate sexual references as the 'consummation' of Guy's relationship with her, specifically the massive phallic sword he stabs into her abdomen. There's also a fountain gurgling away in the middle of the scene, but that * could* be coincidence.
• The Walrus Was Paul: In the final episode of season two, there's a rather inexplicable scene in which Guy has a dream about Marian massaging his shoulders, who then turns into Allan. On the DVD commentary, the actors turn to writer/director Dominic Mingella for clarification, who admits that he only added the scene in order to make people talk about it, saying: "the internet will be buzzing after this scene!"
• War Is Hell
• Welcome Back, Traitor: see Heel Face Turn.
• Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: Marian.
  • Also Kate's initial response to Robin, before she becomes his biggest fangirl.
• Wham! Episode: Many in series 3, including but not limited to Do You Love Me? (Prince John's introduction), Bad Blood (the Whole-Episode Flashback to Robin and Guy's childhood) and the penultimate episode.
• Wham! Line: "I love Robin Hood." Said to absolutely the wrong person...
• What Could Have Been: It would be interesting to know exactly what Dominic Minghella had had planned for series 3. He does mention the idea of the Sheriff wanting to take the English throne for himself on one of the DVD featurettes.
• What Does She See in Him?: Robin struggles to understand the "qualities" that Marian insists Guy has.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In series 3, Guy unleashes a lion on the outlaws as his "secret weapon". Last we see of it, it's still roaming Sherwood Forest.
  • When we first see Isabella, she is hiding a mysterious-looking book in a hollow log in Sherwood Forest, along with a purse full of money. At the end of the episode the purse is retrieved, but the book is never seen or referenced again.
  • In the episode Cause and Effect, Robin and the gang use two extremely large, automatic-firing, multi-arrowed crossbows in order to make their enemies believe that the woods are full of outlaws. Where on earth did these things come from? And where the hell did they go afterwards?
  • At the end of season two, Allan is seen carrying a pigeon-carrier, presumably with a messanger pigeon inside (the DVD commentary confirms that Djaq gave it to him). He must have dropped it overboard on the voyage back, because it's nowhere to be seen in season three.
  • In the first two episodes, Little John has two outlaws as part of his band, Forrest and Hanton. By the end of the second episode, they're with the other characters as part of Robin's men... and in the third episode they've completely disappeared.
  • An Inverted example: where the heck did Kate's green dress come from?
• What Kept You?: In the episode Turk Flu a young boy tries to kill Marian in order to make Guy suffer. Robin rushes to her rescue, but by the time he gets there, Marian has already talked the boy out of going through with it and is walking away. She tells Robin: "Better late than never," as she leaves.
• What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Fans are still scratching their heads over why the BBC character profile of Kate lists her imagination as her weapon. Especially since she never uses it.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: In the Season 3 episode "Cause and Effect", some Irish viewers might wonder why one of the Irish brothers has a Northern Irish accent while the other has a Dublin accent...
• What the Hell, Townspeople?: What the hell, Nettlestone?
• Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him: Robin doesn't kill the Sheriff because of an "insurance policy" that Prince John has placed on his life, which states that Nottingham will be razed to the ground if he is harmed. Robin doesn't kill Guy after Marian's death because he wants him to suffer with what he's done. But why the Sheriff and Guy don't just shoot Robin is a mystery, and finally Isabella has to do the job for them, a mere five episodes after she declared to herself that she would. Now that's efficiency!
• Woman Scorned: Isabella.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Averted big-time with Isabella and her husband Thornton. After Isabella's Face Heel Turn but before Thornton's introduction, there was speculation that Isabella was simply pulling a Wounded Gazelle Gambit when she spoke of her husband. But as it turned out, Thornton was a Complete Monster who had clearly beaten and raped his wife during their seventeen year marriage. (Of course, this doesn't stop some anti-Isabella fans from downplaying Thornton as a relatively harmless bully, despite the fact that he tells Isabella: "wait until I get you alone in a small, dark room" and who eventually advances on her with the intention of strangling her to death: "with my own two hands.")
• Written in Infirmity: Keith Allen lost a tooth during the filming of the final episode of the first series, which was written into the script. Accordingly the Sheriff now has a series of different false teeth, some leather or jewelled, which he plucks (there's more than one of them) from the skulls he has in his chamber.
• Yandere: Guy practically emobdies this tropes for Marian, even killing her when he realizes she wants to be with Robin.
• Yeah! Shot: The outlaws at the end of season one, one that almost seems to Break The Fourth Wall.
• You Are Too Late: Of the sixth kind. When Robin and the outlaws attempt to save Allan-a-Dale's brother from hanging, they find that the Sheriff, in a rare Genre Savvy moment, has already hung him an hour ago.
• You!: Allan-a-Dale's last on-screen word.
• You Killed My Father: narrowly averted when the gang prevents Will from killing the Sheriff.
• You Got Spunk: Prince John to Kate. Of course, considering John is played by Toby Stephens, he manages to sound utterly unimpressed by the fact that Kate is "feisty."
• You Don't Want to Catch This: Turk Flu, in the episode of the same name.
• You Can Keep Him: Used a couple of times between the Sheriff and Guy. Robin soon caught on to the fact that holding Guy hostage was fairly pointless; the Sheriff was never particularly interested in getting him back.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Pitts, the corrupt physician. He was the man that provided Guy's alibi when he was off trying to assassinate King Richard, and when Guy realizes that he's spilled the beans, he orders his men to shoot him. Guy even yells out: "you've served your purpose" before giving the order.
• You Have Waited Long Enough: Between her father's advice, Guy's advances and the Sheriff's snarky commentary, the fact that Marian is still unmarried at the age of twenty-one is enough to invoke this trope.
• You Look Familiar: Several guest actors appeared multiple times for small parts due to the show being shot in Hungary; the actor playing Henry of Lewes also played a Locksley villager in Too Hot to Handle and turned up as a castle guard on half a dozen other occasions.
  • The actress playing Forrest's wife in the second episode of the series had a twin sister who played Beatrice in the second season.

1. ↑ Once by Gisborne in Cause and Effect, twice by Rufus in Sins of the Father, once by random guards in Too Hot to Handle, and finally by the Sheriff's men in Something Worth Fighting For.
2. ↑ In Cause and Effect she ruins the outlaws' ambush by rushing in premmaturely, achieving nothing except to get Robin captured along with her brother, and later abandons the outlaws to sneak into the castle by herself only to be discovered five seconds later, in Sins of the Fathers she goads Rufus into destroying her pottery kiln and livelihood, and in Something Worth Fighting For she sabotages Tuck's attempt to stage a peaceful protest by daring the guards to kill her.
3. ↑ By Rufus in Sins of the Fathers, Prince John in Too Hot to Handle, and by Sheridan in The King is Dead.
4. ↑ By Gisborne in Cause and Effect and by Sheridan in The King is Dead.
5. ↑ A random soldier throws a dagger at her in Do You Love Me?