Hood (2006)

Stephen Lawhead's new trilogy about Robin Hood, the King Raven trilogy, is pretty unusual in its portrayal of Robin Hood as a Welsh prince in the time of William II rather than a dispossessed aristocrat during Richard the Lionheart's crusades. Stephen Lawhead includes an epilogue, 'Robin Hood in Wales', in which he explains his reasoning.

It will seem strange to many readers, and perhaps even perverse, to take Robin Hood out of Sherwood Forest and relocate him in Wales; worse still, to remove all trace of Englishness, set his story in the eleventh century, and recast the honourable outlaw as an early British freedom fighter. My contention is that although in Nottingham, the Robin Hood legends found good soil in which to grow -- they must surely have originated elsewhere.

As far as I can tell, Lawhead's hypothesis is reasonable. I kind of wish he'd included a list of sources, maybe referenced some other writers, as I know nothing else about this. It's kind of appropriate that I read this now: I go to a Welsh university where I'm going to be studying the Robin Hood tradition next semester! If anyone knows where to find research related to this, I'd be really happy.

It doesn't seem so implausible that the stories could have originated in Wales, for a start. At heart, the tactics of Robin Hood seem similar to the tactics adopted by the Welsh. Ultimately unsuccessful tactics, obviously. And the Robin Hood stories were originally just a collection of oral folklore, probably appreciated most in places where people most felt that someone needed to be sticking it to the man. Minstrels would apparently attach local place names to the tales, to make them more interesting to the listeners. It'd probably be impossible now to figure out exactly where the stories originated from, really.

It's interesting that two key, quintessentially English heroes were, to differing degrees of verifiability, actually appropriated from the Welsh.

As for the English Robin Hood with whom we are all so familiar... just as Arthur, a Briton, was later Anglicised -- made into the quintessential English king and hero by the same enemy Saxons he fought against -- a similar makeover must have happened to Robin.

I imagine that the 'makeover' for Robin was less conscious than with Arthur, but it's still interesting that if you dig, the two main English heroes might not be so English at all. Note that Briton refers to the indigenous population of the British Isles, before the Angles, Saxons and Normans.

Reading reviews of this book all over the internet makes me feel a little sick when they declare that of course Robin could never be Welsh -- and I seriously quote: "Nothing good ever came out of Wales." And others who were just uncomfortable with a Welsh Robin. Which doesn't surprise me, knowing how English people have reacted in the past to me pointing out that the first Arthur stories were Welsh. If the Robin Hood legends are somehow holy for you, then don't try this trilogy -- you won't like it.

Saying that, despite the unusual choice of setting, the story isn't all that different. Even though Stephen Lawhead acknowledges that Maid Marian was a sixteenth century addition to the legend, one of the characters does indeed go by the name Mérian. There's also John (Iwan), Tuck (Aethelfrith), Guy... They don't all join the story in the traditional way, but the plot remains pretty close. Robin himself is actually called Bran, in this story: Rhi Bran.

There's a lot that could be very, very interesting about this book. It definitely makes me grin that the Welsh are so positively portrayed and their opponents rather negatively portrayed, and the idea of a Welsh Robin is, as far as I can tell, pretty bold and new. The bias and setting are new, the drawing on Celtic myth is interesting. I did recognise some bits that seemed to come right out of Lawhead's earlier research and invention for The Paradise War.

One thing that definitely impressed me was the sensitivity to language. There were Welsh names scattered through it, for people and for places, and the Normans used French phrases and words. The Welsh didn't call themselves Welsh, which of course, they wouldn't have done. The word "Welsh" originates from the Saxon "wealas", which means foreigner. I smiled a little to read the Welsh calling themselves Cymry. Definitely appropriate.

I have to say that it didn't come together into a whole very well for me, unfortunately. Robin himself isn't terribly likeable -- he thinks he's God's gift to women, he wants to please himself, almost abandons his people... He does eventually return to his duty, and take up his burden, but then he's a rather distant character, I found, and I still didn't connect with him. Which is awkward, given that traditionally he is one of the most sympathetic characters. Most of the characters weren't really fleshed out, and I kept getting flashbacks to the recent BBC adaptation of Robin Hood to fill in the gaps... It doesn't help that the portrayals are quite one-sided -- the Normans are grasping, greedy, the Welsh are the beleaguered peasants. We all know who is Right and who is Wrong -- there's very little blurring of that, which could've made it richer and more interesting.

The story itself moves slowly, and by the end of the book the adventure we all know so well is only just kicking off. In a way, that's good, because we now have a good and solid background, with the different political situation laid out for us. The players are in place, hopefully the next books will be less about set up.

Lawhead's writing is pretty readable, and not purple prose like his early stuff, but in itself this first book doesn't draw me into the trilogy very well. It may pick up from here, but either way, I'm reading it mostly because I'm interested in the underlying ideas.

Edit: Having done a module on it, and read around on the subject, I have to say that Lawhead's idea of Robin being originally a Welsh story doesn't work. Perhaps aspects of the tale might have come out of Wales, but the Robin Hood ballads didn't spread to Wales much. You'd expect something to have survived, even if only in fragments.

Still a very interesting interpretation, though, and I'd still like to see Lawhead's sources. ( )

I am usually quite fond of Lawhead's work - his Pendragon Cycle is probably my very favorite treatment of the Matter of Britain - but I was nothing if not underwhelmed by this attempt at moving Robin Hood to Wales. The first half of the book is feckless-hero-avoids-responsibility, which I find tedious at best, and the second half Bran (Hood) disappears entirely as a viewpoint character. The villains are moustache-twirling caricatures that are really too stupid to live, and Lawhead clearly struggles to make his British witch an appropriately good Christian through oblique references. I picked up all three at once, and will read the next two - there's clearly potential here for a good yarn - but Hood by itself was a mess. ( )

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of this series. Lawhead's re-setting of the myth in Wales just after 1066 is interesting (and pretty well-founded from what info he gives at the end of the book). The main character's developement is somewhat jagged - which is bad since you're asked as a reader to be *very* patient with him as he grows up. Hopefully throughout the trilogy things will smooth out.

Bran ap Brychan's questing after the fair Mérian keeps him from his father's side when King Brychan of Elfael is ambushed and overwhelmed by the Norman invaders under command of Count Falkes de Braose. Only silver can persuade William the Red to intervene on the Welshmen's behalf. For now, Elfael is to be in the hands of the Efreol, and all of Wales becomes the game board for the political machinations of the de Neufmarché and de Braose factions. Thus Bran and his loyal men are declared outlaws as they resist the menacing invaders.

Following the seeds of the Robin Hood legends to Welsh roots, Lawhead has created an historically-detailed, action-driven epic set in 1093 amidst the wild forest in the March borderlands. The lush descriptions evoke a mythic past filled with violent adventures of heroic every-men fighting against injustice in an uncaring political system. ( )

HOOD by Stephen R. Lawhead –Recommended by Stratton Vakirtzis – Year 8
Hood, by Stephen R Lawhead, is part of a trilogy which is a great series to read. HOOD, the first book, is set in a medieval historical context. The overall genre of the novel would be Saxon Historical Fiction, but it may also fall into a category of “Robin Hood” fiction, as the book portrays many aspects of a Robin Hood setting, e.g. fleeing into a wood to avoid evil and then making a comeback.
As I was reading the novel, one theme that kept on popping up was that feeling of not being able to escape and being trapped, e.g. when Bran had left the town of Lundein, he was captured by the Ffreinic. Also as he was fleeing into the woods, all around Bran were very risky and limited escape options. Because of this Bran almost died as he took a plunge off a waterfall. But that recurring theme of a feeling of being unable to escape occurs both in reality and in the mind. This then creates an effect on the audience that Stephen Lawhead has planned and in our minds, basketfuls of rhetorical questions’ pop up such as, “Will he survive?” and, “What will he do now as he has make an extremely tiring journey and has gotten rejected by the king?” Lawhead keeps the reader keen to continue to read on.
After examining the novel, there is an important question, “What is the purpose of the book?” There are many issues that Stephen Lawhead is addressing in the novel and these include historical factors and therefore these not only help us to learn more about history, such as in the book, Richard the Lionheart’s reign and victory, but also help to keep us eager to continue reading.
Originally, Lawhead started to write in genres such as fantasy and science fiction but then he slowly expanded into historical fiction and now, as mentioned in the introduction, Historical Fiction, which outlines many important events in history while having a fantasy character twisted into the plot. Therefore, this idea has an effect on the audience and particular on me when I asked myself, “Imagine if all those fictional events in the book had actually occurred?” and this creates a constant craving in our minds that urges us to read the book.
The book’s language techniques are very advanced with quite articulate and sophisticated language that draws you into a trap and then explodes in your head. E.g. when Bran had been taken in by an old woman, he recounts her with a very detailed report, “droopy, her face blemished with wrinkles, she looked like a sorceress”. This detailed description creates a clear picture in our head about many of those character’s in the book and also the setting. These help to paint a picture in our mind from the beginning scene of Bran practicing his archery skills then to a battle of war leading to his father’s death which then leads on to Bran journey to redeem his confidence and to save the town etc. These language techniques also question our ability to think in unusual ways, than rather what is happening currently in the book, e.g. we may think, “Has he travelled all this time and wasted it while his town is in danger?” Of course at the end we would know that answer but that would spoil the book.
As we read more and more of the book, we start to get a good idea of what the author was thinking while writing and then this gets the audience to take in many factors comparing the author to his writing and this helps even more for people to eagerly read the book. As Bran, in the book, was captured by the Ffreinic and witnessed them slaughter the priest who was trying to make peace, we can see that Lawhead is now starting to incorporate violent ideas to shock us and then he wanted to add a downfall and then make the audience wonder about their own solutions.