The First Muslim Merry Man in Robin Hood

The First Muslim Merry Man in Robin Hood

Hello, welcome back!

Today I'm blogging about a topic very dear to my heart, and I've been looking forward to this!

Hands up if you're a fan of Robin Hood, legendary outlaw of Sherwood Forest, local folk hero who robs from the rich and gives to the poor! 👋✌️

If you, like me, love Robin Hood, then you've probably seen, or at least heard of, some of the more famous adaptations to the screen.

Recent screen adaptations usually portray Robin Hood as Robin of Locksley, a nobleman who went crusading/attempted colonising with King Richard the Lionheart, and when Robin comes back to England he has to deal with that no good Sheriff of Nottingham and King John seizing all his lands and money.

These recent adaptations often feature a Muslim character; a BIPOC, immigrant bestie to the white English hero, usually picked up (no pun intended) abroad while Robin is crusading/colonising.

Now, here is what interests me! 

That crusading part wasn't in the original folk tales (or, more accurately, folk ballads) of Robin Hood, it was a much later addition!

The earliest recorded tellings of Robin Hood show that he wasn't a nobleman at all, he was more likely a yeoman (someone between peasant and landed gentry, still far below nobility).

Of course, folk tales change over time. New characters get added, new legends or backstory is amended and retold to suit the time period and the audience.

And what a lot of these more recent screen adaptations do is simply copy each other, until you get this snowball effect that is very far removed from the original narrative ballads, in which Robin Hood is a yeoman of outstanding skill with a bow and a sword, and gets in a few fights.

In one early surviving ballad, Robin and his Merry Men have a run in with a monk. And they don't ever leave England, they all stay pretty close to home.

And specifically, while there are characters like Little John, Will Scarlet and Much the Miller's son in the earliest tales, there is no Muslim character among the Merry Men.

So where did he come in?

Please allow me the pleasure of introducing you to Nasir, the first ever Muslim Merry Man, and OC, in a Robin Hood adaptation, from the acclaimed 1980s series, Robin of Sherwood.

Nasir (played by Mark Ryan) is like your classic antihero. For pop culture reference, think Wolverine, Blade, or Black Widow. Someone who's on the side of the good guys but you know they're also a little bit in the grey areas, a little darker than the good guys. And they often dress in all black. (My favourite characters!)

Nasir came in initially as an assassin for a guest role, but proved to be a fan favourite so his role was expanded into a regular cast member.

He starts out as an antagonist, switches to protagonist (classic antihero move!) and is the first Muslim OC to join Robin Hood's band of merry men!

This was a great series, by the way. It had folklore, witchcraft, magic, it had Herne the Hunter, and it had a great cast. Robin of Sherwood basically became the blueprint for future Robin Hood adaptations.

Pretty much every Robin Hood adaptation that's come after it has focused on the crusades in some way, and added a Muslim bestie for Robin.

Legend has it that Hollywood borrowed heavily from Robin of Sherwood when making Robin Hood Prince of Thieves a decade later. A large part of the plot involves Robin's Muslim BFF, but what Hollywood hadn't realised was that Nasir wasn't in the original Robin Hood tales, he was a more recent OC and therefore under copyright.

The movie allegedly renamed their Muslim character Azeem (played by Morgan Freeman) instead, so they wouldn't get sued.

Now, don't get me wrong! I love to see more Muslim protagonists as the good guys in western media. It was very rare to see any on TV or in the cinema back then, and it's unfortunately still rare to see now. 

I loved Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, and I loved seeing another immigrant Muslim character as one of the heroes.

I just find it interesting how this aspect of having a Muslim bestie has been woven into the modern Robin Hood mythos.

2018's Robin Hood offering, which was stylish and took some big swings that didn't quite land for me, but I appreciated the effort! 

I'm sure it won't be the last Robin Hood film with a Muslim bestie that Hollywood makes either!

I just want more fans to know where it all started, because Robin of Sherwood was a brilliant show and it deserves its flowers.

Robin of Sherwood definitely helped shape my dark fantasy preferences early on, and inspired the themes in my upcoming Fantasy novel, At the Border of Destiny:

As you can probably tell, I've written a Muslim OC bestie myself! This novel isn't Robin Hood, but it is heavily inspired by my love of Robin Hood, British folklore and dark fairytales.

Of course I had to flip the dynamics around, and make my immigrant West Asian character the hero. I'm excited for you all to meet him in September!

Two swords are better than one: yes, I gave my OC, Murad, two short swords, inspired by Nasir, and also by Legolas in Lord of the Rings. I like two swords, okay! 

More on ATBOD another day.

For now, I hoped you enjoyed this quick pop culture history lesson. When you see any Robin Hood adaptations with an immigrant, Muslim bestie, remember it all started in the '80s with Nasir!

Signing off,

C. Quince. 🏹