The Death of Robin Hood

In 1247 England, a young woman tracks down the legendary outlaw Robin Hood. Living alone in the wilderness and troubled by his murderous past, the aged Robin dismisses the tales that have made him a folk hero. The young Wainwright tries to kill Robin, seeking to avenge her kin who lie among his past victims, but he kills her instead and buries her alongside the many others who have sought the same revenge.

Robin is visited by his oldest friend and fellow bandit, Little John. Now living as Edward, a farmer whose life he took, John enlists Robin’s help in retaking his farm and his wife Margaret from the family who own his land. The two outlaws raid the farm, slaughtering several men and saving John’s daughter, Margaret the younger, but his wife is killed. Robin shoots down a boy, Hendrie, to stop him warning the others, but Hendrie reaches his family with an arrow through his head. Hendrie dies soon after, and a ceremony for his death is held. The family set fire to the farm, and Robin is gravely wounded as he fights them off and duels the clan’s elderfather, who is killed by John.

John leaves the delirious Robin on a remote island, at the Priory of St. Clement, where he is nursed back to health by the prioress, Sister Brigid. Using the name Randolph, Robin meets the priory’s caretaker, a leper, and a traumatized Margaret escapes to the island after her father is killed, but soon runs away. Robin finds her, sparing her life after realizing she does not know about his or her father’s past, and takes her under his wing, teaching her to hunt as he helps provide for the priory.

Brigid helps Robin and Margaret recover, and Robin finds himself following the prioress to a secluded cave, watching as she pleasures herself. An injured young man named Arthur arrives, and Robin suspects he belongs to Hendrie’s vengeful family who killed John and intends to kill Margaret. On his deathbed, the leper reveals that he recognizes Robin, as he himself is the outlaw’s former enemy, Guy of Gisborne. Urging Robin to embrace a new life, Guy warns him never to reveal the truth to Brigid.

Determined to protect Margaret, Robin rows to the mainland with Arthur and forces him to admit that he is actually Godwyn, the last surviving man of Hendrie’s family. Robin convinces him to abandon his quest for vengeance and go home to the family he has left. Returning to Brigid, Robin confesses that he is Robin Hood, much to her horror. That night, while she treats him with bloodletting, Brigid reveals that her own family were among his victims, as the outlaw burned her husband and children alive. Briefly, she considers killing him in revenge.

After John appears to him in a dream, Robin convinces Brigid to help him die, unable to bear the guilt of his former life. Though she suggests that his monstrous crimes led her to a new life of healing others, Robin chooses not to let Brigid stop his bleeding. He tells Margaret the tale of befriending John, and the heroic version of their lives together, swearing her to secrecy about her father’s past. Giving her a bow he made her and guiding her how to shoot, Robin dies as Margaret lets an arrow fly.