Sir Guy of Gisbourne (also spelled Gisburne, Gisborne, Gysborne, or Gisborn) is a character from the Robin Hood legends of English folklore. In The Ballad of Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne (Child Ballad 118), he hunts Robin for the Sheriff of Nottingham, but Robin kills him and cuts off his head. He is described so:
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In the beginning of the ballad, Robin Hood and Little John walk through the forest. Robin speaks of a dream he had of two men fighting. They then spot a distant stranger leaning on a tree. Little John tells Robin to wait while he approaches the stranger. Robin takes umbrage as if accused of cowardice, and tells John he'd like to break his head. John marches off in a huff—and is promptly captured by the Sheriff of Nottingham and tied to a tree, preparatory to being hanged. Meanwhile, Robin goes up to the stranger, Guy of Gisborne, who is clad in a bizarre horsehide robe. Guy is a bounty hunter or hired killer seeking Robin Hood. They have a shooting contest, and Robin wins with an ease befitting a real Robin Hood. Robin identifies himself to the suspicious Guy, and the two fight. When Robin trips over a root, Guy stabs him; but Robin thrusts his sword and kills Guy. Somehow (it is not specified), Robin knows that Little John was captured. So, he dons the distinctive horsehide, cuts off Guy's head, sticks it on the tip of his bow and slashes the face, rendering it unrecognizable. He then blows Guy's horn to signal victory to the Sheriff. Disguised as Guy, and carrying what he passes off as Robin Hood's head, Robin goes to rescue Little John. He brushes past the Sheriff as if to kill John, but cuts him loose. John then takes a bow and shoots the Sheriff through the heart.
There is some evidence that Guy originally had an independent literary tradition which became absorbed into the Robin Hood corpus of legends. Indeed, the tale of Guy's death may contain elements of pre-Christian myth. Guy oddly wears a complete or substantially complete horse's skin with the top, tail and mane included so he may stand in for a horse deity. Germanic people considered horses sacred and a white stallion appears to this day on the official flag and coat of arms of Lower Saxony.
Although he has made many appearances in 19th and 20th century variants of the Robin Hood legends, Guy's only constant is villainy. In Howard Pyle's influential novel the Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (published in 1883), he is shown as a crude, coarse outlaw, known for his cruelty and murderous habits. In the Douglas Fairbanks-dominated Robin Hood silent movie and the highly-rated 1938 Errol Flynn Technicolor The Adventures of Robin Hood, he is a nobleman, played by Sam De Grasse and Basil Rathbone. In these two versions, Guy is Prince John's chief supporter, and a far more prominent and dangerous man than the Sheriff of Nottingham. Prince John proposes Guy to Maid Marian as a prospective husband. Henceforth, Guy often appears as a bitter rival to Robin for Maid Marian's affections.[2] In the Flynn film, Robin engages Guy in a duel to the death, one of the most famous sword fights in cinema history, whilst in Douglas Fairbanks' movie, Robin takes him on without a sword and kills him with his bare hands.
The role of Guy of Gisbourne has been interpreted on film since Rathbone in 1938, by Tom Baker (The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood, 1984), Robert Addie (in the British television series Robin of Sherwood, 1984-6) and Michael Wincott (in the movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves). In the 1991 TV movie, Jürgen Prochnow plays "Sir Miles Folcanet," a character with much in common with modern versions of Guy.
In the 1990s CBBC comedy show Maid Marian and her Merry Men, Guy—played by Ramsay Gilderdale—is the nephew of Prince John, and is portrayed in the series as an overgrown mother's boy. He is foolish to the point of being delusional, believing himself to have a friend from outer space named "Plop Bop". He dresses occasionally as a sugar-plum fairy or more usually as a court jester, and is generally held in contempt by the heroes and villains alike.
However, in the BBC's 2006 Robin Hood, Guy is portrayed much more seriously by Richard Armitage, and is the Sheriff of Nottingham's second-in-command. He is originally depicted as a dark character, and is shown as an active enforcer of the Sheriff's cruelty, but at the same time, he is in love with Marian, showing conflicted attempts to redeem himself in her eyes.
As to the big-budget 2010 movie Robin Hood directed by Ridley Scott, actor Mark Strong mentions in promotional interviews that his character, Sir Godfrey, is based upon Guy of Gisbourne.[3]
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