Will Scarlet
Will Scarlet (also Scarlett, Scarlock, Scadlock, Scatheloke, and Scathelocke) was a prominent member of Robin Hood's Merry Men. He was present in the earliest ballads along with Little John and Much the Miller's Son.[1]
The confusion of last names has led some authors to distinguish them as belonging to different characters. The Elizabethan playwright Anthony Munday featured Scarlet and Scathlocke as half-brothers in his play, The Downfall of Robert, Earl of Huntington. Howard Pyle included both a Will Scathelock and a Will Scarlet in his Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. Will Stutely may also exist as a separate character because of a mistaken last name.
Ballads
The first appearance of Will Scarlet was in one of the oldest surviving Robin Hood ballads, A Gest of Robyn Hode. He helps capture Richard at the Lee and when Robin lends that knight money to pay off his debts, Scarlet is one of the Merry Men who insists on giving him a horse and clothing appropriate to his station.[2]
Another very early ballad featuring Will Scarlet is one variant of Robin Hood's Death, in which Will's only role is to urge a bodyguard, which Robin scorns.[3]
A later ballad, Robin Hood and the Newly Revived, ascribes an origin story to him. Robin finds a finely dressed young man shooting deer in Sherwood, and offers to let him join the band; they quarrel and fight. Robin asks who he is; he says he is Young Gamwell, who killed his father's steward and fled his father's estate to seek out his uncle, Robin Hood. Robin makes him welcome and renames him Scarlett. This story, more or less, is the common origin story for Will Scarlet, although variations occur.
Francis Child indexed those tales: A Gest of Robyn Hode as Child Ballad 117, Robin Hood's Death as Child ballad 120, and Robin Hood Newly Revived as Child ballad 128. He also listed several other ballads featuring Will Scarlet, sometimes in a very minor role. In Robin Hood's Delight (Child Ballad 136), the common story in which Robin meets a stranger, cannot outfight him, and must outwit him is altered: Robin has Little John and Will with him, and they meet three foresters, resulting in the usual fight and outwitting. In Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar (Child Ballad 123), Will Scarlet tells Robin of the friar, resulting in their encounter. In Robin Hood and Guy of Gisbourne (Child Ballad 118), Little John is captured coming to Will's rescue after two of their band had been killed and Will was fleeing. In an unusual Robin Hood ballad Robin Hood and the Prince of Aragon (Child ballad 129), Robin, Little John, and Will Scarlet come to the king's rescue, fighting the prince of the title and two giants, and ending with Will marrying the princess; this ballad, unlike the other Child ballads, is seldom used in later adaptations.
Later versions
Traditionally, most of the outlaws are often depicted as being middle-aged, whereas Scarlet is often depicted as young or youthful, sometimes in his late teens. In the traditional tales, he is hot-headed and tempestuous, but has a love of fine elegant clothes and is often seen wearing red silk. He is the most skilled swordsman of the merry men whilst Robin Hood is the most skilled with a bow and arrow and Little John with a quarterstaff. In some tales Scarlet uses two swords at the same time (this was parodied in the movie Robin Hood: Men in Tights). It is believed that he is buried in the churchyard of the church of St. Mary in Blidworth, Nottinghamshire.[citation needed]
Other depictions of Will Scarlet
In both the 1938 film, starring Errol Flynn, and 1991 TV movie, Will Scarlet is portrayed as Robin's companion (almost a squire) from the beginning, and is a witty, humorous character. In the 1938 film, the character is quite possibly merged with Alan-a-Dale, as Will plays a lute and sings in one scene. In the current BBC TV series, the same role is given to the character named Much.
In the classic 1950s series of The Adventures of Robin Hood, the character was played by Ronald Howard and later by Paul Eddington. When first met he and Robin Hood get into a fight with each other before Scarlet escapes from the Sheriff's men. He was initially depicted as a bearded yet youthful gentleman. Fun-loving, adventurous and a roguish womanising boaster. He was however also a loyal and experienced swordsman. This version of Will's real name was Will O'Winchester. In the first two episodes, a cynical Will Scathelock is the original leader of the Sherwood outlaws. On his death bed, Scathelock tells the outlaws to follow Robin Hood.
In the UK TV show Robin of Sherwood, Ray Winstone portrays a very different version of Will Scarlet. Rather than the stereotypical merry sidekick, this show gave us a much bleaker, more passionate character. An ex-soldier who fought in France, he is shown as a much darker and more violent character, with a burning hatred of authority.
In Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Christian Slater plays Will Scarlet, whom the film depicts as the illegitimate half-brother of Robin Hood. (Many older traditions make him a kinsman of Robin's, usually a cousin or nephew.) Robin Hood's father did not acknowledge Scarlett, and instead doted on Robin, leading Scarlett to become resentful of Robin Hood. He initially appears as a treacherous character, but later finds redemption when he helps the Merry Men rescue Maid Marian and several others from the Sheriff of Nottingham.
In the Mel Brooks movie Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Will is shown as Little John's best friend. His full name is Will Scarlet O'Hara; he's from Georgia. Played by Matthew Porretta.
In Blackadder: Back & Forth, Robin Hood sarcastically says, "Is Will Scarlet a poof in tights?" — the camera reveals that he is, and Baldrick describes him as friendly.
In the 2002 video game Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood, Will Scarlet is shown as Robin's troublesome nephew that rebels against the sheriff constantly and as a result of this is put in prison. He is later rescued by Robin Hood and added to the band of merry men. He is shown to be extremely violent, with the ability to strangle enemies from behind or finish them off when they are down, and it is implied that he wears red so no one can see the blood stains.
In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Qpid, Q has the crew of the Enterprise re-enact the legend of Robin Hood. Worf (Michael Dorn) plays the part of Will, despite protesting that he is "NOT a merry man!"
In the BBC's 2006 series Robin Hood, Will Scarlet, portrayed by Harry Lloyd, is an eighteen year old carpenter whom Robin saves from hanging. He is a brooding, quiet character who is often one of the most sensible and moral of Robin's band of men. The youngest of Robin's men, Will fights skillfully with two axes. In this series, Will appears to be best friends with Alan-a-Dale (Joe Armstrong) although this is put in doubt when Allan is unmasked as a traitor, and admits to love Djaq, played by Anjali Jay.
It has been believed that Will Scarlet's grave is in a small church known as Saint Mary's in Blidworth Nottinghamshire Mansfiled. His original grave is unknown, however the original spire of the church was placed in the graveyard as a marker of his grave.
