Sir Guy of Gisborne
Encyclopedia
Sir Guy of Gisborne
is a fictional character in the BBC television drama series, Robin Hood, based on a minor figure in Robin Hood folklore. Played by Richard Armitage
, Guy is a complicated and conflicted character who starts out as a straight-out villain but then shows more complex qualities, and achieves redemption by the end of the series.
While the legend's Guy of Gisborne is merely a bounty hunter sent after Robin Hood, apparently by the Sheriff of Nottingham, and killed by Robin after an archery contest between the two, the BBC series, like some previous versions of the Robin Hood legend, makes Gisborne one of the hero's principal adversaries.
A dark, brooding man always clad in black leather, Gisborne is the lieutenant to the Sheriff of Nottingham
. At the series' start, he also manages the Locksley estate in Robin's absence; he is reluctant to relinquish control over it and then takes satisfaction in being named its permanent lord after Robin is outlawed, since he himself has no land to go with his title and has an acute sense of inferiority over this fact. (In the Season 3 episode Bad Blood [3x10], it is revealed that the Gisborne family lost its land after Guy's father, Sir Roger, was cast out as a leper after returning from the Crusades.)
The character guide on the official BBC website describes Gisborne as follows:
The show's early episodes portray Gisborne as a very dark character who not only commits cold-blooded murders at the Sheriff's behest but apparently abandons in the woods his own infant son, Seth, fathered with a servant girl named Annie (the baby is found and rescued by Robin and his men). In Season 1, Episode 8 (Tattoo? What Tattoo?
), he is also revealed as the masked assassin who wounded Robin in the Holy Land while trying to murder King Richard
. Yet Gisborne also shows a more human side. He clearly lacks the Sheriff's sadistic glee, and it is often the Sheriff who goads him into acts of cruelty by mocking or disparaging him. At times Gisborne shows compassion: When three young boys witness an incriminating event during "Childhood," Gisborne attempts to spare their lives even though the Sheriff wants them disposed of. He also shows an awareness that the things he does in the Sheriff's service are morally wrong, admitting to Thornton, the housekeeper at Locksley, that he has committed "heinous crimes" in the Season 1 finale (A Clue? No!).
According to Richard Armitage:
Robin Hood executive producer/writer Dominic Minghella
has said that the series' version of Guy of Gisborne was "somebody who had just missed being Robin Hood."
As in many other versions of the Robin Hood legend, Gisborne in the series is a suitor of Maid Marian
, who seems to spurn his affections but eventually reveals more complicated feelings. In Season 1, Episode 7 (Brothers in Arms
), Marian agrees to marry Guy under duress, when the Sheriff's suspicion falls on her and he offers her his protection. In the subsequent episodes Marian seems to have some hope of bringing out the better side of Guy, but is repeatedly disappointed when Guy remains under the Sheriff's sway. Just before their wedding, Guy unknowingly wounds Marian when she tries to steal his treasure chest in her disguise as the Nightwatchman, a cloaked and masked fighter against injustice; Marian nearly dies but recovers in the care of a Saracen healer who is a part of Robin's gang. In the Series 1 finale, A Clue? No!, Marian intends to go ahead with the wedding; but already at the altar, Marian learns that the return of King Richard (which she had made a condition of their marriage) is a hoax and that Guy may have been involved in the assassination attempt on the King. She knocks him out with a punch and runs from the altar.
In the Season 2 premiere, Sister Hood, an enraged Guy torches Marian's home after being sent by the Sheriff to arrest her and her father and bring them to the castle. However, Guy and Marian later achieve a reconciliation of sorts and their relationship becomes more complicated. In Episode 4, Angel of Death
, he apologizes to Marian for the Sheriff's treatment of her and her father and volunteers to help her father in the dungeon, asking for nothing in return. In Episode 6, For England!, when the Sheriff gives Marian to a powerful nobleman, Lord Winchester, as part of a bargain to secure his alliance, Gisborne tries to arrange her escape at risk to his own life, but later falters when confronted by a suspicious Sheriff and delivers Marian to Winchester at his command. (She is rescued at the end of the episode when the Sheriff has Winchester murdered due to his demand to be given Sussex as his possession.)
In Episode 8, "Get Carter
", Guy breaks down and confesses to Marian his desire for a home and her love. She resists him at first, saying that she needs time to grieve her father's recent death. But when Guy is turning to leave, the two share a passionate kiss (though it is to protect a fleeing Robin from Guy's view). Guy believes that Marian is living in a convent and is unaware that she is actually with the outlaws in Robin's camp. In Episode 9, Lardner's Ring
the outlaws are cornered by Gisborne's men; Marian then suggests posing as a hostage, and is turned over to Gisborne who takes her back to the castle. In the next episode, Walkabout
, Guy seems to show genuine nobility when, thinking that Prince John's army is going to raze Nottingham to the ground under the false impression that the Sheriff has been killed, he refuses an offer to flee but chooses to stay and fight to the death at Marian's side. Marian is clearly moved and nearly accepts Gisborne's offer to marry him, but they are interrupted by the Sheriff's return. In Treasure of the Nation
, Guy accidentally discovers Marian's identity as the Nightwatchman and angrily confronts her about her deceptions, but then saves her from execution (incurring the Sheriff's anger by making him believe that the Nightwatchman has escaped).
Gisborne's story arc takes a dark turn in the controversial two-part finale of Season 2, A Good Day to Die
/We Are Robin Hood. Marian learns that Gisborne and the Sheriff are planning to go to the Holy Land to kill King Richard
, and the Sheriff takes Marian along to the Holy Land as a hostage. Believing Robin Hood to be dead, she offers to marry Guy if he assassinates the Sheriff and saves the King; Guy considers it but ends up confessing Marian's offer to the Sheriff. The Sheriff promises Guy to spare Marian's life, but instead takes her out to the desert where Robin and his gang have been tied to stakes and left to die on orders of King Richard
, based on a false report that they were conspiring against him. She is freed along with the others by one of Richard's men.
During the final battle within an abandoned Saracen town between Robin's men and the Sheriff's assassins, Richard is wounded in battle and is left to the mercy of an advancing Gisborne. Realizing that Guy is consumed with power and greed, Marian stands between Guy and the King. When a half-crazed Gisborne insists that they will still be together after he kills the King and gains "power beyond measure," Marian tells him that she would rather die than marry him and that she loves Robin Hood. Gisborne snaps and runs Marian through with his sword, fatally injuring her; Marian collapses in his arms as Gisborne looks on in shock and horror at what he has done. Gisborne flees the fort with The Sheriff on horseback as Marian dies from her wounds.
Armitage has said of the Season 2 finale:
Ironically, Marian's murder and the remorse over it starts the arc that turns out to be Gisborne's journey of redemption. According to Armitage:
In Season 3, Gisborne returns (with a new costume and long hair), haunted by memories of Marian, tormented by guilt and nearly crazed. While he continues his attempts to kill Robin Hood, in the series premiere he pleads with Robin to kill him and end his hell. He also grows increasingly antagonistic toward the Sheriff, finally fighting and (so he thinks) killing him in Episode 6, Do You Love Me?, at the orders of Prince John. In Episode 5, Let the Games Commence, we also meet Gisborne's younger sister, Isabella; it is revealed that Guy sold her into marriage to a much older and abusive man at the age of 13 to finance is own career.
While Prince John promotes Gisborne to Sheriff after the previous Sheriff's apparent death, he does not last long in this position. In Episode 7, Too Hot to Handle, Robin Hood escapes yet again, and an enraged Prince John tells Guy he's fired. The temperamental Gisborne explodes and calls John a fraud to his face; the confrontation turns physical, and Guy finds himself an outlaw. In the next episode, The King Is Dead, Long Live the King, John is about to be crowned King of England on the false rumor of Richard's death. Robin and his followers expose the falsehood while Gisborne attempts to shoot John with a crossbow. Isabella saves the Regent's life and is made Sheriff of Nottingham.
A Dangerous Deal (Season 3, Episode 9) becomes a turning point for the character. Guy is in the dungeons awaiting execution when a conversation with Meg, a feisty girl in the next cell, makes him reflect on his life and the way Marian brought out the best in him. Meg, who at first despises men in general and Guy in particular, warms up to him after he shares some of his own food with her. After being released by Isabella, Meg feeds Guy and then attempts to free him, but is caught and sentenced to die along with Guy. The execution is thwarted by Robin Hood but Meg is fatally stabbed during the escape and dies in Guy's arms after he carries her away to the forest.
The series' remaining four episodes show Gisborne becoming allied with Robin Hood and finding redemption. In Bad Blood (3.10) and The Enemy of My Enemy (3.11), Guy and Robin learn that they share a half-brother, Archer, and must team up to rescue him. Despite the misgivings of Robin's followers, Guy then joins the gang to help defeat Isabella and Prince John. In the two-part finale, Something Worth Fighting For, the old Sheriff returns to reclaim Nottingham just as the outlaws have managed to gain control of Nottingham Castle. Guy is fatally wounded by the Sheriff while fighting at Robin's side; he dies in Robin's arms, telling him, "I lived in shame -- but thanks to you, I die proud... I am free." He also mentions Marian as "the love of my life" and acknowledges that her heart always belonged to Robin. Robin survives him only by a short time, having been cut by Isabella with a poisoned blade.
In an interview after the end of the show, Armitage revealed that he "fought hard" for his character to be killed off, at a time when a fourth season for the show was still a possibility. He explained that he "like[d] leaving people wanting more." However, in another interview, Armitage also said that he felt Gisborne had to die at the end of the show for moral reasons:
Sir Guy of Gisborne
Sir Guy of Gisborne is a fictional character in the BBC television drama series, Robin Hood, based on a minor figure in Robin Hood folklore...
is a fictional character in the BBC television drama series, Robin Hood, based on a minor figure in Robin Hood folklore. Played by Richard Armitage
Richard Armitage (actor)
Richard Crispin Armitage is an English actor famous for his roles as John Thornton in North and South, Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood, and Lucas North in Spooks...
, Guy is a complicated and conflicted character who starts out as a straight-out villain but then shows more complex qualities, and achieves redemption by the end of the series.
While the legend's Guy of Gisborne is merely a bounty hunter sent after Robin Hood, apparently by the Sheriff of Nottingham, and killed by Robin after an archery contest between the two, the BBC series, like some previous versions of the Robin Hood legend, makes Gisborne one of the hero's principal adversaries.
A dark, brooding man always clad in black leather, Gisborne is the lieutenant to the Sheriff of Nottingham
Vaisey, Sheriff of Nottingham
The Sheriff of Nottingham is the primary villain of the 2006 BBC television series, Robin Hood. Keith Allen's portrayal was described by the Hollywood Reporter as "very camp in the Alan Rickman tradition of sardonic villains," referring to Rickman's role as the Sheriff in the 1991 film Robin Hood:...
. At the series' start, he also manages the Locksley estate in Robin's absence; he is reluctant to relinquish control over it and then takes satisfaction in being named its permanent lord after Robin is outlawed, since he himself has no land to go with his title and has an acute sense of inferiority over this fact. (In the Season 3 episode Bad Blood [3x10], it is revealed that the Gisborne family lost its land after Guy's father, Sir Roger, was cast out as a leper after returning from the Crusades.)
The character guide on the official BBC website describes Gisborne as follows:
Vain, brutal, ambitious, loyal, athletic, single-minded, boastful, frustrated, Gisborne is a selfish bully. As the Sheriff's right hand man, Gisborne is capable of overwhelming cruelty in his ruthless pursuit for heritage and position.
Yet beyond this drive for recognition was the one hope for redemption: Marian.
The show's early episodes portray Gisborne as a very dark character who not only commits cold-blooded murders at the Sheriff's behest but apparently abandons in the woods his own infant son, Seth, fathered with a servant girl named Annie (the baby is found and rescued by Robin and his men). In Season 1, Episode 8 (Tattoo? What Tattoo?
Tattoo? What Tattoo?
"Tattoo? What Tattoo?" is the eighth episode of the 2006 Robin Hood television series, made by Tiger Aspect Productions for BBC One. It aired on Saturday 25 November 2006 at 7.10pm.-Plot:...
), he is also revealed as the masked assassin who wounded Robin in the Holy Land while trying to murder King Richard
Richard I of England
Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...
. Yet Gisborne also shows a more human side. He clearly lacks the Sheriff's sadistic glee, and it is often the Sheriff who goads him into acts of cruelty by mocking or disparaging him. At times Gisborne shows compassion: When three young boys witness an incriminating event during "Childhood," Gisborne attempts to spare their lives even though the Sheriff wants them disposed of. He also shows an awareness that the things he does in the Sheriff's service are morally wrong, admitting to Thornton, the housekeeper at Locksley, that he has committed "heinous crimes" in the Season 1 finale (A Clue? No!).
According to Richard Armitage:
In order to sustain the character of Guy you have to find conflict within him... He's constantly pulled between good and evil, between who he really wants to be and who he actually is. He could have been a good man, but he is forever dragged down by his fatal flaw – that he wants glory at all costs. I think that internal conflict works very well, because, after all, all the best drama is fuelled by conflict.
Robin Hood executive producer/writer Dominic Minghella
Dominic Minghella
Dominic Minghella is a British television screenwriter. His most successful project has been the creation of the ITV network comedy-drama series Doc Martin, starring Martin Clunes, which began in 2004. He was also the chief writer and show runner of BBC One's 2006 production Robin Hood, produced...
has said that the series' version of Guy of Gisborne was "somebody who had just missed being Robin Hood."
As in many other versions of the Robin Hood legend, Gisborne in the series is a suitor of Maid Marian
Maid Marian
Maid Marian is the wife of the legendary English outlaw Robin Hood. Stemming from another, older tradition, she became associated with Robin Hood only in the 16th century.-History:The earliest medieval Robin Hood stories gave him no female companion...
, who seems to spurn his affections but eventually reveals more complicated feelings. In Season 1, Episode 7 (Brothers in Arms
Brothers in Arms (Robin Hood episode)
"Brothers in Arms" is the seventh episode of the 2006 Robin Hood television series, made by Tiger Aspect Productions for BBC One. It aired on Saturday 18 November 2006 at 7.15pm.-Plot:...
), Marian agrees to marry Guy under duress, when the Sheriff's suspicion falls on her and he offers her his protection. In the subsequent episodes Marian seems to have some hope of bringing out the better side of Guy, but is repeatedly disappointed when Guy remains under the Sheriff's sway. Just before their wedding, Guy unknowingly wounds Marian when she tries to steal his treasure chest in her disguise as the Nightwatchman, a cloaked and masked fighter against injustice; Marian nearly dies but recovers in the care of a Saracen healer who is a part of Robin's gang. In the Series 1 finale, A Clue? No!, Marian intends to go ahead with the wedding; but already at the altar, Marian learns that the return of King Richard (which she had made a condition of their marriage) is a hoax and that Guy may have been involved in the assassination attempt on the King. She knocks him out with a punch and runs from the altar.
In the Season 2 premiere, Sister Hood, an enraged Guy torches Marian's home after being sent by the Sheriff to arrest her and her father and bring them to the castle. However, Guy and Marian later achieve a reconciliation of sorts and their relationship becomes more complicated. In Episode 4, Angel of Death
Angel of Death (Robin Hood)
The Angel of Death is fourth episode of series two of Robin Hood and originally aired on 27 October 2007.-Plot:The Sheriff and his sinister scientist, Joseph , are testing a chemical weapon on a street in Nottingham Town and blaming the ill effects on the pestilence, but Dan Scarlett, who is in...
, he apologizes to Marian for the Sheriff's treatment of her and her father and volunteers to help her father in the dungeon, asking for nothing in return. In Episode 6, For England!, when the Sheriff gives Marian to a powerful nobleman, Lord Winchester, as part of a bargain to secure his alliance, Gisborne tries to arrange her escape at risk to his own life, but later falters when confronted by a suspicious Sheriff and delivers Marian to Winchester at his command. (She is rescued at the end of the episode when the Sheriff has Winchester murdered due to his demand to be given Sussex as his possession.)
In Episode 8, "Get Carter
Get Carter (Robin Hood)
"Get Carter" is the eighth episode of series two of the BBC's new Robin Hood series. It aired on 24 November 2007 on BBC One at 07.15pm. Its title references that of the film Get Carter.- Plot :...
", Guy breaks down and confesses to Marian his desire for a home and her love. She resists him at first, saying that she needs time to grieve her father's recent death. But when Guy is turning to leave, the two share a passionate kiss (though it is to protect a fleeing Robin from Guy's view). Guy believes that Marian is living in a convent and is unaware that she is actually with the outlaws in Robin's camp. In Episode 9, Lardner's Ring
Lardner's Ring
Lardner's Ring is the ninth episode of series two of the BBC's Robin Hood series. It aired on Saturday 1 December, 2007, on BBC One. Its title is presumably a tribute to the writer Ring Lardner, Jr., who was amongst the writers of the 1950s BBC television series The Adventures of Robin Hood.- Plot...
the outlaws are cornered by Gisborne's men; Marian then suggests posing as a hostage, and is turned over to Gisborne who takes her back to the castle. In the next episode, Walkabout
Walkabout (Robin Hood)
Walkabout is the tenth episode of series two of the BBC's Robin Hood series. The episode aired on Saturday December 8, 2007 on BBC One.- Plot :Tormented by Robin, the Sheriff finds himself sleepwalking straight into Sherwood Forest...
, Guy seems to show genuine nobility when, thinking that Prince John's army is going to raze Nottingham to the ground under the false impression that the Sheriff has been killed, he refuses an offer to flee but chooses to stay and fight to the death at Marian's side. Marian is clearly moved and nearly accepts Gisborne's offer to marry him, but they are interrupted by the Sheriff's return. In Treasure of the Nation
Treasure of the Nation
Treasure of the Nation is the eleventh episode of series two of the BBC's new Robin Hood series. It aired on 15 December 2007.- Plot :The Sheriff has turned Locksley into a garrison town, throwing its people out to make room for an army of vicious mercenaries. Robin and the outlaws witness the...
, Guy accidentally discovers Marian's identity as the Nightwatchman and angrily confronts her about her deceptions, but then saves her from execution (incurring the Sheriff's anger by making him believe that the Nightwatchman has escaped).
Gisborne's story arc takes a dark turn in the controversial two-part finale of Season 2, A Good Day to Die
A Good Day to Die
"A Good Day to Die" is the twelfth episode of series two of the BBC's new Robin Hood series. It was shown on Saturday 29 December 2007 as a two-hour episode, incorporating the thirteenth episode, and the second season finale, We Are Robin Hood!-Plot:...
/We Are Robin Hood. Marian learns that Gisborne and the Sheriff are planning to go to the Holy Land to kill King Richard
Richard I of England
Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...
, and the Sheriff takes Marian along to the Holy Land as a hostage. Believing Robin Hood to be dead, she offers to marry Guy if he assassinates the Sheriff and saves the King; Guy considers it but ends up confessing Marian's offer to the Sheriff. The Sheriff promises Guy to spare Marian's life, but instead takes her out to the desert where Robin and his gang have been tied to stakes and left to die on orders of King Richard
Richard I of England
Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...
, based on a false report that they were conspiring against him. She is freed along with the others by one of Richard's men.
During the final battle within an abandoned Saracen town between Robin's men and the Sheriff's assassins, Richard is wounded in battle and is left to the mercy of an advancing Gisborne. Realizing that Guy is consumed with power and greed, Marian stands between Guy and the King. When a half-crazed Gisborne insists that they will still be together after he kills the King and gains "power beyond measure," Marian tells him that she would rather die than marry him and that she loves Robin Hood. Gisborne snaps and runs Marian through with his sword, fatally injuring her; Marian collapses in his arms as Gisborne looks on in shock and horror at what he has done. Gisborne flees the fort with The Sheriff on horseback as Marian dies from her wounds.
Armitage has said of the Season 2 finale:
I was really shocked... It was also a shocking thing to do to the show, and I know that was exactly what the writers had intended when Dominic [Minghella] decided to do that. I found it very difficult to do for the character, because I had decided he was very much in love with Marian, that it was an obsession. But that became key to the doing of the act, trying to turn it into a crime of passion when the red haze falls. He was being provoked by her into an action that was so despicable that what it gave us was a great springboard to start series three, his journey into self-torture. He is punishing himself for what he did.
Ironically, Marian's murder and the remorse over it starts the arc that turns out to be Gisborne's journey of redemption. According to Armitage:
[F]rankly, I sort of despise him for what he did... But it's also interesting when a character can start to take responsibility for his actions and have an opinion of himself, almost as if he is stepping outside his body, and that's really what Gisborne does this season: He steps out of his old shell and starts to become somebody new because of that action.
In Season 3, Gisborne returns (with a new costume and long hair), haunted by memories of Marian, tormented by guilt and nearly crazed. While he continues his attempts to kill Robin Hood, in the series premiere he pleads with Robin to kill him and end his hell. He also grows increasingly antagonistic toward the Sheriff, finally fighting and (so he thinks) killing him in Episode 6, Do You Love Me?, at the orders of Prince John. In Episode 5, Let the Games Commence, we also meet Gisborne's younger sister, Isabella; it is revealed that Guy sold her into marriage to a much older and abusive man at the age of 13 to finance is own career.
While Prince John promotes Gisborne to Sheriff after the previous Sheriff's apparent death, he does not last long in this position. In Episode 7, Too Hot to Handle, Robin Hood escapes yet again, and an enraged Prince John tells Guy he's fired. The temperamental Gisborne explodes and calls John a fraud to his face; the confrontation turns physical, and Guy finds himself an outlaw. In the next episode, The King Is Dead, Long Live the King, John is about to be crowned King of England on the false rumor of Richard's death. Robin and his followers expose the falsehood while Gisborne attempts to shoot John with a crossbow. Isabella saves the Regent's life and is made Sheriff of Nottingham.
A Dangerous Deal (Season 3, Episode 9) becomes a turning point for the character. Guy is in the dungeons awaiting execution when a conversation with Meg, a feisty girl in the next cell, makes him reflect on his life and the way Marian brought out the best in him. Meg, who at first despises men in general and Guy in particular, warms up to him after he shares some of his own food with her. After being released by Isabella, Meg feeds Guy and then attempts to free him, but is caught and sentenced to die along with Guy. The execution is thwarted by Robin Hood but Meg is fatally stabbed during the escape and dies in Guy's arms after he carries her away to the forest.
The series' remaining four episodes show Gisborne becoming allied with Robin Hood and finding redemption. In Bad Blood (3.10) and The Enemy of My Enemy (3.11), Guy and Robin learn that they share a half-brother, Archer, and must team up to rescue him. Despite the misgivings of Robin's followers, Guy then joins the gang to help defeat Isabella and Prince John. In the two-part finale, Something Worth Fighting For, the old Sheriff returns to reclaim Nottingham just as the outlaws have managed to gain control of Nottingham Castle. Guy is fatally wounded by the Sheriff while fighting at Robin's side; he dies in Robin's arms, telling him, "I lived in shame -- but thanks to you, I die proud... I am free." He also mentions Marian as "the love of my life" and acknowledges that her heart always belonged to Robin. Robin survives him only by a short time, having been cut by Isabella with a poisoned blade.
In an interview after the end of the show, Armitage revealed that he "fought hard" for his character to be killed off, at a time when a fourth season for the show was still a possibility. He explained that he "like[d] leaving people wanting more." However, in another interview, Armitage also said that he felt Gisborne had to die at the end of the show for moral reasons:
In simple terms, as one of the baddies of the piece, which was essentially aimed at youngsters, he really did have to suffer for the suffering he had caused. I am glad he was able to free himself from the burden of his actions and to die a noble death.
External links
- http://vulpeslibris.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/in-conversation-with-richard-armitage/ Richard Armitage talks about Guy of Gisborne
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/robinhood/characters/guyofgisborne.shtml BBC official website character guide—Guy of Gisborne
- http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/show-patrol/2008/05/richard-armitage-thanks-fans-for-sir-guys-win.html Show Patrol interview with Richard Armitage about Guy of Gisborne