Maid Marian

Origin
The love interest to Robin of Loxley Marian was an interesting character with a varied past and many versions of her tale, sometimes a sheltered noblewoman but originally a skilled fighter capable defeating her lover at the end of a long sword fight. She swore off marrying him until he had gained a King's pardon.

Early Life
Marian was born the daughter of nobility in some ballads but originally she had a more humble origin as a shepherdess. Sometimes she and Robin knew each other since childhood but other tales have them meet as adults. When she is portrayed as a noble Richard at the Lee is sometimes her father.

Courted by an Outlaw
At what point Marian and Robin met is variable but her oath to marry her love, instead of a man of her family's choosing, is on the condition that he first be pardoned. Her most well known act was joining the Merry Men in the forest after disguising herself as a male page and defeating Robin in a duel in during which he was unaware of her identity. In several stories where she is said to be of noble birth rather than a sword wielding shepherdess she remains in a castle spying discreetly on Robin's foes instead of joining him in the greenwood.

Later Life
Marian married Robin immediately following his pardon by the King just as she had promised to do while he was living as an outlaw and was widowed many years later when Robin was murdered by his cousin. She is not said to have left him when he left the king's service and returned to living like an outlaw in the woods.

Adaptations
The name of Robin's alternate wife Clorinda from the circa 1660s ballad Robin Hood's Birth, Breeding, Valor and Marriage, which takes many of its elements from outside the Robin hood tradition, is sometimes used by Marian as an alias.

Ballads:

 * Robin Hood and Maid Marian
 * Robin Hood and Queen Katherine
 * Robin Hood's Golden Prize
 * Maid Marian

Plays:

 * 1641 The Sad Shepherd, or A Tale of Robin Hood by Ben Jonson (incomplete, first published 4 years after author's death)

Literature:

 * 1822 Maid Marian (1822) by Thomas Love Peacock

Film:

 * 1912 Robin Hood played by Barbara Tennant
 * 1913 Robin Hood played by Gerda Holmes
 * 1922 Robin Hood as Lady Marian Fitzwalter played by Enid Bennett
 * 1938 The Adventures of Robin Hood played by Olivia de Havilland
 * 1948 The Prince of Thieves as Lady Marian Claire played by Patricia Morison
 * 1950 Rogues of Sherwood Forest played by Diana Lynn
 * 1952 The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men played by Joan Rice
 * 1960 Sword of Sherwood Forest as Maid Marian Fitzwalter played by Sarah Branch
 * 1969 Wolfshead: The Legend of Robin Hood as Lady Marian Fitzwalter played by Ciaran Madden
 * 1973 Robin Hood voiced by Monica Evans and Nancy Adams
 * 1976 Robin and Marian played by Audrey Hepburn
 * 1991 Robin Hood played by Uma Thurman
 * 1991 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves as Marian Dubois played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
 * 1993 Robin Hood: Men in Tights played by Amy Yasbeck
 * 2010 Robin Hood played by Cate Blanchett
 * 2018 Robin Hood played by Eve Hewson

Television:

 * The Adventures of Robin Hood (1956) 143 episodes played by
 * Robin of Sherwood (1984 - 1986) 26 episodes played by Judi Trott
 * Robin Hood (2006–2009) played by Lucy Griffiths