Legends

Rob_Royale

with cheese
Joined
Aug 8, 2022
Posts
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Lately my stories have been either historical or based in legend. Pulling stories from ancient lore is such a fertile ground to pull ideas from.

Just recenty I was thinking about Robin Hood and did a little digging until I found an under-utilized character called Alan-a-Dale. A minstrel, he entreats Robin to save his betrothed from being married to some old knight and afterward takes this noble lady to Robin's hideaway.

Then I'm left wordering what she does when she's now surrounded by all these big alpha males.

My point is, some of the best story ideas can come from these stories we all grew up on. Many have anceint roots that are much more adult than the sterilized versions Hollywood spits out.
 
I actually did a course on some of the medieval Robin Hood literature back in my uni days. Much of it is lost in the mists of time - it's been 30 years or so, but yes, there's plenty of material there to mine for erotica.

I imagine you could also have fun with other outlaws. Dick Turpin, whether based on the older legends or the 1970s TV show. Which leads me to Baroness Orczy's book "Beau Brocade" about a well-dressed highwayman, and from there of course the next step is the Scarlet Pimpernel. And if you can't think of some juicy adventures for a gang of English nobles dressing up to rescue French damsels from the guillotine, then you should really look for a different hobby!

Hey, fan-fic challenge coming up...!
 
If you need some details to make it feel more authentic and less Disney:

There used to be a grave somewhere in Scotland with "Little John" on the headstone. At some point in the 16th or 17th century (I think) they decided to open it. What they found was the skeleton of a man with dwarfism, but a very powerful build. I read a scholarly article linking this idea to the Arthurian character of Gwyffre le Petit, a knight with dwarfism.

In early texts, Will Scarlet is also called Will Shylock or Will Skylark.

Marian wasn't originally part of the Robin Hood legendarium. But at a certain point, a series of pastoral songs emerged in France about Robin the shepherd and Marian the maid (or maybe it was Robin the hunter and Marian the shepherdess, I forget the details), and when the songs crossed the Channel the character of Marian drifted over into the Robin Hood tales
 
If you need some details to make it feel more authentic and less Disney:

There used to be a grave somewhere in Scotland with "Little John" on the headstone. At some point in the 16th or 17th century (I think) they decided to open it. What they found was the skeleton of a man with dwarfism, but a very powerful build. I read a scholarly article linking this idea to the Arthurian character of Gwyffre le Petit, a knight with dwarfism.

In early texts, Will Scarlet is also called Will Shylock or Will Skylark.

Marian wasn't originally part of the Robin Hood legendarium. But at a certain point, a series of pastoral songs emerged in France about Robin the shepherd and Marian the maid (or maybe it was Robin the hunter and Marian the shepherdess, I forget the details), and when the songs crossed the Channel the character of Marian drifted over into the Robin Hood tales
I'm really going to have my way with these characters, but it won't be a complete, protagonist origin to dead antagonist story. It'll be like chapter three of a five chapter book, relying on the readers prior knowledge of the characters to fill in the blanks.
 
Lately my stories have been either historical or based in legend. Pulling stories from ancient lore is such a fertile ground to pull ideas from.

Just recenty I was thinking about Robin Hood and did a little digging until I found an under-utilized character called Alan-a-Dale. A minstrel, he entreats Robin to save his betrothed from being married to some old knight and afterward takes this noble lady to Robin's hideaway.

Then I'm left wordering what she does when she's now surrounded by all these big alpha males.

My point is, some of the best story ideas can come from these stories we all grew up on. Many have anceint roots that are much more adult than the sterilized versions Hollywood spits out.
Nearly all stories come from stories we all grew upon. Some are just thinly veiled and some not.
 
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