Post by Dennis of Ravenscar on May 23, 2014 17:27:59 GMT
Robin of Sherwood: Series 2, Episodes 5 and 6
The Swords of Wayland
Original Transmission Date: 6th April 1985
Written by Richard Carpenter
Story
Part One
Against a red sky demonic riders appear over the crest of a hill. Riding horned horses and wearing flowing red cloaks, they seem to have come straight from hell as they ride into a village.
In a church a priest is lying face down as if praying. A tomb is opened by the riders in horned masks, and inside is a sword that is identical to Albion, except that it is called Orias. They take the sword and ride away, leaving the priest who, it is now clear, has been stabbed.
A man walks into a crypt with the sword and announces it as “Orias, one of the seven swords of Wayland.”
We see Robin being entrusted with Albion by Herne.
In an apparently deserted part of Sherwood an older man is calling out for Robin Hood. One by one the outlaws make themselves visible and Marion greets him as Gareth of Leaford, previously steward to her father. He lives in Uffcombe now and he has come to ask for their help. He tells them about the riders, how they appear at dawn to burn the local villages and kill or carry people off. He doesn’t know if they are men or demons, and calls them the Hounds of Lucifer.
Will is very reluctant to go to Uffcombe, which is five days walk away, but Robin reminds him that they should help anyone in need, not just the people of Sherwood. Much is scared; “What about the demons?”
Robin: “We’ll be the demons.”
Much: “Then I’ll come.”
They all agree to go, even though Will is still reluctant: “I’ve got no choice. If you’re all going to the Devil, I’m going with you.”
In an Abbey the Abbess is praying at an altar. She speaks with the local Sheriff who tells her that the priest who was stabbed will not live as the blade was poisoned. She tells him how horrified she is by the crime and charges him to find the culprits. As he leaves he mentions that his nephew could take the priest’s place, and she admonishes him for thinking of this before the priest has even died.
As he leaves she comments, “Greedy little swine!” to the man we last saw with Orias, then says to him, “And you Verdelet, you can’t even kill a priest!”
The outlaws set off and Robin is ‘called’ by Herne, who has a message for him, “They that seek to shatter the bolts that hold back the evil one must first take Albion from you. Hold steadfast. It is written that the servants of Lucifer will find the seventh sword at the village on the rock. Swear to guard it with your heart’s blood.”
The Abbess and her nuns process through the Abbey with Orias. They walk down to the crypt and strip off their habits in front of an altar on which are five of the swords of Wayland. The Abbess, in a red shift, places the sixth sword with them while the ‘nuns’ chant, “He that is bound shall be free and he that rules shall be overthrown!”
The outlaws arrive at the mill outside Uffcombe and meet the miller, Adam. He is very superstitious and afraid of the Hounds, saying that he sleeps within a circle of salt each night for protection. He does not think that the outlaws will be able to help the village. He insists that the Hounds are not human and that swords and arrows will not be able to combat them. John disagrees: “Now you listen to me friend. You can surround yourself with salt, soot or sausages for all I care, but we’ve come too far to turn back now, eh? Men or demons, they’re gonna be dealt with!”
When they get to Uffcombe all the villagers are hiding, but gradually come out to hear what Robin has to say. However, his tone of disbelief about flying demons makes them angry, with one man telling them about the people who have been carried off, including his son James, and accusing Robin of mocking them. He tries to reason with them but they don’t want to listen to a bunch of wolfsheads. Then Marion speaks to them and convinces them that the outlaws are good men and will help them defeat the threat to their village.
They start to train the villagers in combat, and the headman Philip tells Robin about the riders and shows him where they appear. Robin demonstrates how a horse ridden down towards the village from the rock might look like it was flying, and with their hopes raised they start to prepare for the next visit.
Verdelet pays a visit to the mill, and it becomes clear that Adam is actually one of the Hounds, and is terrified of Verdelet. He tells Adam that the Hounds must ride in Uffcombe that night.
In the village, Robin is concerned that they won’t be ready. The outlaws know how to fight, but it is too late for the villagers to learn.
At dusk the riders appear. Much is the first to see them and manages to panic the villagers. Robin calms them down and they put their plan into action, lighting fires to confuse the Hounds. As they arrive at the village, one of the riders crashes through the roof of a hut which had previously had its crossbeam cut. The outlaws work their way through the Hounds with ease, although Nasir gets knocked out after only killing a couple of them. The villagers do their best, but they are not so competent, and Gareth gets killed.
Nearly all the Hounds have been dealt with when Robin says: “I want one alive, Will.”
Will, having just finished one off: “I wish you’d have told me that sooner.”
One escapes and they keep one alive for questioning. Robin unmasks him to prove that they are only men, but the hound turns out to be James. He doesn’t seem to recognise his parents, and kills himself in front of them.
Adam, presumably the surviving Hound, is brought in front of the Abbess to explain their failure. She takes Verdelet to task for not telling her about the outlaws in the village.
She asks Adam why he was not killed.
Adam: “I was lucky.”
Abbess: “I wonder if you were.... You sicken me! You have been chosen to serve the lord of this world and to accomplish his will. And this is how you prove your worthiness.”
She dismisses him, then proceeds to tear a strip off Verdelet.
Abbess: “In one night Verdelet, you have undone much of the Cauldron’s work.”
Verdelet: “My lady, I will see to it...”
Abbess: “You are nothing! Nothing! Servant, messenger, acolyte, and sacrifice, if I demand it. Do you fear him, Verdelet, do you fear our master? I have no fear of him. He comes to me in dreams, shining like the sun, proud and glorious in his evil. But you fear him, don’t you, just as you fear death and the usurper.”
She then dictates a letter to the Earl of Godwin asking for soldiers to get rid of the ‘evil’ outlaws in Uffcombe. We learn that her name is Morgwyn and the Abbey is Ravenscar. Finally, she says to Verdelet, “How can you doubt his power? Greed and lust, pride, cruelty, plague, famine and war. He is everything.”
Tuck finds that each Hound had a pouch around his neck, containing a pact with the Devil, signed in blood. He explains to the others that Satan needs not only souls, but bodies to clothe him so he can become the Antichrist. “Well, that’s what they told me at the monastery.”
John: “Look, you’ll believe anything, won’t you.”
Tuck: “No, but it’s better than believing nothing!”
Much notices that the Hounds have flour on their feet, so Robin goes to the mill in case Adam is in danger, leaving the others to protect the village. At the mill he is attacked by a Hound, who he discovers to be Adam. Robin manages to overcome and question him. By tearing up his pact, he finds out that Morgwyn of Ravenscar calls the Hounds to ride. She is the Lady of the Cauldron of Lucifer, the most powerful coven in England. Adam tells Robin that he was forced to join them because they put a curse on him. “It’s said that if the Cauldron wants you dead, then you better hurry and dig your grave.”
Robin leaves the mill and Earl Godwin’s soldiers come across him. He pretends to be a villager, saying that he had been helping Adam to free the mill wheel. Unfortunately, the Captain is suspicious of him and confiscates his sword, which Verdelet recognises as the seventh Sword of Wayland and tries unsuccessfully to keep. They go to the mill and discover that Adam has drowned. Assuming that Robin killed him, the Captain orders him to be taken back to the Earl to be hanged as a murderer. The rest of the soldiers go on to Uffcombe.
Much has seen all of this and warns the others, who leave so as not to be found at the village. However, one of the villagers is a spy for Verdelet and shows the soldiers where they are. Scarlet shoots him, then they all shoot at the soldiers. The Captain orders them to pull back.
Verdelet: “What’s wrong with you? Why don’t you attack?”
Captain: “And risk the lives of my men?”
Verdelet: “That’s a brave decision.”
Captain: “No, merely a sensible one. They shoot very well.”
They ride off and John assures Marion that they will get Robin back.
Part Two
Verdelet tells Morgwyn about Robin having Albion, and she feels oddly concerned, “Who is he? Who is this man, and why do I fear him?”
Much remembers the soldiers mentioning Earl Godwin, who Marion knows as a friend of her father’s, and they set out for the castle at Gwydion.
At the castle, Robin is taken before the Earl. He tells him the truth, but of course the Earl does not believe him. “I’ve dealt with villains like you before. They’re never content with ordinary lies. Ordinary lies would make them ordinary villains and they’re so stuffed with conceit they believe themselves beyond ordinary justice. And that, they delude themselves, gives them the right to commit any crime they please.”
When Robin reveals that Morgwyn of Ravenscar is the Lady of the Cauldron the whole hall is shocked at his blasphemy. The Captain slaps him and he is taken away to the dungeon. Godwin suspects that he is a wolfshead and tells his Captain to send a message to “that dreadful little man de Rainault” so the Sheriff of Nottingham can deal with him.
The outlaws see Morgwyn on her way to Gwydion, not knowing who she is. When she arrives at the castle, she asks for the sword, as Robin had predicted she would, stating that it belonged to a martyr from the first Crusade.
Marion and Tuck go into the castle and are introduced to Morgwyn by the Earl, who remembers Marion vividly as a child. Marion explains who she now is and asks for mercy for Robin. Godwin won’t listen, but he lets her see her husband. Tied up in the dungeon, Robin explains about Morgwyn and tells her that they must get Albion back.
Tuck leaves to try and get the sword. The outlaws ambush Morgwyn when she leaves, but she uses the power of the sword to enchant them and make them blind (or at least partially so). “Now you dogs, you will bark for me!”
She goes back to Ravenscar, calling the rest of the Cauldron, and puts Albion on the altar with the rest of the Swords of Wayland.
Marion stays the night at Gwydion and manages to free Robin. They escape on horseback by setting a fire. Godwin doesn’t really want to chase them, and orders his soldiers to shoot over their heads.
Escaping into the woods they come across the enchanted outlaws, who are now hunting them, mostly by sound. They eventually capture Robin and Marion and tie Robin to a wooden frame and drag him along a coastal path to Ravenscar. Suddenly, a ragged-looking man appears and starts gabbling something to them in Welsh. The enchanted outlaws seem repulsed by him, and he works his way round to Robin and unties him. Robin has nowhere to go but down so he dives off the cliff into the sea. They see his floating body and tell Morgwyn that he is dead when they get to Ravenscar. She releases them from the spell, and they realise in horror what they have done.
Robin awakes and finds himself on the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. He starts to climb up.
In front of the altar, Morgwyn names the seven swords: “Morax, Solas, Orias, Albion, Elidor, Beleth, Flauros. On each of them, words of high magic unspoken since they were made. Wayland knew the danger. Oh yes, he knew. That’s why he scattered them, and for hundreds of years they remained apart. Two of them were buried. Others lost in battle and some so cunningly hidden that none had knowledge of them, except the Cauldron of Lucifer. They knew. The search took many years, many lives.”
Marion asks her, “Why? Why do you need them?”
“Can’t you guess?”
At the top of the cliff, Robin is helped by the ragged man, who explains that he just doesn’t like people. He offers Robin his longbow, which he has kept in spite of having his hand cut off for poaching. As Robin leaves we see Herne standing on the rocks, and the ragged man says, “Lord... Herne... Master.”
The outlaws are locked in a cage and Morgwyn says she can save their lives if they give themselves to Lucifer. They reject her offer emphatically.
Scarlet: “Tell her she can go to hell!”
Verdelet: “She expects to.”
The rest of the Cauldron, amongst them knights and bishops, arrive at Ravenscar, and Morgwyn begins the ceremony. Robin makes his way into the abbey, killing the Hounds at the gate and putting on a red cloak and mask. The disguise doesn’t stop him from being attacked by other Hounds, but he manages to kill them as well, and get into the chamber where the outlaws are suspended in their cage above a covered pit of oil. Verdelet rolls back the cover and sets the oil alight. Morgwyn and the Cauldron are chanting to summon Lucifer, but it is the sacrifice of the outlaws that will bring him into the world. Robin fights with Verdelet to try to cover the pit. As they are fighting, the cage falls down and Verdelet is killed beneath it. The outlaws are released, and just as Lucifer appears Robin picks up Albion from the altar and the apparition vanishes. Morgwyn and the ‘nuns’ start screaming and run away. The outlaws pick up a sword each and fight the members of the Cauldron. When they have killed them all they throw all the swords except Albion into the flaming centre of the altar, where they are destroyed.
Outside the abbey the moon is partially eclipsed and Morgwyn is being chased along the sands by the remaining Hounds. As they attack her we hear her saying, “I feared him. Why? Why did I fear him? He was dead! Dead! But he still came to Ravenscar. He still came...”
We then see Herne. “Nothing we make is good or evil until we use it. The power in Wayland’s Swords was blind. There lay the danger.”
Robin: “And Albion?”
Herne: “Albion is in good hands.”
The outlaws say goodbye to the villagers of Uffcombe and head back to Sherwood.
Comments
This episode was shown in the order that I’m reviewing it, but given where it is placed in the novelisation and some of the continuity I think that it was supposed to be the first episode of the second series. It should certainly have been shown before The Prophecy because there are several mentions of Marion’s father being dead. It also makes sense to have a two-parter at the start of a series. I don’t know all the details, but I believe that Mary Whitehouse made some complaints about this episode because of the devil-worship, especially as some of it was filmed in Wells Cathedral, so it is possible that these complaints delayed its broadcast.
It’s interesting to speculate on the ragged Welshman who saves Robin, and his link with Herne. Was he the previous Herne’s Son?
There’s a minor blooper when Robin is in the Abbey. Two Hounds dressed as nuns come towards him and he kills them both with one stroke, as if he’s carry two swords. However, he is only holding the longbow. He doesn’t have the time or space to kill even one of them with an arrow, so I can only assume that it’s a very sharp bow!
Best moments and lines
Nasir telling Gareth his full name, much to the surprise of the other outlaws, and especially John’s brief attempt at pronouncing it, is a welcome bit of light relief.
The fight against the Hounds in Uffcombe is very dramatic. I particularly like the shot of Nasir standing, swords ready, between the two fires. It’s good to see that the outlaws have improved their technique for fighting men on horseback since Seven Poor Knights From Acre.
Tuck’s incongruous comment: “Pacts with the Devil aren’t legally binding!” always makes me laugh. Given some of the jokes about lawyers, it seems entirely possible that he might make them stand up in court!
There’s a nice little moment when Marion is releasing Robin. His two guards are playing knucklebones and one says, “Reckon I’ve won!”
Robin comes up behind him with a knife and says quietly, “You’ve lost.”
One of the few pleasant moments in the episode is when Robin and Marion are riding away from Gwydion. They just seem so happy together.
I love the dramatic moment when Robin dives off the cliff - very heart-stopping. Then when he is climbing back up, I can almost feel the sun and smell the salt, it’s so atmospheric.
This episode is also full of wonderfully eerie and truly frightening moments:
The appearance of the Hounds at the beginning, their red and black cloaks against the red sky, and that dramatic music, sets the tone for the whole story.
The desecration of the Crusader's tomb to get Orias, especially the sound of the fingers being snapped.
When the outlaws are enchanted they are very unnerving, especially with their milky eyes.
The end of the episode, when Morgwyn is killed on the beach, is very impressive, especially her voice. Apparently, the partial eclipse of the moon was real, a fortuitous accident, but it really adds to the atmosphere.
Review
In my opinion this is one of the best episodes of RoS, and quite possibly the most entertaining. It is a very good self-contained story, visually stunning and with a thrilling storyline. Right from the start, with the shocking imagery of the Hounds riding against a flame-red sky, we are drawn into a mysterious world where nothing is as it seems. Are the riders demon or human? Many of the villagers are convinced that they are demons, the outlaws (being extremely pragmatic, considering that they’ve already had other-worldly experiences) insist that they are men. In the event, the outlaws are right, they are men and they can be killed, but in a further twist it turns out that their purposes are in fact demonic. This is not just a case of someone using scare tactics to get rid of some villagers for some political or financial reason, the Hounds are being used to spread terror, to get converts and to prepare the way for Lucifer to enter into the world.
This duality is used throughout the story, both as part of the plot and as single images. The priest prostrated in front of the church altar could be devoutly praying, but we then see that he has been stabbed. When the outlaws first meet Adam he seems to be the most scared of the Hounds, but then it transpires that he is one of them. As Robin discovers, in some ways this gives him the most reason to be scared of them. Similarly, when they capture one of the ‘evil’ Hounds, they reveal instead a terrified young man. Then we have the devout Abbess and her nuns, who turn out to be the most powerful witch in England and her coven. This theme is even carried through into Sherwood, when Gareth walks through the seemingly deserted woods, only to have the outlaws reveal themselves one by one.
In this episode, in the absence of our usual villains, we get the wonderful Morgwyn and her chilling right-hand man, Verdelet. Morgwyn of Ravenscar is a superb character, probably my favourite villain, capable of standing out amongst all the other great RoS villains, and not just because of her sex. She is extremely intelligent and extremely in control. It is noticeable that she is one of the quietest ‘bad guys’; she doesn’t need to rant to get results, she knows she will be obeyed. This is because she is not trying to attain personal power. She truly believes in Lucifer and his power and this gives her all the drive and authority she needs. Some of this has rubbed off on Verdelet, which makes him a rather more composed henchman than we often see, but as Morgwyn points out, he fears their master while she worships and adores him. Rula Lenska plays the part brilliantly, from cold, authoritative Abbess, to powerful and passionate summoner of Satan. She is particularly effective at the end, when she is destroyed by her failure. It might be the Hounds that kill her, but she loses all her power as soon as she fails in her task.
Another entertaining character in this episode is Earl Godwin. He might get in the way of the outlaws, but he is a reasonable man, even if he does bore everyone solid by reminiscing about the old days and moralising all the time. At least his opinion of the Sheriff of Nottingham is accurate!
This is not an episode that particularly expands our knowledge or understanding of the regular characters, although it is nice to see their loyalty to one another and to Herne at the beginning, when they all swear on Albion. Their characters come across clearly when Tuck, John and Marion, always keen to do the right thing, agree quickly to go to Uffcombe. Nasir loyally and silently follows suit, leaving the fearful Much to agree when reassured by Robin and the reluctant Scarlet to only concede under protest. A lot of the character moments make more sense if you imagine this to be the first episode in the second series. After what happened in The King’s Fool, it is understandable that Scarlet is unwilling to leave Sherwood. Robin especially seems very young in this episode, not so much the confident leader he starts to mature into later. He doesn’t know how to handle the people of Uffcombe, coming across as unsympathetic, and it is up to the more naturally empathic Marion to bring the villagers round to their point of view. He is also rather naive in telling the truth to Earl Godwin.
The combination of well-rounded characters, glorious visuals and music, great basic plot expanding on the power of Albion and some seriously scary moments make this an impressive episode, whether watched in two parts or together, when it stands effectively as a film in its own right.
Cast in order of appearance
Peter Verdelet...Dallas Adams
Herne the Hunter...John Abineri
Robin Hood...Michael Praed
Gareth...James Donnelly
Will Scarlet...Ray Winstone
Much...Peter Llewellyn Williams
Little John...Clive Mantle
Nasir...Mark Ryan
Marion...Judi Trott
Friar Tuck...Phil Rose
Morgwyn of Ravenscar...Rula Lenska
Sheriff...David Trevena
Adam...Norman Bowler
Cedric...David Cain
Philip...Conrad Phillips
Mary...Ingrid Hafner
James...Vic McGuire
Captain...Nick Brimble
Earl Godwin...Anthony Steel
Guards...Roger McKern and Ned Kelly
Ragged Man...Morlais Thomas
Lucifer...Marcus Gilbert
Executive Producer Patrick Dromgoole
Assistant Producer Esta Charkham
Producer Paul Knight
Director Robert Young
Episode Guide written by Lucy of Ravenscar
First appeared in Nothing's Forgotten newsletter issue 10, March 1999
