Ending Explained: The Death of Robin Hood

💡 What does the ending really mean?

At the end of The Death of Robin Hood, Robin confesses his identity to Brigid and decides to die out of guilt. In his final moments, he teaches Margaret how to shoot with a bow he built, passing away just as she releases the arrow.

What happens at the end

After the massacre at the farm and the escape to the island, Robin recovers under the name Randolph at the Priory of St. Clement. There, he meets Margaret, Little John’s daughter, whom he protects and teaches to hunt. Tension rises when Arthur arrives, who turns out to be Godwyn, the last relative of Hendrie, the boy Robin killed. Robin confronts him on the mainland and convinces him to abandon his revenge.

Upon returning, Robin confesses his true identity to the prioress Brigid, causing her horror. She reveals that her own family was burned alive by Robin, though she ultimately does not kill him. Troubled by guilt and following a dream about Little John, Robin decides he can no longer go on living. He asks Brigid to help him die through bloodletting, but he eventually stops allowing her to treat him.

In his final moments, Robin tells Margaret a heroic version of his life with John, hiding the truth about her father from her. He gives her a bow he built himself and teaches her to shoot. Robin dies as Margaret releases the arrow.

What it means

Sarnoski dismantles the hero myth to expose the monstrosity of the man. The film suggests that the legend of Robin Hood is a necessary alibi to justify violence. The ending offers no redemption, only relief. Robin does not die as a martyr, but as a criminal who finally accepts his burden.

The final act is ambiguous: is it suicide or murder? By letting Margaret shoot, Robin transfers the guilt and agency to the next generation. The arrow is not a weapon of war, but a symbol of inheritance. The film argues that myths do not die; they transform. Margaret does not inherit justice, but rather violence and lies. The silence he demands of her regarding her father's past is the last and cruelest of his lessons.

What is left open

Margaret's fate remains in limbo. Although Robin has taught her to hunt and given her a bow, we do not know if she will repeat the cycle of revenge or if she will manage to break it. The film does not show her later life or how she will handle the truth Robin hid from her. Her future is a deliberate void, leaving the viewer to wonder whether the cycle of violence has ended or if it is just beginning under a new identity.