Sheriff of Nottingham

Sheriff of Nottingham is a character in the 1973 animated Disney film Robin Hood.

He was voiced by Pat Buttram.

## **About the Sheriff:**

### **Personality:**

In contrast to Prince John, who is the mastermind behind the many plans to stop Robin Hood, the Sheriff is a more active antagonist, constantly fighting and attempting to capture Robin Hood.

He is completely unsympathetic to the poverty of the town's people, using immoral ways to collect taxes such as forcing out the coins Otto had hidden in his leg cast, regardless of the pain the blacksmith would endure from his broken leg in the process, taking the one farthing Skippy had been given for his birthday and insincerely wishing him a happy birthday, taking money from a blind beggar who was actually Robin Hood in disguise, or even taking the single farthing that was in the church's poor box and laughing as he did it.

He excuses his corruption and cruelty by hypocritically claiming he's only doing his duty.

Because of this, he is hated by the people of Nottingham, who often derisively refer to him as "Bushel-britches," referring to the Sheriff's rather obese physique.

Despite his constant attempts to capture Robin Hood, the Sheriff always fails.

In addition, he is always fooled by Robin Hood's disguises, despite his claims to the contrary.

However, he is not completely stupid, as, following Robin Hood's capture at the archery tournament, he was baffled by Prince John's unexpected claim that Robin should be released, and immediately grew suspicious of John's behaviour.

His suspicions were confirmed when he found Little John holding the prince hostage by sticking a dagger in his back.

The Sheriff commands a posse of archer wolves and has authority over Trigger and Nutsy.

Being bigger and heavier than Robin Hood, he physically overpowers him in a fight and Robin has to use his wits to escape him.

The Sheriff puts on a cheerful, friendly act, but is as callous as any Disney villain.

He also speaks with a heavy Southern United States accent, which was contrasted with most of the characters who spoke in British accents.

Even if he follows Prince John's orders and claims to be faithful to the Crown, the Sheriff does not seem to hold a high opinion of the prince, since he happily sings "The Phony King of England" and even encourages Sir Hiss to do the same.

### **Physical Appearance:**

The Sheriff is an obese grey wolf with yellow eyes, thick black eyebrows, a black nose and wears red sheriff's clothing, a hat with purple stripes and a feather, crimson shoes, puffy purple sleeves with magenta stripes, a gold star badge, and a brown necklace with a gold medallion around his neck.

## **Appearances:**

### **Robin Hood:**

The Sheriff appears at the film's opening, sneaking up on Robin Hood and Little John as the two are swimming.

Despite his attempts, Robin Hood manages to escape by hiding in a tree.

Later, he is shown traveling through the town for his daily tax collection.

He uses several methods to get them.

First, he comes to the shop of Otto the blacksmith, who conspires with Friar Tuck to hide his earnings in his cast.

The Sheriff, however, is not fooled by this, having spied on Otto and Tuck just prior to his arrival at the smithy.

The Sheriff whacks Otto's cast until the coins that the dog hid in his cast come out, which causes obvious pain to Otto's broken leg.

The Sheriff snidely remarks that "it is all part of the pain of giving" to pay for the greater good of society.

At Mother Rabbit's home, he takes the single farthing that was meant as a birthday present for Skippy.

The Sheriff even stoops so low as to take money from a blind beggar, while being completely oblivious to the fact that the beggar is Robin Hood in disguise.

The Sheriff is one of the participants in Prince John's archery tournament.

Once again, he is unaware of the fact that a stork archer is a disguised Robin Hood.

He even carries on a conversation with the stork about how Robin Hood did not attend and brags that he could always see through the disguises.

Though the sheriff is apparently a decent archer, making it to the final round, he resorts to cheating to defeat the disguised Robin Hood.

First, he has his vulture henchman, Nutsy, hide in the target, and the vulture adjusts the target so that the Sheriff gets a bull's-eye.

When the "stork" shoots, he nudges the stork's bow, in an attempt to have him miss.

He loses anyway, thanks to Robin Hood's skill.

After Prince John unmasks Robin Hood and sentenced to beheading, the Sheriff becomes suspicious when the prince suddenly orders Robin to be released.

He then discovers Little John holding a knife to the back of Prince John's neck and attacks him, freeing the prince and resulting in the following battle against Robin Hood.

Despite his supposed loyalty, the Sheriff is not above making fun of Prince John when the latter is not around, as he is next seen singing a mocking song about Prince John that the villagers had made up.

Later, he presumably imprisons most of the townspeople on the Prince's orders for not paying the dramatically increased taxes that Prince John imposed as punishment for the mockery, takes money from the poor box in the church which is the last straw for Friar Tuck who attacks him, he then arrests Friar Tuck for high treason.

On Prince John's orders, he prepares the gallows to hang the Friar, knowing that Robin Hood would no doubt come to stop the execution and lead to his capture.

While he and his two vulture henchmen Trigger and Nutsy are working, they are approached by a blind beggar, who is once again Robin Hood in disguise.

Trigger gets suspicious when the beggar begins asking too many questions about Friar Tuck's execution, but the Sheriff tells Trigger not to worry, as this blind man is harmless.

The Sheriff and his men are then seen guarding the jail, however, the Sheriff had fallen asleep on duty.

He gets annoyed by Nutsy waking him up each hour and by Trigger when his crossbow accidentally fires.

When he and Trigger hear the sounds of Nutsy being ambushed by Robin Hood and Little John, they investigate, and find what they believe is only Nutsy, but really Robin Hood.

The disguised Robin Hood then puts the Sheriff back to sleep with a lullaby and steals his keys and opens the door to the jail, allowing Little John to enter.

When Trigger hears the door shut, he accidentally fires his crossbow again, waking the Sheriff up, who fails to see Little John getting in and then reprimands Trigger for making another false alarm.

Falling back asleep, the Sheriff is awoken again when coins from one of the bags that is being pulleyed from the royal treasury to a jail cell falls on him.

He is then subdued by Little John who steals his clothes to use a disguise to keep Trigger from alerting anyone.

The Sheriff is then seen again in his underwear chasing Robin Hood when the latter attempts to escape.

The Sheriff corners him in Prince John's chambers and lunges at him with his torch, setting the room on fire.

After a brief fight, Robin Hood escapes when the flames cut the Sheriff off from chasing him.

It is unknown what happened afterwards, but presumably the Sheriff escaped the burning room as well as he is seen alive at the end.

He is revealed to have been stripped of his position by King Richard, who returned from the crusades, and is sentenced to working in the Royal Rock Pile alongside Prince John and Sir Hiss as punishment for their misdeeds against the people of England.

**Other Appearances:**

### **House of Mouse:**

The Sheriff of Nottingham, like many others characters created by Disney, appears as a guest character in this series.

Some of the episodes that the Sheriff appears in include "The Stolen Cartoons", "Pete's House of Villains", "Goofy's Valentine Date", and *Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse*.

**Gallery:**

The Sheriff Of Nottingham with Trigger.