Merry Men

The Merry Men are characters featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. They début in the nineteenth episode of the second season of Once Upon a Time.

History
The band of Merry Men, comprised of several men, including Friar Tuck and Little John, are led by their leader, Robin Hood, on a robbery heist to loot money from a wealthy man's carriage on the road. Without the group's notice, a lone man, Will Scarlet, nabs a chest of treasures, which he later brings to the Merry Men's camp to prove himself worthy enough of joining their entourage, to which Robin Hood accepts him as a new member. Will quickly suggests the next location the Merry Men can hope to gain many riches—namely the castle of the witch Maleficent, who is currently away. Robin Hood dislikes the danger of such a task, but is easily won over when tempted with the proposition that they can pilfer enough gold to feed whole scores of villagers. Unbeknownst to the Merry Men, Will's intentions of maneuvering them to the location are also for his own personal benefit as he only joined their group for the sake of stealing a looking glass from Maleficent's castle. Upon entering the grounds of the castle, Robin Hood specifically instructs his comrades to only take the gold, though Will secretly steals the looking glass. On the Merry Men's return to camp in celebration of the successful quest, Maleficent's voice manifests; angrily demanding for a missing item to be returned or suffer the consequences. Despite that Robin Hood calls for the traitor to speak up, Will does not. During the night, Robin Hood realizes Will's deceptive behavior and confronts him as he is sneaking off. Guiltily, Will admits his reason for stealing the item from Maleficent is because of a woman. Rather than deal out a punishment, Robin Hood allows Will to leave as he believes his retribution will come in the future.
 * -|Before the Curse=

Sometime later, Robin Hood and a woman named Marian fall in love and run away together to escape the ire of the Sheriff of Nottingham. Ever since then, the Sheriff, driven by both jealousy and rage, makes it his mission to hunt down Robin Hood, but the thief continues to elude capture. While Marian is heavily pregnant with child, Robin Hood risks his life to steal a healing wand from the castle of the greatly feared Dark One, Rumplestiltskin. At one point, he is captured and tortured continuously, but is freed by Rumplestiltskin's maid Belle. Afterwards, Robin Hood flees with the wand while Rumplestiltskin furiously discovers his prisoner is gone and plans to kill him. Robin Hood heals Marian to full health and as the two have a joyous reunion, Belle convinces Rumplestiltskin to let the thief live so the couple's unborn child won't grow up to be fatherless. Reluctantly, Rumplestiltskin allows his aimed arrow to hit the carriage instead; startling Robin Hood and Marian so much that they rush off on horseback. Following the breaking of the Dark Curse, Robin Hood claims the abandoned castle of Rumplestiltskin as his own when two intruders, Mulan and Neal, enter onto the premises. Neal introduces himself as Rumplestiltskin's son, Baelfire, which lowers Robin Hood's guard. He allows the twosome access to search the castle; considering his owed debt to the Dark One for once sparing his life. Neal locates a secret room chamber with his father's old walking cane, and uses a crystal ball to discover that the woman he loves, Emma, is in the world of Neverland.
 * -|After Broken Curse=

While Neal is horrified that Emma's current location, he causes quite a commotion while frantically searching for an item for reaching Neverland. Concerned by the noise, Little John and several other Merry Men burst in to defend Robin Hood, but they back down once reassured by their leader that Mulan and Neal are not enemies. From under Little John's feet, Robin Hood's son, Roland, rushes into his father's arms. This sparks inspiration in Neal, who wants to use the boy to summon the Shadow from Neverland, though Robin Hood objects once he learns the creature is known for kidnapping children. Undeterred, Neal brings up how his father saved Robin Hood's wife, which allowed her to give birth to Roland, and as such, this makes him in Rumplestiltskin's debt. Robin Hood relents and allows one opportunity for summoning the Shadow. As he, Mulan and Neal hold their attacking positions, Roland says the incantation, "I believe". Though nothing occurs at first, the Shadow soon arrives to snatch away Roland and is swiftly stopped once Mulan cuts off one of the creature's arms. Neal hitches a ride to Neverland by grabbing onto the Shadow. Afterwards, Robin Hood expresses an interest for Mulan to join the Merry Men, but she declines and leaves to take care of another matter instead. At nightfall, Robin Hood and his group camp-out when Mulan arrives to accept the previous offer she was given, and accepts a place with the Merry Men.

List of Merry Men

 * Friar Tuck
 * Little John
 * Mulan
 * Robin Hood
 * Roland
 * Will Scarlet (formerly)