Nasir (Robin of Sherwood)

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Nasir, full name Nasir Malik Kemal Inal Ibrahim Shams ad-Dualla Wattab ibn Mahmud, is a character played by Mark Ryan in the British 1980s adventure series Robin of Sherwood (1984-1986).

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In Robin of Sherwood, Nasir is a Saracen who was a professional assassin in Palestine. Captured by a European crusader and user of black magic, called Baron de Belleme (played by actor Anthony Valentine), Nasir is placed under an evil spell by the Baron and brought back to England to work as his henchman. In the series' pilot episode, Nasir is freed from the spell when the Baron is killed by Robin Hood (played by Michael Praed), and, having found respect for Robin during a crucial sword fight, decides to join Robin's band of outlaws in Sherwood Forest and help fight for the rights of the common people in medieval England.

After the pilot, the character of Nasir appeared in all 26 episodes of Robin of Sherwood. However, he always remained a mysterious character. Among his distinctive characteristics were always fighting with two swords at the same time and almost never speaking a word.

According to the creator of Robin of Sherwood, Richard Carpenter, the character of Nasir came about somewhat accidentally. Nasir was originally scipted as a character named "Edmund (or Edmond) the Archer", and was originally meant to be killed off by Robin Hood in the pilot episode, but, seeing as the cast and crew had taken a liking to actor Mark Ryan during the filming of this episode, his nemesis was taken out of the script and it was decided that he should stay on as a regular character. There having been no Saracen in Robin Hood's band in any of the original legends or previous film adaptations, there was some worry about how the audience would receive this new character. Nasir did in the end, however, turn out to "create his own legend". Later filmed versions of Robin Hood, such as for instance Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and The New Adventures of Robin Hood, have all for some reason decided to incorporate an "Arabic" merry man in their respective stories - obviously inspired by the Saracen character in Robin of Sherwood.

[edit] Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

When Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was in the initial stages of filming, Richard Carpenter reportedly considered suing the makers of the film after getting word that there was to be an Arabic character named Nasir (played by Morgan Freeman) in the film - seeing this as an obvious theft of his own work on the British TV-series. After stuntman Terry Walsh, whilst working on Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, (he had previously also worked on Robin of Sherwood) pointed out to the makers of the Hollywood film that Nasir was not a character in the original Robin Hood legend, Morgan Freeman's character rapidly got his name changed to Azeem in order to avoid this possible lawsuit.