The hoodie isn’t that new an item of clothing. Well, hoods aren’t anyway. Certainly not when it comes to the world of literature and cinema. Hoods can be found throughout the world of drama and fantasy, worn by both the good and the evil.
Here are five classic examples of hooded characters from the world of fiction.
Milady
Milady de Winter of Alexander Dumas’ The Three Musketeers is a character that lives for excitement and intrigue. As a youth, she enters a convent but falls for a priest, then goes on the run after stealing from the church with the priest in tow. The couple were wed, but sometime later she met one of the musketeers, Athos. He fell for her, so she married him (despite the official documentation of her previous betrothal). Milady was a jewel thief, spy and assissin. Oh, what a bad, bad girl!
Red Riding Hood
The story of Little Red Riding Hood was given something of a new spin last year in the film Red Riding Hood starring Amanda Seyfried and Gary Oldman. This movie gave a supernatural spin to the tale, as (not so) Little Red Riding Hood has to take on the sinister werewolf that stalks the land.
Doctor Doom
Marvel comic’s villainous Victor von Doom is known for his grotesque armour, including a mask that covers his entire face, and huge green cape and hood. Dr Doom is the arch enemy of the Fantasitc Four, but has managed to get involved in scraps with other Marvel superheroes such as Spider-Man, The X-Men, the Silver Surfer and The Avengers. Dr Doom hails from a country called Latveria, using both sorcery and his remarkable inventions to perform his crazy schemes. The tinker!
Star Wars
Star Wars without hoods is like fish without chips, Tom without Jerry, Tom Cruise without… oh, never mind. Jedi love wearing hoods. It’s that little bit of mystery that adds to the whole magic super-powered religion thing. Of course, it’s not just the Jedis the Sith – the evil antithesis of the Order of the Jedi – love the spooky black robes and hoods. Just goes to show, the more power you wield the more impressive the hoodage.
Death
Talking of power behind a hood, a special mention has to be given to the Grim Reaper himself, Death. While this mythological entity has taken many different forms in literature, art, movies and elsewhere, it’s the hooded figure with the scythe that’s the most enduring. Perhaps the most popular incarnation of Death can be found in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, who rides a flying horse named Binky.
Citations:
- Image by Jessie Willcox Smith (1863 – 1935) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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