By @Gigi Geng
France
Arsene Lupin—France’s beloved, detection-prone gentleman burglar
(illustrated by Vincent Mallie)
Arsene Lupin was created as a fictional gentleman thief by writer Maurice Leblanc in 1905 and debuted on a French Magazine Je Sais Tout(I know all). Arsene Lupin is a suave theif, escape artists, master of disguise and detective. The Arsene Character is usually compared with Sherlock Holmes by Conan Doyle, who created the first wave of fad of detective story craze in UK earlier in late 19th century and then made its way to France.
From 1905-1939, Leblanc wrote Arsene Lupin into seven novels and 39 novellas, and some went to play production. It’s imagined that Lupin’s specific image is a suave man in monocle and top hat, wearing a tuxedo with white gloves and carrying a cane. This has became the most famous illustration of the literary character Lupin, although no specific accoutrements were featured in Leblanc’s stories. As the thief hero is always in disguise, it’s the man of a thousand disguise: a chauffeur, detective, bookmaker, Russian physician, Spanish bull-fighter, commercial traveller, robust youth or a decrepit old man.
North America
Zorro——Zorro is a fictional character created in 1919 in the novel The Curse of Capistrano by American pulp writer Johnson McCulley. He is typically portrayed as a dashing masked vigilante who defends the commoners and indigenous people of California against corrupt, tyrannical officials and other villains. His signature all-black costume includes a cape, a hat and a mask covering the upper half of his face. Zorro is an acrobat and expert in various weapons, but rapier is his most frequently used sword to carve the initial “Z” on his defeated foes and other objects to sign his work. He has a trusty steed being a black horse called Tornado.
Zorro has a secret identity as a young man who is the only son of Don Alejandro, the wealthiest landowner in California, while Zorro learned swordsmanship in Spain and went back to California when his father summoned him. He lives in a vast hacienda which contains many secret tunnels and passages leading to a secret cave that served as headquarters for Zorro’s operations.
UK
Robin Hood— A real heroic outlaw in English history
Robin Hood is a real once-existed outlaw figure in 13th~14th Century AD based on ballads and folklores in England. Robin Hood is commonly seen as a social rebel and bandit fighting against aristocracy and wealthy class, holding a stance of “robbing the rich and give to the poor”. According to legend, he is a highly-skilled archer and swordsman, said to have fought in the Crusades led by Richard the King of Lionheart before returning to England to find his lands taken by the Sherriff of Nottingham, who is the main antagonist in Robin Hood’s lore. Robin Hood is traditionally depicted dressed in Lincoln green, his lover is the virgin Marian. Adaptations have vacillated between him being a libertarian or a socialist perceived to propound wealth redistribution. Robin Hood is widely seen in English folktales, literature, modern movies and cinema.
JAPAN
Ishikawa Goemon 石川五右衛門 The thief hero who was executed in a boiling wok
Ishikawa Goemon is a real thief, bandit leader and outlaw hero in Japanese history and culture. He was born on August 24, 1558, and was executed on October 8th, 1594 after a failed assassination attempt on the Sengoku Period Warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Some also said he was trying to steal a treasure incense burner at Toyotomi’s house before captured. He was known to be a tall and heavy physique and possess great ninja skills. Ishikawa was depicted to rob the rich feudal lords, merchants and clerics and share the loot with the oppressed peasants.
It’s said Ishikawa and his family was boiled alive in an iron cauldron, but he saved his young son by holding him above his head until he eventually succumbed to pain and injuries and sank into the pot. The cauldron was preserved until the age of WW2 and a large iron kettle-shaped bathtub is called a Goemon bath now.
China
The Swallow Bird thief Li San
Swallow Li San is a character in modern Chinese folklore, many thieves impersonate his name and deed but nobody knows which one is the real Li San. Li San lived in a turbulent age from late Qing dynasty to the republican period in China, when civil revolution, Japanese invasion happened during the Jiang Administration from late 19th to early 20th century.
It was very difficult to track his trace, to claim the stealing deed and showoff his talent, Li San often left a swallow-shaped origami at the crime scene, and thus his name originate from this. He was praised for robbing the rich to help the poor and was thus called a chivalrous hero. Li is an extraordinary martial artist and can do acrobatic jumping swiftly like flying between roofs.
Li was a thief but also a hero, because a Chinese hero not only dares to fight the bullies who oppress the defenseless but also engage in a life-and-death struggle against the forces that invaded China and kill traitors, shouldering the historical mission of saving the country and its people.
