Robin From Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Part 3 Has Shakespearean Roots

Theo (Lachlan Watson) got a love interest on the new season of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and he's inspired by a famous piece of literature. Robin Goodfellow, the hobgoblin on Sabrina gets his name straight from another famous hobgoblin: Puck aka Robin Goodfellow in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. And, if Robin looks familiar, it's probably because actor Jonathan Whitesell also played Kurtz on Riverdale.

In the Shakespeare story, the hobgoblin is portrayed as a jester-type character, always getting into mischief and playing pranks on mortals. This is the characterization most hobgoblins get in literature or film. One dictionary even unflatteringly describes a hobgoblin as "a small, ugly creature that causes trouble." Robin from Sabrina would beg to differ.

When Robin reveals his true identity to Theo, he says being a hobgoblin just lets him run really fast. He still has the same pointed ears that his Shakespeare namesake has and green hair to represent the green clothing some hobgoblins have been portrayed with, but he has an entirely different personality from most of his kind. True, Robin did initially set out to trick Theo and the other mortals, but he had a change of heart mid-season.

Adopted by the pagan witches, Robin was tasked to infiltrate the mortal high school and get close to any would-be virgins to sacrifice to the pagan gods. Robin did do that, becoming friends with Theo, Harvey (Ross Lynch), and Roz (Jaz Sinclair). But, over time, Robin started to develop real feelings for Theo and soon he didn't want to betray the mortals anymore. Robin even admitted to Theo about the pagans, "I don't believe all the things they do."

At first, it wasn't clear if viewers should trust Robin's seeming change of heart. Sure, he seemed to genuinely like Theo and falling in love probably wasn't part of his mortal-tricking plan. But to trust someone who has been spying our favorite characters is always hard to do. Fortunately, by the end of the series, Robin had fully switched alliances and worked with Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka) and her friends to drive the pagans out of Greendale. With his adopted family gone, it seems he'll stick around in town — finally able to set down some roots now that he's not traveling with the carnival pagans anymore.

It's kind of nice that Sabrina gave a new characterization to hobgoblins, who had previously just been seen as sort of trickster elves. Robin may have deceived some people, but he did it for the people who raised him — not just to cause trouble for trouble's sake. And when it came down to it, he chose the right side and found real romance along the way. And, now he's given the hobgoblin name a new superpower — super speed running. Robin is basically Puck from Shakespeare mixed with DC Comics' The Flash, and both Theo and viewers are going to want him to stick around for part 4.