Arknights Lore: Robin Analysis

Thanks to aca as well as this article on Weibo.

Other than the tail, ears, race and raccoons from the E2 Art, the paw prints on the suitcase are very similar to a raccoon’s.

Next, Robin's references are in movies. Archives 3 says 'her greatest hobby happens to be watching movies.'

References to Robin Hood can be seen from Robin's name as well as her lore in the archives, voiced lines, and Mansfield Break story.

Even her introduction of: 'Nice to meet you, Doctor. I'm a new Operator. Robin's the name. I've got money issues, so if it's okay with you, you can send me to do whatever.' hints that she is poor. Like Robin Hood, she is always trying to earn money.

Take a look at her Trust 2 line as well:
'Truthfully, I learned how to fight because of this movie I saw when I was young. Main character used all these knives and homemade traps, and I thought it was really cool, so I started learning myself. My knives here, they're actually the same kind as the ones in that movie.'

In this line, Robin talks about how she gained the skills to fight because she was inspired by a protagonist in a movie she thought was cool. That even the weapon and traps she created are the same to the protagonist. Robin Hood, although known as an archer and a swordsman in many depictions, also wields a dagger and traps. Robin Hood is known as an outlaw that was heroic, in which Robin is actually one of the inmates that was imprisoned by Rhine Lab. Plus the uncanny ‘Robin’ as the codename for the racoon girl does suggest that Robin Hood could have been a reference.

Talk 3: 'In Columbia, anything can be bought with money. It sounds great, maybe, until you turn it around. Without money, nothing's yours at all.'

She talks about how in Columbia, money is important to buy things but you cannot do anything if you don’t have money. In which relates to her father’s failing business. Robin works at Rhodes Island harder than some of the operators due to her salary is used as fundment for her father’s critical condition. Hence Robin’s ‘heroic’ deed for her father. Just like Robin Hood, Robin takes a lot of jobs in order to fund herself for others.

The images of the racoons are parallel to the image to the right. In Robin’s archives and ‘basic information’ about the operator, Robin is the daughter of a company that assisted Mountain’s company. However, both companies fell apart due to the political crisis. While in The Godfather, the Corleones were targeted as targets to wipe out from the ‘mafia’ circle. This is quite similar to Mansfield Break where Mountain’s company + Robin’s (Father’s) company both fell apart. In a sense this could ‘foreshadow’ the content within the event story and her archives. After all, Robin is a corporate daughter who probably has a particularly smooth life before her father was in critical condition. In the Godfather, the Don was shot and was in critical condition for a while, while Robin’s father is also in a similar situation.

This imagery can also symbolize that Robin is ‘protecting’ the racoon that is behind her, which can represent her father. In the archives, she had various jobs including being a bodyguard as well; because of Rhodes Island, she is protecting her only ‘family’ aka her father. The way Robin looks down and standing in front, her role as the daughter has changed slightly as well.

Her role in the Mansfield event does relate to how Michael was often left in the dark about the family situation as well as Robin too. Even in the archives, Robin was rather a normal girl who wanted to do her own thing such as learning martial arts; parallel to Michael who wanted to do things without the interference of the mafia. Although in the end, Michael does get his role as the head of the family due to circumstances, Robin does go through a similar dilemma as Michael as to ‘helping out the family or not’.

That's all for Robin! Do look forward to the next big article, which I've spoke about extensively on Twitter: Columbia and Rhine Lab as parallels of the WW2 United States and Manhattan Project.