Hood is a loyalist to King Richard, and has no problem pretending he's stealing money to help the poor in order to fund his king's return. Because of how Prince John is running things, he's able to get a bunch of peasants on his side. He WORSHIPS King Richard, and is willing to do ANYTHING to further his goals. As far as he's concerned, he's on the right side of history, serving the rightful king at any cost. (I don't find him as interesting as the other two though, btw).

Maid Marian has been used her whole life by those around her and is now fallen from grace, living in squalor compared to the other nobles. Hood promises to marry her so she can get back what her father's attempt to assasinate Prince John took from her: her wealth and title. When she figures out Hood isn't going to keep his promises to her (and that she's a pawn in his game, too...also he tried to kill her), she turns on him, and later the entire noble class. She soon proves that she is a far greater threat than Guy of Gisborne realized...and honestly a much better leader than Hood (not a particularly moral one, though.) She's been a pawn for so long, but as the events play out, like the pawn in chess, she is able to cross the board and metaphorically upgrade herself to the queen. Her whole character arc is very interesting to read.

And then there's our protagonist Everard Blackthorne, Sheriff of Nottingham, and my personal favorite (so his part is longer). Unlike the other two, he holds significantly less power. He's lower class than them, cannot disobey Guy of Gisborne (who, while occasionally willing to pull some strings for Everard, also constantly threatens to execute him and is willing to use him as a scapegoat), and regularly gets used as a pawn in everyone else's schemes. At one point he and his men are being set up by the ruling class to be killed just so Prince John can PRETEND he was genuinely trying to have some ransom money delivered.

He's willing to use underhanded tactics in his pursuit of justice. He breaks deals, he breaks into houses and beats people to interrogate them, he tortures information out of people (though that part was commonplace for the time period), he has no qualms about shooting women so long as they aren't INNOCENT, and he has blood on his hands.

Yet, while Everard may be just as violent, ruthless, and underhanded, his desires aren't self-serving like the other two. He tries to serve the people of Nottinghamshire, but ended up as a pawn in the political games of the local nobility...and he's sick of it. Eventually, he ends up sacrificing himself to save the people of Nottingham, knowing full well he'll be remembered as a villain, if he's remembered at all.