Friar Tuck is a badger (by appearance of the American, rather than European, type) who is a monk in service of the church in Nottingham, which he even refers to as "my church" (inferring that he chartered or owns it).  Usually he is a gentle, affable and jolly fellow, who enjoys looking after and ministering to the citizens of Nottingham.  But he is also a stalwart and stubborn fellow, who is seldom afraid to stand up to the Sheriff or his men, or to make his opinions known to all within earshot, and can occasionally be moved to great fits of anger.  He has a general American accent.

Friar Tuck is also a willing and enthusiastic accomplice and supporter of Robin Hood and Little John and, like them, he actively works to frustrate the activities and the cruelty of Prince John, the Sheriff and their men.  In the Nottingham church, he is assisted by Father Sexton and Mother Church Mouse.

Origins of the Character: Friar Tuck first appeared in the Robin Hood legends, according to The Robin Hood Project, by the Robbins Library of the University of Rochester (New York), in the early 1400s:

"Like Robin Hood, Friar Tuck enters the historical record considerably in advance of the first surviving literary appearance of the character. The name Friar Tuck first appears in royal English writs issued in 1417 and 1429. Per J. C. Holt, the drafters of the 1417 writ had apparently never heard the name before (Holt 59). However, by the time the 1429 writ had been issued, a connection had been established between the man called Friar Tuck in 1417 and the subject of the 1429 document: he was identified as a chaplain from Sussex who used 'Friar Tuck' as a nom de guerre, and the 1429 writ links him to the prior document and lists his real name as Robert Stafford. Significantly, this historical 'Friar Tuck' has no verifiable contemporary connection to the Robin Hood tradition: as Holt notes, the drafters of the 1417 writ were not aware that 'Friar Tuck' was an alias (59), which they surely would have known if Tuck had already been absorbed wholesale into the Robin Hood traditions. By 1429, Stafford's true name was known, but the connection to the Robin Hood tradition is not remarked upon. As Allen Wright notes, '[t]his chaplain may have employed an alias from a pre-existing legend, but it's quite possible that he was the first to use the name of Tuck' (Wright 'Friar Tuck'). Whether Stafford created the name or whether he was borrowing from a tradition is unknown; it is known that in 1417 and 1429, Friar Tuck was not yet connected to the Robin Hood tradition."