For example Arrow, Robin Hood, etc. Does this have any historical context? What advantage would an archer get from being hooded?
Hoods were simply a commonplace form of headgear worn by men of all standings in the 12-13th centuries. Men wore hoods outdoors, usually with coifs, and sometimes with surcotes.
Peasant feeding pigs with acorns, from a French manuscript c. 1180
Falconer, depicted by Villard de Honnecourt, c. 1240
David instructs a fellow shepherd to look after his flock, from the Morgan Bible c.1240-1250. David wears a cloak, while the other shepherd wears a hood with a square-yoke.
A drover from the Morgan Bible. Hood and coif worn by a laborer.
An elderly man wearing a hooded surcote from the Morgan Bible.
Group of soldiers in 'undress' from the Morgan Bible. Contrary to popular imagination, knights and other soldiers did not wear armor at all times. For instance, these fighting men wear coifs, hoods, and tunics- But no armor of any sort.
Kol Von Nussen, depicted in the c.1300 Codex Manesse. He is dressed for the hunt and wears a hood.
Ulrich Von Gutenberg, also from the Codex Manesse. Dressed for falconry with a hooded surcote and flamboyant hat.
By the 14th century, hoods became fashionable, ceasing to be simply practical outdoors garments. They assumed a more closely fitted shape, cut with a long, drooping point, called a liripipe, sometimes worn jauntily over the shoulder, or wound turban-like around the neck. These new forms of hood are generally termed chaperons. Depictions of fashionable young men in the mid-14th century show them wearing this headgear with daring new cote-hardies. The chaperon is most often worn with the hood down, but some men are seen to wear theirs up.
Young gentlemen from a 1344 Alexander Romance. Immodestly dressed, indeed: These young men are depicted in a flamboyant array of contrasting colors. All wear chaperons, some with parti-colored doublets and hose.
Fashionable young men and ladies, from The Vows of the Peacock, c. 1340-50. The young men wear the closely-fitted cote-hardies with chaperons. The gallant on the far right wear his hood up, while the chaperons worn by two youths second from the right and second from the left have dagged edges.
Narcissus admires his own reflection, from a French manuscript of the Romance of the Rose, c. 1340-1350 Similar costume to the above picture. The vain Narcissus wears his liripipe jauntily over the shoulder.
Well-dressed group, illumination from a group of poems by Guillaume de Machaut. Note the elaborate knotted liripipe on the gentleman in the center.
Several extant hoods were found preserved in bogs. One of the best was worn by the Bocksten Man- A young man murdered and buried in a bog c. 1280-1390. His hood was dark brown, cut from a single piece of woolen fabric. The hood had a narrow liripipe, or point, measuring some 35 1/2 inches. Others found at Herjolfness in Greenland and London show similar liripipes.
Clothing worn by the Bocksten Man. Hood in upper left hand corner. Via r/artifactporn
Which brings us to archers. Simply put, men typically would have worn in combat what they wore in civilian life. As such, archers typically wore the outdoor garments of the working class- Namely, the hood and tunic. Archers depicted practicing at the butts in the Luttrell Psalter of c. 1320-40 are shown in such garments- http://i.imgur.com/5xtgBPH.jpg. Another single archer figure is depicted earlier in the same manuscript-http://i.imgur.com/iv4Fqhy.jpg. Written records of what archers wore are scarce- But one source describes men of Flint and Cheshire levied for service in the 100 Years War being issued woolen short coats and hoods of white and green livery. Presumably, they would have appeared similar to the archers depicted in the Luttrell Psalter.
Sources:
Bartlett, Clive. English Longbowman: 1330-1515. Illus. Gerry Embleton. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 1995.
Carlson, Marc. "Some Clothing of the Middle Ages." University of Tulsa, OK. University of Tulsa, 2006.
Gilchrist, Roberta. Medieval Life: Archaeology and the Life Course. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press, 2012.
Johnson, Ruth A. All Things Medieval. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011.
"Illuminating Fashion: Dress in the Art of Medieval France and the Netherlands." The Morgan Library and Museum. The Morgan Library and Museum, 2011.
/u/vonstroheims_monocle has provided a great reply on historical hoods, but I wanted to add something about Arrow and Robin Hood.
The television show Arrow is based on The Green Arrow, who is in turn strongly influenced by Robin Hood. Oliver Queen borrows both the look of Robin Hood, as well as his ideology of uplifting the little guy and bringing down oppressors.
So you could say that Arrow wears a hood because Robin Hood wears a hood, not specifically because he is an archer.
