Should I use Lore or Mythos

I'm writing a scientific paper (on an unrelated subject), and the need arose to refer to Robin Hood stories in film, literature and folk culture in general. I would like to use the expression "the Robin Hood mythos", but was advised to consider using "the Robin Hood lore" instead.

I've always thought that "lore" refers to common wisdom, things that are actually "known". It makes me slightly uncomfortable to use the word in relation to legends and (probably) fictional stories.

Is "lore" correct here, or should I stick to "mythos"? Or would yet a third alternative be even better?

Edit: As requested, here's a bit more context:

"As written, the case text is notably terse in describing the full complexities of Robin’s situation. However, the Robin Hood mythos has been thoroughly explored in literature and film, resulting in an extensive shared mental model. This mental model was used to construct an imaginary Robin Hood and Merry Men. These constructs were then interviewed in order to complement the information presented in the case. Although the answers supplied were naturally ultimately made up, it was fairly easy to remain faithful to both the mythos and the case text."

Solution 1:

According to Collins (http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/lore):

lore

noun

1) collective knowledge or wisdom on a particular subject, esp of a traditional nature
2) knowledge or learning
3) (archaic) teaching, or something that is taught

Also, according to Collins (http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/mythos):

mythos

noun

1) the complex of beliefs, values, attitudes, etc, characteristic of a specific group or society
2) another word for myth, mythology

And from Collins also (http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/myth#myth_1)

myth

noun

1) a story about superhuman beings of an earlier age taken by preliterate society to be a true account, usually of how natural phenomena, social customs, etc, came into existence
2) another word for mythology (sense 1), mythology (sense 3)
3) a person or thing whose existence is fictional or unproven (in modern literature) a theme or character type embodying an idea ⇒ "Hemingway's myth of the male hero" (philosophy) (esp in the writings of Plato) an allegory or parable

After reading the edited question: I think that the best fit in this case would be lore if you want to express the culture or collective knowledge about Robin Hood, while if you want to make reference to the tale or the character itself, mythos would make more sense

Solution 2:

If you want to split the difference, you might try

legend n
1. a. An unverified story handed down from earlier times, especially one popularly believed to be historical.
1. b. A body or collection of such stories
^{_{Definition from TFDO}}

This lets you introduce the idea of the story being unreliable, but leaves intact the supposition that some of it might actually be true.

[Edited to add definition 1.b. to forestall OP's objection that a legend is confined to a single act.]