Annoying Arrows: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
In media, the bow, one of the ancient world's most effective ranged weapons, has nowhere near the punch it has in [[Real Life]]. A character struck with an arrow need only grab the shaft and yank it out with little more than some momentary discomfort, then go back to doing whatever they were doing. If they're too busy in the middle of a melee, they can just leave them in place and deal with them when things settle down.
▲In media, the bow, one of the ancient world's most effective ranged weapons, has nowhere near the punch it has in [[Real Life]]. A character struck with an arrow need only grab the shaft and yank it out with little more than some momentary discomfort, then go back to doing whatever they were doing. If they're too busy in the middle of a melee, they can just leave them in place and deal with them when things settle down.
If you've gotten your knowledge about bows and arrows from the media, it's understandable that you'd think they were easy-to-use but relatively useless weapons. Needless to say, this is yet another area where [[Only a Flesh Wound|Hollywood gets it wrong.]] Frequently.
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What really put the bow and arrow out of business as a weapon of war was the sheer difficulty in mastering and reliably using it, while increasingly prolific firearms were vastly easier to train. It literally took a lifetime of daily practice to produce a competent longbowman - as the apprentice of a competent longbowman. An ''old'' phrase about archery is, "How do you train a good archer? Start with his ''grandfather''." In comparison, all but the most stupid of people could be instructed in the basic operation of a firelock in hours; this despite the fact that, at least initially, such firearms were inferior in both range and accuracy.
An arrow hit on a lightly armored or unarmored person ''might'' knock them off their feet. Trying to continue doing anything with an arrow sticking out of you is difficult at best, although whether the difficulty is primarily physical or psychological is dependent on where the arrow is sticking.
Attempting to pull out
A form of [[Worst Aid]]. May play a part in a [[Rasputinian Death]] and can easily invoke [[Human Pincushion]]. Contrast [[Bulletproof Human Shield]], [[Guns Are Worthless]], [[Almost
[[I Thought It Meant|Not]] [[Stalker
▲[[I Thought It Meant|Not]] [[Stalker With a Crush|to]] [[All Love Is Unrequited|be]] [[Love Makes You Evil|confused]] [[Love Makes You Dumb|with]] [[Love Makes You Crazy|annoying]] [[Just for Pun|Eros]].
{{examples}}
* This happened in one episode of ''[[
▲== Anime/Manga ==
* Used especially often in ''[[
▲* This happened in one episode of ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia (Manga)|Axis Powers Hetalia]]'', where chibi!Lithuania took an [[Memetic Mutation|arrow to the head]] from chibi!Prussia. [[Badass Adorable|And didn't flinch.]] You can see it near the end of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a66qTk1qIwk this clip.]
▲* Used especially often in ''[[Berserk (Manga)|Berserk]]''. One notably badass scene involves the main character taking an arrow to the palm of his hand and then snapping that same arrow in half with the wounded hand's fingers! The crossbows used by enemy soldiers still frequently kill people when they hit, and the previously mentioned palm injury is the ONLY time a main character is ever hit by one, and it's treated as a wound that put him at a heavy disadvantage, since his sword is a two-handed weapon. Later on this trope is played even more straight: the Apostles are simple so large that the crossbow bolts penetrate their skin but can't even reach vital organs, essentially sticking in their skin like thorns or burrs. Guts STILL manages to make use of his arm-crossbow effectively though, by aiming for their softer parts, like their eyes.
** The anime has him deflecting arrows with his cloak. "[[Berserk Abridged|And now, just in case you had any faith left in humanity]]...[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCyujnxaMYs#t=4m30s know that someone, somewhere, thought that THIS made sense]".
* Uryuu Ishida from ''[[
* ''[[
* [[Averted Trope]] in ''[[
** Exaggerated with Whitebeard; He had ''annoying swords'' that went clean through his front, and remained there for quite some time afterward. <!-- the past ten or so chapters/episodes. -->
** In the anime, when Akainu gives him a second helping of lava inside his chest, he doesn't even bother putting out the flames as he prepares for his next attack.
** However, this is generally averted in One Piece: believe it or not, (aside from Whitebeard) guns and other ranged weapons are still very deadly in this world despite the fact that people can survive massive blunt trauma. The arrows used on Amazon Lily- when infused with Haki- can even shatter rocks and Luffy made quite the effort to avoid them. Of course, the best of the best in the series still usually have some way to negate the effects of guns (Ex: Bullets bounce off of Luffy's [[Rubber Man|rubber body]], Zoro is too fast to be hit by a gun, Ace is [[Playing
* ''[[
* Played straight to a ridiculous extreme in ''[[
* In ''[[
** In the backstory of Nago, the Boar God who became a demonic abomination and bestowed his curse upon Ashitaka, we see him receive a face-full of arrows from Iron Town's residents. They do as much damage as a gentle spring breeze, and he just shakes them off as though they were blades of grass. Of course, he's a [[Physical God]] and [[Nature Spirit|manifestation of the Forest]]. However, when hit by a single iron bullet from a rifle, it goes all the way through and shatters his bones, inflicting a lethal wound that causes his deathly rage at mankind.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
* Horribly averted with Sagitta Ptolemy from ''[[
* Averted and subverted in ''[[
* Averted in ''[[
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* [[Warren Ellis]]' ''[[Crecy]]'' is all about how ''truly'' annoying arrows really are, as in how widespread archery put an end to medieval warfare. A ''lot'' of work was put into making arrows into incredibly lethal weapons. They discouraged crossbows as longbows could be quickly strung or unstrung - this meant drawstrings could be removed during rainstorms to keep them dry. Archers were trained to use them as [[Swiss Army Weapon
** The narrator points out the Genoese mercenary crossbowmen hired by the French were brutally lethal as well: they had the training and equipment to fire an arrow a hundred and fifty yard every ''seven and a half seconds'', and the ''[
*** The catch is that the damned things weigh around ''twenty pounds each'', meaning they're too heavy for a crossbowman to carry as part of his ruck while marching - they had to be brought to the battlefield by baggage train. And a good archer can fire a [[Trick Arrow]] ''two'' hundred and fifty yards every ''five'' seconds. Crossbowmen were meant to slaughter infantry, not exchange fire with people who can actually shoot ''back.''
{{quote|
* ''[[
** One is when {{spoiler|Cutter}} gets skewered by a spear; his friend breaks the barbed end off and pulls the thing out (the battle is such that every fighter is needed, even if wounded). The wounded {{spoiler|Cutter}} fights on for a few minutes before collapsing and then nearly dies despite having a healer around to work on him magically.
** Much later in the series, {{spoiler|Cutter}} gets hit by an arrow, and, there being no magical healer around at the time, he resorts to medical care by the trolls. The troll breaks off the shaft but can't get a piece of the arrowhead out, and it remains stuck under a rib, a constant annoyance to the elf. Eventually the tribe gets their healer back, and her powers manage to pull the arrowhead out entirely and heal him up good.
* ''[[
** The Marvel ''[[
* ''[[Green Arrow]]'': Onomatopoeia, a villain, takes several arrows to the body in an attempt to kill one of Green Arrow's sidekicks. After a long (long) stand off, he manages to escape, even though he is a pincushion. Nobody is sure if the guy is superhuman or just well trained.
** The trope is averted in the story ''Night Olympics'' when [[Black Canary]] gets shot by an arrow in the shoulder, and is felled instantly. The shooter thinks he may have killed her. She mumbles to Green Arrow that she'll be up in a minute, she just has to pull this arrow out, so he yells at her that it's the only thing stopping her from bleeding to death right there, and that she's leaving it in until paramedics can get her patched up.
* Averted and played straight in the same very page of ''[[Hellboy (
* In the ''[[
* Subverted in [[
* Played with in ''Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood'': [[Huntress]] shoots a crossbow quarrel in the lung, and Batman snaps the shaft off. Not a straightforward example, however, because the wound is shown as being highly debilitating, and takes Bats out of the fight altogether. Still, you would think Batman would know better.
== [[Film]] ==▼
▲== Film ==
* In ''[[Apocalypto]]'', Jaguar Paw, the main character, gets hit [[In the Back]] with an arrow, which goes through him and pokes out of his abdomen. Not only does he keep running, but he barely bleeds even after he yanks it out. He goes on to evade a group of trained warriors, dive off a waterfall, and fall into quicksand, all without treating a wound that went straight through him. Later he's hit in the ''chest'' and the arrow apparently gets stopped by his sternum. It doesn't even slow him down.
* Averted in ''[[Avatar (
* In ''[[
* Both averted and played straight in ''[[Gladiator (
* The Qin army's arrows in ''[[Hero (
* In ''[[Kingdom of Heaven]]'', the blond German dude gets a crossbow bolt stuck in his throat, and keeps on racking his kills till he finally dies. Given the cool electric guitar part, it plays well enough. Liam Neeson's character also claims to have "fought for three days with an arrow through [his] left testicle." {{spoiler|He later dies from another arrow wound, specifically one he made worse by accidentally snapping off the shaft.}} So... averted, mostly.
* Averted in ''[[
* Averted in ''[[The Last Samurai]]''. Quite a few [[Mooks]] are hit by arrows, all of whom promptly hit the floor.
* Played straight in ''The Messenger: The Story Of Joan Of Arc'', notably where Joan gets hit by an arrow in the leg but doesn't notice it.
* In ''[[
* The end of the first ''[[The Lord of the Rings (
** Also averted ''spectacularly'' (albeit incredibly briefly) in the film's Prologue sequence. Numenorean archers loose arrows. In the very next shot, we're treated to a bird's-eye view of Orcs falling under a deadly hail of black shafts, ''while standing what must be more than a mile away from the Numenorean lines and on top of a cliff''. In ''[[
** It is also averted in ''The Two Towers'' during the Battle of Helm's Deep. While the Uruk-Hai charge the fortress, it looks like any hit by even a single arrow fall; it's harder to tell during the chaotic battle, but it appears the trope is still averted for both sides. There is one case where it is more ambiguous: the lone Uruk-Hai runner/berserker, who lights up the bombs and destroys the Helm's Deep wall. He is hit by a few arrows, and is obviously affected, but continues running; it could be due to this trope, his [[Determinator|suicidal determination]] and/or the Uruk-Hai being very pain-resistant. Like Boromir, it seems unlikely he'd survive long in that state.
* Inverted in the ''[[Prince Caspian]]'' movie, where Susan's arrows are the deadliest weapon in the movie. Probably due to their magic, every shot is a fatal shot... no matter what armour her opponent is wearing, and even if she ''throws them by hand''. Less forgivable is when a unit of archers volleys arrows into a unit of charging cavalry in the time-honoured tactic, and every single one of them is a hit. [[Armor Is Useless|It's a wonder why anybody even bothers wearing armour.]]
* Inverted in ''[[The Scorpion King]]'', which the [[Dwayne Johnson
** Said villain is supposedly a master at deflecting arrows with his sword. In fact, we get to see it three times, one of those being from the hero. Somehow, though, he fails spectacularly at the very end.
** The bow is also shown to be extremely difficult to pull. [[The Dragon]] wannabe, after confiscating the bow, tries to impress some ladies with it, only to be unable to pull it back even an inch.
* Played with in ''[[
* Played straight in the end of ''[[
* ''[[
** First there's Ajax, who simply snaps the arrows and keeps on. The worst part of it is that there [[Demythtification|aren't even any mythological properties in the movie to justify it]], and he later does the same thing ''[[Rule of Cool|to a spear through the torso]]''.
** It's then averted when several of Achilles Myrmidons are killed by arrows when they storm the beach.
** As for Achilles himself, the one [[Achilles' Heel|through his heel]] slows him down considerably. He is then shot twice in the chest, and while he does pull them both out, he moves in slower afterward. The third arrow to the chest stops him, and the fourth brings him to his knees. He pulls them out too, but then dies.
* In ''Two Mules for Sister Sara'', Clint is hit by an arrow in the shoulder and knocked from his. The wound causes him great pain and the removal is complicated, with Clint removing the fletching and the rear part of the arrow and the titular Sara using the "pushing an arrow through his body" technique, followed by a crude cauterizing.
* Strangely averted in the 2005 ''[[
* Averted in ''[[The Punisher (
* Averted in ''[[
* In ''[[300
== [[Literature]] ==
* Averted in the ''[[
** Amara even lampshades the aversion at one point. She expects arrows to be useless against stone gargoyles because, well, they are ''stone''. However, Bernard still fires an arrow anyway and the gargoyle ''shatters'' on impact. After the event, Amara comes to the conclusion that if Bernard aims an arrow at something, it WILL go down. Including but not limited to {{spoiler|High Lord Kalarus and a vordhulk, a near-skyscraper-sized bioweapon that entire Aleran Legions can't defeat.}}
* Averted in [[Cryptonomicon]]: Amy Shaftoe is hit in the leg, incapacitating her straight away.
* The death of [[
* Averted in the old Norwegian Saga know as the ''Edda''; Þormóðr Kolbrúnarskáld is dying from being shot with an arrow at the Battle of Stiklestad, when he pulls the fatal arrow from his heart with his own hand and utter the following words: “Well has King Olaf fed us this winter, since there is still fat at the roots of my heart.”
* In the ''[[
* This trope is seen in ''[[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (
* The protagonist of Margaret Atwood's ''Lady Oracle'' is struck by an arrow at an archery range during her summer job. Somewhat plausible, in that she's well-padded and it hits her in the rear, these are blunt target arrows (which can still kill you if you get in their way, but you might at least get to the hospital) and while the wound doesn't kill her, the ensuing infection almost does.
* Both invoked and averted in Book 11 of ''[[
* Averted in ''[[
** Faramir is wounded near to death by a single dart during the retreat from a failed assault on enemy-held Osgiliath. In one of Tolkien's drafts Théoden dies in a similar way. And this was just "some southron arrow". Had he been smitten by a dart of the Nazgul, he would have died that night.
** Wormtongue is stopped dead in his tracks (literally) after being hit by several Hobbit arrows.
** Also, justified when an arrow that hits Frodo in Moria bounces off him, because he wears [[Mithril]] armour.
* Humorously averted in ''[[
* ''[[
* Averted at least three times in ''[[Belgariad]]''. The character of Lelldorin is considered the best archer in the world, and is routinely capable of one shot kills with the longbow, in fact Lelldorin never seems to miss and every shot seems to kill. The character of Adara is casually hit in the chest by a Murgo archer while at full gallop, she barely holds on to her horse long enough to run the archer down, delaying him long enough for Hettar to kill him, she then falls unconscious from her horse. She is only saved by Lady Polgara who is perhaps the best medic in their world and a gifted sorceress. Adara is certain she's dying, since no one survives an arrow to the chest, and spends months recovering. In the final book there is a pitched battle between the Western Armies and forces of the Angaraks on two sides of a river, numerous descriptions of arrows raining down on enemy forces leaving devastation in their wake are included. One describes enemy soldiers falling like grass being mowed down.
* Bows are given quite a bit of respect in ''[[
** One of Jon's first acts upon heading the Night Watch is to have every able member trained thoroughly with the longbow.
* Averted in the historical novel ''The Ten Thousand'' by Michael Curtis Ford (a novelization of the [
* Averted in [[Michael Crichton]]'s ''[[Timeline]]'', where arrows are serious business. One of the characters is knocked several feet back by an arrow.
** Crichton seems to have [[Shown Their Work|put a lot of research into]] his books, and this may well be a good example. Crichton points out that the longbows in use required about 100 pounds of pull to fire. Given that amount of tension, imagine what kind of force that arrow is going to slam home with: that's not a poke, it's going to cause deep bruises even if it glances off, and may even be powerful enough to break bones. Then consider that these bowmen were able to repeat that shot at a rapid rate ''all day'', and you'll realize that these were not the kind of "dangerous from a distance, but fragile at close range" archers found in most video games.
* Played weirdly straight in the ''[[Warhammer
* A discussion in the first ''[[Warlock of Gramaraye]]'' book ''The Warlock in Spite of Himself'' is about the titular character wearing plate armor. When his manservant says that it will protect him from swords and arrows, the very agile fighter says, "Swords I can block, arrows I can duck, and plate still won't do a bit of good against a crossbow bolt."
* In ''[[
** Mat also subverts this in later books: He manages a highly successful military campaign, solely through the strategic use of crossbows. The book goes out of its way to describe how devastating a hail of crossbow bolts can be, [[Shown Their Work|as well as their advantages and disadvantages in relation to regular bows, and a bunch of other stuff]].
** Also very, very averted in the form of the Two Rivers archers, who make use of longbows similar to the way medieval England did. Absolutely nobody is prepared for how devastating these weapons are; The Aiel, normally considered the best warriors in the setting, are positively massacred by a much smaller force of volunteer longbowmen because their normal tactics just don't work against weapons with the range and killing power of a longbow.
* In the ''[[Conrad Stargard]]'' books by Leo Frankowski, Conrad introduces the concept of plate mail to the Poles. The English longbows still readily put holes in the armor, but the Mongol horsebows largely just stick arrows in the armor's surface. But when {{spoiler|Conrad himself gets shot in the face after removing his helmet. One moment, he's standing there, and the next, he's lying semi-conscious in the mud, feeling like a truck hit him. And the removal of the arrow results in him losing sight in the eye on that side.}}
** Partially played straight the Mongol bows were one of the most powerful bows in the world next to the English Longbow.
* Averted in [[
* Averted, and a major plot point in Bernard Cornwell's Grail trilogy. The protagonist is an archer during the golden age of the English Longbow, and the power of armies with a sizable number of archers is evident on all major battles. Bowmen were hated across all countries enemy of Britain (most of them, basically), and a captured bowmen always had his index and middle fingers cut as a punishment.
** The hatred of archers was borne by the knights; nobility who would have 'gentlemen's agreements' with their opposite numbers to be ransomed in the event of defeat rather than slain. The archers, commoners to a man, held low opinions of their feudal overlords, cared little for their traditions and had no compunction in slaughtering wounded and captured knights.
** It's also Lampshaded in the second book, Vagabond, when a new archer and a veteran archer are mincing Scottish meat.
{{quote|
'''Veteran Archer:''' Only while the arrows last. Then it gets really hard. }}
* Averted in [[Robin Hobb]]'s ''[[Realm of the Elderlings
* Averted in ''[[The Hunger Games (
** Averted almost to the point of excess, really, as almost every single arrow Katniss fires throughout the entire series is shown to be ''instantaneously'' lethal, even in situations where futuristic miracle medicine is present.
** Not quite every one: in the first book, the arrow she gets Clove with is just a mild nuisance.
* Averted in ''[[Sword of Truth]]'', where Richard is nearly killed by an arrow, despite healing by one of the most powerful magic-users in the world.
* Generally averted in Brian Jacques' ''[[Redwall]]'' series, where most creatures will be instantly slain by arrows. Bigger animals like badgers and most of the [[Big Bad
* Played with in Charles McCarry's ''The Bride of the Wilderness'': A side character is shot, but the arrow gets stuck in his [[Kevlard|abnormally dense subcutaneous fat]] and doesn't hit anything vital. And while he's able to keep walking, it's made clear that it's ''painful''.
* Callisto of ''[[
▲== Live Action TV ==
** Xena featured several great examples of this. Xena herself takes an arrow to the abdomen in Episode 2, and both pulls out, and cauterizes the wound herself. It only takes her a few days to recover -- which just so happens to be one of the ''longest'' recovery times on the show.
▲* Callisto of ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess (TV)|Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' provides the picture for this trope. Lucky for her, she {{spoiler|was a god at the time}}, so she wasn't killed.
**
** {{spoiler|Xena}} takes almost as many arrows as Callisto did in the featured picture, (pulling only some out), in the finale. Unfortunately for her, {{spoiler|she wasn't a god at the time}}.
* In the ''[[
▲** {{spoiler|Xena}} takes almost as many arrows as Callisto did in the featured picture, (pulling only some out), in the finale. Unfortunately for her, {{spoiler|she wasn't a god at the time}}.
▲* In the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' episode, "Pangs", Buffy gets an arrow through her arm, and Spike gets turned into an arrow pin-cushion (fortunately none of them hit his heart.) Justified for Spike, since he's a vampire and wounds like that are non-fatal as long as they don't hit his heart.
** In the same episode we see an amusing crossbow error, as Buffy shoots a bolt at the <s>Indian</s> Native American ghost outside the window, who just casually bends aside as the bolt sails '''veeery''' slowly out into the night.
** Miss Kitty Fantastico. Something happened between her and Dawn's crossbow. It is [[Noodle Incident|not made clear]] but is implied to be really, really bad.
** In one episode, Giles is shot with a crossbow bolt at point blank range and proceeds to pull it out, stake a vampire with it, and limp to the hospital.
{{quote|
*** Though the accuracy of this trope would depend on exactly how much tweed...
*** Strong cloth has been historically used in a similar manner; Mongolians wore layers of strong silk that would sink to the wound along with the arrow, preventing the worst bleeding, and making the extraction safer and easier. Funny -- apparently it's already on the page.
* Done to a degree in ''[[Deadliest Warrior]].'' In the test down with bows and arrows, they acknowledge them as dangerous weapons, but in the staged fights between the warriors they don't do much [[Rule of Cool|since it would end the fight too quickly]]. Note that in statistics of kills in the simulated fights the bow also plays a big factor.
* Subverted in the US version of ''[[Eleventh Hour]]'', Agent Young is struck by an arrow. Her kidnapper offers to remove it but she tells her not to as she knows the arrow is the only thing keeping blood from gushing out.
* On ''Fire Engine 132'', the firefighters are relaxing in the bay when a man comes in. He was apparently jogging, judging from his clothes and the sweat on them, when he was hit by an arrow. He was able to walk, under his own power, to the fire station, where the somewhat bewildered firefighters lead him inside the station proper for treatment. It is never bought up again.
* On ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', after Kensei is shot, Hiro just yanks the arrows out of his chest. But it's made clear that Kensei would have died if his [[Healing Factor]] hadn't chosen that moment to manifest.
** Considering that Hiro is a modern-day fanboy whose knowledge of Ancient Japanese warfare comes from TV and myths, where people likely ''would'' do that with arrows.
* In an episode of ''[[
** Caine was ''bluffing--'' i.e. he was trying to show them that he was immortal, as they
* Averted in ''[[
** Yoren is the exception. When the Lannisters come after his group of Night's Watch recruits, a crossbowman shoots him in the chest. All it does is knock him to his knees, and makes him bite out a comment that he hates crossbows because they take too long to reload, followed by cutting down the crossbowman and killing several more guards.
* Possibly averted on ''[[
** Flaming arrows were used to {{spoiler|slaughter about two dozen redshirts}}.
* Justified in ''[[Lexx]]'', as the only character who can do this has also shrugged off point-blank laser blasts, being sawed in two down the middle, and the explosion of the planet he's standing on. Crossbow bolts? He won't even stop walking to pull them out.
* Both subverted and played straight in the ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' series, where a character's reaction to being shot by an arrow generally depends on whether or not they're a main character. Mooks who get shot tend to die or at the very least, go down and stay down for the rest of the battle. [[Plot Armor|The heroes however, seem much more resilient]]. In the fourth episode, Robin takes an arrow to the arm and while he does cry out in pain, he is still able to ride a horse while holding a baby. Marian does have to sew the wound up later though. But the worst case is in the finale of the first series in which Little John is shot in the arm...''and barely notices!'' He then yanks it out with no trouble, still not reacting as if it were anything worse than a slightly irritating splinter. One might be able to argue that his thick, heavy coat may have protected him a little but still...
** In one episode, Robin goes on a rampage and starts killing the Sheriff's [[Mooks]], whereas previously he refrained from killing (he thinks Marian is dead and goes ballistic). Each arrow is invariably a kill shot to the Mook, even if they're wearing chainmail.
* Ronon does this in his first episode of ''[[
** It's mainly to show that Ronon is a [[Badass]], and McKay's...[[Non-Action Guy|not]].
** In Ronon's first appearance, he has a tracking chip removed from the back of his neck... without anesthesia.
* Averted in the TV mini-series adaptation of [[Lonesome Dove]]. Arrows used by the plains Indians are deadly. Gus takes a shaft to the leg when running from a group of them. His horse is killed and he's miles from the nearest town, which means removing it is necessary. Unfortunately, it's in deep, but not all the way through, so he has to push it out the other side. The repercussions of this action lead to him {{spoiler|losing the leg and ultimately dying from the infection.}}
* Inverted by the 1997 TV movie version of ''[[
* Averted in ''[[The Walking Dead (TV series)|The Walking Dead]]''. The crossbow is an effective weapon against the undead.
* ''[[
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths and Legends ==
* In Homer's ''Iliad'', the famed archer Pandaros complains to Aeneas that even though he managed to hit both Menelaos and Diomedes, neither of these heroes seemed to be bothered much by his arrows. However, this was entirely due to divine intervention and because Odysseus left his bow at home.▼
** Greek mythology has a notable subversion: in Trojan legends, it's mentioned several times that warriors, who were wounded by an arrow, left the battlefield as soon as possible and had the arrow ''cut out'' by a healer, who then treated the wound.▼
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* The bow is one of the weakest weapons in ''[[
* Averted in ''[[
* In ''[[Dungeons
** In earlier games, bows did a straight six-sided die's worth of damage, but could be shot twice a round. The only way to increase bow damage (other than by getting a magical bow or magical arrows) was to take weapon specialization in the bow upon character creation (something only available for fighters) which cost two "slots" of weapon proficiency and gave you two points of extra damage.
*** Then you have the great-bow, which deals a fairly massive 1d12 damage, has a range of 25/50, and still doesn't weigh much. Of course, you have to take a feat to get it.
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**** One of the best striker builds this troper has ever seen in fourth edition: Ranger, or any race that gives a bonus to Dexterity. Make sure your Dexterity is at max at first level (and every subsequent level). Take Greatbow proficiency (1d12 damage) or even just wield a longbow (1d10 damage). Destroy.
* Bows are low on the damage-dice totem pole compared with most guns in ''Deadlands''. This can be very irritating for any characters who opt for the Old Ways Oath.
* Averted in ''[[
* Averted for the most part in ''[[
== [[Video Games]] ==▼
* In ''[[
▲== Video Games ==
** In Age 2 (including expansion), the archer gets upgraded into a crossbowman then a more powerful metal arbalest. They are less powerful than the gunners (who wield HAND CANNONS), who excel at short range, but do damage at a longer distance.
▲* In ''[[Age of Empires (Video Game)|Age of Empires]]'', the Archer gets progressively stronger, ending with the Compound bow for some civilizations.
▲** In Age 2 (including expansion), the archer gets upgraded into a crossbowman then a more powerful metal arbalest. They are less powerful than the gunners (who wield HAND CANNONS), who excel at short range, but do damage at a longer distance.
*** In 2 the British special unit is the longbowman. Fully upgraded, they out-range everything but the Trebuchet, the long range siege weapon. The Chinese have [[Chu Ko Nus]], machine crossbows. Units are able to shrug off at tens of arrows depending on armour and health with no negative consequences.
*** 2 also featured the Viking Longboats, which fired Rains of arrows. Naturally much more effective than single shots.
* Played straight in both ''[[
** Even worse with Rosa in ''[[
** Ezio averts this in ''AC: Brotherhood'' with the crossbow. Enemy arrows still aren't much of a threat as long as they're not knocking you down from a high ledge, but the crossbow is extremely accurate and can one-shot nearly any enemy in the game.
** The trailer for ''[[
* '''Brutally''' subverted in ''[[
* In ''Battle For Middle Earth I&II'', archers are generally the strongest units. Elven archers even throw enemies back with each shot.(Assuming the first shot doesn't kill the enemy...which it usually DOES. Though the corpse still gets flung.) However, with armor upgrades, dwarves and uruk-hai can stand a couple of arrows before going down.(Though humans, elves, orcs, hobbits, etc. can't so you could say it's played straight.) Of course stronger units such as trolls, m?il...and obviously the HEROES can take many arrows before dying as they're clearly superhuman.(Although the frailer ones, such as Arwen or the hobbits still go down VERY quickly to arrows.)
* ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''. Naturally, a crossbow bolt to a vampire's stomach does little.
* Averted in ''Call of Juarez'', where the bow used by Billy is precision accurate, silent and does more damage than most of the guns. As if that wasn't enough, the game also goes into slow motion whenever you're using it.
* Played completely, and infuriatingly, straight in ''Castle Crashers''. God damn Thieves Arena...
* Arrows in ''[[
** This can be kind of silly when attacking a giant monster. The 'arrow sticking out' scales with the size of the enemy, so the monsters end up with arrows 3 times your character's size sticking out of their chests, as if you shot them with a tree!
* Played straight in ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]''. When the titular barbarian is struck with an arrow, all the player has to do is hit a button to have him yank it out, with no ill effects. Of course, Conan ''is'' one of the biggest badasses in literary history.
* ''[[
** However, in the cutscene after lighting the beacon at the top of the tower at Ostagar, a few darkspawn bust into the room you're in and drop the Warden with a couple of arrows to the chest.
** Archery is such a powerful weapon that, without even having any skill points in Archery, you, {{spoiler|Alistair, Morrigan}} and {{spoiler|Wynne}} can take out {{spoiler|the final boss}} with little to no effort.
** In ''[[
* Played mostly straight in both ''[[
* From the Dungeon Siege series, it is normal for enemies to end up with 6, 8, even 10 arrows visibly pin-cushioning them, and they keep coming.
* Averted in ''[[
{{quote|
** It helps that a single bolt [[Bizarre and Improbable Ballistics|can go through your brain, liver, both kidneys, right upper arm, and fourth left toe]]. [[Good Bad Bugs|Without hitting anything in between]]. And [[Automatic Crossbows|they fire like machine guns]].
** Crossbows have been nerfed in the 2010 version: low-skill users take a really long time to load, bolts can be blocked by shields or any weapon, plain wooden or bone bolts are now virtually useless except for training and hunting small game, and even steel ones will have trouble with high-quality plate armour. However, with the implementations of tracking damage down to the tissue layer the actual damage inflicted by a bolt or arrow can vary significantly: it may just tear the skin (apparently [[Paper Cutting|skimming the side of the target]]), stick in a wound but only cause pain and minor bleeding, tear muscles, organs, tendons, bones, arteries, or nerves, or in extremely rare cases '''[[Off
** Ballista bolts may or may not fall under this trope; they're basically
* The ''[[
** Meanwhile, pre-[[
** Dynasty Warriors loves to play with this trope. Cao Cao's cousin Xiahou Dun once got shot ''in the eye'', but was such a [[Badass]] that he plucked it out with eye attached and ate the eyeball to strike fear into the hearts of his enemies.
** During the gameplay of dynasty warriors, depending on what difficulty you have on, Archers may seem like just a unit for making you flinch. In harder, and SLIGHTLY more realistic, modes, you can actively worry about how much damage an arrow is doing. on easier modes, or the ubiquitous "normal" mode, they are general just pinpricks. If an entire group of them attacks you it can be fatal on normal, but anything under is just an annoyance.
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** In Dynasty Warriors 7, Arrows follow this trope until cutscenes. In game they are about as weak as one would expect, but in a cutscene, even if the character has taken 160 arrows to the back before that, 1 arrow is enough to kill somebody, but sometimes they may take as much as 5.
*** Following that, it is subverted in the cutscenes, as in the scenes arrows are just as deadly in real life, and you don't once see anything flashy that renders arrows just an annoyance. 4 arrows in the back are enough to kill somebody. The only time this trope might be subverted is Dian Wei's death cutscene, where he uses his massive bulk to block a rain of arrows aimed at Cao Cao, allowing him to run. The characters in the scene are even surprised at how much Dian Wei can take, so it is still completely subverted. This would make it more an issue of [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]]
* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV
** ''Oblivion's'' physics also go off the rail with arrows. If it doesn't kill your target an arrow merely shoots into them. If it does kill them however the body flies several feet backwards through the air. Apparently momentum only applies to the living.
*** This is apparently a [[Rule of Cool]] oddity of the game engine. When the target dies, any extra damage is converted to momentum that is applied to the ragdoll physics.
** There are as many arrow-damage and physics-fixing mods as there are ''Oblivion'' players, it seems, but one of the funnier side effects of a "faster arrow" mod is that the flyback effect is worthy of the worst Western film director.
** Zigzagged in ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
*** Also, every one of the guards [[Memetic Mutation|gave up adventuring due to a single arrow-related injury to the knee.]]
* Though this holds true for many roguelikes, the graphical Japanese take on roguelikes (filled with many hilariously wrong tropes especially regarding marriage/breeding), [https://web.archive.org/web/20100529041656/http://homepage3.nifty.com/rfish/index_e.html Elona], plays it straight. Equal skill in bows and throwing will still usually result in shuriken and sometimes even special throwing stones doing lots more damage than normal bow+arrow combinations, due to having larger min/max damage (as high as 1d25 for normal shuriken, based on material) and higher dex resulting in landing higher rolls more often. However, the best random artifact bow+arrow combination will still always beat shuriken, simply due to having double the skill/statboost (as you equip bows and arrows separately), as well as other cumulative effects. Still, the game does not strive for total realism like other roguelikes, only halfhearted, and so shuriken remain better overall for dungeon crawling because anything can bleed and shuriken cause 'cut' damage. Yes, even golems and the undead. Shot weapons do minimal damage against them, but the cut damage can be coupled with poison/acid to drain them away. There are also anachronistically guns available, but only the shotguns seem worthwhile.
** Both averted and played straight in ''[[Dungeon Crawl]]''. Normal arrows only ever cause HP loss, so any hit that doesn't kill you outright can be healed quite quickly. On the other hand, the amount of HP damage largely depends on the skill of the shooter, and can reach scary levels for arrows fired by high-level centaurs, and any yaktaurs or elvish sharpshooters. Facing these monsters without some very effective armor or specific defensive magic can lead to a very quick death, and you will probably want to neutralize such creatures quickly even if you do have a decent defense.
* Played straight and averted in ''[[Fate/stay
* In ''[[
** Without considerable cross-job stat-optimization, ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics
* Averted in the opening of ''[[
* In ''[[
** Also interesting to note is the fact that in most of the ''Fire Emblem'' games, most of the non-special bows have higher damage than most of the non-special swords of the same rank, and they tend to be equal or nearly equal with spears. The only reason archers do less damage than the average sword or spear user is because most archers have below average strength, while most sword using classes tend to have very high strength.
* Hercules from ''[[God of War (
* Played quite straight in the ''[[
** As far as Heroes go in V though, Rangers definitely got the most damage potential with physical attacks. If the conditions are there, they can fire on 3 enemies at once with increased damage (guaranteed to kill one enemy), with each arrow carrying a destructive spell or a curse.
** In the second and third games, this is strongly averted. Ranged units all had very respectable damage, and the fact that their attacks were safe from retaliation made them among the most dangerous offensive units in the game.
* Heavily, heavily, heavily averted in ''[[
* Semi-averted in the Xbox ''[[
* ''Lords of the Realm 2'' plays both sides of the fence. Arrows fire rapidly, but each one is relatively weak, producing a [[More Dakka]] situation. ''Crossbows'', however, fire much more slowly, but each hit is a guaranteed kill shot, even against heavily-armored knights and [[Made of Iron]] siege engines.
* In ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3
** Hilariously, if you treat the wound without extracting the arrow, it will remain visibly lodged in Snake's body throughout the rest of the game.
** Same applies to [[Bee
* Averted and used in ''[[Mount
* ''[[
* ''[[
* A very amusing use of this is in ''[[Quest for Glory:
* A sci-fi variation happens in a cutscene in ''[[
* ''[[
** There's even an achievement (see picture) for hitting an enemy with 3 arrows without killing them.
** Gets even better: try shooting arrows repeatedly on a Scout under the effect of BONK!
*** [[Fridge Logic|It bears the question as to how the Scout was able to dodge the arrows (BONK makes all damage miss) when he clearly has half a dozen of them stuck in his head.]]
** The Medic got a crossbow somehow averts, plays straight, and even inverts this trope at the same time. A at long range it does a lot of damage to the target. At close range, however it's damage is pretty pathetic, since it gains damage over range. However, it also HEALS your teammates, which can be a God send to wounded teammates.
* The ''[[
** Units with heavy armor and facing your archers suffer few loses from arrows. Place your archers behind them (where shields are useless) and they become highly effective.
* ''[[Turok (
** In the most recent ''Turok'', the bow is quite possibly a gamebreaker. Enemies won't react to shots you fire if you're in cover (they'll panic at what the shot does to their buddies though...), and you quite happily puncture through hi-tech body armour resulting in a one-hit kill. The only "penalty" is the need to hold down the fire button for a second or two before letting rip.
** ''Turok 2'' for the N64 had realistic arrows for use against the monsters. Fill their arms full, sure, but one good arrow through the brain and they fall down dead. And joy, you can pick up the arrows again! Wheee!
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* In ''[[Vagrant Story]]'', Sydney is shot through the heart with a crossbow bolt. He pushes it straight through his body and out the other side. Far from being treated as normal, it's proof that Sydney is, as he claims, immortal.
** Although at the start of the cut scene, they do subvert this trope by having Ashley's crossbolt shot knock Sydney to the ground
* Played straight most of the time in the Sega CD/iPhone RPG ''[[
* ''[[Warhammer Dark Omen]]'' averts this heavily. Humans and goblins are scythed like wheat by arrows or crossbow fire, orcs are slightly tougher but you can still cause hideous casualties, only the very strongest units, like mummies and the Black Grail can ignore arrows without dire consequences.
* Avoided in gameplay in ''[[The Witcher]]'', and averted in one cutscene. {{spoiler|The first arrow fired in White Rayla's back is instantly disabling and likely eventually lethal. The rest of the arrows Yeavinn delivers out of spite.}}
* In ''[[
** Then again, ''World of Warcraft'' player characters are essentially fantasy superheroes, able to effortlessly swing two-handed axes that are in some cases and with some races clearly several times larger and heavier than they are - and take hits directly in the skull from said weapons without basically exploding.
** The max is three spears in the chest.
** Generally if a non [[
** Averted with the archers found in the towers of ''Alterac Valley'' battleground matches, they do noticeable damage, and there are several of them at any one tower; it thus is not a good idea to try to attack a tower alone without other people around to have the archers split their aggro. Arrows from [[
** Doubly averted with [[Player Character]] Hunters. To be brief: Ignore enemy Hunters at your very own peril - Their arrows ''really'' hurt, [[Demonic Spiders|especially at the lower levels of PvP combat]].
* Played half-straight in most Zelda games. You often encounter enemy archers and being hit by them is more an annoyance than a real threat. Although ''your'' arrows tend to deal as much damage as one of the swords you get in the game, and usually more than the starting sword. It may be less a difference in arrow power and more the fact that once you've picked up a few Heart Containers, you can take more punishment than some bosses can, whereas the average mook has less health than you have even at the beginning of the game.
** In the latest Zelda games, arrows that don't kill enemies will stay attached. One might say it fit better in the cartoony ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
*** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
* In ''[[
** Averted with the heavily armored soldiers serving him, whom in the same cutscene get cut down easily by the volley of arrows.
* In ''[[
* Sort of averted in ''[[Lands of Lore]]: The Throne of Chaos''. Fairly early in the game, you come across a character who has been shot repeatedly by arrows and is slumped, dying, against a tree. However, he survives long enough to give you some information about where to go next, say "Pardon me, this arrow is...quite annoying...", yank the arrow in question out of his chest, then talk a little bit longer before finally giving up the ghost.
* Played straight by the unit animations in ''[[Civilization
* Subverted, like many videogame combat tropes, in ''[[The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
* ''[[
* Hilariously averted in ''[[Fable (
* Taken to an [[Up to Eleven|absolutely ridiculous extreme]] in ''[[Asura's Wrath]]'', where hundreds of massive SPEARS that are practically a [[Macross Missile Massacre]] are still seen as only annoying by the title character himself.
* Towards the end of ''[[
* In ''[[
* Averted in ''[[
** Also in the Mercenaries minigame, Krauser has a bow as his primary weapon, and it's the most powerful mercenaries weapon available; hitting an enemy in the head with it will almost always result in [[Your Head Asplode|their head exploding]]. Granted, though, you can blow up heads with just about anything, including your elbow.
* Averted in ''[[
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Averted in ''[[
** She tries to pull the [[Implacable Man]] [[The Slow Walk|slow walk]] right after getting shot, explaining that she can walk right up and hit him while he's still reloading his crossbow, but it doesn't work out because she faints halfway there.
* To a ludicrous extent in ''[[
** Even worse, in one arc a bunch of archers let loose several volleys of arrows with the express intent of "not killing".
* ''[[
* Played with to hilarious effect in ''[[
** Richard seems to be an arrow magnet. In another page, he takes an entire volley of arrows in the back. Cale manages to pull out all but one, [[Crowning Moment of Funny|which he then uses to shoot Richard up into a guard tower.]]
* Applies in ''[[
** Averted with Haley, who uses her bow to [[Armor Is Useless|one-shot armored Hobgoblins with contemptuous ease.]]
*** Haley is also a high-level rogue with a heavy focus in bow attacks, so this may not be so much an aversion as another example of the above justification; it's based on DND and those Hobgobs probably didn't have all that many hit dice.
* [[
** In this case, [[A Wizard Did It]]. Take a look at the wound, it's more akin to the arrow exploding once it hit. Getting hit with an arrow is bad enough, losing a large part of your torso immediately afterwards just adds to the fun.
* Played straight and subverted in ''[[
* [http://keychain.patternspider.net/archive/koc0367.html *thwak* "Ow."] ''[[Keychain of Creation]]'' is based on ''[[
* ''[[Minus (Webcomic)|Minus]]'', strip [http://www.kiwisbybeat.com/minus23.html #23]. Those people were shot ''through the stomach'' and unharmed. Of course, [[A Wizard Did It|minus did it.]]
== [[Web Original]] ==▼
* Tifa in ''[[
▲== Web Original ==
▲* Tifa in ''[[Dead Fantasy (Web Animation)|Dead Fantasy]] V''. Granted, she comes from a world where [[Guns Are Worthless]] and [[Level Grinding|she has probably hit level 99]], but even so, getting shot by five arrows ''hurts a lot''. Nevertheless, she remained a pincushion for the remainder of the fight. It does seem to actually affect her for a moment, as she slumps against the car she slammed into from the force of getting hit by five arrows and has about a minute long memory sequence. Then she gets up and slams a metal pipe through a man's skull and out the other side. So. Back in full effect again.
** She's also fortunate(!) enough to have just been badly beaten by an opponent who knocked out all of her Materia, which is sort of like removing the adamantium from Wolverine's bones: a trade-off. She can't blast the archers at range anymore, but her ability to take damage just went through the roof. Given how the fight turned out, the arrows had an impressive (if still unrealistic) effect on it.
* Just about anyone shot with an arrow in the ''[[
** Version 4 [[Averted Trope|gets better about this]]; as of this writing, three arrows have been fired, all have hit someone, and the only person not to be killed by one had died the day before.
* More or less [[Truth in Television]], [http://www.cracked.com/article_19171_5-things-that-arent-nearly-as-dangerous-as-hollywood-thinks.html according to] [[Cracked
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
* In ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'' (Disney version), Phoebus is shot in the back with an arrow. Not only does Esmeralda manage to yank it out underwater, not only does the wound somehow move from approximately his shoulderblade to the front of his shoulder, but after barely any convalescence (less than an hour) he's up and kicking again. Worth noting that it's still a subversion in some senses, as the arrow did still down him, as opposed to him just continuing on.▼
▲== Western Animation ==
** In [[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (
▲* In ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'' (Disney version), Phoebus is shot in the back with an arrow. Not only does Esmeralda manage to yank it out underwater, not only does the wound somehow move from approximately his shoulderblade to the front of his shoulder, but after barely any convalescence (less than an hour) he's up and kicking again. Worth noting that it's still a subversion in some senses, as the arrow did still down him, as opposed to him just continuing on.
* Subverted in ''[[
▲** In [[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Literature)|the book]] this happens to Quasimodo: when he's shot in the arm he just pulls the arrow out, snaps it in half, and keeps going.
* In ''[[Mulan]]'', Shang takes an arrow to the shoulder that knocks him off his horse, but he promptly yanks it out, gets up, and keeps going.
▲* Subverted in ''[[Metalocalypse (Animation)|Metalocalypse]]'', in the final episode of Season 2; Ofdensen is shot through the chest with a crossbow, and immediately is almost unconscious-- and then he lies motionless, apparently dead, while the band stands nearby and does nothing to help (either he's dead, or they're just too stupid to know First Aid-- a very real possibility).
**
* ''[[
* A comedic example in ''[[
▲* ''[[Samurai Jack (Animation)|Samurai Jack]]'''s dad takes multiple arrows in the shoulders, legs and below the ribs when fighting Aku. This only enrages daddy, though, and you can guess what happens.
▲* A comedic example in ''[[Yellow Submarine (Animation)|Yellow Submarine]]''. During Ringo's accidental ejection into the Sea of Monsters, [[It Makes Sense in Context|a group of Injuns]] attack and fire at him with arrows. After being brought back to the submarine (with the help of the cavalry, no less!), Ringo merely plucks the arrows out of his chest.
▲{{quote| '''John''': What was it like out there, Ringo?<br />
'''Ringo''': [[A Worldwide Punomenon|(H)Arrowing]] }}
* According Paul Varley, Thomas Conlan said Imagawa Yorikuni survived getting wounded by 19 arrows. The 20th killed him though. And of course if a 20th arrow kills you while you are still have 19 arrows in you, it begs the question of if the first 19 arrows would have killed you on their own if given more time (Paul neglect to say if Imagawa Yorikuni's situation happened all in one battle or if this survival was spread out). Paul also neglected to mention how crippling the first 19 arrows were though. Paul Varley also said that surviving arrows was not uncommon at the time (14th century japan), but attributed this to both the distance the arrow traveled and the armor warriors wore (and implied that in many cases the armor stopped the arrows entirely). However he didn't mention how crippling the injuries were (or weren't), and called Imagawa Yorikuni to be an extreme example.
▲== Real Life and Legend ==
* In some extremely rare and specialized cases, people can take arrows like that and keep fighting, just like in the movies. Adrenaline is an amazing chemical, and just like it can make you Superman for a few seconds if you're sufficiently motivated, it can turn you into Wolverine for a while too. But keep in mind that these types of berserkers usually die of their wounds afterward. The damage is still there, and even increases if you're aggravating the wound by moving around; adrenaline simply prevents your nervous system from being overloaded with pain, which is its way of telling you that aggravating the wound is a BAD idea.
* King Henry V of England received an arrow wound to the face as the Prince of Wales during the Battle of Shrewsbury, which was fought against English and Welsh rebels. The wound was severe enough that most soldiers would have been left to die from it, but being the Prince, he received special treatment with the surgery and recovery lasting days and leaving him disfigured. Then later, at the Battle of Agincourt 12 years later, he pulverized the French with [
** Henry "Hotspur" Percy, a rebel knight and general opposing King Henry IV, likewise took an arrow to the face at the Battle of Shrewsbury. He wasn't so lucky as the Prince of Wales was in that battle.
* As stated on the [[Oda Nobunaga]] page, Oda Nobunaga is believed to once have taken an arrow to the neck without flinching, an act that gained him the nickname of 'Demon King'.
▲* In Homer's ''Iliad'', the famed archer Pandaros complains to Aeneas that even though he managed to hit both Menelaos and Diomedes, neither of these heroes seemed to be bothered much by his arrows. However, this was entirely due to divine intervention and because Odysseus left his bow at home.
▲** Greek mythology has a notable subversion: in Trojan legends, it's mentioned several times that warriors, who were wounded by an arrow, left the battlefield as soon as possible and had the arrow ''cut out'' by a healer, who then treated the wound.
* Mongols wore clothing for the sole purpose of removing arrows with minimal damage. It was "raw" silk; '''supposedly''', most arrows wouldn't penetrate this material, since the finely-woven silk-strands would wind around the arrowhead, covering the barbs of the arrowhead. This would then allow the warrior to remove the arrow by pulling the silk shirt out, arrowhead and all, and it would keep the arrowhead from doing much damage; an arrow does most of its damage when being pulled ''out'' due to the barbs, so the "silk-winding" process kept the barbs from doing this. Silk's a strong enough fiber that the strands would simply unravel, rather than be cut by the sharp arrow. "Raw" silk is uncut after being produced by the silkworm, and so the strands remained long enough to remain full-length intact after penetration. They'd still punch holes in the human flesh underneath, but by pulling on the edges of the cloth, the arrow would come out of the wound.
* If the Bayeux Tapestry is to be believed, King Harold died of being hit in the eye with an arrow during the Battle of Hastings. At least, the guy pictured ''might'' be Harold. Either way, big aversion.
** Interestingly enough, this is the only one portrayed in the tapestry that isn't [[A Worldwide Punomenon|arrow straight]]. This is likely due to the tapestry having been damaged slightly and repaired centuries ago.
* [[Richard the Lion Heart]] died from an infection after getting shot in the shoulder with a crossbow bolt.
* Guan Yu, a general in 2-3rd Century China (who has been deified over the years- just pay attention at your local Chinese restaurant), was once hit by a stray arrow on his arm during a battle, and [[Badass Grandpa|was about 60 when this happened]]. Though the surface wound had healed, the bone would still hurt badly, especially during a rainy day. The doctor told him that the arrow tip had poison on it, and the poison had entered the bone. The remedy would be to open the arm and scrape away the poison. Guan Yu promptly stretched out his arm and bid the doctor to get to work. During the surgery, Guan Yu was eating and drinking with his fellow officers whilst the blood flowed from his arm into a basin below. Throughout the process of treatment, Guan Yu drank wine and conversed and laughed as usual, also qualifying him for [[Four
* Japanese samurai would ride into battle wearing a ''horou'' — a huge, cape-like silk cloth with their standard on it. The ''horou'' would severely lessen the arrows' impact and interrupt their
* Played relatively straight by [[Joan of Arc]]: contemporary accounts describe her being hit variously with an crossbow bolt in the leg, an arrow in the shoulder, and a heavy stone on the head. What ''is'' consistent in each of the accounts is that she simply had the wound cleaned, said a quick prayer and was perfectly well within a ridiculously short amount of time. Particularly, during Joan's battle in Orleans, an English arrow deeply pierced her between the neck and shoulder. By the power of faith alone she ignored the pain, pulled the arrow out with her bare hands, made a silent prayer, climbed back on her horse, and continued to lead her army to victory. Pure [[Badass]]. This might simply be a case of an [[Unreliable Narrator]], but at the time it was seen as evidence that she might really have had divine help.
* Jan Žižka of the Hussite wars fame lost an eye in his youth for unknown reasons, most likely a childhood fight. Later he lost the '''other''' one to an arrow while besieging the castle of Rabi in 1421. He then proceeded to win every battle he entered -- ''while blind''
** He probably figured that if a Bohemian could do it, so could a Czech, since John of Bohemia famously rode into the battle of Crecy, despite being 50 years old and having been blind for over a decade. He died there, presumably when the sheer mass of his testicles unexpectedly turned them into black holes.
* Cassius Scaeva, a Roman centurion, is supposed to have pulled the arrow out mid-battle when it hit him in the eye. In the same fight he was also wounded twice by javelins and by the end had over 100 arrows in his shield.
* Surprisingly, would be averted more in the modern world than in eras where arrows were widely used. Back then, warriors would wear armor that was meant to protect against arrows, since they were so commonly encountered. Comparatively, arrows used against modern Kevlar would be even less deterred by it than bullets, since Kevlar is specifically designed to prevent ballistic damage by spreading out the force of impact over a wider area. Arrows, knives, and other such subsonic ballistic piercing weapons tend to go right between the Kevlar weave. This is why a variety of solid armor inserts is available to augment Kevlar body armor for situations where the wearer has a good chance of getting stabbed.
** This actually may actually be a commonly repeated and yet seeming totally unconfirmed myth. Searches show no scientific tests on the matter, but several amateur tests call this commonly exposed wisdom into serious question. In particular a test by the often cited Box O' Truth against a IIIA soft vest with broadhead hunting arrows from a mere 20 yards failed to produce a penetration that would inflict anything but a starch. The vest in fact deformed and ruined the blades of the arrowhead on impact. Another occasionally cited test was performed in the 90s by a SWAT officer following a call involving a crossbow wielding man, again when fired at heavy soft body armor common hunting type arrows failed to penetrate with the force to cause a wound. Arrows are
▲* More or less [[Truth in Television]], [http://www.cracked.com/article_19171_5-things-that-arent-nearly-as-dangerous-as-hollywood-thinks.html according to] [[Cracked (Website)|Cracked]]. However, the key point to remember is that the article is saying that arrows aren't as dangerous ''compared to bullets'', then contrasting that with Hollywood's treatment of arrows (one-shot, one-kill as long as you're [[The Lord of the Rings (Film)|Legolas]]) with its treatment of bullets (2 or 3 shots can be [[Just a Flesh Wound]] as long as you're [[Die Hard (Film)|John McClane]]).
* During the Crusades, Turkish and Mameluke archers often saw their arrows appear to have no effect on European knights and men-at-arms. This was because they were unused to fighting men in mail armor, which even the most powerful longbows and crossbows have difficulty penetrating, much less the short bows used by the Turks. Frequently, however, arrows would get stuck in the surcoats worn by European knights over their armor, so it would sometimes look to the Turks as though knights could keep fighting even with several arrows sticking out of them.
* The repeating crossbow (an Eastern invention that allowed to string the bow just by moving a lever) was limited to firing much smaller bolts than it's no repeating cousins, and a single arrow itself rarely resulted in death. However, these things were used in mass to [[More Dakka|overwhelm the enemy with a rain of arrows]] and often were tipped with poison.
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[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]]
[[Category:Annoying Arrows]]
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