Annoying Arrows: Difference between revisions

* 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 [[Farsala Trilogy]], Commander Merahb is shot by four arrows, falls down, and attempts to get up again without missing a beat. Then, at least, he's caught in another volley of arrows and killed.

* 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 ''[[The Iliad]]''. After Paris has wounded him with an arrow to the foot, Diomedes angrily dismisses the bow as a weapon for "a woman or an idiot boy," claiming the spear is both deadlier and better suited to a warrior. The truth is, however, that the wound puts Diomedes out of action until the end of the fighting in Book 22. Played straighter earlier on where both Diomedes and Menelaus shrug off arrow wounds to continue fighting, though it's worth noting that the archer Teukros has one of the highest kill counts of the Greek warriors with 30.