No Arc in Archery: Difference between revisions
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If the arrow is shown in a close up or slow-motion, it will always travel straight as, well, an arrow. Real arrows don't: they bend back and forth and also spin, the direction determined by the angle of the fletching (the feathers at the end of the arrow, though most are now plastic). This is often also ignored because the trope tends to occur when trying to emphasize [[The Archer]] ideal; wobbles and arcs that make the [[Arrow Cam]] face up at the blank sky don't help that. Contrast that with [[Rain of Arrows]] where this trope will be averted with gusto when fired by a large faceless military unit and where it is now cool to obey the laws of physics. It also gets averted a lot in [[Video Games]] due to the fact that the player is the one firing the arrow and the technique of arcing is used as a skill challenge and to make the player feel personally competent.
Just as other tropes have transferred from the [[The Archer]] to the [[Cold Sniper]], we find this can happen for firearms. For firearms, the sight is calibrated for a specific distance, 200 meters for an assault rifle, for instance. At distances up to this (ammunition-specific) limit, the deviation of the bullets path from the straight scope-line-of-sight is less than about 5
Like firearms, arrows suffer from dispersion, which is to say that the exact same weapon firing the same ammunition with the same aim will land the arrow in a slightly different place. Dispersion is often much greater in archery (especially the preindustrial kind), due to greater variation from shot to shot in the bow, the arrow, the bowstring, and the draw of the bow.
Not to be confused with [[The Straight and Arrow Path]].
{{examples
== All Genres ==
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** Lampshaded beautifully during Kevin Smith's run on the comic; Ollie, after pulling out the last arrow in his quiver, and sees it's the boxing glove arrow: "Oh. You again."
** This is a guy who can put an arrow through a ''submarine hull''. Given that, it's not impossible that a heavier boxing glove arrow would act like a normal arrow anyway.
** Also [[Lampshaded]] in [[Grant Morrison]]'s ''[[Justice League of America|JLA]]'', where Ollie's son, a Zen Archer who uses pointed arrows, grabs his dad's quiver from the League trophy room and reflects that only a genius or madman could have used the [[Trick Arrow
* Reversed in a recent ''Punisher'' comic. Frank Castle is targeted by a Skrull sniper using a laser weapon to shoot at him from over a kilometer away. Although a laser would be capable of moving in a straight line, the artist draws the beams striking at a severe angle. Grade-school geometry demonstrates the angle of the beams is not consistent with the distances described. If drawn accurately, the beams would appear almost parallel to the ground.
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== Film ==
* Almost any shot where [[Arrow Cam|the camera follows the arrow to the target]] will always function this way. Notable examples can be found in ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' (where it is also at other times averted) and ''Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves''.
* ''[[The Lord of the Rings (
** ''The Fellowship of the Ring'': There's a classic example in an [[Arrow Cam]] shot by Legolas in which the arrow travels straight from bow to target, with the arrowhead staying dead on as though attached to a line while the back end wobbles around like a normal arrow. The cast and crew (and IMDB) have acknowledged this. They said that if they were to move the arrow in a realistic fashion, it would have required a lot more re-shoots and effects editing, and could have potentially confused the audience, or caused motion sickness. On the other hand, most of the arrows in the movies otherwise arc; for example, when the Fellowship are firing shots at the orc archers on ledges, their arrows are shown arcing upwards and just starting to fall when they hit the orcs.
** Averted in ''The Two Towers'', when the defenders at Helm's Deep "give them a volley" from behind the wall, arcing their fire over the wall en masse (and one arrow isn't arced enough and hits a defender on the wall square in the back, killing him)
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* The DVD commentary for ''[[Shooter]]'' notes that the film's assassination scene is inaccurate. From the distance the shot was taken, the bullet would be traveling steeply downward through the body. The director found this too gruesome and [[Reality Is Unrealistic|apparently unrealistic]] to depict.
* ''[[King Arthur]]'' (2004) Both averted and played straight, sometimes within seconds of each other in the same scene.
* Jennifer Garner's titular ''[[Elektra (
* ''[[Wanted]]'': Inverted to the other extreme; the Fraternity's assassins are able to make bullets curve in paths far more severely than gravity and windage would cause.
* Nicely averted in the 2010 version of ''[[Robin Hood (2010 film)|Robin Hood]]''. Except at extreme close range, the archers always arc their shots.
== Literature ==
* In ''[[
** Partially. The trick was more that the bow had an incredibly high pull strength that only Odysseus could achieve. Since the finale of the story takes place within the courtyard of his house, between the really short range and the initial speed the arrow is getting launched, there might have been very little arc to be an issue. 'Course... this is a myth and most heroes tend to break all sorts of rules to begin with...
** Some interpretations have it that there was a trick to stringing it that no-one else could figure out, his defining feature being clever thinking (although prone to not thinking things out thoroughly...), not physical strength. This would imply the shot was set up with a trick to it.
** The stringing trick has echoes in real
== Video Games ==
* Early first person shooters with fantasy weapons, such as ''[[Heretic]]'' and ''[[Hexen]]'', avoided gravity effects entirely; the fights took place at such close range that the computations involved were generally not worth the processing time. Besides, you were firing ''magic arrows''.
* The vast majority of gun-using [[First
* ''[[Bloodline Champions]]'' averts this for the Seeker... [[Short
* In ''[[Dark Messiah
* In ''[[Warhammer Online]]'' archers always shoot at around a 30-degree angle, even in close combat(from about
* ''[[
* A somewhat smallish plot point in ''[[Fire Emblem]]: [[Fire Emblem Tellius
** This is a series where archers can ''shoot through walls'' when dealing with enemies inside buildings. The animations typically has them firing straight and level. (Someone on a ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' fan forum explained the shooting through walls as [[Epileptic Trees|being able to create wrinkles in the space time continuum so that the wall seems to vanish long enough for the arrows to go through]].)
** An aversion of this trope with conventional bows in any ''Fire Emblem'' game has occurred exactly once and just as a discussion. [[Fire Emblem:
** Whenever a ballista is animated in a game, its shots actually do arc.
* Averted in ''[[Half Life]] 2'', with the improvised crossbow bolts obeying the laws of gravity, but not so much in the original [[Half Life]].
** But played noticeably straight in the original with the bullsquid's acid spittle, which moves somewhere around 40 MPH and can sometimes be seen traveling hundreds of feet. Oh, and I'm pretty sure the crossbow plays it straight as well.
* Link always fires straight. Interestingly enough, he fires his arrows in an arc in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]].''
** Averted in ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
** Averted again in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
*** Also averted by the slingshot in ''Twilight Princess'', and it arcs much, much faster than the bow does. A skilled player can still make sniper-style shots with the slingshot, even with the arc, before acquiring the bow however (and it's fun!).
** Averted yet again in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
*** SS's Slingshot has a huge arc, making it virtually impossible to hit far-off targets.
* Speaking of ''[[Super Smash Bros.]].'', the series has both cases covered as well, although the straight arrow variety tends to be magical (Pit's arrows, Zelda's Final Smash). The Cracker Launcher item from ''Brawl'' lets you adjust the angle freely. Diddy's Peanut Popgun also functions like Link's arrow in that regard, and items are all thrown at plausible angles.
* Both used straight and averted in ''[[Suikoden]]''. In regular combat, party members with bows fire straight shots. In army battles, however, your archers will fire in volleys. Which makes sense, really, since regular combat is fought at short range, so the arrows don't need to travel farther than a few feet. In war, they're shooting from long range.
* In ''[[Thief]]'', Garret's arrows arc. Most of them. The standard, rope, water and moss arrows follow the laws of physics, while the elemental arrows of Air (sleeping gas) and Fire (rocket launcher stand-in) fly straight and fast. Elemental air would probably be considered to have its own personal updraft...and hot air rises.
* Played straight in ''[[Fable]]'': The Lost Chapters'', where arrows fly on a flat path, then inexplicably plant themselves in the ground once they get out so far.
* In ''[[
* In most ''[[Tales
** [[Tales of the Abyss|Natalia]] also averts this somewhat. Her straight-fired special techniques aren't subject to gravity, but her normal shots are, limiting her normal range.
* Averted to some extent in ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]] V''. Most archer units will normally shoot at a small angle, but when shooting over castle walls, they will aim at a much higher angle.
** Weirdly, this arch also applies to [[Magic Missile
** It's played straight in the first four ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]]'' games, but then, the graphics in those games are so stylized it hardly matters.
** The human (Haven) archers in the fifth game also have a unique ability, not found anywhere else in the series, to spread their arrows for lesser damage over an area. Strangely, this ability is not shared by any other bow-wielding units, such as undead and elven archers.
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* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', ranged weapon users don't have to actually aim, and so don't tend to change their angle of shot, but many of the siege weapons introduced in ''Wrath of the Lich King'' have projectiles that follow very distinct arcs.
** There are also several boss abilities that arc, but this is more of a visual effect.
* ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'' archers always shoot straight and level. Then again, they only shoot at [[Short
* In ''[[
* ''[[
** The syringe gun and all of Demoman's bombs also arcs, while rockets too travel in a straight line.
* In ''[[Vantage Master]]'', the Blexe fires straight shots, although it uses a powerful crossbow and has fairly short range, whereas the bow-using Amoltamiss has no excuses. It's also averted with Ae-Ferrion, which fires (from a bow) a heavy arrow with a mace-like head; the shot arcs. This is actually an advantage, since it can be used to hit a target when a direct path would be blocked by other units. Additionally, standing in an elevated position extends the range.
** Amoltamiss actually has a 'medium' arc, which has a very very slight impact on play. It's likely that they didn't give her Ae-Ferrion's 'high' arc for balance
* From ''[[
* Strongly averted in Bungie's ''[[
* Stylishly averted in ''[[Dragon Age]]'s'' 'Urn of Sacred Ashes' trailer. When the resident archer chick takes a shot at a enemy spell caster, she aims straight while reciting a religious scripture, but then raises the angle of the bow before releasing it, causing the arrow to arc right into the thing's skull.
** Also averted during the Battle of Ostagar cutscene in ''[[Dragon Age Origins|DA:O]]'' proper: the Fereldan archers open with an arcing volley. [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|The trope is played straight during gameplay]], with the exception of the "Rain of Arrows" archery talent.
* Averted in ''[[Battlefield (
* Both used and averted in ''[[Call of Duty]]'' games, including ''[[Modern Warfare]]'' titles. While bullet drop is a non-issue, [[Memetic Mutation|Granada]] will always arc, even when fired from launchers. The [[Arrow Cam]] reflects this.
** In the sniper mission in ''[[Modern Warfare]]'', where you have to compensate for bullet drop, wind, and [
* Averting this is a key part of strategy in the ''[[Ogre Battle|Tactics Ogre]]'' games. Arrows fired on lower parts of the map have less range and chance of hitting specifically because they arc down. Animation-wise, the arc also lets you shoot over characters and hit an enemy.
** This is true of its spiritual successor ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'', as well. The Gameboy Advance and DS installments still have the arrows fired at an arc, but the range on a bow is permanently fixed, regardless of height.
* Averted in the ''[[Mount
** Played straight, however, when your character's archery skill is high enough - the arrows fly in almost a straight line. This could be partially justified by the character being able to handle a bow with a heavier draw weight, but the difference is really too dramatic for that.
* Averted with the Bow in the ''[[Turok (
* Both averted and played oddly straight in ''[[Dominions]]'': arrows fly at an angle (which increases the further the target is), however because of the rudimentary graphics engine the arrow ''itself'' remains perfectly horizontal throughout the arc.
* Averted in ''[[STALKER]]''. All the game's firearms demonstrate realistic bullet drop, which must be corrected for if the player wants to hit anything at longer ranges. This is most noticable in the 9x39mm weapons, such as the VSS Vintorez and the AS Val.
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* Somewhat averted in ''[[Guild Wars]]''. Although the game auto-targets so it doesn't affect your aim, different types of bows have different arrow flight arcs, and each provides certain advantages and disadvantages depending on the situation. Additionally bows will be more effective firing downward from above or downhill (with gravity) than upward from below or uphill (against gravity.)
* Averted in ''[[Wii Sports Resort]]'', where the physics of the arrows take gravity into account in addition to the wind.
* ''[[
** Unlike most videogame arrows, however, in ''Skyrim'' the arrow will actually arc up slightly in relation to the crosshair, so trying for a traditional headshot will just make the arrow fly over an opponent's head unless they're pretty far away. It is also possible to hit stationary targets with arrows fired into the sky, but very difficult.
* ''[[Chrome Hounds]]'': Every single projectile obeys the laws of gravity. From the most basic machine gun bullets to long range sniper cannons. However if you are using kinetic rounds(as opposed to chemical rounds), the damage decreases dramatically beyond their effective range, as does the rate of drop. It is, however, possible to destroy enemy HOUND's from halfway across the map with a ''shotgun''!
* ''[[Angry Birds]]'' is built entirely around the aversion of this trope.
* Arrows and crossbow bolts do this in ''[[
== Webcomics ==
* ''[[
* ''[[Order of the Stick]]'' uses this most of the time.
== Real Life ==
* [[Older Than Feudalism]]: [[
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