Aloof Archer

"See him riding 'cross the plain
See how everybody fears his name
He's working for the good in
The mountains and the wood
Protector of the lame
Straight arrow is his name"

— Spirit, "Straight Arrow"

Archers are skilled bowmen. They are often very stoic or often very cold to others, frequently having a I Work Alone mindset. Due to the nature of their weapon, archers are typically stealthy and graceful and tend to fight at a distance. As a result, they're often portrayed as vulnerable to close-quarters combat unless they switch to a different weapon.

Archers are most likely to be found in a wild, untamed setting and can share traits with the Cold Sniper, most notably an analytical and calculating nature. This archetype tends to be depicted as having a more slender build despite the great upper-body strength required to draw a powerful bow without mechanical assistance.^note Far more, in fact, than that required to use a sword, with few historical swords, even two-handers, weighing more than a few pounds, whereas a credible war bow would have at least 70lb draw weight, with the most prolific surviving medieval longbows having more like 140lb. These characters are likely to also be a Nature Hero, a Forest Ranger, a Badass Native, and/or an Elf. This also has the benefit of keeping the delicate female safely out of the bone-crunching melee.

This trope is distinct from Master Archer, which describes a character who is an extremely skilled archer; an Aloof Archer may be no more than competent — it's the independence and association with wilderness that define the trope. For bows used in modern or sci-fi settings, see The Straight and Arrow Path. For added irony, check out No "Arc" in "Archery". See also Annoying Arrows. May evoke comparisons to Robin Hood (Though if he robs the rich to give to the poor, that's a different trope).

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Bleach: The Quincies are modelled on the Teutonic Knights but favour archery over anything else. Ichigo's foil Uryuu is a tall, thin, aloof Quincy with a highly analytical fighting style, as is his father, who is the foil of Ichigo's father. The Vandenreich has adapted the Teutonic Knight themes to Nazi themes, militarised, and now use any suitable weapon, but they still retain their archer natures; all their weapons can fire arrows, even if they're swords. Hollow Taint is a soul-poison to Quincies; ranged attacks are therefore a life-saving necessity for them.
• Yue from Cardcaptor Sakura shoots arrows made out of pure energy, and has a very cold personality, at least initially. His alter-ego Yukito is also accomplished in archery but has none of the associated cold or callous personality.
• Gamaran has the Nakaizumi Ryuu (Hidden Spring School) which is composed of skilled archers. Their leader Arata went close to kill the titular character with his arrows. Another bow-wielding character is Ippi Shibano of the Muhou Ryu. While Arata represents the "good" traits related to archers (he's calm, really dedicated to his style, cool-headed, and, unlike many archers, really muscular), Shibano is the "evil archer", a cowardly and cunning sniper who relies on surprise attacks and poisoned arrows.
• Kikyou from Inuyasha is a good example. She travels alone and is a little cold. As an archer, she is portrayed as a perfect shot and can deal devastating damage with her sacred arrow, an arrow surrounded with spiritual power that is basically a nuke. She is a little on the slow side, however, and is much more powerful long-ranged than close-ranged.
• Mizuki Kamurougi of Kagerou-Nostalgia is an icy, aloof Cold Sniper and crack shot with the Bow of Kamui who considers empathy to be a distraction, and relies on stealth to win fights.
• Kaguya from Kaguya-sama: Love Is War is the star member of the school's archery club and is definitely cold and calculating (initially, anyways). That said, she subverts the "weak at close range" stereotype, as the muscle she built up from constantly using a bow led to her victory during the Student Council's arm wrestling tournament (along with having a black belt in both aikido and judo).
• Fuu Hououji of Magic Knight Rayearth. She's The Spock of the trio, analytical and calmer than Hikaru and Umi (who are more likely to jump into things or get pissed off). She's also in the archery club at school and borrows a bow and arrow from Presea. The "archer" part goes away after the Spring of Eterna when they all get swords, but she retains the weapon in the Sega Saturn game.
• The serious Ojou Erika from Pokémon Adventures is an archer.
• The long-running Pretty Cure franchise is in no shortage of calculating archers:
  • Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GO!GO! has Cure Aqua with her new finishing move Sapphire Arrow, summoning a water bow and a water arrow. Cure Aqua is also stated to be the Cure of Intelligence and she's usually being both The Lancer AND The Smart Guy in the group, keeping her calm most of the time.
  • Cure Beauty from Smile PreCure! has the ice variant of this, which is also her strongest attack, called Beauty Blizzard Arrow. In civil, she practices Aikido and hits the bullseye most of the time. And like her predecessor, she's calm and analytical, considered as the 'brain' of the group.
  • Cure Selene from Star★Twinkle Pretty Cure also fits the bill. She's the most calm, collected, and intelligent of her team. She's also a skilled archer, both as a civilian and a Cure, being a champion in several Aikido tournaments in the former's case. This comes complete with a badass eye-shading whenever she decides to get serious in a fight.
• Prince Ashitaka, the protagonist of Princess Mononoke is a skilled swordsman and hand-to-hand fighter but his REALLY badass feats are performed with his bow. He's a calculating fighter but subverts the trope thanks to his messianic hero complex.
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica plays this to both ends of the spectrum. Madoka wields a bow and takes a long time to gain the courage to actually become a puella magi. But she was more heroic, and still used a bow, in the first timeline, before Homura started messing with things. Her bow is eventually passed on to Homura, who has more of a Cold Sniper personality.
• Rowen Of Strata (Tenkuu No Touma) is the archer of the Ronin Warriors/Yoroiden Samurai Troopers core team and is calm and focused in battle.
• Rei/Sailor Mars of Sailor Moon gains a bow and arrow made of flames in the fourth season. She's a calm, mystical miko, rather than the typical temperamental fire warrior (in the manga at least, the anime makes her more Hot-Blooded), although she occasionally made bids for the leadership (losing out to The Fool, at that).

Comic Books

• G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (Marvel): Storm Shadow is considered the greatest archer, even using it back when he was a GI in the Vietnam War. This is the one martial art where even Snake-Eyes could not equal or surpass him. Like most ninja in that series, he is enigmatic, aloof, self-assured, and rather irreverent at times. Zartan is the second-best archer, though he used various sonic detection devices to hit distant targets blindly.
• Green Arrow: The second Green Arrow (Connor Hawke) and the second Speedy (Mia Dearden) in The DCU are both calm and level-headed (Their predecessors, Oliver Queen and Roy Harper being more charming rogues).
• Hawkeye:
  • Clint Barton (The first Hawkeye) fits the analytical and not-following-orders-well parts of this trope but actually averts the calm levelheadedness by being a constant joker and often the team Heart for the Avengers.
  • Kate Bishop (the second Hawkeye) is calm and level-headed.
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1992): Roam's arrogant, a loner, and he's a crack shot with a crossbow.
• Marvel: The Lost Generation: Oxbow, of the First Line, is a fairly huge subversion of the norm; he's tall, super strong, easily angered, and not much of a braggart.
• Robyn Hood: The rebellious Robyn Hood has trouble following orders, and even trouble asking for help. As a result, she tends to operate as a lone wolf character. She is also a skilled archer.
• Wonder Woman: Artemis comes off as cold and aloof, especially in her introductory chapters before she'd befriended Diana, and is a very independent character who will rebel against authority she hasn't chosen herself. She primarily wields a bow and arrow, but, unlike the usual archetype fighting her up close is more of a disadvantage for whoever is dumb enough to try, she's an expert warrior among expert warriors and that giant axe she lugs around isn't just for show.

Fan Works

• A Boy, a Girl and a Dog: The Leithian Script: Beren has been practicing archery since he was a toddler and stealth guerrilla warfare since he was a teenager. Skulking around the woods, shooting Morgoth's minions from afar, and disappearing amongst the thicket was his routine for ten years. And he is not humble about his marksmanship.
• Land Before Time Retold: Aylene is an excellent archer, and frequently uses a bow and arrow to fend off predators. Her brother Derek is also quite a skilled archer, as is her boyfriend Ken, though he uses a crossbow instead of a longbow.
• Minor character Nyvan, the bowman who (unknowingly) tries to kill George (George is a peregrine falcon at the time) and later tries to ambush John and Ringo while they're hiding near the jump gate in Boidan Valley. Although he never gets any dialogue of his own, he's quite the talkative ignoramus when he's not actually stalking anything, according to George, Theecat, and Chana (his cousin).

Film — Live-Action

• Nam-Yi from Arrow: The Ultimate Weapon, while something of a goofy slacker in peacetime, becomes a calculating, precise sniper once the Manchu soldiers invade. He can actually bend the trajectory of his shots. He's also a good shot with a throwing knife.
• Assassin's Creed (2016): Aguilar uses a bow and arrow during his and Maria's escape from the Templars. Callum naturally acquires Aguilar's bow skills through the Bleeding Effect and makes full use of them during the breakout after acquiring Connor's bow. Both of them are suitably coolheaded and focused as per the trope.
• Hawk the Slayer: Crow, in keeping with the elf stereotype, is a deadly archer who's small, slim, graceful, and has no discernible close-combat skills. Subverted though with Ranulf, a craggy middle aged human who wields his automatic crossbow with great accuracy (one-handed to boot). Neither one of them ever misses a shot.
• The Hunger Games: Katniss Everdeen relies on her bow to hunt, survive, and lead. She has strong and independent survivalist instincts due to her difficult past and is good at thinking outside the box. She is not socially adept and has a hard time making friends due to the emotional strain on her life which has made her hard and cold. She is usually very logical.
• Legolas in The Lord of the Rings has an incredible rate of fire with his arrows, and even uses them point-blank (though the Extended Editions also showed him with long knives). This is even an exaggeration of his skill in his depiction in the books. Like all elves in the films, he's elegant, graceful, and a bit snooty.
• In Musa (a.k.a. The Warrior), Jin-lip, the veteran sergeant of the envoy, uses a bow to deadly effect. Jin-lip is the most competent member of the envoy and its de facto leader. He subverts an archer's typical behavior in one scene where he inspires his unit to attack by being the first one to charge toward the enemy, losing arrows all the way.
• Gwyn in Princess of Thieves. Scarcely surprising given she is the daughter of Robin Hood. Independent, stealthy, graceful, a Nature Hero, and incredibly skilled with a bow and arrow.

Literature

• Bunduki: Dawn Drummond-Clayton in these novels by J.T. Edson. Bunduki himself is also an expert with the bow but is more likely to get into melee combat than Dawn, and Dawn is definitely the more analytical of the two.
• The Chronicles of Narnia:
  • Susan Pevensie is a graceful, elegant, ladylike kind of archer. Her bow was a gift from Father Christmas, and she became famously skilled as Queen. One of the ways the Pevensies prove their identities to Trumpkin in Prince Caspian is by Susan beating him in a target-shooting contest. However, though quite effective in battle, Susan hates to fight.
  • In contrast, Lucy only trained in archery after growing into Queen Lucy the Valiant but is a "tomboy" who fights alongside the men. For example, she joins the climactic battle in The Horse and His Boy, where Corin explains to Shasta that as a Queen she can do whatever she wants, whether or not she's female.
• The Dragon Knight: Dafydd. The draw strength on his bow is between 150-200lbs. The arrows can puncture the armor of the era, 1350s. He can also kill a target up to half an English mile ways, along with four others, keeping them from raising the alarm. He is also good in a melee if need be. Then there's his wife, Danielle, who is a decent archer in her own right, along with the outlaws in the band that her father, Giles o'the Wold, is the leader of.
• The Hunger Games: Katniss Everdeen is definitely this. She's a masterful archer who relies on her bow to hunt, survive, and lead. Katniss has strong and independent survivalist instincts due to her difficult past and is good at thinking outside the box. She is not socially adept and has a hard time making friends due to the emotional strain on her life which has made her hard and cold. She is usually very logical.
• Indigo: Princess Anghara, aka Indigo, specializes in the crossbow and conforms to the arrogance (in her past as a princess), slender build, and isolation (her only true companion is her wolf and she is set apart from others by being cursed with immortality until she defeats all the demons she released).
• The Legend of Drizzt: Catti-brie was for a long time the group's specialist archer. She actually wasn't as skilled an archer as Drizzt was, but she had one helluva magic bow. She conforms to the archer stereotypes by being the group's moral center of sorts.
• The Marvellous Land of Snergs: Gorbo's main weapon is his bow. Although he is short and stout, he is brawny enough to wield it properly. And his sharp-shooting skills are something he is definitely confident about.
• Mahabharata: Arjuna is known for his incredible prowess at archery. Of the five Pandavas, he's most likely to go fight on his own and has a number of solo adventures within the text.
• The Tale Of Hogen: This Japanese historical epic, credits an otherwise obscure samurai named Minamoto no Tametomo with superhuman feats of archery made possible by his enormous stature and abnormally long bow arm.
• Tolkien's Legendarium: Middle-earth doesn't have many archetypal archers. The only character who fits the Archer Archetype is Beleg Strongbow (The Silmarillion, The Children of Húrin). He's a famous Grey Elven archer and border-ranger captain, and quite capable of taking care of himself alone in the wilderness. His training in woodcraft is excellent, and he demonstrates his stealth several times, such as sneaking up on the outlaw band and tracking them through the wild. Later he sneaks into the orc camp and rescues Túrin without alerting the orcs, after silently sniping the wolf guards one by one in the dark.
• Tortall Universe:
  • Daine from The Immortals downplays it. Though normally The Heart and Friend to All Living Things, in battle she can be cool and collected. She also can hit a moving target in the dark. Justified as, like her Wild Magic, she gets this from her divine father.
  • In the first book of the Trickster's Duet, Sarai is headstrong and careless and uses a sword, while Dove is quiet and clever and uses a bow and arrow. Dove is the one to kill Bronau at the end of Trickster's Choice, and is much better suited to be the titular Queen.
• Wander: Wander is stoic and standoffish and prefers to use a crossbow, whereas themuch friendlier and more personable Dagger's weapon of choice is a hunting bow. However, they both use guns when in active combat situations where stealth isn't necessary.
• Washio Sumi Is a Hero: Washio is a patriotic Ojou who likes being traditionally Japanese. She's also an Aloof Dark-Haired Girl. Her weapon as a Magical Girl is a bow.
• The Wheel of Time: Birgitte Silverbow. A literally legendary shot that is bound to the Wheel and the Horn of Valere until she ends up being "spun out" into real time by an angry Forsaken for saving Nynaeve. She has the cold analytical traits described here in spades, to such a high degree that others linked to her mind can sense her supreme focus in tense situations, and compare it to "a drawn bow aimed at the target."
• Wind and Sparks: Ness "Grey". Stealth Expert and borderline Cold Sniper. Joined the army, fought against genocidal elves, first as a regular archer, then assassinating leaders far from the battle zone. Grew increasingly jaded, ended up murdering an officer for selling supplies to enemies then saying he did it for money. After he avoided being hanged (long story) and a truce was signed, he went MIA. Later became a hitman and teamed up with an outlaw sorceress, the only love of his life. By the start of the first novel, they've spent seven years on the run after a particularly resonant murder. Through the cycle, he participates in killing 5 Dark Overlords out of 6^note by shooting them, stabbing, distracting, or just escorting the people who end up doing the job. Though some survive. Unlike many examples, Ness stays dangerous in melee and even unarmed. Another thing of note is the realism with which archery is depicted: bowstrings don't like water, bows shouldn't stay strung too long, bows require significant strength, elevation and wind are always accounted for, arrows are in short supply and heavy...
• The Winter Crown: While accompanying King Henry II on a campaign into Wales - a land famed for its deep forests and skilled archers - William de Boulogne describes the Welsh to Henry’s half-brother Hamelin.
  William de Boulogne: "They do not have great cities; they live on their herds, on milk and meat. They will not stand and fight because they do not have the weight and power we do. Instead, they are wraiths with arrows. They are knives in the dark."

Live-Action TV

• Arrow: The show's protagonist Oliver Queen is skilled with the bow, and is cold and ruthless in his vigilante guise 'the Hood'. He starts to play that part down as he tries to become less a vigilante and more an actual hero as the show progresses. While his preferred means is taking out enemies with arrows, if things get too close, his bow can also double as a melee weapon. As the show goes on, more and more archers appear, largely due to Oliver's influence or as counters to him, including Speedy (his sister), Arsenal, the Dark Archer, Talia al Ghul, Prometheus, and Dark Arrow (Oliver's Evil Doppelgänger and Führer of Earth-X).
• Recycled In Space with Action Girl Dayna Mellanby of Blake's 7. Female, graceful, and rather cocky in comparison to the world-weary Anti Heroes she teams up with, Dayna is even shown using a bow and arrow in her introductory episode, because she enjoys the challenge of mastering the Good Old Ways.
• Game of Thrones:
  • Ramsay Snow is shown to be this in "Walk of Punishment", when he quickly shoots all of the guards about to rape Theon, and is a composed and cold individual. His hunting partner Myranda is also shown to be very competent with a bow in "The Lion and the Rose", and it later appears to be her weapon of choice. In "Battle of the Bastards", the only weapon Ramsay uses is his bow.
  • Theon demonstrates his archery skills several times, including putting an arrow through the chest of an outlaw and later shooting down the messenger ravens at the Twins. This ultimately comes to a head in "The Long Night", where Theon manages to keep Bran safe with his bow, mowing down scores of attacking wights, all largely without breaking a sweat. It's safe to say it's the only thing he doesn't screw up in the show.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Arondir is a very talented bowman, with exceptional aiming skills, and is one of the most composed and stoic Elves in the series.

Myths & Religion

• Chinese Mythology: Houyi was essentially a combo of Hercules and Robin Hood on steroids. He was able to take out nine Suns with arrows. And would have taken out the tenth and final Sun if it weren't for the Emperor reminding him that we still need at least one sun to survive.
• Classical Mythology:
  • Artemis is perhaps the most iconic example. As goddess of the hunt, she’s often portrayed with a bow and arrows, and shuns civilization in favor of the wilderness. Although not technically a loner, as she’s frequently accompanied by her posse of nymphs, she’s sworn to chastity and can be surprisingly vengeful against any violations of her domain (especially by men).
  • Orion, a fellow hunter and possibly the only man Artemis loved. According to the most popular version, he either hunted with her and came close to winning her heart, but earned the enmity of Gaea when he threatened to hunt every beast on Earth and was killed by a giant scorpion sent by the Earth Goddess. Upon Artemis' request, Zeus placed Orion in the heavens as a constellation, who also bestowed the same honor upon the scorpion (as a memorial to the hero's death), where it was known as Scorpio from then on. The constellation Orion immediately dims when Scorpio shows itself — he's fleeing from the creature.
  • Teucer was reputed to be the finest Achaean archer in the army besieging Troy. He loosed shaft after shaft whilst hiding behind his brother Ajax's shield. The gods themselves had to intervene in order to nerf Teucer's effectiveness, with Apollo sending some of his arrows off course and Zeus breaking his bow.
  • Odysseus wasn't as skilled an archer as Teucer and left his bow and arrow home, but when it came to use it he showed extreme skill... And that his bow, being a recurve bow, needs strength and knowledge to be strung. His son Telemachus is evolving in the same direction, and notably is implied he figured out the trick to his father's bow simply by watching people failing at stringing it and then trying it twice.
  • Herakles was better known for his immense strength, but was also smart, cunning, and an extremely skilled archer, who upon presented with the poisonous blood of the Hydra wasted no time to dip his arrows into it to have a decisive weapon just in case he had to face an enemy that was somehow too much even for him - and ended up in three different situations where his poisonous arrows were necessary.^note The first time was when he was attacked by a horde of drunken Centaurs that could have overwhelmed him had it not been for the arrows' poison. The second time was against the man-eating bronze-feathered Stymphalian Birds, who would have overwhelmed him had the arrows not been poisonous. The third and final time was during the Gigantomachy, where he had to face gods but the sheer pain of his arrows was enough to bring them down and allow the Olympians to finish his victims at their leasure
• Robin Hood is of course legendarily good with a bow, and an important Trope Codifier for his Improbable Aiming Skills. He makes archery cool. Notably, the feat of Splitting the Arrow is associated with him (though a bit Newer Than They Think) to the point that it's known among real archers as "Robin Hooding".
• William Tell is a folk hero known as a crossbow fighter in the Swiss La Résistance. The story goes that he was forced to shoot an apple off his son's head as a Cool and Unusual Punishment for refusing to bow to Albrecht Gessler's hat. He succeeds on the first try, then reveals that he had a second crossbow bolt ready to shoot Gessler if he had hit his son. The feat itself is now known (do you see a pattern emerging here?) as William Telling.

Podcasts

• Jemjammer has Aelfgifu the ranger, who is more closed off than the other women in the party on account of being raised with minimal human contact. Like most rangers, she primarily uses a bow and arrows.

Tabletop Games

• Earthdawn naturally has a discipline for this, embodying the mentality and many of the tropes described at the top of the page. The essay on Archer discipline was in-universe written by a textbook example of such archetype - to such an extent that the crossbow-wielding archers said to be more down-to-earth complained in the margins to Stop Being Stereotypical!
• Legend of the Five Rings has the Tsuruchi family of the Mantis Clan. Formerly the Wasp Minor Clan, they were drawn into the alliance of Minor Clans by Yoritomo during the Clan War that was eventually formed into the Mantis, when the leader of the clan snapped his katana in half in fealty. Since then, the Tsuruchi have focused on mastery of the bow over all other martial pursuits, though most of them still retain the katana and wakizashi that are symbols of the samurai caste. They most often work as bounty hunters, either alone or in small groups.
• Pathfinder: The empyreal lord Cernunnos is a proud, bow-wielding hunter who spends most of his time wandering in the wilderness, hunting down evil beings, and prefers to fight his enemies using stealth and range after having drawn them into terrain of his choosing.

Video Games

• With the addition of the Bocek, a player could become this in Apex Legends. The Bocek is a modernized Bow, capable of enhanced accuracy and a triple shot via a Hop-Up. However it is slow to fully draw, and the arrows rarely hit a moving target (and don't do much damage either) making it Difficult, but Awesome to use.
• Baldur's Gate gives us Kivan, an elven ranger. He's so stoic and badass that Rob Paulsen, his VA, even does a Dirty Harry impression when delivering Kivan's lines.
• Ashe's predecessor in Defense of the Ancients, Traxex the Drow Ranger, also counts. As a marksman, she's about pelting the enemies with her frozen arrow and keeping them away for maximum result (thanks to her Ultimate, Marksmanship, which grants her bonus agility to increase damage, just as long as there's no enemy heroes around her). In Dota 2, Traxex displays a cold but precise personality befitting her archer nature (unlike some like her Foil, Lyralei/Windranger).
• Dragon Age:
  • Nathaniel in the Awakening expansion - he's one of the more stoic party members, has a very dry sense of humour, most of his companion gifts are practical items and he supports some of the more pragmatic story decisions.
  • Dragon Age II has Varric (although he uses a custom crossbow named Bianca) and Sebastian, both calm and level-headed archers who subvert the trope slightly in that Varric is a smooth-talking urbanite and Sebastian possesses a stubborn vengeful streak.
  • Dragon Age: Inquisition has Varric returning from II, but also gives us Sera, who is both female and an elf, but beyond that is a brash, rough-speaking, boorish, uncouth prankster who belongs to the Friends of Red Jenny, a loosely-defined group from previous games that Inquisition rejiggers into Fantasy.
• In The Elder Scrolls series, the Bosmer (Wood Elves) have this a racial hat, along with traits of Forest Rangers. They are hailed as the best archers in all of Tamriel, with some sources stating that they are the inventors of the bow. So great is their analytical prowess using a bow that, according to one in-game book, they can make nearly impossible shots by giving very specific instructions to another archer who then makes the shot (and would not have been able to otherwise). By the age of 14, all Bosmer children are expected to be proficient enough with a bow to join hunting parties. Their very best archers are known as "Jaqspurs," able to snatch an arrow, draw their bow, and fire in one continuous motion. They are also known to make composite horn bows which are said to be some of the best in Tamriel. Both the Aldmeri Dominion and the Septim Empire have employed the Bosmer as specialist archer troops. Guides for the games recommend the Bosmer as the ideal race for those seeking to play as archer characters. However, the tendency of the Bosmer to be free-spirited and independent, much like the archetype, also means that they don't do well with formal martial arts training. Their preference is to learn through instinct and experience, making many Bosmer self-taught. Altmer fencing instructors generally refuse to try to teach Bosmer their methods because Bosmer don't have the mindset to use the complex and rote techniques of High Elf swordsmanship.
• In Fantasy Strike's backstory, Midori attempted to Invoke this trope while training Jaina Stormborne by teaching her archery to counteract her hotheaded and impulsive personality. She's still an Arrogant Kung-Fu Girl, so it doesn't seem to have worked too well.
• The Fire Emblem series features bow-users as a staple class, but eventually the player will usually get a mid-game bowman who's not only a Master Archer, they also have a cool and clear head to bolster their sharp shooting:
  • Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light: Jeorge is the one who started it all. As a mid-game archer, he also contrasts with the earlier archer you got, Gordin, by being more mature, cool-headed and starts out with more bow aptitude. Come the sequel, turns out he inherits the sacred bow Parthia which further enhances his archery and still keeping his cool. Hence, most of the mid-game super archer/snipers listed below take cue from Jeorge.
  • Sacred Stones: Prince Innes is a noted strategist who operates an intelligence network and hits all of the Jerk tropes—"aloof" is the nicest you'll get out of him, unless you're Vanessa or Syrene. One optional dialogue has Eirika telling him off for not staying in the back like he's supposed to.
  • Shinon of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, the sniper of Greil's Mercenaries, is not only good at archery but at pretty much anything he tries, and he's all too aware of it, causing a lot of friction with the rest of the company. After a disagreement with Ike following Greil's death, he abandons the group and has to be defeated in order to be convinced of rejoining.
  • Prince Takumi of Hoshido from Fire Emblem Fates is also very skilled at strategy and noted to be quite smart outside of it as well. He also takes the longest out of the royals to warm up to the player character (should they not outright betray him and his family that is..) and is quite distrustful and cynical in general. He can be very sweet to the few people who have earned his trust though, and secretly wishes he could be more sociable.
  • Fire Emblem: Three Houses: Shamir starts out as a Sniper, the promoted form of the Archer class. Although she's nominally a Knight of Seiros, as a former mercenary she treats her position in the organization as just another job and doesn't let her personal feelings get in the way.
• In Pursuit of Greed have five different bounty hunters players could choose from, Xith the Zollessian bowman being one of them. He favors using bows and arrows, despite the rest of his team using lasers and grenades, and can kick as much ass as his fellow hunters.
• Achaka from Kings Quest (2015) is as straight an example as they come. He's confident, agile, a bit of a loner (at first), and a master at landing impossible shots with his powerful longbow. Graham provides a Aversion, as he violates most common archer characterisations - he's not graceful or haughty, he's clumsy, insecure, and a bit of a goofy dork, though Achaka takes him under his wing and he becomes a very good archer by the end of the first chapter.
• League of Legends:
  • Ashe is deadly with her bow and has a serene and calm disposition. She can even launch a huge-ass arrow that travels all the way to the edge of the arena and her play style, as a Marksman, is more about staying behind the lines and pelting her enemies with frozen arrows.
  • Varus is a very straight example. Before becoming cursed Varus was a stoic and disciplined warrior and considered his kingdom's greatest archer. Post-curse he retains his aloof personality and gains a demonic energy bow.

• The Legend of Spyro: Hunter is a serious, noble, and no-nonsense individual, who travels through the wilderness seeking to oppose the forces of evil.
• While neither are shown actually using bows and arrows onscreen, Revali and Teba still fit the attributes of this in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. They're both slender Rito men who are skilled in archery, prefer to work alone (Revali because of his narcissism, Teba because he's simply stubborn), and are initially disdainful of Link.
• Mortal Kombat:
  • Mortal Kombat 3: Nightwolf is the shaman of his people and is one of the more spiritual members of the heroes, who happens to be an archer. He is also one of the more aloof ones and more likely to act independently.
  • Mortal Kombat X: Kung Jin is an archer and the crudest of Cassie's team. He is also the quickest to resort to fighting in situations that require more tact.
• Onmyōji has Hakurō, a skilled archer with a composed and dignified personality.
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker: The party member Ekundayo is a Forest Ranger with a high Dexterity score and a number of feats invested toward using longbows when you recruit him. He's also quiet, cold, and prefers to work alone.
• The Archer class from Pirates Vikings and Knights uses both a longbow and a crossbow, is weak up close, but an absolute Knightmare to fight at a distance. He is also an arrogant, hoity-toity show-off, who quickly turns into a whimpering coward when things take a turn for the worse.
• There are a lot of ranged characters in Suikoden III but Roland and Jacques fit the trope to a tee. Both start with a rune that allows for a powerful ranged attack and both are deadly marksmen who keep themselves to themselves and say very little.
• Lamia Loveless in Super Robot Wars Advance is a calm, analytical, calculating android excelling in robot piloting, and her stats usually gear more on the ranged stat. Therefore, her main mecha, Angelg, also comes equipped with a bow, and the majority of its ultimate attacks are from its bow (Illusion Arrow & Phantom Phoenix). Though occasionally subverted in that due to a bug developed in her latter stages, she could end up very hyperactive and loud unlike most of the archetypes here, but usually reverts back to her usual calm, analytical, calculating type.
• Thief:
  • The master thief protagonist Garrett specialises in using his bow and arrows as both a tool and weapon. Mechanical or magical arrows with specialised abilities are a standard part of his arsenal. Depending on a player's shooting skill, they can be used to manipulate the surrounding environment in favour of better sneaking conditions (e.g. water arrows put out sources of light based on open fires, moss arrows cushion loud tiled floors, etc.). Though Garrett also carries ordinary arrows for self-defence or potential sniping and has a sword or a dagger for a sidearm, he's much more skilled at being sneaky than fighting others. Hence the games deemphasize melee combat and ranged combat and encourage sneaking and clever gadget usage (including trick arrow shooting with the bow). In the original trilogy, the bow is an ordinary but powerful wooden short bow, with an attached sight forged from steel. In the 2014 reboot, the reboot's version of Garrett uses more of a modern compound bow, albeit with 19th-century stylings.
• Lara Croft in the reboot of Tomb Raider primarily uses a bow, as opposed to her predecessor who preferred Guns Akimbo. As she was before the reboot, she is a lone wolf who doesn't let emotions get in the way.
• Trine's resident thief, Zoya, is equipped with a bow that when properly upgraded, is Game-Breaker in combat. She initially plays the personality part straight, being a lonesome, stealthy thief, but becomes more talkative as the game goes on, especially when the main party visits the forest.

Visual Novels

• In Fate/stay night and its spinoffs, Servants summoned under the Archer class have strong ranged weapons and the "Independent Action" ability, making them somewhat difficult to control but allowing them to survive for long periods without Mana. However, neither of the most iconic Archers in the series are remotely typical members of their class. The Archer of the Fifth Holy Grail War (aka EMIYA) is a Dual Wielding Master Swordsman who approaches problems in a very detached and analytical fashion, and uses a bow as a backup weapon but mainly to shoot exploding swords instead of arrows. Gilgamesh, meanwhile, lets his Powers Do the Fighting - his "ranged weapons" consist of simply opening the door of his treasure vault and sitting back as enemies are mowed down by a Storm of Blades, and his extremely high rank in Independent Action comes from his incredible arrogance.

Web Animation

• RWBY: A common joke about the series is that "everything is also a gun" so it's no surprise that there are relatively few archers:
  • Cinder Fall, one of the primary villains, used a weapon called "Midnight" which is actually a pair of swords that can join together into a bow; despite being very skilled with it, she abandons archery in favor of using her magic as the Fall Maiden to conjure weapons out of molten glass — frequently impractically oversized ones. Coincidentally (or not), her abandoning archery also goes with her abandoning her mask as a calm, calculating villainess in favor of the volatile, petty, broken young woman she actually is, and she doesn't regain the bow until Volume 8, which is also the volume where goes back to her scheming ways.
  • Robyn Hill, being based on Robin Hood, uses a wrist-mounted crossbow as her favored weapon. She's even better than Cinder, pulling off multiple ricochets to nail Tyrian in the face, and utilizing explosive bolts for trick shots. When she's working with other Hunters, she prefers long-range while Qrow gets in close.

Web Comics

• Agents of the Realm has Paige, who's rather aloof and cold. As it could be expected, her Magical Girl weapon is a bow.

Web Original

• How to Hero's entry on Archers and Arrows discusses superhero archers, tracing the concept back to a man named "Frederick (last name unknown let’s just say it’s Arrowpants)" who robbed rich people and then left his money with various peasants for safekeeping while he was on the run. In How To Hero's superhero world he is credited with inspiring the myth of Robin Hood.
• Looming Gaia: Lukas is a "perfect shot" with the bow, and has been stoic and gloomy ever since he accidentally caused the death of his lover Itanya.

Web Videos

• Parodied in the first episode of Brocéliande. Two elves are discussing this trope since they are woodsmen and consider archery definitely their thing. Although trying to find a more hip name for it, isn't very successful; Pace's idea of "String" doesn't sound that convincing.

Western Animation

• Craig of the Creek: Omar/The Green Poncho is a skilled archer, with loads of Trick Arrows in his arsenal. He is also very serious and The Stoic. His predecessor Michelle was likewise a skilled archer.
• Steven Universe has Opal, the fusion of Pearl and Amethyst. Considerably calmer and more focused than either of her components normally are, she has a deep, soothing voice and an Energy Bow capable of scattering multiple arrows to take down numerous small, fast-moving targets. She also offsets the 'skinny build' part by having two sets of arms to hold and draw back her enormous bow with.
• Evangelyne of Wakfu is an archer and the most level-headed member of the group. Averted with her hot-headed sister Cleophee, who fights with a wrist-mounted crossbow.
• Young Justice: Both Artemis and the clone of Roy Harper are arrogant, sarcastic, and, in Roy's case, very antisocial. They both mellow out over time due to Character Development.

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