History Main / AnnoyingArrows

Bows and arrows were the precursors to guns and bullets for very good reason. Here's a brief nitty-gritty:
* The heads and shafts of arrows can make movement of a limb extremely painful or even impossible if they get lodged in the right spot; after all, muscles rely on ''not'' having obstructions or disconnections to facilitate movement.
* There's also the natural danger of having a hole punched through the flesh: blood loss. A freshly-opened wound will leak vital fluids at a rapid rate, and the head of an arrow easily leaves a gaping hole that the arrow's shaft sticks out of, making it difficult to plug -- barbed arrowheads were even designed with this in mind. It's not helped by simply pulling out the arrow and moving on being [[WorstAid a common and fatal mistake]].
* Getting an arrow shot into a vital organ is just as bad as if it were stabbed by a sword or shot by a bullet.

Basically, the general response to being shot by an arrow should be the same as if you got impaled by anything: seek medical attention immediately, or else you could die.

This trope is when that doesn't happen. In media, the bow and arrow has nowhere near the killing power it has in RealLife. The densest showers of arrows cannot hope to penetrate even the flimsiest PlotArmor. After all, most dramatic combat plays out hand-to-hand, so arrows are just the preamble to the real fighting.

Dismissing arrow injuries is often used to establish an ImplacableMan or someone MadeOfIron. A character struck with an arrow need only grab the shaft and [[LodgedBladeRemoval yank it out]] with little more than some [[OnlyAFleshWound 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 extreme cases, a character might become a HumanPincushion before going down.

Note that this trope usually applies only to main characters. The rest of the time, bows are AlmostLethalWeapons, capable of instantly killing mooks with a single shot. Mooks shot by fire arrows might even [[ManOnFire get set ablaze]].

Subtrope of BowsAndErrors. Often one of the AcceptableBreaksFromReality, especially in video games, since having characters cut down by arrows is far less entertaining than melee combat. For slings being treated as similarly weak, see SufferTheSlings. GunsAreWorthless is this trope applied to bullet-based weaponry. For when arrows are more effective than even modern day weaponry, see TheStraightAndArrowPath.

Basically, the general response to being shot by an arrow should be the same as if you get impaled by anything: seek medical attention immediately, or else you could die.

In media, the bow and arrow has nowhere near the killing power it has in RealLife. The densest showers of arrows cannot hope to penetrate even the flimsiest PlotArmor. After all, most dramatic combat plays out hand-to-hand, so arrows are just the preamble to the real fighting.

* ''Fanfic/FateRevelationOnline'': Discussed; in the beta, ranged weapons managed to be both underpowered ''and'' overpowered. Upon first release, while they did good damage, the nature of melee combat meant it was very easy to accidentally hit your allies, rendering them unpopular for groups. Fighting solo was a better use, but if your opponent got within your range, you were defenseless. FriendlyFireproof was turned on for arrows, but that killed immersion as arrows just flew through allies harmlessly, and it made it too easy to cheese bosses as melee locked them down while archers peppered them from afar. Eventually, they were removed entirely. During the death game, they're eventually patched in, with full realism and no having allies immune to arrows. By this point in the game, most people already had their builds solidly decided and no one has magecraft for archery, so they aren't all that popular. Except of course, Shirou has the ability to copy any sword he sees and can also turn into an arrow, so he basically has a missile launcher in the shape of a bow. He solos a flying raid boss this way.

* In the [[Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaAkiraHimekawa manga adaptation]] of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames'', Sir Raven manages to fight off several knights after taking an arrow to the shoulder, and never shows any pain from the wound when the arrow is removed.

* Played straight and subverted in ''Webcomic/OurLittleAdventure''. Julie's favorite weapon is [[ArcherArchetype the bow]], and much of the time her arrows don't harm her opponents much, but then she [[CriticalHit shoots that]] [[EyeScream female imperial soldier]]...

** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E21GraduationDayPart1 Graduation Day Part 1]]" Angel gets an arrow through the chest, and Giles is seen cutting off the feathered shaft before Buffy pulls it out of his chest. Painful as it is, Angel isn't bothered at first thanks to his HealingFactor -- unfortunately the arrow was poisoned.
** In "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E8Pangs}} 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 there is an amusing crossbow error, as Buffy shoots a bolt at the Native American ghost outside the window, who just casually bends aside as the bolt sails '''veeery''' slowly out into the night.
** In "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E11Ted}} Ted]]", 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.

* ''VideoGame/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. Naturally, a crossbow bolt to a vampire's stomach does little.

* Played straight by the unit animations in ''[[VideoGame/{{Civilization}} Civilization 4]]'' even while being averted by the combat mechanics themselves; archery units have fairly impressive stats (at least by ancient and mediaeval standards), but when they're actually shown fighting a melee unit, they do so by first losing a round of more-or-less useless arrows and then resorting to hand-to-hand combat.
* Played straight in ''Franchise/{{Conan|TheBarbarian}}''. 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.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'': The Bowgun is a weapon so weak it might as well be a novelty toothpick crossbow – it often takes ten or more shots to just down a zombie, and half that more to kill it. Its only saving graces are that [[BottomlessMagazines all the ammo fits inside it at once with no need to reload]] so it's spammable, and the craftable [[TrickArrow explosive arrows]] are ''much'' stronger, though the gunpowder used in making them is prohibitively rare.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Rimworld}}'', in general projectiles aren't that powerful so your colonists and enemies can potentially pelt each other with arrows, javelins and bullets for several minutes until combined pain and blood loss puts somebody out of the fight. Although sometimes a vital can be hit and the target will be crippled or killed instantly. Additionally, any bleeding wound carries an infection chance if left untreated or [[WorstAid treated improperly]], which is ''far'' more serious. And once item quality was accounted for, Recurve Bows and Greatbows became quite deadly if made well enough, let alone proper firearms.
* In the Alpha 17 build of ''VideoGame/SevenDaysToDie'', stone arrows are pretty weak if your Archery skill and the bow's quality are low. A plain ol' regular zombie can take up to 6 arrows to the head to go down for good. [[InstantDeathRadius It's still better than trying to go for melee combat, though]].

* ''Series/TheLastKingdom:'' Deeply subverted at the Battle of Tettenhall; the Welsh archers wreak havoc with their longbows on the attacking Danes.

* In ''Film/TwoMulesForSisterSara'', this is [[Averted]]. When Clint Eastwood’s character Hogan is hit by an arrow in the shoulder and knocked from his horse, the wound causes him great pain and the removal is complicated, starting with removing the fletching and the rear part of the arrow, then Sara pushes the arrow the rest of the way through his shoulder, followed by a crude cauterization. Even after its removal his shoulder is weak enough that Sara has to help him aim his rifle.

* In ''Film/TwoMulesForSisterSara'', Clint is hit by an arrow in the shoulder and knocked from his horse. 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.

* Played straight in the short story "Gilgamesh in the Outback." Gilgamesh (as well as everyone else who dies) is in Hell. He is hit with an arrow in the arm, and bites the shaft in half and pulls the arrow out. Of course, since he is half-god, this may be justified.
* In the Literature/FarsalaTrilogy, 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.
* In the Conrad Stargard books by Creator/LeoFrankowski, Conrad introduces the concept of plate armor 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. However, [[spoiler:Conrad himself does get shot in the face after removing his helmet, resulting in him losing sight in the eye on that side]].
* 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''.
* In Creator/DavidEddings' ''Literature/TheElenium'', crossbows are considered a threat because they can punch through plate armour. No-one ever seems to worry about regular arrows, even though not even all the [[KnightInShiningArmor Church Knights]] wear full plate, and most soldiers don't appear to have armour at all.
* The death of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'''s Reg Shoe. He continues fighting with several arrows sticking out of his chest for a long while before finally collapsing. It's pretty heavily implied he's already a [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombie]] at this point, and it's even phrased that he only fell over because he decided he must be dead from the sheer number of arrows sticking into him.
* The centaurs in Dante's ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno]]'' fire arrows at those damned for violence not to kill them, but only to inflict enough pain to encourage them to stay submerged in boiling blood. JustifiedTrope, since no weapon could kill an immortal soul, whether damned or blessed.

* In ''[[Literature/EddieLaCrosse The Sword-Edged Blonde]]'', the lethality of arrows or lack thereof is discussed a bit. First, Eddie meets "Spike" (real name Allison), who has an arrow permanently stuck in her neck — she has been advised that removing it would probably kill her, so she tries to make the best of it. Later, when Eddie shoots [[TheDragon Canino]], it appears that Canino might survive, but another character who wants Canino dead pulls the arrow out so that the wound will bleed, making it fatal after all.
%%* This happens unless Katniss hits a vital area in ''Literature/TheHungerGames''.
* This trope appears in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', when the giant Grawp is hit by a volley of arrows from a raging herd of Centaurs. He is shown to be in considerable pain when he tried to brush off the embedded arrows and only succeeded in breaking the shafts, [[{{Squick}} unknowingly pushing the heads deeper into his body.]]
* ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': This happens to Quasimodo: when he's shot in the arm he just pulls the arrow out, snaps it in half, and keeps going.
* Discussed in ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' trilogy: A person Katniss shot with her bow pulls the arrow shaft out of his body, and the book correctly notes that he roughly halved his remaining lifespan by doing this.
* Both invoked and averted in Book 11 of ''Literature/TheIliad''. 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.

* The protagonist of Creator/MargaretAtwood'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.

* A discussion in ''Literature/TheWarlockInSpiteOfHimself'' 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 ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' ''The Forgotten'', the Animorphs wind up on the Leeran homeworld. While morphed into hammerhead sharks, they encounter Leeran-Controllers who shoot them with spears. Ax notes that the spears are actually quite thin, and [[NormalFishInATinyPond while probably fatal to native life, can't seriously hurt sharks]]. As Marco puts it "We're from a much tougher neighborhood".

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

** Boromir in ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' manages continue fighting even while pincushioned by arrows as thick as sausages, though the scene is presented as his LastStand and it's clearly depicted as fatal from the first one, and he ultimately does succumb. He clearly knows he is dead after the first arrow, and is using HeroicResolve to take as many orcs down with him as he can. Later, Pippin states, "The mightiest man may be slain by one arrow, and Boromir was pierced by many."

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': Double subverted. Boromir manages to keep fighting, in spite of being hit with several arrows, but this is not a regular thing, and intended to show just how much of a badass Boromir is. Also, Boromir does eventually succumb to his wounds.