There is a children’s movie just come out, Brave, with the heroine sporting a bow and arrow. Katnis, from the Hunger Games, was lethal with one. Legolas was extremely handsome even in the midst of a desperate fight for Helm’s Deep and never missed when he let fly.
It seems that a bow and arrow are integral ingredients in fantasy, even when the setting is modern enough for guns and technology. Bows were, of course, around before fantasy. Who can forget Robin Hood in the archery contest splitting his opponent’s arrow, which had pieced the center of the bull’s-eye? Classic.
And then there are the Samurai with their beautiful longbow, the Yumi. They didn’t just shoot it with their distinctive technique, but held a philosophical discipline, kyūjutsu, akin to Tai Chi and other spiritual martial arts.
Even after the bow became outdated as an effective weapon it remained a form of training for its warrior code value. The yumi was also fired from horseback because of its asymmetric shape and this practice evolved into a Shinto ceremony known as yabusame. At the risk of sounding trite, there is a beautiful scene in The Last Samurai, with the yumi being explained and fired.
In the West we have also been drawn to the spiritual values of the bow. Eugen Herrigel’s classic, Zen in the Art of Archery, is still a classic fifty years after he wrote it. My 13-year-old has become obsessed with archery. He made his own bow and learned how to shoot it from a teacher. He takes classes at camp and has spent over a year saving up to buy a ‘real’ bow. When I wrote two scenes in the third Wycaan Master book, he provided me with a lot of excellant and rich information.
I’m still struggling with why the bow is so captivating. For some reason, I am not questioning the sword in the same way. Use of the sword is elegant, noble and also has numerous philosophies and katot (martial art form), but there is something that sets the bow apart and keeps us coming back for more.
Any ideas? Please share in the comments below.
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Alon Shalev is the author of The Accidental Activist and A Gardener’s Tale. He has written two fantasy novels and the first reached the Quarter Finals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award as of March 2012. More on Alon Shalev at http://www.alonshalev.com/ and on Twitter (@elfwriter).
I have the bow and also the sword in my fantasy novels. I agree that they are the most logical weapons of the past and would be used in most medieval books. My world is in another dimension from our modern world. But their world is still with horse and bow and sword. Fun writing it!
Reblogged this on Writing Wings and commented:
The Spartans thought the bow was the weapon of cowards but to me it’s the weapon of a hunter, a person who uses stealth and oneness with their environment to track & combat more powerful creatures and more heavily armed foes that might be using swords. Perhaps the bow symbolises someone at one with nature so in their own way special.
Great point. I didn’t know about the Spartans view of the bow. There is something beyond a weapon here and a connection to the earth. It is also an alternative, mind .v. brute strength.
The bow is not only an extension of oneself, it’s aesthetically pleasing. It is an elegant weapon, where guns are not. It’s, for the most part silent, guns are not. There is a physical and spiritual strength needed to unleash its power. It is deadly art.
Well put. That is the essence – a physical and spiritual strength.
Thank you,
Alon
http://wwwalonshalev.com
The bow is romantic, sexy yet powerful, I prefer fantasy with swords and bows won’t read if guns! It is more mystical,skillful and helps build pictures of the characters using them. They are also good for ‘females’ and some how people find them acceptable for femaes to be proficient in their use.
My sister in law was a member of her college bow club. When she died it went to my kids… my oldest son ended up owning it and going on to also getting a compound bow. He teaches it at summer camps.
Then you have all the states that have Bow Hunting Season. There are literally hundreds of thousand of men women and children who bow hunt in season to put meat in the freezer or to donate to their local food banks.
Nora
Life Member
N.R.A.
NYS Rifle & Pistol Assoc.
Pink Pistols
Thank you, Nora. My eldest son (13) is saving up to buy his first bow – a recurve I think it is called. He first experienced it at summer camp and seems quite serious about it.
Thanks for your feedback.
Alon
http://www.alonshalev.com
To understand the power of the bow one only needs to look at what the Monguls did with it when that tiny, “backward” people conquered all the way to Rome! Also, the battle of Agincourt where thousands of well equiped and trained French knights (noblemen all) were felled by a bunch of peasant bowman armed with longbows. It was a battle they shouldn’t have been able to win, but the British easily won with a mere handful of casualties. The Bow rules.
[...] and each other. This year there were two highlights. We all followed my eldest’s passion for archery and it has hopefully become a family [...]
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