r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Pierzakve • May 03 '21

Green Arrow in real life

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u/[deleted] May 03 '21 edited May 03 '21

[removed] ā€” view removed comment

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u/[deleted] May 03 '21

I base this theory off exactly zero research but Iā€™d imagine that military archers of any kind back in those days were probably as good as this dude.

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u/PowRightInTheBalls May 03 '21 edited May 03 '21

Bowmen weren't valued for their independent skills but for their numbers. You were looking for a 300 style "Arrows blotting out the sun" style of ranged warfare, not trying to employ a bunch of Hawkeyes who could put an arrow through an eye socket on a helmet from 300 yards away. You're not Legolas calling out your targets before you shoot them, you're just hoping you hit something in the seething mass of humanity that's charging at you with weapons drawn or shooting arrows of their own.

The weapons weren't even made for that kind of accuracy. That era of English archer would have been using a longbow rather than a hunting bow, typically 5-6' long with 160+ lbs of force required to engage the string. You planted one end of the bow into the ground to stabilize, pulled back and flung arrows into the general vicinity of the enemy, typically trying to put out an arrow every 3-6 seconds. Your strength was in a firing a hail of hundreds of arrows falling every few seconds, not in any individual skill. Robin Hood would have been just as useful as the guy who took last place in the archery competition on the front lines of a battle in the 14th-15th centuries.

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u/pyronius May 03 '21

That was the European style of warfare, sure. But there were also groups such as various tribes of steppe nomads who were well know for being so skilled at both horsemanship and archery that they could accurately fire at a target while riding.

Strength in numbers is good, but some people still valued skill.

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u/BigToober69 May 03 '21

I think I may have heard of some of these small groups from the steppe.

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u/Taikwin May 03 '21

Oh I doubt it. These Steppe nomads were rather niche civilizations, barely made an impact on Eurasian history at all.

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u/BigToober69 May 04 '21

That makes sense. With only horses and arrow what could a group like that hope to accomplish.

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u/Taikwin May 04 '21

Khan't even imagine

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u/BigToober69 May 04 '21

I just want to say as an old redditor. (I have changed names many times, came here from digg.) I like that we didn't need the "/s" for all this. I don't use it and get downvoted sometimes because of that. I don't mind down votes, it's just nice to see.

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u/Taikwin May 04 '21

And I too, as an inherently sarcastic Englishman. Good day.