March 26, 2013

Favorite Archers in Fiction

If you've been paying attention, you've probably noticed that archers seem to be becoming more and more popular in the entertainment industry lately. While some of the bow-wielding characters popular today are long-lasting favorites, such as Robin Hood, new ones are popping up every time we turn around, it seems.
So just for fun, I thought I'd dedicate a blog post to featuring the most popular archers of our time.

Legolas Greenleaf, of Mirkwood, Middle Earth.

Hawkeye, of the Avengers - a.k.a. Agent Barton of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Katniss Everdeen, of District 12, Panem.

Kili, of Erebor, Middle Earth

Merida, first-born of Clan Dunbroch, Scotland

Robin Hood, of Sherwood Forest, Nottingham. (Since there are so many different representations of him I just picked a picture of my favorite one. Yes, the Disney cartoon is my favorite version.)

Susan Pevensie, of Finchley - a.k.a. Queen Susan the Gentle, of Narnia

It's hard to say what has made archers so popular in entertainment... maybe boredom with guns, admiration for the skill required for archery, a hankering for something unique. Who knows? But I, for one, don't mind the trend at all. I like the variety it brings to books and movies. And let's face it: there's just something way too cool about a character with a bow in his or her hand, and a quiver of arrows on his or her back - whether it's a medieval-style weapon like Merida's, an elf-made weapon like Legolas', or a high-tech mechanized weapon like Hawkeye's.

Do you have a favorite archer character?

5 comments:

  1. When I was younger, Susan was my favorite Narnia character because she was an archer :D I got a bow and arrows for my tenth birthday (still have it) and I loved it.
    Another archer is Angus M'Kethe from the Crown and Covenant series. He's pretty epic, too, though not very well known.

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  2. I love archery! I agree that people shooting guns in movies gets pretty old...
    Just like I would rather watch a movie where the war is in the Crusades, and not a modern war with guns and bombs. Thruth is, I'd rather watch swordfighting than soldiers blowing each other up from miles away.
    Back to archery, I started at camp a couple years ago, and now I have a nice silver bow (like Katniss', might I add...) and I love to practice. But I really don't like the modern compound bows all that much...
    And you forgot a couple archers:
    -Eragon and Murtaugh from, well, "Eragon"
    -Gwen from "Princess of Thieves
    -The Nightsisters from "Star Wars: The Clone Wars
    -Will from "Ranger's Apprentice"

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  3. Sweet! I know and love all of those characters

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  4. Ah great post. I love archery in fiction, it has so much more style and class than a simple gun

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  5. Hawkeye is my fave...his arrow have the coolest techno tricks...though have you noticed Legolas never seems to run out of arrows...no matter how many he shoots?

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