this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2025
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Are we saying they never lit their arrows on fire before the invention of gunpowder?
Using 'fired' for launching them at the enemy doesn't really make sense. It isn't like they said 'arrowed' for when they launch a regular arrow.
Homestar Runner is not historically accurate.
You take that back!
We also don't say trigger when you shoot a gun. Imagine someone yelling fire in a period piece and someone lighting fuse on a cannon and it going off seconds later. Or lighting a firework/bomb and waiting like 20 seconds per foot of length. Not nearly as climactic I'm guessing when it comes to immersion.
We do say trigger for bombs though, but that is because the trigger initiates the action as opposed to the person being the one who pulls the trigger for a gun when they fire it.
Fire (flaming) arrows never existed in most battles, having to put a large fuel source on the end to try and prevent them just blowing out when airborne meant the arrows would have a much shorter reach. It was also pointless because it wouldn't just light people on fire anyway, they were wearing metal plates, not straw. Fire arrows are another thing movies greatly exaggerated. In reality they were only used in very specific situations where a fire could potentially be started against some siege equipment or by firing them into a village with thatch roofs etc.
This says otherwise
I am talking about arrows which are lit on fire, not gunpowder arrows. Which even then, only handful of situations are listed out the how many thousands upon thousands of battles bow and arrows were a part of throughout history?
From the Wikipedia entry for "flaming" arrows:
I will add flaming to my original reply, but I have seen both used interchangably for the same thing.
Sure, just adding some sourced context. I was curious about your statement and when looking into it, found more details to add to the convo
Then "fire" would be the first step into shooting the arrows.