5. Other injuries and struggles
In the last post I discussed the consequences an archer might face when losing an eye. The following notes are about injuries which can be caused from shooting with bow and arrow. They might spark some ideas for your work when including archers and ngl, I don’t wanna keep myself from yapping and making Iorveth suffer.
I’ll start with some smaller stuff which occurs mostly when the archer isn’t that experienced, then continue with what consequences exhaustion can have and at the end I’ll talk about “target panic” which strips the archer of their aim entirely.
Better known should be the damage caused by the bow string hitting one’s lower arm. Everyone who tries archery for the first time usually hit themselves. It happens when one releases incorrectly or does not twist the lower arm out of harm’s way. It should not be necessary for experienced archers to wear arm protection, since hitting oneself means you did it wrong. (Most do tho, safety first. I don't).
Usually, the arm will get bruises in a variety of size and color, depending on how strong the bow is and how often it happened. It can also come down to bleeding when the skin gets damaged enough (pls don’t overdo it).
Shooting without protection on your fingers will cause blisters. The heavier the bow, the more does the string hurt. You’d rarely see anyone shooting without some sort of hand protection.
One should also pay attention no cloth or accessory can catch the string when it’s released. It would disturb the arrow’s flight.
Doing archery tests your concentrativeness. It’s important for beginners not to start fearing the string, or they’ll consequentially make even more mistakes and hurt themselves. However, in certain situations when concentration is lacking, experienced archers make the same mistakes as beginners.
E.g. one’s concentration is affected in situations of any form of exhaustion, because both mental and physical stamina determine how long an archer is able to shoot well. As soon as the muscles get tired, one can’t hold the tension anymore and thus releases too soon and badly, drops the bow too fast or starts shacking. I tell you, nothing is more humiliating to experience and heartbreaking (or pathetic. depends) to watch than an archer getting so tired, they don’t even have the strength to draw their own bow anymore.
(In Avatar 3: Fire and Ash, Neytiri tries to draw her bow with an injured shoulder. It's a very good example and hard to watch. I'll add a link as soon as I find a clip)
Another side effect of this is the archer will begin to draw with their arm and not from their back, which will add to the stiffness the following day and ruins the shoulder in the long term. This will also happen when one is shooting with a bow that’s too heavy for them.
Any shooting session going on for too long will tire the brain as well. I once participated in a tourney with so many targets, it took us six hours to complete the course with little to no breaks, and I didn’t feel like nocking a single arrow after five. My bow is a beautiful old bitch who gives slightly too much recoil, and I had such a headache for the rest of that day.
A serious cognitive condition caused by this micro damage from the recoil, is "target panic". On release, the arrow absorbs most of the energy the bow held, but some of it goes into your body. The brain notices this micro damage and after years, the archer might begin to avoid this damage subconsciously. And the brain goes: it’s best to avoid this damage by preventing a proper release, right? Since that’s when the damage happens. So, one will release before they are truly ready, e.g. before they aimed properly or before they even are at full draw. It's a 'panic'-release. Then of course the arrow won’t hit the target well, if it hits at all. Plus it's frustrating as hell like wtf did just happen.
A side-effect of target panic is “freezing”. Another way to avoid the damage is to never release the arrow. Since release only happens when the aim is correct, let's just not do that, says the brain. Thus, the archer can’t, for the life of them, take proper aim. Even when they know they need to hold the bow a little higher or to the left or whatever, they freeze and have to miss the mark.
Target panic can be overcome, but it takes the archer a lot of time, dedication and concentration, because they need to relearn how to actively control the release with every single arrow.
I hope this gives some inspiration for your own works when portraing characters doing archery. That's why I’ll talk about some fun things to do as an archer as well in the next post.
Or start at the beginning.
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