Elf with a WWII ammo bag on belt

An elf again, a man-elf once in a while. Still pretty boring. Left-handedness not sanctioned anymore.

Mistakes:

1. Finger over arrow.

2. Two arrows shot at once.

3. This grip is not good, it's too loose. Doesn't look like he's really drawing the bow.

4. Back quiver. Almost always a mistake in my books. Will write an article about that someday in the future. It's even on the wrong shoulder it seems.

Six shooting archery in Robin Hood – Men in Tights

Since today is the leap day, and it's only in every four years (except in years that are divisible by 100, but not by 400, in Gregorian calendar that is) you get a special extra post: Cary Elwes! Of course from the hilarious comedy film Robin Hood – Men in Tights (1993). Real Robin Hood, if he would've existed (which he most probably didn't) would not have worn tights, or known about the leap day for that matter, since they used a Julian calendar at that time. All of this is irrelevant to archery though.

So this time I want to talk about how Cary Elwes, I mean Robin Hood, shoots six arrows at once. It is most probably a reference to western movies with their six-shooting revolvers. Of course you cannot do this with a bow. The second picture shows Hood placing the arrows carefully on top of each other to the bowstring. But there's nothing to keep them there, all aligned beautifully. They used some kind of movie trickery to make that happen (secret arrow holder or glue perhaps?), but in reality this would not work. If shot like this, some of the arrows would surely fly out of the bow. Possibly poorly, hindered by the collapsing arrow pile. Many arrows would just land a few meters ahead or just straight frop off the bowstring and fall to the ground immediately. It would be completely impossible to aim all these arrows.

And what would be the point of it? If an arrow can kill a man, does it need six arrows to kill him six-times more dead? This is precisely the point why the Greeks didn't employ in great numbers the repeating catapult they invented (yes catapult is an arrow thrower, and not a stone thrower, like the ballista), it was too accurate! The same happened with the invent of the modern machine guns. All the arrows and bullets flew to the same spot, which is counter-intuitive after the target is already dead. With machine guns they made the bullets sparse out in flight so they would cover a larger area. With the repeating catapult they couldn't fix that problem, so it wasn't much used in warfare. There is no point of shooting several arrows at once, since they will hit the same target, which is not needed. It is a waste of arrows. Much more useful would be to shoot the arrows one after another to different targets. Now he would have potentially killed six enemies instead of hitting one target six times.

The film is great though, you should watch it if you haven't seen it already. And watch again if you haven't seen it in recent years.

Archery in Thorgal comics

Thorgal is a fantasy comic album series by a Belgian writer Jean Van Hamme, and Polish artist Grzegorz Rosinski, one of the most famous European comic series of all time (says the backcover text). It tells the adventurous life story of orphan Conanesque (he even have long black hair) viking warrior called Thorgal, who fights tirelessly for freedom and justice, as we modern people experience and imagine those virtues, and not like ancient or medieval people. Unusual of other cliché barbarian characters Thorgal doesn't use a sword or a huge axe as his main weapon, instead he is a master of the bow. Exciting! Let's see.

I only had the third album (out of over thirty!), which I accidentally bumped into in a library of Oodi (which' opening in Helsinki last year had more people than books in it, which is very wrong for a library!). So all these pictures are from the third album (or second in English album series?) in the Thorgal series, called The Three Elders of Aran (Aranin maan kolme vanhusta in Finnish, Les Trois vieillards du pays d'Aran in original French). The texts are in Finnish.

Now to the archery mistakes:

1. This arrow taken straight out of Thorgals quiver is way too short. It's a pet peeve of artists (mine included) to draw arrows too short when they are not being shot. It is hard to understand that the length of the arrow is really significant, longer than it's shooters outstretched arm. The arrowtip is also too big.

2. Thorgal carries his bow strung and tucked around his body. This is not a good way to carry a bow. First of all it's a nuisance, a powerful warbow or hunting bow will hurt your chest if it's carried like that, since the fistmele of the bow (distance between the handle of the bow and the string) is most probably shorter than the thickness of the archers chest. Thus the bowstring presses against the chest all the time. This might not be a problem if the bow is carried like this for a short period of time, but this is how Thorgal is shown carrying his bow all the time. The other reason is that keeping the bow constantly strung (string attached to the bow arc) it slowly but gradually loses it's power when the wood curves into the shape it's being held. This again is not a problem if done occasionally for short time, but always carrying a bow like that is not good.
I have not seen any historical illustrations of archers carrying their bows like this. Usually bows are carried in bow quivers on the hip, rarely on the back, sometimes bows are shown being carried on the shoulder, but not like this around the upper body. But this is like many fantasy characters, most famously Legolas, carry their bows around.

3. Thorgal carries his arrows on a staple fantasy back quiver, which is not very useful, furthermore because the quiver opens on the left shoulder and him being right handed the arrows should be on the right shoulder.

This picture is here to show that the baddies broke Thorgals bow (and sword) in half. This bow is unrepearable now. Easier would've been just the cut the bowstring, which usually was done to render a bow incapable of shooting (although an archer might have a spare bowstring or two somewhere on him, most usually inside his hat to keep it dry, but then again Thorgal doesn't have a hat, or a bag or any other means of transporting goods on him either...). The bowstring was spared here because it's easier to depict repaired bowstave than a repaired bowstring in a comic book.

4. In the next scene Thorgal has repaired his broken bow by threading the halves together. I doubt this would work very well at all. Maybe he's able to shoot something with it, but not very far, and it might brake in two quite easily again. Furthermore this repair shortens the bow about 30-40 cm estimating from the pictures. This makes using the same bowstring impossible, because it's way too long. They thought readers wouldn't notice such a thing, even if they noticed it themselves.

Now he uses the classic fantasy rope arrow trick to hook a grappling iron over the crenellation of the keep. Maybe it could theoretically work, I don't know, but seems quite fanciful. Certainly there is no historical precedence of doing something like that. Grappling hooks were in fact shot from catapults in antiquity (to grapple other ships in naval battles), not with bows (yes I know he first shoots a string, and then uses that to pull the hook there, but it seems like this trick has too many parts that could go wrong).

This is one of Thorgals rivals in a competition over the princess (who's already his bride). The ugly ranger dressed in fantasy studded leather armour (which never existed in real life) he shoots a longbow from a horseback. Longbows were not regularly used on horseback because they're too long for effectively being shot from there. the bows lower limb will interfere with the horses body too much. That's why horse archers tended to use very short (recurve) bows, or then make their bows asymmetrical, the lower limb being shorter than the upper (like Japanese yumi).
Here the character has turned his bow in a 45 degree angle in order to be able to shoot without having the horses neck interfering with the bow, which is exactly the thing you would do if you would have to shoot too long a bow on horseback. No mistake here. He also has his arrows on a hip quiver, like one should do.

5. What is this? This is completely ridiculous! That ranger character holds the bow with one hand (being the other hand he shot with the last time), and holds the arrow only between his bowhand fingers! This would not work with a real powerful bow. Nobody is strong enough to hold the bow strung like that with only one hand. The bow should be a children's toy in order for that to happen. Also the aim is ruined, it's just not possible to shoot with one hand only. It's quite a stupid trick, doesn't even look cool. I have never seen this mistake before, so I don't even have a name for it, and I doubt (and really hope) I don't ever see it again, so there's no point of creating a category for it.

Legolas, Duplolas, Triplolas?

This chaep-ass Legolas copy has some problem with his eyes. They are all blue. Not just the irises, but the whole eyeballs. That cannot be healthy.

Mistakes:

1. This bow doesn't bend properly. Bad bad bad bad bad.

2. No spare arrows or a quiver anywhere.

3. Shooting the only three arrows you have at once is a terrible waste. If you only have three arrows, make each shot count. Now he's going to miss at least two arrows. Or if they all hit the same target, what's the point anyway? "Öyh öyh, but it does triple damage!" says some nerd now. I don't care, people (and skeletons) don't die from damage points.

Chinese archer girl (drawing) who has no idea how to hold a bow

The face of this character is obviously copied from either a photograph or another drawing (which in itself has most probably used a photo reference). The bow is certainly not copied from a life source. That is a bad thing. This is very bad. I mean very, very bad!

Mistakes:

1. This bow is horribly shaped, it does resemble a random tree branch more than a bow, an object a professional bowyer has spent days and weeks shaping into desired form.
2. Bowhand is nowhere near the middle of the bow. This is just ridiculously bad.
3. Three arrows, which are far away from the hand, impossible to shoot like this.
4. Bowstring goes over the bowhand, this is about the worst mistake you can make. You CANNOT shoot like this!
5. Very strange reverse grip of the bowstring.
6. Too big fletching and too near the end of the arrows. The stringhand shouldn't touch the fletching.
7. Where is the quiver or the rest of the arrows? If you have only three arrows, don't shoot them all at once!

A perfectly good picture of a face is ruined by the truly substandard work on everything related to archery in this drawing. How hard it would have been to just Google some pictures of real archers and use them as reference? The face is made with reference anyway. Oh, this is a Chinese drawing, maybe they don't have access to Google? Such a shame. But I still think there would be archer pictures in Baidu, aren't there?

Three arrows shooting manga woman

It almost feels bad to rip these drawings to pieces. I know that young people have drawn these, and I have drawn my entire life myself, and I know how bad it would feel to read a critique like that. But I hope the person who has drawn this is a grown up adult now (since I think this is a pretty old picture), and can handle the critique. Since the critique I present in this blog is never aimed towards a person behind a drawing, and usually not even at the artistic quality (or the lack thereof) of the drawing, but usually only towards how archery is depicted in that particular drawing. Since that is the point of this blog. To correct all the archery related mistakes in popular culture. And even when the work to be done is monumental in nature, it won't stop me trying to fix things.

So, mistakes in this drawing are:
1. What is this bow made of? Surely not of wood, since this contruction with spikes and sholes wouldn't last a second in real life. It also looks very ugly.
2. The bow tapers to a series of spikes in the end, and wouldn't be durable enough for use. The string is also not attached to anything.
3. Three arrows shot at once. This is not how it could be done. All those arrows are pointing in different directions, and even though the middle arrow might be possible to be shot, the other arrows interfere with the shooting significantly. It's also a waste of arrows. The arrowtips are also horrible. The thumb of the bow hand is on the wrong side of the middle arrow.
4. All the arrows nock to the exact same point on the bowstring, which is impossible. They also lack fetching altogether. And all the arrows are held between the middle and ring finger of the archer, that is one finger too low.
5. Four fingered grip, a beginners mistake. The bowstring is deep inside the fist, which is impossible in real life.
6. One of the most significant mistakes in this picture is that the string is way too short for this bow. This bow cannot shoot arrows at all. The string is pulled back maybe five centimeters, which isn't nearly enough to fly those arrows anywhere. The bow is drawn way too curved, that's why there hasn't been room for the string to pull back more.
7. Quiver on the back. This simply wasn't done.
8. The quiver on the back that simply wasn't done is also hugely too long. It is completely impossible to take arrows from a back quiver which is that long and sits that high on the back. Your arm just can't reach to take the arrows out of it.
9. Now the arrows on the quiver (which are also longer than the arrows being shot) do have fletching on them, but the fletchings are fuzzy and there isn't any space for fingers to grip the arrow at the nock. The nocks can't even be seen under all the fuzz.
10. The character isn't even looking anywhere near the direction she's supposedly shooting.

Bonus:
She's left handed, most probably due to a poor understanding of archery, and not on purpose.

Isis spreads terror with a "bow"

These pictures are from a trailer of an online videogame called Smite. I don't really care about games in which you just fight against other nerds with candy graphic characters in a low polygon environment. Complete waste of time, as well as boring game design.

The trailer showed this obviously (clichéd) Egyptian goddess, who cannot be anyone else than Isis, since Isis is the only human faced Egyptian goddess the general public knows about (how about Maat anyone?)

Like all this game's female characters, our friend Isis here is dressed in a very revealing attire, which in this case is blatantly copied from Anaksunamun's similarly skimpy and also golden outfit from the film Mummy (1999) (the yellow lipstick is also same). They thought I didn't remember, didn't they? Anyway, the dress has to be either glued on her fake breasts, or then it's just bodypaint, which seems quite likely here. Animation of this trailer is especially bad, since it has no feel of gravity or realism in any sense of the word. The characters are just massless CGI-lumps flying everywhere at the same time. How about motion capture the next time guys?

But now to the mistakes, regarding the thing they call archery in this video:

1. This "bow" has three strings. THREE (3) STRINGS!!! What in the actual afterlife is this? Bows have one bowstring for a reason. And we will come to that later. Three strings in this "bow" makes this one of the (if not THE) worst depiction of a bow in the history of the Universe.
2. What are these three spikes in each end of the bow? They severely disturb the bowstring(s). They can even brake it/them (if it/they would not be made out of "magical glowing substance").
3. Reverse grip in the string hand. Later she uses this hand the other side up, so this is just a mistake.
4. What is this Kheperi-shaped golden shield with a large saphire doing in this "bow"? This is the size of the steel bucklers some archers used in later medieval times, but it was never attached to the bow itself of course, and never used at the same time with the bow. It only disturbs shooting more. The bow is not meant for blocking anything, it will brake.
5. Fire arrows, too much fire arrows! Why won't regular arrows do? Do they think people die more if they are penetrated with an arrow which is also on fire? Because real fire arrows were constructed differently than normal arrows, they were slower and penetrated less, so they'd be actually less dangerous against other people. Thus they were never used against humans, only (VERY RARELY!) against some objects which had to be set on fire.
6. This (left) is the side of the bow the arrows should (usually, and in this case) go, not the right side.
7. What are these blades doing in this monstrosity? Bows are not meant for hitting, but shooting! It won't last long as a mêlée weapon. Also these metal blades make the "bow" weight a ton. In this picture we can see that it more resembles an ancient harp than a bow. Maybe it's for playing music, and not fighting at all? Would make more sense.
8. Were are her arrows? There is no quiver to be seen or any spare arrows anywhere. That is a bad fighting plan.
9. Three arrows at once. While it is possible to shoot three arrows at once (I've done it) it's it not good to do so. The aim is terrible and they also have less power than one arrow would have. At least two arrows are also wasted if shooting at the same target. The arrows are also impossible to hold here, that's why I drew this circle.
10. WHAT, she releases one string at a time!!! And that actually works?!? The makers of this video has no knowledge of archery at all it seems now. The bow arc is the one which flexes and gives the power to the arrows, the string does not stretch! If a bow would have three strings it would do nothing, since it would be (theoretically) possible to shoot the three arrows at the same time, not one after another without flexing the bow again. This is just pure nonsense and a crappy idea from start to finish! Shame on you game maker dudes!
11. This bow is also about 10 times too thick. It wouldn't bend at all, but it seems like a minor mistake compared to the last one, even though this'd be a major mistake in a piece which would be otherwise decently designed. This is not.
12. Why is she having this "glove"? Is it supposed to be archers glove? Since this does only cover the area which does not touch anything while shooting, so it's completely useless. Archers glove should cover the first three fingers, not just knuckles! Also the larger bracer is in the right hand, when it would be better on the left, but they are here to bring the "Egyptian" feel anyway, even though Egyptians didn't use these kind of bracers.

Good, hahaha, are you kidding me?!?
Our Isis (not to be confused with the infamous terrorist organization, which boasts with a name of a false god (in their belief system)) does not have a bow here. This is not a bow, this terror is something else, straight from Ammit's rectum.

P.S.
Oh, now I noticed that the arrows don't have fletching at all, but whatever, this disaster couldn't be any worse.

Ashe the Frost Archer (from League of Legends)

OH, BY THE GODS OF EVERY RELIGION IN EVERY PLANET THAT HAS LIFE ON IT!!!
This is horrible beyond any words. And I have a broad vocabulary. I will still try...

This picture... this picture might very well be the worst piece of imagery my eyes have ever have the unpleasantness to witness. Not only it's the worst archery picture of all time by far, I also cannot get in my mind any worse memory relating to a visual stimulant.

The maker of this picture, who is not entitled to be called an artist, not even a concept artist, has absolutely zero knowledge relating to anything he's trying to portray; correct anatomy, originality, artisticality, archery, realism, interestingness and sense of style all shine of their absence while overused clichés, childish sexism and all kinds of physical errors are well represented. Actually the knowledge of how to draw different 'things' of the maker of this picture must be below zero, so bad this is.


Mistakes, oh so bad and oh so numerous:

1. The bow is being held in horizontal way, which is a very bad mistake. But it's nothing to compared to the second one!
2. The string goes OVER the bow arm!!! What? Excuse me, but what again?!? Even a basic understanding of bows and archery would tell anyone that the bow string does not go over the bow arm. It would go under if the bow would be held in this stupid position, and it would be on the inside of the arm if the bow would being held properly in vertical position. Shame on you, this is the worst mistake you can make! But oh no, it's not the last! There are plenty others.
3. This is not any real grip of the string. Of course the maker of this picture (let's call that boy "motp") had no idea of the real grip, and it would be difficult to do in this angle anyway. Our oversexualized fantasy female here is pulling the string with two fingers, instead of three, and more importantly, her hand is the wrong way up. This is a very weak grip.
4. Motp also hasn't looked any reference because he doesn't know which holds the arrows on the string. Of course the archer's string hand! The arrows here doesn't even go anywhere near the hand, they just kind of are on the string somewhere. The aim would be uncontrollable and they arrows wouldn't even probably keep on the string while drawing.
5. Hasn't motp ever even seen a real arrow? I think not, since even a child can draw better arrows. Everybody knows that an arow has a tip (the sharp often triangular shaped thing on it's front end), a shaft (a rod of wood) and fletching (the three feathers at the back end), but these arrows lack the last one altogether. Yes, the arrows can fly without the fletching, but first of all, nobody ever would've made them like this, unless they are uneducated punks, and secondly without the fletching the arrows flight is not very controllable. It will fly more straight with the fletching.
6. The arrow tips weight a kilo! They are way too thick. Not only they would drastically reduce the flight distance of the arrows to some lousy five meters, they would also turn the arrows tip down while flying, so if they somehow magically would hit any target, they would hit it with the right side up front. Also this thick arrowheads make them harder to penetrate any form of defensive equipment. Even spearheads, which can be much longer, are never this thick. It would just be completely stupid. And waste of material. These arrow tips are also too large in every other direction, despite of the proposed perspective of the picture.
7. But it doesn't matter, since Ashe is using three arrows at once. And when she's not even holding the nocks (the little things on the back end of the arrows which have slots where the bow string goes, and which nobody knows of unfortunately) in her hand, she has none control over where the arrows will fly. Absolutely zero. She wouldn't hit a barn door from three feet distance. The arrows are also positioned pointing all in different directions, and as everyone should know, aiming at more than one direction (Yes, aim at them!) at the time is impossible, so all these arrows would miss their targets by a wide margin. Good job, motp! Not really, this was sarcasm.
8. Since this girl is called "the frost archer" her bow is probably supposed to be made of ice. Well... no, and... no again. This is fantasy of course, and maybe it's some magical ice, but still it's beyond stupid. Can't the arrows just have some frost magic on them, does the arrows and the bow have to be made of real ice? It doesn't make any sense. You know, there are fantasy, and then there are this thing, which would be called unreality, when everything is so unreal that it's only stupid. Look for Lord of the Rings, that's high fantasy for you, which is realistic at the same time! That's the stuff most people like, not counting some silly boys just hitting puberty of course.
9. Where is the quiver (the holder for the rest of the arrows in case you didn't know that either). And, as you also didn't know, it should be here, at the waist level, hanging from a belt. Back quivers are just a pop culture myth. In other pictures of this character I have seen that – of course – she has a back quiver. What else to expect from a game this stupid anyway.
10. This stance is a very bad archery form. I can't imagine any more silly position of one's limbs and body than this. It would be stupid and impossible to do without assistance even while staying still. But now she's also trying to shoot arrows while being in this uncomfortablest of positions. Of course we all – who are not guided by hormones alone – know that the only reason this character is in this position, is that the motp is a young horny male who wants to draw "beautiful" (= unrealistic, sexist, clichéd and childish manga characters)  females who he can drool at. That's why she hasn't got any real clothes on her. That's why she's positioned in the infamous boobs-and-butt pose (Oh, don't know what that is? Try Escher Girls for once!).

"Good", hahahahaha, are you kidding me?

Absolutely positively negative amount of goodness can be found in this drawing. It's so profoundly an epic fail that when I tried to make a corrected version of it, I couldn't. I just ended up censoring the whole picture, since it gives a totally mistaken and erroneous view of archery, bows and arrows. Correcting it would mean starting all over again from scratch, and probably getting a thorough brainwash before it, since this monstrosity has left some deep scars in all of it's viewers psyche. This drawing is harmful to the portrayal of archery, women, fantasy genre and to the society as whole, and the motp should be in jail because of it.

Stupid picture from stupid game.

Mulan (Disney's)

This archery scene is only made for fun in Disney's Mulan animation of course, but they still made some mistakes in it.


Mistakes:

1. Both Mulan and captain Shang shoot left handed in this scene, while they are otherwise right handed.
2. Mulan uses a Mediterranean grip, which is wrong in two ways. Mediterranean grip uses three fingers, Mulan uses only two. The second mistake, they didn't use that release method in China. Asians used mostly Mongolian release, which utilises the thumb holding the string. It requires a thumb ring.
3. Captain Shang shoots three arrows in this scene to show how well the Chinese soldiers must learn archery (and after a training montage Mulan and all the others have learned this trick). Shooting three arrows is possible, but hitting three flying targets and then nailing them to another target is not. Of course, but this is a fun scene, so I won't complain about it anymore. Although I really put the red ring here because there's nothing to keep those arrows holding there.
4. Shang uses four finger grip, but again, it's necessary in this three-arrow-shot. Anyway, usually using four fingers is not a good idea, since it turns the string too much and can effect the flight of the missile. But the real mistake here is the Mediterranean style instead of Mongolian.
5. Arrows don't have any space behind their fletching for fingers to grip and the fletchings do touch both Mulan's and Shang's fingers while they draw.

Good, or... at least okay I guess:

1. Recurve bow, since Asians mostly used these. Although it doesn't look much like a Chinese bow.
2. Hip quiver, again different than real Chinese quivers, but at least it isn't a standard Hollywood back quiver.
3. The arrows are on the left side of the bow here. It would be right if they were shooting with European style, and the bow would be properly on their left hand. But now it's actually not wrong either, since Chinese (as most Asians) shoot the arrow on the thumb side (right side, but in this case, when the characters are mirrored, on the left side). This is most probably a coincidence, they certainly didn't think that much while drawing this scene. It just happened to go right this once. Arrow on the wrong side of the bow is one of the most common mistakes.

And finally a photo from the beginning of the 20th Century. Manchu archers demonstrating Chinese style archery. Note the arrow on the right side, "overdraw" style of shooting, very long fletching on the arrows and typical East Asian quivers with arrows held in place only at their tip.

Atalanta (from Hercules, 2014)

This is from 2014 movie Hercules starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, the only ex-wrestler who has successfully turned into an actor. Many have tried, but failed miserably, since they have no skills in acting whatsoever. Anyway, in this movie, based on a comic book series: "Hercules, the Thracian Wars" (Thracia was a neighbouring country of Greece in the antiquity) features Atalanta, a Greek heroine (originally Atalante in Greek) who was a virgin huntress famous for her running speed (faster than any man), under the favour of Artemis (also a virgin huntress, and a goddess).

This movie version has dressed Atalanta with a skimpy leather outfit, which imitates armour, but because of the material, and of course the fact that it doesn't cover her belly, it is a useless piece of sexualised cliché fantasy female costume.

Mistakes, concerning about archery:

1. They made the bow also a mêlée weapon with attached blades on both of its ears. That makes the nocks different than usual, with long slits where the string loops go, since if the string would loop around the nocks like usual, the blades would cut through it. The thing I'm complaining about is the whole use of the bow as a mêlée weapon, instead of just shooting arrows with it. The bow can brake! It's not designed for that. It can take even years, but more probably weeks to make a proper recurve bow, so no one in their right mind would want to brake it by hitting enemies with it. Instead making a spear takes a day or so and making replacement shaft for it is super easy. Why don't Atalanta has a backup weapon (I admit a spear is difficult to carry, so someone must choose either a bow or a spear), but a sword or even a dagger would be fine, with a small shield accompanying it. Don't hit with a bow!
2. Atalanta, since she's a heroic character, shoots two arrows at once, several times in this movie. They made it her "trademark" of sorts, as well as the bladed bow. Shooting two arrows at once is in fact possible, but it doesn't do anything else than waste two arrows in place of one. And there isn't infinite amount of arrows. In one movie scene Atalanta shoots two arrows at two different objects, which is impossible, since the arrows would just fly to the same target. It's also not possible to aim at two places at the same time.
3. In this picture her arm is quite low, maybe she's tired or something. But it really should go straight back and continue the parallel line of the arrow.
4. Beginners grip of the string with all four fingers. The mediterranean grip which she should be using only involves three fingers, index finger above the arrow nock, and the two next below it. If using four fingers the string turns around to the right too much which might effect the flight of the missile.
5. Quiver on back. Arrows are hard(ish) and slow(ish) to get from there. A hip quiver would be more practical. They also wouldn't fall off quite so easily while running and jumping, which she certainly is doing a lot in this movie.
6. Shooting sideways. Always a mistake. Repeatedly done in movies. The bow can only be drawn to the point where the string contacts the archers flank. There could be some 10 to 20 cm:s more drawing space if the bow would be held vertically.

Good:

The actress' archery form is not so bad, only the four finger string grip (which is a minor mistake), and the lower elbow position in one scene are her errors. For the others are moviemakers to blame. Also which is good, is the use of spare quivers on chariots. There were regularly many quivers on a chariot carrying archers around a battlefield, since otherwise they would've ran out of arrows pretty quickly. Although Greeks didn't use chariot archers (in Homeric times they used chariots to bring noble fighters to the battlefield, and carry them out when they were tired of battling), but this is a fantasy/legendary movie, so they can have it.

Legolas from The Lord of the Rings

And now, Legolas Greenleaf! Everyone’s favourite elf! Teenager-girls’ day dream, Orlando Bloom, knows pretty well how to shoot with a bow, but there are some issues with the character of Legolas.

Mistakes:

1. The most frequent issue is that Legolas shoots sideways. Many times, not always, but a lot, as these pictures show. I calculated the angles he holds his longbow, and I put the pictures in order from the straight vertical (90º angle from the horizon level) from almost completely horizontal position of the bow (25º angle). I don’t know who’s fault is this, maybe the directors’.

2. At the picture A Legolas has very amateurish grip, as if he weren’t instructed at all, and this would be just some promotional photo before the actual archery training started for the actor. I don’t know about that, but he has the arrow on the wrong side of the bow, and he holds it between his index and middle fingers, which is going to hurt (and possibly effect the missiles flight) when the arrow is released.

3. At the same picture Legolas also draws the string with only two fingers, instead of the “standard” mediterranean grip of three fingers. Three is better, more stabile. Four is too much, and two is too less.

4. At the picture D our Mirkwoodian shoots two arrows at once. I wonder why would anyone do that? Since the arrows will hit pretty much the same target. What are two arrows going to do what one can’t? If my physics calculations aren’t way off, the power of the bow now transfers to two different arrows, rather than putting all the pushing force into one missile, thus decreasing the effect of the arrows by half! That’s actually worse than shooting just one arrow. If one arrow penetrates the armour of the enemy, that’s enough. If the target is not wearing any armour, one arrow will kill it, if the aim is right. No need for two arrows. The double arrows are less likely to penetrate an armour, since the halved force. This is more Hollywoodian than Mirkwoodian.

5. I don’t know what happens in the picture F with his gripping hand, seems like an idiotic photoshop error, but anyway his grip is too far away from the face. Otherwise Bloom’s archery form is excellent (if the bow would stay upwards all the time, but he’s probably been asked to do it sideways). In the picture G you can see how the bowstring will hit his hanging sleeve, because of this unnatural position.

6. Back quiver. But almost everyone in all the media has it. It was rarely used, sometimes, somewhere, somewhen. Maybe. It is possible to draw arrows from a back quiver if it’s made and positioned right, but it would be much easier and practical to draw them from a hip quiver. Tauriel has it, why not you, Legolas? “Why not me, you ask, because I’m too good for that, it doesn’t give me any challenge! It’s too easy to kill orcs anyway, it get’s boring. The back quiver gives me a little extra, when I have to calculate how much I have my infinite arrows left, since I can’t see them.”


Not an error, but…

In the movies Legolas shoots extremely fast. It is in fact possible to shoot as fast as he do, but with a different method. It requires the arrows to be held in hands, either in the bow hand or the string hand. Thus can be shot four to five arrows at the same speed rate as Legolas does. It is not possible to draw them from a quiver at that rate. But this is not an error in Tolkien’s universe, since Legolas is supposed to be superhumanly fast, because he’s an elf!

And elves are the best.


Good:

Bloom has learned his archery well, since his form is in most cases perfect, although many times the bow is held sideways. He has also helped to popularize archery to modern youth, of whom many has started the hobby because of that.