History Main / AnnoyingArrows

* Repeatedly {{Justified}} and {{Defied}} in ''Manga/TenjhoTenge'':

* Played with in ''Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood'': ComicBook/{{Huntress}} shoots a crossbow quarrel in the lung, and Franchise/{{Batman}} snaps the shaft off. Not a straightforward example, however, because the wound is shown as being highly debilitating, and takes Bats out of the fight altogether. Still, you would think Batman would know better.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** Justified in ''ComicBook/Supergirl2005'' #20. ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} falls down after getting struck by a magic arrow, but she's up and about right away after it gets -painfully- yanked out thanks to her healing factor.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': In his [[OneWingedAngel final form]] the White Magician doesn't even seem to notice that ComicBook/{{Artemis}} has sunk dozens of arrows into him until he yanks one out to shove into her abdomen. At no point does the fact that he's been shot with arrows seem to faze him. On the other hand the two arrows he "returned" to Artemis, and then yanked out, are the final straw that kills her.

* Japanese samurai would ride into battle wearing a ''horo'' — a huge, cape-like silk cloth with their standard on it which would expand as if it were a balloon while riding a horse. The ''horo'' would severely lessen the arrows' impact and interrupt their path--when Creator/TheHistoryChannel show ''Ancient Discoveries'' tested it, [[https://youtu.be/8B_6BU7SYf8&t=6m06s it reduced the chances of being hit]] with an arrow by ''seventy-percent.'' They would still need medical help if an archer got lucky, but three hits out of ten definitely sounds better than getting peppered by archers.

* ''ComicBook/Robin1993': Robin gets back up and keeps fighting, and then easily roofhops home after being shot full of arrows by the Rising Sun Archer. He notes in his internal monologue that he can only do so because most of the arrows didn't actually make it past the armor in his suit, though one of them did get lodged in his arm.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' arrows zigzag this; in inclusion to having knockback that could send you off a potentially fatal drop, an arrow shot by a skeleton or a pillager at an unarmored player is more dangerous than a zombie or spider, though they quickly become something you can shrug off as your armor tiers get better and better. A fully charged bow shot from another player, however, can be one of the most damaging hits you can take, even without a Power enchantment on the shooter's bow[[note]]a bow enchanted with Power IV can comfortably OneHitKill an unarmored player with full health[[/note]]; the crossbow to be introduced in update 1.14 deals even more damage than an unenchanted bow[[note]]it's around equal to a Power I bow; if all three arrows of a Multishot crossbow hit, the damage is around equal to a Power IV bow[[/note]] though as of snapshot 14w47a it lacks any damage-increasing enchantment other than [[SpreadShot Multishot]] ([[OneHitPolykill Piercing]] only allows the crossbow to deal damage to more than one target; the damage the mob takes is unchanged). Once the arrows hit, though, they linger on the player model to no adverse effect, and if you have creative mode on, you can make them a HumanPincushion so covered in arrows you can't see their player model past the fletchings.

*** They're however ''formidable'' during the elimination phase, as the fights happen all around the school and the archery clubs make sure to fight from prepared positions where they can just shoot their opponents with near impunity and little fear of their opponents coming close enough to beat them up. In fact the Jyuken Club, otherwise the main contendent for victory aside for the incumbent Executive Council, is almost eliminated when they get ambushed by the Crossbow Club, only winning due Masataka being late and thus being able to close in while the Crossbow Club is distracted with his teammates.

** Actually played for laughs in The Wind Waker. There's a friendly fish in each sector of the ocean who has some ferocious body aches that only acupuncture can cure. You have to shoot the fish with your bow as he leaps out of the water, and if you shoot him enough times within the time limit, he'll pay you 200 rupees and tell you how good it feels to have all those arrows sticking out of him.

For slings being treated as similarly weak, see SufferTheSlings. GunsAreWorthless is this trope applied to bullet-based weaponry. For when arrows are more effective than even modern day weaponry, see TheStraightAndArrowPath.

A character who actually gets struck with an arrow need only grab the shaft and [[WorstAid yank it out]] with little more than some [[OnlyAFleshWound momentary discomfort]], then go back to doing whatever they were doing. If they're too busy in the middle of a melee, they can just leave them in place and deal with them when things settle down. In extreme cases, a character might become a HumanPincushion before going down.

Note that this trope applies only to main characters. The rest of the time bows are AlmostLethalWeapons, capable of instantly killing mooks with a single shot.

In real life, the actual damage caused by an arrow will depend on a variety of factors. Arrow wounds often aren't instantly fatal, but the fact that archery was used effectively in hunting and warfare for thousands of years should make it obvious that this trope is rarely TruthInTelevision. Arrows hurt, and you can't fight much at all with one stuck in you. Getting arrows out of you is also a difficult, painful and dangerous process. Casually yanking them out is [[WorstAid not]] recommended. Arrows were also often covered in poison, or even dipped in putrefaction or animal waste to cause infection, so that even if the arrow itself was not lethal the wound certainly could be.

Dismissing arrow injuries is often used to establish an ImplacableMan or someone MadeOfIron. The trope is almost always averted when it comes to ArrowsOnFire: unlike real fire arrows, which were for setting wooden structures on fire and weren't very good anti-personnel ammo[[note]]they were slower, penetrated less, and did not use modern incendiary agents[[/note]], fire arrows in fiction can immediately [[ManOnFire set the person they hit on fire]]. For slings being treated as similarly weak, see SufferTheSlings. GunsAreWorthless is this trope applied to bullet-based weaponry. For a more accurate depiction of getting shot with a bow and arrow (especially English longbows), see ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice. For when arrows are more effective than even modern day weaponry, see TheStraightAndArrowPath. When the arrow gets pulled out (generally not a good idea), see LodgedBladeRemoval.

Dismissing arrow injuries is often used to establish an ImplacableMan or someone MadeOfIron. The trope is almost always averted when it comes to ArrowsOnFire: unlike real fire arrows, which were for setting wooden structures on fire and weren't very good anti-personnel ammo[[note]]they were slower, penetrated less, and did not use modern incendiary agents[[/note]], fire arrows in fiction can immediately [[ManOnFire set the person they hit on fire]]. For slings being treated as similarly weak, see SufferTheSlings. GunsAreWorthless is this trope applied to bullet-based weaponry. For a more accurate depiction of getting shot with a bow and arrow (especially English longbows), see ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice. For when arrows are more effective than even modern day weaponry, see TheStraightAndArrowPath.

* In an episode of ''Series/KungFu'', one of Caine's enemies (a rogue Shaolin monk) attempts to assassinate Caine (before a commercial break, of course), by shooting him in the back with an arrow while he is meditating. In a later scene after the commercial break, Caine confronts his assailant, reaches around, pulls the arrow out of his back, and then contemptuously throws it at his enemy's feet.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'': Even high-level archers' arrows are reduced to Annoying if you have the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Deflect Arrows]] perk in the Block skill tree and make use of it. Reduced even ''further'' to the point of being simply "Thanks for Free Ammo!" if you have the Slow Time shout, allowing you to simply walk up and [[ArrowCatch grab those pesky arrows out of mid-air]], with enough time to equip them and even [[CatchAndReturn fire them]] ''[[CatchAndReturn back!]]''

->'''Nimona:''' Will you ''chill out''? No-one ever got killed with one little arrow!\\

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': This is a ZigZaggingTrope. How much of a danger arrows represent to a character depends on whether they're a human or Apostle, how badass they are, and who's doing the shooting. Because ArmorIsUseless in this story for human {{Mooks}} and {{Red Shirt}}s, a volley of arrows from a mass of archers or Guts' repeating crossbow will penetrate their helmets and breastplates, killing them instantly. The Apostle Irvine is probably the deadliest archer in-universe, since he can ''decapitate'' multiple human targets with one MultiShot of his longbow from at least a mile away. For Apostles on the other hand, who are usually enormous monsters and at least far tougher than humans, any amount of arrows from RedShirt archers is merely TheWorfBarrage since such small projectiles [[JustifiedTrope cannot hope to reach their internal organs]]. If it's Guts, on the other hand, he might be able to at least shoot them in the eyes for significant damage. As for how our heroes fare, Guts is usually able to dodge volleys of arrows or use a dead mook as a BulletProofHumanShield. In the anime version of the Hundred Man Fight he even deflects some incoming arrows by a mere swish of his cape: "[[WebVideo/BerserkAbridged And now, just in case you had any faith left in humanity]]...[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCyujnxaMYs#t=4m30s know that someone, somewhere, thought that THIS made sense]]". The ''Golden Age'' movies also have some instances of heroes like Casca swatting away arrows with their swords, and in later manga chapters Guts is able to use the incredibly broad flat of his BFS to shield himself. When a main character actually gets hit, the trope will usually apply in a {{downplayed|Trope}} form. Guts gets hit in the hand during the Hundred Man Fight, and snaps it in two with the same hand in a show of bravado. That said, it prevents him from using it to grip his sword and he has to one-hand it for the rest of the fight. He was also significantly weakened by previous arrow wounds in his fight with the Holy Iron Chain Knights, contributing to his collapse and capture. Casca, who is not as much of a tank as Guts, gets hit with ''five'' crossbow bolts when the Hawks get ambushed by the Midland Army, which is treated as very serious since she was wearing no armor and they hit her mainly in the torso. She spends three days and nights in a comatose state near death, but miraculously she survives and makes a full recovery within a year.
* ''Manga/RedRiver1995'': Played straight during the same event, with Yuri's horse Aslan. Aslan gets shot with multiple arrows and two land in its flank. The horse is downed for a while, but then gets up, shuffles Yuri onto its back and begins walking to find help. The arrows are eventually removed by Ramses.
* Uryuu Ishida from ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' hits both sides of this trope, with his arrows ranging in effect from instant-victory attacks that completely obliterate an enemy's torso to not even piercing the skin, depending on the enemy and how much spirit energy he puts into a given shot. However, unlike normal arrows, Ishida makes his arrows from spirit energy, the same way a Zanpakutou is made. If you have a higher spiritual pressure, his arrows won't be able to pierce you.
* In ''Anime/InuYashaTheMovieSwordsOfAnHonorableRuler'', the Inu-no-Taisho gets shot several times by Takemaru's archers, but this does jack squat to his combat efficiency.
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' it's "Annoying Kunai / Shuriken", as they are rarely useful against anyone except Mooks. It really sucks since this is all what the ImprobableAimingSkills markswoman Tenten can do. [[SpringtimeForHitler Thankfully Akatsuki has a lot]] [[RedShirtArmy of mooks]] for her to kill. [[spoiler: Taken to extremes against Kinkaku when he's in his [[SuperPoweredEvilSide Six-tailed form]], two entire armies of shinobi rain an entire storm of kunai and shuriken at him... [[ShootingSuperman and he just blocks with his tail]].]]
* In ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'', [[{{Hobbits}} Chilchuck]] is not a strong person, nor a fighter of any sort as he'll often remind people. Even when using his bow it does little more than slightly chip some ice, with the implication that its primary use from him has always been to just point out weaknesses he spots.

* ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'':

* Lili's wrist crossbow in ''LightNovel/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon'' is little more than a distraction against enemies. Probably justified given that she just pulls it back with two fingers, indicating that it likely has the same draw strength as a slingshot.
* Arrows and pretty much all weapons are useless against the primary characters in ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', because they're all MadeOfIron. However, some of them have {{plotline death}}s involving weapons that they're immune to the rest of the time. Fudo is killed by arrows (huge spear-sized ones, granted) and Shu dies to a thrown spear.
* ''Anime/StrangeDawn'': In the first episode Yuko just yanks one right out of her body with no serious medical consequences whatsoever.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Predator}}: Dark River'' series from 1996, Schaefer is shot in the shoulder with an arrow that has been poisoned. He is unable to believe how badly he feels from this, because he claims to have had worse paper cuts.

* ''ComicBook/Robin1993': Robin gets back up and keeps fighting, and then easily roofhops home after being shot full of arrows by the Rising Sun Archer. He notes in his internal monologue that he can only do so because most of the arrows didn't actually make it past the armor in his suit, though one of them did get lodged in his arm.

* Subverted in ''Fanfic/FireEmblemAwakeningInvisibleTies''. In chapter 7, Sumia is shot non-fatally with several arrows. When Robin finds her, she outright says they "really, really hurt," and Robin removing them causes her no small amount of pain.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'': The titular ogre is literally inhumanly tough and doesn't realize he has an arrow on his rear until it is pointed out. Fiona has difficulty pulling it out, but only because Shrek won't stand still.
* Justified twice over in ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' concerning [[BearsAreBadNews Mor'du]]. Not only is it ''very'' hard to put a bear that size down with a relatively light bow, but it is heavily implied that the bear has a supernatural degree of resilience.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheThiefAndTheCobbler'': The sole survivor of One-Eye's attack has about a dozen arrows on his back, yet manages to survive the ride back, crawl to the throne room of the palace and deliver his message to the king before finally expiring.
* Arrows do not affect the Gashadokuro, the first monster the heroes encounter in ''WesternAnimation/KuboAndTheTwoStrings'', in any way whatsoever. Justified, as it is shown to also casually shatter ''swords'' that are swung against it.

* Played straight in ''Film/TheMessengerTheStoryOfJoanOfArc'', notably where Joan gets hit by an arrow in the leg but doesn't notice it.

* In ''Film/Anchorman2TheLegendContinues'', Brick takes a crossbow arrow in the back during the FinalBattle. He doesn't even seem irritated by it.

* In ''Film/ThreeHundred'', this trope is played straight at first when the Spartans scoff at the Persian's threat that their arrows will "blot out the sun," using their shields as cover. Later though, [[spoiler:they get killed to a man from the hail of arrows the Persians fire at them]].
* In the Chinese film ''An Empress and the Warriors'', the king is hit by an arrow which goes right through his chest. This is treated as a serious wound, but what actually kills him is being left alone with a treacherous subordinate.
* In ''Film/TheMummyTombOfTheDragonEmperor'', a RainOfArrows is fired upon the undead army summoned to fight the BigBad's terracotta army. As one would expect, arrows are less than effective on enemies who can't be killed.
* Zigzagged in ''Film/TheScorpionKing''. The pull on Mathayus's bow is so strong only he can use it. It's shown several times that his arrows can send people flying. However, one of fellow Akkadians is killed by a {{mook|s}} arrow volley early on. The BigBad is notorious for being able to block arrows with his sword and is even able to do this to Mathayus's arrow the first time. When Mathayus is hit in the back by a mook, he pulls out the arrow (meaning he has very good reach despite all this muscle mass) and uses it to [[spoiler:kill the BigBad who is unable to block the arrow in time]].
* ''Film/AceVentura'' does a variation on this, with two spears he gets embedded in his legs. Instead of sensibly dropping down screaming, he just points at them and screams in bewilderment.
* In the opening scene of ''Film/TheRoadWarrior'', crazed outlaw biker Wez slowly pulls a quarrel out of his arm while screaming in rage and pain at Max, who's watching from a safe distance. He then tucks the quarrel into a leg holster of other quarrels and drives off. Later Wez pins a man to his vehicle with quarrels, and Max has to cut him loose with a handy bolt cutter.

* In ''Film/HanselAndGretel2013'', a man gets shot in the back by an arrow and falls. The moment the archer looks away, the man scrambles to his feet and runs as if he'd never been hurt.
* PlayedForLaughs (of course) in ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail''. Sir Lancelot is about to hop across a river, when an arrow comes whizzing through the air, embedding itself in his consort's chest.
-->'''Consort:'''Message for you, sir![[note]]He survives.[[/note]]
* In the Creator/AntonioBanderas action movie ''Film/{{Security}}'', a female mook is shot twice with arrows (from a simple sporting bow, fired by an amateur). The first hits her in the shoulder and she pulls it out. The second hits her in the thigh, seeming to hurt a lot more. But she pulls that out too, and fights on unimpeded.
* In ''Film/Mandy2018'', two members of the [[HumanoidAbomination Black Skulls]] gang got shot with crossbow bolts. The first guy was flipped off the bike he was riding after he was shot, the fall did more damage and he was killed by a car. The second Skull got a bolt right through the neck. The Black Skull simply pulled out the bolt and was amused.
* In ''Film/{{Padmaavat}}'', Ratan Singh isn't seriously injured after Padmavati's arrow hits him.

* Zigzagged in ''Film/{{Ladyhawke}}''. Both Navarre and his horse take shots in armored areas, which are treated as OnlyAFleshWound. (Naturally, Nazarre's own crossbow bolts are lethal.) But when his lover Isabeau is shot while in hawk mode, it very nearly kills the bird, and she screams in agony when a trained healer pulls the arrow from her human body.

* The death of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'''s Reg Shoe. He continues fighting with several arrows sticking out of his chest for a long while before finally collapsing. It's pretty heavily implied he's already a [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombie]] at this point, and it's even phrased that he only fell over because he decided he must be dead from the sheer number of arrows sticking into him.

* This trope appears in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', when the giant Grawp is hit by a volley of arrows from a raging herd of Centaurs. He is shown to be in considerable pain when he tried to brush off the embedded arrows and only succeeded in breaking the shafts, [[{{Squick}} unknowingly pushing the heads deeper into his body.]]
* The protagonist of Creator/MargaretAtwood's ''Lady Oracle'' is struck by an arrow at an archery range during her summer job. Somewhat plausible, in that she's well-padded and it hits her in the rear, these are blunt target arrows (which can still kill you if you get in their way, but you might at least get to the hospital) and while the wound doesn't kill her, the ensuing infection almost does.
* Both invoked and averted in Book 11 of ''Literature/TheIliad''. After Paris has wounded him with an arrow to the foot, Diomedes angrily dismisses the bow as a weapon for "a woman or an idiot boy," claiming the spear is both deadlier and better suited to a warrior. The truth is, however, that the wound puts Diomedes out of action until the end of the fighting in Book 22. Played straighter earlier on where both Diomedes and Menelaus shrug off arrow wounds to continue fighting, though it's worth noting that the archer Teukros has one of the highest kill counts of the Greek warriors with 30.
* A discussion in ''Literature/TheWarlockInSpiteOfHimself'' is about the titular character wearing plate armor. When his manservant says that it will protect him from swords and arrows, the very agile fighter says, "Swords I can block, arrows I can duck, and plate still won't do a bit of good against a crossbow bolt."

* ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': This happens to Quasimodo: when he's shot in the arm he just pulls the arrow out, snaps it in half, and keeps going.

* The centaurs in Dante's ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno]]'' fire arrows at those damned for violence not to kill them, but only to inflict enough pain to encourage them to stay submerged in boiling blood. JustifiedTrope, since no weapon could kill an immortal soul, whether damned or blessed.

* In Creator/DavidEddings' ''Literature/TheElenium'', crossbows are considered a threat because they can punch through plate armour. No-one ever seems to worry about regular arrows, even though not even all the [[KnightInShiningArmor Church Knights]] wear full plate, and most soldiers don't appear to have armour at all.
* ''Literature/TheMarvellousLandOfSnergs'': Averted. Three arrows to the head is all [[spoiler:Gorbo]] needs to kill [[spoiler:the ogre Golithos]].
* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': Double subverted. Boromir manages to keep fighting, in spite of being hit with several arrows, but this is not a regular thing, and intended to show just how much of a badass Boromir is. Also, Boromir does eventually succumb to his wounds.

* ''Series/MyCountryTheNewAge'':
** Bang-won is shot in the chest twice and survives. In real life ''one'' arrow to the chest would probably be fatal, let alone two. [[spoiler: Justified because he was shot as part of a staged assassination attempt that he orchestrated, so obviously he was never in any real danger.]]
** Seon-ho gets shot in the arm, pulls the arrow out, then fights off a group of soldiers.
* ''Series/ScarletHeart'': Yin Si gets shot in the chest then has the arrow pulled out of the wound. Realistically that could easily have been fatal, but he isn't seriously injured and recovers quickly.
* ''Series/TheRiseOfPhoenixes'': Ning Yi shoots Zhi Wei in the leg with a crossbow bolt. In real life such an injury could be crippling or even fatal, but Zhi Wei recovers and is fine afterwards.
* In ''Series/PrincessAgents'', Yan Xun is fired upon by arrows at one part. He looks a bit more than annoyed since they do cause a good amount of bleeding, but there are somewhere between 10 to 20 arrows that hit him. He awakens the next morning with all of them removed.
* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'':
** Lucky for Callisto, she [[spoiler: was a god at the time]], so she wasn't killed. Xena herself takes an arrow to the abdomen in Episode 2, and both pulls out, and cauterizes the wound herself. It only takes her a few days to recover- which just so happens to be one of the ''longest'' recovery times on the show.
** Gabrielle takes an arrow to the chest in one particularly memorable episode. It takes her a while to recover as well, but this is mostly due to the arrow being tipped with poison.
** [[spoiler: Xena]] takes almost as many arrows as Callisto did in the featured picture, (pulling only some out), in the finale. Unfortunately for her, [[spoiler: she wasn't a god at the time]].
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':

* On ''Fire Engine 132'', the firefighters are relaxing in the bay when a man comes in. He was apparently jogging, judging from his clothes and the sweat on them, when he was hit by an arrow. He was able to walk, under his own power, to the fire station, where the somewhat bewildered firefighters lead him inside the station proper for treatment. It is never bought up again.
* On ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', after Kensei is shot, Hiro just yanks the arrows out of his chest. But it's made clear that Kensei would have died if his HealingFactor hadn't chosen that moment to manifest.
* In an episode of ''Series/KungFu'', one of Caine's enemies (a rogue Shaolin monk) attempts to assassinate Caine (before a commercial break, of course), by shooting him in the back with an arrow while he is meditating. In a later scene after the commercial break, Caine confronts his assailant, reaches around, pulls the arrow out of his back, and then contemptuously throws it at his enemy's feet.

* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'':
** In the first series episode "Love Hurts", Leo is shot in the opening scene with an arrow. The trope is averted by the sisters taking the arrow wound itself very seriously and not brushing it off, but played straight in that the sole thing stopping Phoebe and Piper from trying to pull the arrow out the way it went in was Leo telling them not to touch it because it was poisoned. Then subverted again in that Prue's reaction to hearing the news is to telekinetically force the arrow out by pushing it through Leo's body to get it out rather than pushing it out the way it came in. The rest of the episode is more about the impact of the poison than the arrow itself. Justified to an extent in that Leo is the show's equivalent of an angel and therefore the arrow itself wouldn't be able to kill him which is why it was poisoned with special toxin designed to kill his kind.
** In "The Courtship of Wyatt's Father", Leo and Piper are shot with arrows. While Leo's injuries are taken seriously, Piper pulls her arrows out and treats them as a mind annoyance after it is established that the toxin doesn't affect witches.
* In ''[[Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand Spartacus Vengeance]]'': Played with in episode 8, Glaber takes an arrow to the shoulder, and despite wearing armor is knocked off his feet. He isn't seriously hurt though. The Egyptian completely ignores a dozen arrows sticking out of his chest, arms, and legs; but he seems to just be ''[[MadeOfIron that tough]]''.

* In ''Series/TheLegendOfWilliamTell''. William uses two different crossbows, but almost never actually kills or even hurts anyone; instead he does things like pin sleeves to walls or trees, or knock weapons out of people's hands. Since he only carries one bow at a time, he only ever gets one shot off before having to wade in hand to hand.
* In the pilot of ''Series/{{Atlantis}}'', Jason gets shot in the shoulder with an arrow. He pulls it out and keeps running, and is subsequently able to pull himself up through a window with his arms, before it gets bandaged.
* Despite arrows being Oliver Queen's weapon of choice in ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', they typically come in two flavors. They're either [[InstantDeathBullet instantly lethal]] or a minor (if painful) annoyance. If its the latter, it will typically incapacitate the person, but they'll be seen moving around later like they were never hurt at all. It's probably shown the most realistically with [[spoiler:Laurel]], who interestingly was ''stabbed'' not shot with an arrow, where its treated as a serious problem that requires being rushed to the hospital, but not immediately fatal. [[spoiler:The wound ''does'' kill her, but not right away.]]
* ''Series/ThePunisher2017'': Frank takes an arrow to the shoulder from Gunner, who mistook him for an intruder. It doesn't hinder him much as he and Gunner then fight off a hit squad sent by Rawlins to kill them, though he eventually collapses from the accumulation of wounds he took in the firefight, and once Frank and Micro get back to New York, Micro has to summon Curtis to get the remnants of the arrowhead out of Frank's shoulder.
* ''Series/KingdomAdventure'': At one point, Dagger gets hit by a stray arrow from Napps. He pulls it out later, but is in pain from it. Possibly justified by virtue of the fact that he's a magical being capable of shapeshifting.
* ''{{Series/Camelot}}'': ZigZaggingTrope. It's mostly {{averted|Trope}}, with people on both sides of a battle being killed or seriously injured by them. However, when Kay takes an arrow to the gut, he gets back on his feet and into battle much sooner than what would be realistic (assuming he'd recover at all, which isn't certain).
* ''Series/TheOutpost'': {{Zigzagg|ingTrope}}ed. Everyone who's hit by arrows is at least debilitated, if not killed quickly. Even so, Tobin shrugs off being shot ''four times in a row'' with only a day's recovery time. [[spoiler: Which is even weirder in hindsight, when much later on two arrows to the back are enough to mortally wound him.]]

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
** Due to the way HitPoints work, it's possible for a high-level character to be hit and damaged dozens of times by arrows and still be in good shape. This is true for all weapons, however. Ranged weapons are generally balanced with melee weapons in various ways.
** The arcane spell Protection From Arrows, which either grants total immunity to damage from arrows and other projectile weapons (2nd Edition and earlier) or Damage Reduction (3.0 and later). The third edition version can be bypassed by magical weapons, which will be fairly common after about level 6.
* Bows are low on the damage-dice totem pole compared with most guns in ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}''. This can be very irritating for any characters who opt for the Old Ways Oath.
* Played straight in the various Warhammer 40K rpgs, bows and crossbows are categorized as 'primitive' weapons and so armour gets x2 protection against it and bows do low damage as a base. Shooting an Imperial Guardsman in a flak jacket is barely going to scratch him let alone going after a Space Marine in terminator armour.

* In 7thSea, the bow is a powerful weapon, dealing about as much damage as a sword. It takes two actions to fire, making it much faster than the devastating - but devastatingly slow - guns.
* In early ''Mechwarrior'', the ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' RPG, bows do not grant a strength bonus to damage--arrows deal between 2 and 9 damage per arrow. By contrast, a basic pistol can deal up to 15 damage per bullet. The average unarmored player character could theoretically take a dozen arrows and not die (they will still be wounded, of course, just not fatally).
* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'': From 5th edition onward, bows are deadly and have TrickArrow options, but lack the bang-for-your-buck of even a basic handgun.

* Played with in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII''. A close to mid-range arrow is a kill shot, but be too far away and your arrows won't even kill a man. If that happens, it really puts the Annoying in Annoying Arrows: If your shot wasn't noticed, your victim and any friends of his will do a search for, like, fifteen seconds before shrugging and acting as though nothing happened.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Dungeons}}'', Minos has several arrows jutting from his back.

* Though this holds true for many roguelikes, the graphical Japanese take on roguelikes (filled with many hilariously wrong tropes especially regarding marriage/breeding), ''VideoGame/{{Elona}}'', plays it straight. Equal skill in bows and throwing will still usually result in shuriken and sometimes even special throwing stones doing lots more damage than normal bow+arrow combinations, due to having larger min/max damage (as high as 1d25 for normal shuriken, based on material) and higher dex resulting in landing higher rolls more often. However, the best random artifact bow+arrow combination will still always beat shuriken, simply due to having double the skill/statboost (as you equip bows and arrows separately), as well as other cumulative effects. Still, the game does not strive for total realism like other roguelikes, only halfhearted, and so shuriken remain better overall for dungeon crawling because anything can bleed and shuriken cause 'cut' damage. Yes, even golems and the undead. Shot weapons do minimal damage against them, but the cut damage can be coupled with poison/acid to drain them away. There are also anachronistically guns available, but only the shotguns seem worthwhile.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', for all that Rosa's bio describes her as [[InformedAbility one of Baron's most skilled archers]], her arrows are fairly weak and frequently miss unless you constantly utilise her "Aim" ability - generally players will prefer to stick to her WhiteMagic.

* Played straight most of the time in the Sega CD/iPhone RPG ''VideoGame/{{Vay}}'', but subverted in one particular [[CutscenePowerToTheMax cutscene]] where [[spoiler: the apparent BigBad, [[TheEmpire Emperor]] Jeal, snipes plucky [[{{Sidekick}} elf boy]] Pottle with a bow, [[PlotlineDeath killing him]] with a single shot to the heart.]].

* Played straight and subverted in ''Webcomic/OurLittleAdventure''. Julie's favorite weapon is [[ArcherArchetype the bow]], and much of the time her arrows don't harm her opponents much, but then she [[CriticalHit shoots that]] [[EyeScream female imperial soldier]]...
* [[http://keychain.patternspider.net/archive/koc0367.html *thwak* "Ow."]] ''Webcomic/KeychainOfCreation'' is based on ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', which centers around overpowered {{Player Character}}s, so this example is at least justified.
* ''Webcomic/{{minus}}'', strip [[https://web.archive.org/web/20060901112606/http://www.kiwisbybeat.com/minus23.html #23]]. Those people were shot ''through the stomach'' and unharmed. Of course, [[AWizardDidIt minus did it.]]
* In ''Webcomic/DungeonsAndDenizens'', [[http://dungeond.com/2006/09/21/09212006/ Min gets shot in the back by one of the Six.]] His reaction is, "Ow! Hey!" Again, this is a parody of D&D game mechanics, since the comic centers around monsters maintaining a dungeon for adventurers.
* The fae in ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'', as demonstrated by Queen Nutmeg [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_788.php here]]. [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice Being impaled by a spear]] doesn't bother her until she tries to [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_789.php hug Jyrras]], who wouldn't get this trope.
* Discussed and subverted in ''{{Webcomic/Nimona}}'': An arrow hits Nimona in the leg, and she doesn't seem to care, as per this trope. However, Ballister chides her for her attitude, and proceeds to treat it as a serious injury. Leads to the page quote. Later on, the trope is played relatively straight after all: Nimona turns out to have the ability to heal very quickly, which allows her to fully recover from the wound within days. She simply forgot to tell Ballister about it...
* The Jägers of ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' seem to have no problems with continuing fighting with several arrows sticking out of them. However, Jägers are {{Super Soldier}}s and consider a torn-off arm to be bad-but-probably-not-lethal, so thinking they can soak a few arrows isn't too much of a stretch.

* ''Roleplay/DestroyTheGodmodder'': To its logical extreme. The more arrows, the less effective each arrow is (most of the time). Oftentimes, a cloud of arrows isn't even enough to down a single mook.
* In ''Fanfic/FarceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', Zhuge Ke goes through most of a chapter with an arrow sticking out of his ''head''. However, he can only do this because he made a deal with one of the death scene judges, and normally arrows are fairly lethal.

* A flashback in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' depicts a [[EldritchAbomination Lucubra]] riddled with arrows (and a few spears), but still coming.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TimeSquad'' Tuddrussel gets shot [[AmusingInjuries in the butt]] multiple times while escaping from a Chinese prison.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'', Kaeloo, Pretty and Quack Quack are shot with a bunch of arrows. None of the three takes it as anything more than a minor annoyance.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "Princess Potluck", arrows keep getting fired at Jake. In the end, one manages to hit him in the back. [[spoiler:It turns out the red squirrel from "The Duke" is the culprit, having gone completely AxCrazy since Jake apparently ''still'' isn't printing the squirrel's letters in his advice column.]] Jake doesn't seem that bothered by the arrow, and is just confused since he still [[UnknownRival doesn't recognize him.]]
* On ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', in the episode "[[BannedEpisode Leap Frogs]]," Ed and Bev have "lost the spark" in their marriage, and Cupid decides to remedy the situation by shooting [[{{Curmudgeon}} Ed]] with one of his arrows. Ed wakes up and...informs Bev that they've run out of mouthwash. Cupid keeps shooting arrows at Ed all night long, to no avail. Ed heads to work the next day full of love arrows, and Cupid throws his empty quiver at a couple of birds in frustration.

* Japanese samurai would ride into battle wearing a ''horo'' — a huge, cape-like silk cloth with their standard on it which would expand as if it were a balloon while riding a horse. The ''horo'' would severely lessen the arrows' impact and interrupt their path--when Creator/TheHistoryChannel show ''Ancient Discoveries'' tested it, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B_6BU7SYf8&t=6m06s it reduced the chances of being hit]] with an arrow by ''seventy-percent.'' They would still need medical help if an archer got lucky, but three hits out of ten definitely sounds better than getting peppered by archers.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': Double subverted. Boromir manages to keep fighting, in spite of being hit with several arrows, but this is not a regular thing, and intended to show just how much of a badass Boromir is. Also, Boromir does eventully succumb to his wounds.

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': Robin gets back up and keeps fighting, and then easily roofhops home after being shot full of arrows by the Rising Sun Archer. He notes in his internal monologue that he can only do so because most of the arrows didn't actually make it past the armor in his suit, though one of them did get lodged in his arm.

* Done passingly in ''Manga/MyBrideIsAMermaid''. After Mawari challenges [[IronButtMonkey Nagasumi]] to some kind of physical card game that calls for fast reflexes, Sun and [[IronButtMonkey Saru]] join in. The show portrays it as extremely brutal, [[UpToEleven exaggerating like crazy]] something that's [[MundaneMadeAwesome relatively normal]] (which is normal for the show), and after it's over, all of the characters are still pretty much fine, except for a very severely beaten-up Saru sitting in the background with an arrow sticking out of his back. Keep in mind, you're not missing something here, this ''is'' still a (relatively) normal middle school. Of course, he's completely fine afterward for the rest of the episode.

* Taken to an [[UpToEleven absolutely ridiculous extreme]] in ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath'', where hundreds of massive SPEARS that are practically a MacrossMissileMassacre are still seen as only annoying by the title character himself.

** Boromir in ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' manages continue fighting even while pincushioned by arrows as thick as sausages, though the scene is presented as his LastStand and it's clearly depicted as fatal from the first one, and he ultimately does succumb. Later, Pippin states, "The mightiest man may be slain by one arrow, and Boromir was pierced by many."

* The Qin army's arrows in ''Film/{{Hero}}'' are attributed to being the army's strongest attribute and are likened to artillery. The badass kung fu warrior-magicians, however, swat them away like nothing. In the end [[spoiler:Nameless allows himself to be killed by the Emperor's arrows, though they have to fire so many at him that it leaves a shadow in the arrows embedded into the wall behind him]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': Phoebus is shot in the back with an arrow. Not only does Esmeralda manage to yank it out underwater, not only does the wound somehow move from approximately his shoulderblade to the front of his shoulder, but after barely any convalescence (less than an hour) he's up and kicking again. Worth noting that it's still a subversion in some senses, as the arrow did still down him, as opposed to him just continuing on.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' arrows deal much less damage than sword strikes. They're mostly used for inflicting StatusEffects.

** Green Arrow once shot ComicBook/SolomonGrundy with enough arrows to fill a pincushion, but inflicted no substantive damage. Given that Grundy is a) ImmuneToBullets and b) already dead, this is entirely justified.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' arrows deal much less damage than sword strikes. They're mostly used for inflicting StandardStatusEffects.