Great Bow

Whoever wields them is a great person too.^note Also seriously, that "arrow" is so big and great that you could just use it as a weapon in and of itself.

"Ahh, this Greatbow? I shan't need it, with no dragons to hunt. I know not if a human could even operate it, but here, thy need outweighs mine."

— Hawkeye Gough, Dark Souls

When you take Bigger Is Better for bows, you get the Great Bow, a type of bows so large that it almost towers over the wielder. It often requires an Anchored Attack Stance to be used, and is capable of firing abnormally huge projectiles designed for shooting down large beasts or opening a hole on a wall.

Generally speaking, these type of bows can fire more powerful projectiles than ordinary bows, and using them against humanoid targets is often comparable to firing a ballista bolt toward a person. Whoever gets hit by the huge arrows would get knocked flying, or be reduced to a pile of mincemeat, if not get killed in one hit.

Due to their immense size, sometimes they can be used as melee weapons.

Compare BFG for big guns, Hand Cannon for big one-handed guns, and BFS for big swords. For bows that look great in aesthetics rather than size, see Impossibly Cool Weapon, although depending on how big said bow is, the two can overlap.

In order to be qualified as this trope, the bow has to be as tall as the wielder, and it has to be a portable weapon. Stationary ballistae not carried by anyone don't count as this trope, that belongs to Siege Engines. However, if a character wields a ballista as a handheld weapon, it still counts as this trope, although will definitely need some Super-Strength or have to be some sort of giant.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Bleach: Uryū Ishida starts off wielding an Energy Bow called Kojaku, and can increase its size at-will to make it larger than he is tall. During the Arrancar Arc, he upgrades to a ridiculously massive spider-web shaped bow called Ginrei Kojaku, which can fire thousands of arrows in a single shot.
• The Dainsleif Rod from Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans is an illegal weapon fired from a bow-like launcher that is taller than a Mobile Suit, firing ranged projectiles capable of penetrating Nanolaminate Armor. It is commonly attached onto a Graze variant, costing the left arm slot to equip the bows.
• In Sailor Moon Rei is sometimes seen exercising with the yumi, Japan's traditional (and enormous) bow. As Sailor Mars, her most powerful attack Mars Flame Sniper involves a yumi made out of fire.
• In Gamaran, Arata Nakaizumi, one of the largest and best muscled men in the series, makes his return wielding the large daikyu Reigetsu (lit. Dark Moon), a bow as tall as he his (and, as previously mentioned, he's one of the tallest guys), thick and squared, it's openly mentioned that only the true masters of the Nakaizumi School can use it, and Arata does, to shoot special arrows strong enough to rip arms off their sockets and smash castle gates open.
• Symphogear. Chris Yukine's Relic, Ichaival, can manifest a variety of long range-projectile weaponry, mainly bows (including some bigger than her), though due to her violent imagination she can also manifest things such as gatling guns and missiles.

Comic Books

• In his first appearance (in The Bronze Age of Comic Books), Bullseye had Daredevil strapped into one of these as his Death Trap du jour.

Literature

• Discworld:
  • Detritus uses a ballista firing six-foot-long iron arrows as a crossbow (although as a troll, the massive weapon is just barely bigger than he is). He later upgrades it to fire sheaves of arrows that catch fire from air friction and tend to spread out, to the point where just about the only safe place to be when he fires is right behind him. It's called the Piecemaker.
  • Pyramids has a brief mention of the "punt bow" (based on the real world punt gun), described as "a fearsomely complicated invention which at considerable risk to its operators could turn a slough full of innocent waterfowl into so much floating pâté".
• Princesses of the Pizza Parlor: Princesses Don't Do Summer School has Gwenevrael holding a silvery bow that is about an inch taller than her in-universe, based on measuring her vs. the bow.
• Redwall: One hare is known for a bow so huge the arrows are the size of javelins.
• The Odyssey: Odysseus makes himself officially known to his wife when she declares she will marry the man who succeeds in stringing her husband's huge bow. Odysseus is the only one to succeed... which leaves him holding a loaded weapon in front of the men who've been abusing his island's hospitality.
• The Stormlight Archive: There are supernaturally powered swords known as Shardblades and armor known as Shardplate. Large bows are referred to as "Shardbows", not because they have any supernatural abilities, but because you need Shardplate to wield one. Rock manages to use one to take down Amaram in Oathbringer, notably without using any shardplate at all.

Live-Action TV

• In the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones Series 4, 'The Watchers on the Wall', the Wildlings launch a massive attack on the Wall, supported by a couple of giants riding mammoths. One of them wields an enormous bow (not that big comparative to his size, admittedly, but still a full-draw longbow) which, when the Wildlings' puny arrows fail to reach the top of the wall (700 feet), he demonstrates to terrifying effect. His first shot smashes through the one of the shelters the Black Brothers stand in at the top of the wall; his second hits one poor sap square in the chest, sending him rocketing into the air high above the wall before plummeting all the way down to the ground on the other side. If he was lucky, he was dead before he hit the ground...

Manhwa

• Olios in Yureka wields an enormous bow with arrows so large that they're compared to spears.

Tabletop Games

• Dungeons & Dragons features a number of these as exotic weapons:
  • The Greatbow, a slightly upgraded Longbow, is described as being at least 6ft tall while strung. While Composite Longbows can be used while mounted due to being less cumbersome than the regular variety, Composite Greatbows cannot.
  • The Bone Bow, a similar weapon crafted from the bones and sinew of mammoths, explicitly has a spike for bracing it in the ground while shooting. Shooting a Bone Bow without proficiency takes the user's entire turn, in addition to the normal accuracy penalty.
  • The Footbow is a raptoran-made bow so powerful that it requires both hands to draw, meaning it can normally be used only while the wielder is flying and gripping it with their feet.
  • A number of "handheld ballistae" also exist, including the Icechucker (which shoots javelins or icicles) and the Great Crossbow. Neither come in repeating varieties, however.
• The Long Powerbow in Exalted is an artifact version of a longbow, with a bowstave made from one of the Five Magical Materials, and can easily approach sufficient size to qualify.
• Warhammer: Tomb King Ushabti wield Great Bows, which are as tall as the Ushabti, while the Necrolith Colossi can be upgraded with the even bigger Bow of the Desert, also about as tall as the Colossus. Both constructs can draw and fire these massive creations, which hit as hard as some War Machines of other factions.

Video Games

• In Age of Empires II, the Britons' special unit is the longbowman, a deadly infantry archer unit that when fully upgraded can outrange the defensive fire of a castle structure, theoretically letting a group of longbowmen destroy a stone bulwark through a Death of a Thousand Cuts. Unfortunately, the Britons lack the "Thumb Ring" technology upgrade that improves archer accuracy, as a form of Competitive Balance.
• Arknights: Erato uses a massive bow shaped like a harp, and Typhon wields a gigantic compound bow that is bigger than she is tall and shoots massive harpoon arrows that she can rain down on her target.
• Although Juris of Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk usually wields a machete and a small, foldable crossbow, he summons a bow that's taller than him when performing his Finishing Move, Grand Slam.
• The "Ballista" skill in Armory & Machine. On use, it deals a huge amount of penetrating damage along with regular damage. Its drawbacks are that it costs 30 steel bolts as ammo per use, and it has a very long 30 second cooldown.
• The Wolf Clan's Ballistamen of Battle Realms wield siege ballistae as personal weapons, carrying them into battle on their backs and then firing it without taking it off. The ballista fires twenty pound logs in place of regular ballista bolts and is bigger than the ballistaman, who needs to stand still and anchor himself before being able to fire it. They can also use it to fire large totems with the blessing from a Druidess.
  Ballistaman: This thing needs wheels!
• In the video game adaptation of Brave Merida starts out a regular bow like the ones she uses in the film and can eventually find several new (and larger bows) that fit the trope, the final one being not only taller than Merida but wider by two shoulder widths! May be justified as the bows are implied to be magical in nature compared to Merida's starting weapon.
• Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead has 198cm-long Greatbows, which are useless unless you have an extremely high strength stat.
• Conqueror's Blade features the Vassal Longbowmen unit, which uses the traditional English longbow - a significantly larger weapon than the standard recurve bows that everyone else has.
• The Elona Game Mod Elona Plus adds ballistae as ranged weapons that use the Crossbows skill. Despite being extremely heavy (although that depends on their material), you can wield them like any other weapon with no problems as long as you carry less inventory to make up for it.
• Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City has the Arbalist class, who wield humongous crossbows almost as big as they are. Said weapons can also shoot element-imbued arrows, namely those based on the Fire, Ice, Lightning trio.
• Dark Souls:
  • The Trope Namer is the Dragonslayer Greatbow from Dark Souls, a bow so large that it towers over the wielder, to the point it requires an Anchored Attack Stance to be used. Naturally, due to its immense size, it can fire lance-sized projectiles made for hunting dragons, and the Silver Knights are more than happy to knock you down from the roof of Anor Londo with their bows and arrows. Hawkeye Gough, a predecessor of the Silver Knights, has his own homemade bow that is heavier, bigger, and he uses it to shoot down Black Dragon Kalameet despite being blind himself.
  • Dark Souls II adds several more greatbows. The most common one the player gains access to is the Alonne Greatbow, a type of greatbow wielded by the Alonne Knights, soldiers of the Old Iron King who were trained by a legendary warrior from the East. Later examples include the Possessed Armor Greatbow, carried by the Possessed Armors in the Crown of the Old Iron King DLC, and the Twin-Headed Greatbow from the Crown of the Ivory King DLC. The original Dragonslayer Greatbow can also be obtained as a New Game Plus bonus.
  • Dark Souls III, due to its nature as the final entry in the trilogy, obviously includes many weapons from the previous games, and the Dragonslayer Greatbow and Alonne Greatbow are no exception. The Ashes of Ariandel DLC even adds the Millwood Greatbow, a Strength-oriented greatbow that comes with a weapon art that causes any arrows fired to explode at the point of impact after a short delay, effectively making it a rocket launcher in a fantasy setting.
• Elden Ring:
  • Besides the standard Greatbow wielded by Knights of the demigods (which the player can obtain very early in the game), the player can also eventually obtain the Lion Greatbow, the greatbow once wielded by Starscourge Radahn. What's special about the Lion Greatbow is that its weapon art allows it to unleash a Rain of Arrows on the location of its target, and said arrows can include those fitted with explosive tips, effectively turning Death of a Thousand Cuts into Death of a Thousand Grenades.
  • The Golem class of enemy that the player can encounter throughout the Lands Between will sometimes wield greatbows appropriate to their size. Keep in mind that these Golems are the size of buildings, meaning that their greatbows are similarly absurdly sized, with each easily being as tall as a school bus is long. Obviously for gameplay's sake though, if the player manages to pick one up it will shrink down to an appropriate size, being about the same size as other greatbows.
  • The ballista weapon class, which as the name suggests are miniaturized siege weapons you carry on your person. Unlike greatbows their damage output isn't reliant on the wielder's damage stats (beyond meeting the requirements to use the weapon in the first place), and their long reloading times make them a liability since the player is left extremely vulnerable after firing a shot. Despite this disadvantage, it is far easier to get explosive ammo for them, and said explosive ammo has a much larger splash radius, making it much easier to damage moving targets.
• Almost every bow in Monster Hunter is taller than the hunters carrying it. Granted, the bows are made for slaying monsters as large as a house. Despite their size, they are treated as fast, weak-hitting weapons.
• Ishtar in Fate/Grand Order has the "Heavenly Boat Maanna", which is not only an airship but an enormous bow, composed of two crescent-shaped objects connected by rope that floats alongside her. It uses planets (the distilled concept of the planet Venus, if you want to get technical) as ammunition - gods in the Nasuverse really don't mess around.
• Snipers from Fire Emblem apply, at least in the GBA games◊.
• In Medieval II: Total War, the English faction, true to history, specializes in longbowmen. Their weapons outrange and out-damage every other archer unit, and longbowmen can also set sharpened stakes in the ground in front of them during the deployment phase, which instantly kill any cavalry dumb enough to run into them. The Kingdoms expansion's "Brittania" campaign adds the Welsh and their longbowmen.
• Red Alert 3: Archer Maidens wield technologically advanced bows capable of hitting aircraft (and are the Empire's first Anti-Air weapon) and can also fire a volley of arrows for less damage across a wide area. When bunkered in a multigunner turret/IFV, the default weapon is replaced with an even bigger version of the bow.
• Rimworld: Greatbows are one weapon option, and the single best weapon one can get when it comes to low-tech options. It manages to compete with revolvers by sheer dint of damage done and good accuracy, and it has very good range as well. Their exact size is never specified, however.

Webcomics

• Jagganoth from Kill Six Billion Demons uses a gigantic composite bow in Breaker of Infinities. Given that Jagganoth is canonically thirty feet tall, the fact that the bow reaches from his feet to over his head while in a firing stance suggests it has a span of at least thirty-five to forty feet.

Western Animations

• That hopeless coyote from Chuck Jones' Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner cartoons has tried a few times using a huge bow to catch his prey. Mostly, the fool tries using himself as the projectile. His 0% success rate remains intact.
• A jury-rigged version of this trope (combined with a bit of Bifurcated Weapon) is used in Craig of the Creek's "Capture The Flag: Finale", where both Green Ponchos: Omar and Michelle, combine their bows together (via taping the remains of Omar's broken bow to Michelle's bow and make it larger) so they could use it to launch Kelsey as the arrow, to finally defeat Maya.

Real Life

• The Yumi is a type of Japanese traditional asymmetrical bow with a length that towers most of the European bows, and the grip is located at about two thirds of the distance from the upper tip. While it can't fire lance-sized projectiles, its range is still impressive. There's also the Daikyu ^note literally Great Bow, with an even longer bow length than the Yumi.
• The English longbow was often taller than the average man of the time (up to 2.1 m in length) and fired 0.8 m-long arrows at 300+ m range. They required such well-developed back muscles that the skeletons of archers that have been exhumed from battlefields show evidence of what would qualify as deformities in the modern day. An English proverb goes as such; "To train a longbowman, start at his grandfather".
• As far as toy bows go, the NERF Dude Perfect Signature Bow is gigantic. At over a meter long, it's more or less the size of a proper bow, hence being definitely big for children, which it's still partly marketed towards. This could explain why its original form, the Platinum Bow for the Rebelle line aimed towards young girls, had ultimately never been released.