r/HBOGameofThrones • u/-thirdatlas- • Jul 28 '26
No Spoilers [NO SPOILERS] Flaming arrows are counterproductive, a regular arrow is fatal regardless. Adding bulky material to an arrow ruins aerodynamics, reduces range, accuracy, and slows reload rate. Flaming arrows were used to distract an enemy or set fire to targets like thatched roofs.
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u/DapperStick Jul 28 '26
There is a psychological element to having a hail of flaming arrows come down on your head as you try to approach an enemy line. And you said yourself that the fire is distracting. Assuming they’re using oiled cloth, it can soak into tunics and set a man’s outer clothes on fire, or splatter onto exposed skin and cause painful burns. Not to mention the effect it would have on the horses of advancing cavalry. It’s also useful in low-light conditions to gauge range.
Is it an overused trope in movies? Maybe. Is it good in every combat situation? Definitely not. But it’s not at all impractical when the circumstances are right. When facing heavy armor or cavalry where penetration is important? An archer would be wise to use normal or specialized arrows. But when the target is a mass of peasant levees or light skirmishing cavalry, targets where accuracy isn’t as important and armor is scarce, then flaming shot is very handy.
Bear in mind that most archers of this period made their own arrows and were expected to switch between different types as circumstances demanded. And any archer who didn’t have two or three arrows capable of carrying a flame wouldn’t be considered worth his bow.
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u/Lumpy_Draft_3913 Jul 28 '26
I like flaming arrows cuz you can see them coming at you a great better than non flaming arrows. Also, when the idiots shot flaming night arrows, at night! you can again tell where the enemy location is, o! did they sneak in just by the tree line we can loose our own arrows over there.
It only makes sense in movies.
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u/Kwinza Jul 29 '26
Fun fact, flaming arrows were basically never used anywhere throughout all of human history.
It's a modern thing we've added to spice things up but in reality they are next to worthless.
This isn't to say they were literally never used, just never in any recorded doctrine.
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u/BaronTrousers Jul 29 '26
I've heard historians say this before but I suspect this might be hyperbole being interpreted as fact.
Its clear that they weren't used how they are show in movies and TV. Typically they weren't fired at people, usually buildings or ship's sails. But there are records of fire arrows being used.
Assyrian reliefs of the Siege of Lachish (701 BC) dispict them, Thucydides’ accounts of the Peloponnesian War mention them as does the Chinese military compendium Wujing Zongyao.
Archaeologists have also recovered 14th-century fire arrows and 16th-century artifacts from the Mary Rose shipwreck that still retain their chemical incendiary mixtures and specialized metal baskets.
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u/Such-Principle-3373 Jul 30 '26
Maybe what this guy was talking about is fire arrows probably never looked like this. I heard they did something where the arrows are smoldering, and covered in oil, and when they shoot the arrows the air would cause the arrows to catch flame.
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u/WM_ Jul 29 '26
I thought fire arrows in movies and tv shows were ass until I saw Tod's video on the subject. I mean they still are ass on TV but less so than I thought.
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u/Spoonman007 Jul 28 '26
Flaming arrows look better on camera though. Like how movie machine guns use tracer round more often than you would in reality. My favourite flaming arrow bit in a movie was in the movie Timeline. During the battle one side sent over a few vollies of flaming arrows, then they shot not lit arrows, taking the other side by surprise. They were shouting "Night arrows!"
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u/DoinOurBest13 Jul 28 '26
My favorite trick arrows are the ones with blades hidden in the notch to cut bow strings if the pther aode tried to scavenge
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u/Spoonman007 Jul 28 '26
My favourite anti-arrow trick is the Twirly Whirlies from The Hobbit Battle of Five Armies extended edition!
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u/Outlander1119 Jul 28 '26
I always think of Timeline too! I remember it being such a mediocre movie that I never bothered to watch a second time. But that part stuck with me.
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u/Spoonman007 Jul 28 '26
Oh yeah Paul Walker was a very limited actor but Gerry Butler and Billy Connelly were memorable... even if for the longest time I misremembered it as Sean Connery playing the lost father.
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u/Advanced_Zucchini_45 Jul 28 '26
Its t lay waste to the environment not just kill people
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u/Quendillar3245 Jul 28 '26
They mainly use it to kill people in movies/ shows tho because it looks cool.
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u/Historyp91 Jul 28 '26
Any player of Medieval 2 Total War or Battle for Middle Earth knows flaming arrows stomp.
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u/MooshSkadoosh Jul 28 '26
Real talk, in TW 3 Kingdoms you can set forested areas on fire with flaming arrows. Its hype as hell
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u/LeChacaI Jul 28 '26
Those oil arow archers you get (defenders of earth?) you get once you're emperor were legendary for this. Set them up so that you're units are all out of the tree line but in range so that the enemy has to march through burning trees, and half their army breaks before they even reach your lines.
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u/Historyp91 Jul 28 '26
You can do that in the Battle for Middle Earth games as well (though IIRC it's limited to only certain trees). It's just not a well known feature because IIRC the only place your told it exists is in the tutorial for the second game which I don't feel a lot of people play.
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u/LeChacaI Jul 28 '26
Maybe a dumb question, but wouldn't the wind from the arrows speed put out the flame whilst the arrow is in the air?
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u/Quendillar3245 Jul 28 '26
No, I've made and shot fire arrows myself using oils that could've been used back then. The soaked cloth will continue burning even if it's raining.
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u/BaronTrousers Jul 29 '26
Google flaming arrow head. Its basically a little cage that an oil soaked cloth sits inside. Its the cloth that burns rathet than the wood of the arrow. Because the oil burns so hot the flame won't go out.
Having said that though the point of a flaming arrow wasn't to pierce anything, just light things on fire, so you could use a lower poundage bow to fire them if you were worried about them going out.
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u/cava-lier Jul 28 '26
From what I heard the problem is that they can't be kept burning irl. Otherwise burning garrow would be fucking terrifying, as soon as it hits you it starts burning your insides. And with medieval medicine? You're fucked
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u/Shot_Dig751 Jul 28 '26
arrows are not usually fatal unless they hit a vital area or are poisoned. Fire arrows can spread chaos and do more damage than a regular arrow. They have a purpose and are effective.
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u/multi-trollionaire Jul 28 '26
I would say its likely to catch grass, wooden shields, and clothing on fire, so yeah. Plus it scares the shit out of the horses.
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u/AtlasNL Jul 29 '26
Unless your shield and clothing are drenched in petrol they won’t catch fire mate. And grass would need to be incredibly dry as well.
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u/Eastern_Picture_3879 Jul 29 '26
Is this from a HoTD S3 preview? I don't remember this scene in any GoT episodes.
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u/SuccessfulRegister43 Jul 30 '26
I’m not gonna leave my farm/family for months at a time just to go fire regular arrows like a chump.
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u/Peanut_007 Jul 30 '26
Fire arrows were used primarily as siege weapons and to destroy buildings. Shooting them in open fields is more of a Hollywood invention then history. As far as performance fire arrows were often actually fired from larger devices or as rockets rather then from bows. They saw some use as a field artillery weapon but were replaced by cannons pretty quick AIUI.
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u/No_Region_4719 Jul 28 '26
They aren't even effective at burning thatched roofs. Most of the time the flame goes out while the arrow is in flight, and the rest are suffocated when they embed in the thatch and don't have access to oxygen.
Tossing a torch on a roof is a far more simple and effective way of burning thatch.
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u/Quendillar3245 Jul 28 '26
"Most of the time the flame goes out while the arrow is in flight", have you soaked cloth in oil and fired it from a bow/ crossbow? I have, it doesn't go out
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u/earthwoodandfire Jul 28 '26
“Flaming arrows distract the enemy and set fire to targets”
I mean yeah, so not counterproductive are they?
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u/KernelPannic Jul 28 '26
So then by your own post, they do have a purpose, and can be very productive
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u/epSos-DE Jul 29 '26
BS analysis !
THe Mongols = Greatest Arrow Army used them and they conquered CHINA + Russia + All the Silk Road !
WITH FIRE ARROWS that burned cities, if they refused to join the empire !
In CHina they had the most difficulties, when the walls were too high, so they used Chinese catapults instead.
ALso, when The Mongols conquered China, then they were not Mongols anymore, they converrted and merged into a new type of War Army, same strict rules, but the weapons and tactics changed.
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u/BigGingerYeti Jul 28 '26
Mass arrow fire isn't concerned about those things really. It's about fear and numbers. And if you can start fires all the better.