Choose Your Weapon - Ranged

 

Archery in Anime

Ranged Weapons

In today's issue of Choose Your Weapon, we will consider 'ranged' weapons, a category that includes the bow, crossbow, repeating crossbow, slingshot and blow gun. As you can see, the main focus is on the archer.

Archery has been with us from the start of humankind,  with arrowheads found in South Africa dating back 60,000 years. Think of this weapon as 'archetypal' in that it has been found in all places, all cultures and all times, from neolithic beginnings to contemporary Olympic games. 

It's as pervasive in pictorial form and literature too, from cave paintings in Spain from 20,000 years ago to Homer's account of Prince Paris who slays Achilles. Of course, he also told stories about the huntress, the goddess Artemis and Eros, the god of love whose dart would cause his victims to fall in love.

Writing characters who use archery is often intricate, centering and poetic. There is something about the moments before, during and after the shot that defies time, creating the opportunity for an inner journey that no other weapon can, at least to me.

Whether to feed the tribe, slay the enemy or seduce the lover, archery holds a powerful position in storytelling. 

Subgenres with Archery

Fantasy Books - examples are LOTR by JRR Tolkien, Fire by Kristin Kashor, Heir of Fire by Sarah J Mass and The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black.

Anime - Ashitaka in Princess Momonoke, Tigreurmud Vorn, Lord Marksman and Vanadis.

Superhero Comics - Marvel's Hawkeye and DC Comic's Green Arrow.

Urban Fantasy Books- Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan.

Film and Gaming

Disney - Merida in Brave, Cassandra in Tangled and of course Hercules ... in Hercules.

Adventure - Lara Croft in Tomb Raider!

Ledgen - Robin Hood!

Ancient Myths - Psyche and Eros, Apollo, Artemis, Ullr (Norse god of the hunt).

Gaming - Diablo, Elder Scrolls, Witcher, Path of Exile, Baldur's Gate, Minecraft Dungeons, Chop-Chop, Divinity, Magic the Gathering...

What are your favorite archers in the Fantasy genre? I'd love to hear about them.

See you in the comments.

xxKim

Choose Your Weapon Series 2024

Poison

The Perfect Storm

The Sword

Firearms

Ranged

Spells

Unarmed

Curses

Time Travel

Invisibility

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About Kim Falconer

Kim Falconer, currently writing as AK Wilder, has released Crown of Bones, a YA Epic Fantasy with Curse of Shadows as book 2 in the series. Currently, she is working on the third book, out in 2024.

Kim can be found on  AKWilder Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

Throw the bones, read your horoscopes or Raise Your Phantom on the AKWilder.com site

Are You Game?

The Witcher, based on the novel series of The Witcher by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski.

When I think of how diverse, well crafted and emotionally charged video games have become in the last decade, it's no surprise to find popular novels have found a home on this platform. Take Harry Potter, first up. There are dozens of games under this title! You can check out all the HP games here, rated from worst to best. The Lego one cracks me up.

Harry, Ron and Hermione in LEGO Harry Potter 

But a novel doesn't have to be an NYTimes bestseller to provide a jumping-off point to explore deeply complicated political ideas through computer gaming. From Ayn Rand to the Ming dynasty, here are a few games you probably didn’t realise were based on literary works.

Enslaved: Oydyssey to the West

The 16th-century Chinese story, 'Journey to the West,' was the jumping-off point for a post-apocalyptic action video game, 'Enslaved: Odyssey to the West,'  

Then there's the Slovenian novel 'Alamut' published in 1938 where we learn 'nothing is an absolute reality, all is permitted.' Players of 'Assassin's Creed' (an action-adventure stealth video game published by Ubisoft using the game engine Anvil) will recognise the spirit of that line seen throughout the franchise: 'Nothing is true, everything is permitted.'

Fan art posted in r/assassin's creed by u/Sketchy-Linez

But the odd thing I'm finding as I look at the fantasy-book-to-game model is the absence, or very little at least, of urban fantasy representation complete with kick-ass heroines. With all the popularity of shows like Supernatural, the X-Files, Buffy, True Blood, Vampire Diaries, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and more it just feels like there’s a lot of room for the gaming industry to explore. We know there are plenty of books out there that would be fabulous jumping-off points.

I can think of a few just looking at our Sup author's backlists!

Let me know your thoughts? Any book in mind you'd love to see turned into a game?

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Kim Falconer's New YA Fantasy Series is out March 2020 - The Bone Throwers. 

Also, check her urban fantasy out now - The Blood in the Beginning - and Ava Sykes Novel and the SFF Quantum Enchantment Series. 

You can find Kim on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.