Bows弓: Lore and Examination

     You start your morning in the cold desert tundra. Feeling near frozen to death and pondering on why’ve you accidentally grabbed mega demon drugs instead of hot drinks. ‘Why do they have to look the exact same,’ you say to yourself while shivering alone in your sleeping bag inside the tent. You then turn over only to see three things. A large dagger. A quiver. A bow. These were the only things left you had at your immediate disposal. Well, it's time you put your archery to good use, and try to hunt something in this antarctic wasteland.

     Today, we will examine the lore, history of the bow, why it was made, the anatomy of most of the bows, explain and discuss the types of shots and how they are unique to each bow, examining the arrows, and how the coating system works and theories about it.

    As the first topic, the history of the most easiest and most fast paced range weapon in a hunter’s arsenal. The bow.

Bows in the history of Monster Hunter came a little late in the game. Only arriving in Monster Hunter Freedom Unite after the bowgun’s appearance in Monster Hunter Freedom. It would be logical to assume that the monster hunting bow was invented from a normal wooden long bow that was used for defense of cities, farms, etc.. Soon, the bow was evolved into one were it was practical enough to fight against large monsters rather than people. Since necessity breeds invention, one of the reasons for the creation of the bow may have been because hunters became tired of hulling extremely heavy ranged equipment on hunts. The bow would have been obviously lighter than a bowgun and just as effective in of it having ranged capabilities. Tracking monsters in deserts, jungles, and frigid areas will only increase the likely hood of missing the tracks of a monsters or being attacked without much defense or possibility to get to cover if one were to carry that equipment. Faster weapons that required less time for reloading and packing, as a bowgun, were needed in the field as quick as possible. The invention of the bow solved this issue. This is single out of many possibilities this weapon was needed however.

     Now, for the bow’s anatomy.

In the real world, there are four types of bows: recurves, compounds, traditional, and crossbows. Most bows in the Monster Hunter series are compound bows. A slight curved piece of metal and monster parts that has many systems of pulleys and other mechanisms near the center of the weapon. Crossbows are in this game as well as they are the bowguns, but that's for another time. Compound bows are pretty complicated to use, as the initial draw of the bow is quite difficult to pull, and even more so to maintain that draw and to hold the bow steady for a perfect shot. This is most likely why the initial draw for each bow is painfully heavy and slow.

     Other bows in the game are traditional. These traditional bows are normally just curved pieces of monster parts and a draw string put from the top end to the bottom end of the body of the bow. For example, Rajang’s bow, called the Archbent Thunderbow, is a traditional style bow made from stoutbone, Rajang fangs, etc. These stoutangs anchor the ends of the string and gives it some of its draw weight and power.

     Now the arrows on the these are absolutely massive. If one were compared to a six foot male hunter, these arrows could reach to the middle of the hunter’s back easily. Judging by the size of the quivers, being a little less than half the size of the bow, these arrows could be as half as long at the hunter and extremely thick.

    In Monster Hunter, four types of bow shots exist. Rapid, spread, pierce, and heavy. Rather than the arrows causing the types of shots, the bow and the level of draw behind the string dictates how the arrows fly or break up. Other than speculating that these are custom made arrows designed to break or continue at certain ranges and speeds, it's very hard to say how the bows themselves dictate the arrows type with definitive evidence. Rapid shots are shots when the arrow splits itself apart vertically during flight. Depending on the type of bow and power behind the draw of the string, the arrow may split into more or less arrows during flight. This rapid shot was most likely made for beginners and those who hunted medium to small sized monsters given that its design may have been to catch small monster or game running away from the archer. Maybe even to hit certain body parts more than once in a monster for extra damage. For instance, shooting along the spine of a monster with rapid shot would immediately hinder the monster from moving somewhere in its body, or shooting at the face where possibly two arrows will be close enough to hit the same spot. Spread shot is the shot arrow breaks apart horizontally during flight. This is usually referred to by hunters as a shotgun like effect as the spread of the shot travels far apart on launch. Therefore, not having nearly as much range as any other ranged weapons or type of shots. Since this shot pushes hunters to come closer to the monster, this shot was probably used for large or medium sized monsters. Given that the only creatures this shoot could be effective against have to be very wide, long, and slow. Pierce shots are shots that stay as a single arrow, but rips through monsters and causes damage as it travels through their bodies. Depending on the type of bow, this shot will course further or shorter through the monster's body to cause more or less harm along its way. This shot can be the most damaging a hunter can equip if used against the right monsters. Those kind of monsters are the extremely long or large kind. For these monsters, it is easier to maintain good a distance from them, as their large bodies will let the arrow fly through more of their body, and maybe even then some. Heavy shots are very exotic shots. This shot is made for the main purpose of breaking monster parts, and is highly recommend to be used on slow or large monsters, because these arrows cannot be shot any further than fifteen to thirty feet ahead of the archer. Otherwise, the arrows will always fall short.

     Moving on, there are four types of secondary shots. These are: focus, wide, blast, and power. Depending on the type of bow you get, it may have one of the focus, wide, or blast, but equipping the adept style will cause any bow’s secondary to be replaced by the power shot. Focus shots are sent into the air with a parachute attached to the tail of the arrow. Once the arrow begins to fall and the parachute slows it down at a certain speed, the arrow explodes and sends multiple circular and sharp pellet-like objects down from above in a concentrated space. This can cause a monster to be knocked out, but only if the head is hit multiple times. Wide secondary shots nearly do the same thing as focus, but instead of a narrow area where the spiked balls fall, it has a much wider area. Instead of having knock outs per-say, the archer uses this as a means of easily afflicting the monster with debilitations such as paralysis or poison with much ease. Blast shots are shots that, instead exploding into spiked balls, fall down on top of the monster as a single devastating explosion. This can cause knock outs on monsters quicker than focus shots, but be wary as it can knock teammates back as well.

     The last topic to touch on with bows are coatings. Now coatings are what make monster hunting archers different from any type of normal townsman archer. In the past, people have used to apply, or coat, substances in their arrow heads. These were usually poisons to make the thing being shot die within minutes, become paralyzed so it can stop the thing from being from moving after a certain period for an easy kill, or sometimes a hallucinogenic drug that induces visions and sleep. So it wouldn't be such a bad a idea to afflict these on monsters if hunters are able to.

     In turn, applying these to bows that are larger than the archer itself will be difficult. Especially since the arrow heads are larger than any human hand. There needs to be much the debilitating material to cover even one arrow, and that’s even if it hits the monster. So in necessity, the invention of the cartridges were born. These cartridges save time and storage space by compiling multiple debilitation coatings within one bottle. Saving travel time, improving the ease of use with the bow, and giving it amazing practicality in hunts against any type of monster.

     Only certain bows can equip certain types of coating cartridges. This is most likely due to the compatibility of the material used for the bow. Certain materials, monsters or not, may nullify the effect of certain debilitations, while on the other hand, boosting others for a more power effect or longer duration.

     Overall, this is an amazing weapon with great history. The lore, anatomy, and special uses of the bow can make it interesting, skillful, and versatile.

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