Arrow

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An arrow is a sharp projectile launched by a bow, essentially serving as the ammunition for that weapon. It consists of a shaft with a sharp tip called an arrowhead situated at the front and stabilizers called fletchings attached at the rear.^[1]^[2] The arrowhead is most commonly forged from metal while the fletchings are typically made of feathers and the shaft cut from wood. The Italian Brotherhood of Assassins specifically used iron for the arrowhead and pine for the shafts. A portable container or bag used to carry arrows is called a quiver.^[3]

History[]

The bow and arrow has been ubiquitous across human cultures for thousands of years, serving as one of their most fundamental ranged weapons in hunting and warfare,^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6] but with the advent of firearms, they gradually became obsolete.^[1]^[7]^[8] By the 18th century, bows were no longer standard among European militaries like the British Army, but indigenous peoples in the Americas continued to wield them. The Kanien'kehá:ka Assassin Ratonhnhaké:ton was trained in firearms and carried around a pistol, but he still relied on the bow when his missions called for long-range precision and stealth.^[1]

A variety of arrows can be crafted for specialized use. As far back as ancient Greece, mercenaries like Kassandra the Eagle Bearer were making fire arrows, explosive arrows, poisoned arrows, arrows specialized for penetrating armour, and blunt arrows for less-lethal takedowns.^[6]

In times of war, a common tactic was to group archers together to release volleys of arrows upon enemy forces, a formation that has proven effective in defending besieged walls and killing key commanders in ambushes.^[9]^[10]^[11] The sight of the sky bespeckled with raining arrows can be both severely demoralizing and highly lethal to a mass of soldiers unprotected by shields and fortifications.^[12]

During the An Lushan Rebellion, a Tang army of new recruits was driven into a frenzied rout by unrelenting hails of arrows as the Yeluohe cavalry archers chased them all the way to the gates of Tong Pass. There, the Yeluohe assault was finally stopped by the return fire of Tang archers posted on the walls. Those that were trapped outside the walls—Yeluohe and Tang soldiers alike—were massacred to the last man in the moat.^[12] Later that same year, 756, Yeluohe lieutenant general He Qiannian fell to an ambush at a gulley near Liquan Station as he marched with reinforcements for Tumen Pass. A counter-rebellion force led by the Hidden One Li E and Changshan Grand Protector Yan Gaoqing hemmed them in from all sides before unleashing wave after wave of arrows.^[11]

Many centuries later during the Italian Renaissance, the Assassin Mentor Ezio Auditore da Firenze would repeatedly employ a tactic called the arrow storm, where he would signal his apprentices hiding in the vicinity to instantly eliminate all the enemies around him with synchronized, precise shots.^[7] The Italian Assassins were exceptionally skilled at this coordinated manoeuvre. Around 1503, they employed it to save the life of Templar defector Fiora Cavazza from Baltasar de Silva just as he was about to order a similar attack on her by his arquebusiers.^[13]