[Dragaera] Bear with me please? (Spoliers for Orca, Issola, SL, others)

[Louis Eastman]

On 8/4/06, Jon Lincicum <lincicum at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> 1
> 2
> 3
> 4
> 5
> 6
> 7
> 8
> 9
> 10
> 11
> 12
> 13
> 14
> 15
> 16
> 17
> >             Why are Bow-and-Arrows called Javelin-Shooter?
> >
> >
> > Because they don't use arrows, or bows. They fling javelins, also known
> as
> > pilums,
> > farther than you could throw them-think of a slingshot and you're close.
> > More info; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilum
> >
> There are actually a few references to arrows in various points in the
> books, although I don't recall exactly where. These may have gone in
> before SKZB decided to call them all "javelins" instead.
>
> Of course, it's possible that "arrows" and "javelins" have been used by
> different armies at different times in Dragaeran history, and that
> "arrow" is simply not the term that is currently in vogue.
>
> This may also be one of those things that can be explained away by
> "mistranslation" from the Dragaeran tongue to English, also.
>
>
> Majikjon


Well, it sounds reasonable, but unless these are very big arrows, I don't
know
how effective they would be by sticking into a shield and levering it aside,
like
Vlad does in Dragon. Also the fact that they are throwing weapons on Vlad's
side
pretty much discounts the arrow theory- I can't think of a useful way of
throwing three
arrows that would be accurate and have enough force to hurt someone.