Yes and no. The orc siege of Helm’s Deep in the film version of the Two Towers shows the battle taking place during an intense downpour. Archers from all sides loose arrows despite the fact that their bowstrings would have become completely saturated with water. Every archer knows that water is one of the worst enemies a bowstring made from natural materials can have. This is the main reason why archers historically have waxed their strings and kept spare strings in waterproof containers.

If the Two Towers were set in the modern era in which we have synthetic string material that does not readily absorb moisture, then it wouldn’t be much of an issue. Modern strings do not readily absorb moisture.

But this film is set in the past when synthetic string material was not available. Natural plant fibers used to make bowstrings can, and do, absorb water readily and, thus, become heavy and slow. They may still cast an arrow, but the range and effectiveness will be diminished considerably. In a heavy downpour, the strings would be continually absorbing water and the cast of the bow would be affected. If the string was just wet, the first shot would probably expel most of the water and the bow would probably shoot fine. But a string heavy with water will be much slower and will impart much less energy to an arrow. If a string is made out of sinew, rawhide, or gut, the water would cause it to stretch or unravel. Such a string would be useless.

This is why the iconic shot in the 2010 Robin Hood movie is so unbelievable. Robin picks up an unfamiliar longbow from out of the ocean, grabs any old arrow, and doesn’t even snap the string to get the water out. You can see in the film the water jumping off the string as he shoots. That string was waterlogged. It would have had such a reduced cast that there is simply no way Robin Hood could have made that shot. He wouldn’t have been able to accurately predict the cast of the bow.

Archers went to great pains to protect their strings from moisture. They made specially oiled sacks or woven cases to carry spare strings. Laminated bows backed with sinew would also be very susceptible to moisture. That is why Asian bowyers often lacquered their bows or covered the back with birch bark.

Consequently, no pre-modern archer would have exposed his equipment to such a downpour if he could avoid it. The English archers, at the Battle of Crecy in 1346, removed their strings and stuck them under their helmets to keep them dry when a sudden downpour soaked the battlefield. The French crossbowmen couldn’t do that and the cast of their crossbows suffered, making them less effective in the battle that followed. In this case, wet crossbow strings influenced the outcome of the battle.

At Helm’s Deep, we might be justified in believing that the elves had somehow managed to create strings impervious to the weather because they do, after all, have magic. But it destroys the realism of the world to ask us to believe that men, perhaps the most unmagical creatures in The Lord of the Rings, and orcs would have done so. In the very least, we should see their initial shots be affected by the weather.

Cheers,

James

Vengeance, Book III in the Archer of the Heathland series is available for pre-order. It will launch on Nov. 10, 2018.

The Writer’s Guide to Archery: A Practical Guide to Bows and Arrows in Fiction is available in ebook and print.