3288: Archery Feat

Archery Feat

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Title text: Update: I would not have embarked on this powerscaling venture if I'd known how thoroughly Mark Twain was going to roast me.

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Explanation

This is one of 50 incomplete explanations: This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

It is a common trope in fiction, especially historical or fantasy genres, for protagonists to be skilled archers. Sometimes this is demonstrated by incredible feat of archery, which may be merely difficult or nearly impossible.

Here, Randall posits a new protagonist that he has created, and decides to create a super-feat of archery by combining three famous feats from fiction. This feat will evidently involve firing an arrow through twelve axes, though an apple on a someone's head, and then splitting another arrow.

• Shooting an arrow through twelve axes: This feat is from The Odyssey, in which the ability is so unique to Odysseus he uses it to prove his identity. A film version of The Odyssey was released in the month before this strip and may have inspired the concept.
• Shooting an apple off a person's head: In the story of William Tell, the protagonist is forced to shoot an apple off his own son's head to prove his skill.
• Splitting an arrow already on the target: This is a popular trick in stories involving archery competitions, most famously in the legend of Robin Hood. Randall's protagonist apparently intends to split an arrow which has already split the original arrow - technically no more difficult than splitting the first arrow (assuming identical arrows) but appearing more impressive.

The title text may refer to Mark Twain's "biting, derisive, and highly satirical style of literary criticism." He applied this to many writers who preceded him, among them Jane Austen, James Fenimore Cooper, George Eliot, Oliver Goldsmith, and Robert Louis Stevenson.

Transcript

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[Cueball aims a drawn bow-and-arrow through a line of 12 axes, over a boy with an apple on his head, and at a target where an arrow in the bullseye has been split by another, later-arriving arrow.]

[Caption below the panel:]

I want to prove that my new protagonist is a better shot than all those other protagonists.

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Discussion

xkcd store i back?

XKCD STORE IS BACKKKKKKKKKKK!!!1!!!1!!11!! although he should add an "RTFM" bumper sticker to prove we use linux

William Tell

Note: the traditional legend of William Tell has him shoot a crossbow. 78.212.78.203 21:31, 21 August 2026 (UTC)

Cooper and Twain

Twain on Pathfinder: three bullets fired toward a nail in succession "Never mind a new nail; I can see that, though the paint is gone, and what I can see I can hit at a hundred yards, though it were only a mosquito's eye. Be ready to clench!'" ("Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses") Many scathing remarks on various topics but this one is pertinent. (glc) 2600:4040:A03B:DB00:EDB5:E2BB:1BD0:C02C 00:27, 22 August 2026 (UTC)
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