system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[General Fantasy] Why do elves love bow and arrow?
gpt
That's just a stereotype and it only applies to factions that like to live in nature, where one finds plenty of uses for bows even in peacetime. Hunting, fishing, home defense . . . it's the sort of terrain that favors using one weapon for all these things.

But plenty of other factions don't put special emphasis on archery. The dark elves of *Forgotten Realms* don't. They're thoroughly urbanized, and anyway they live in caves. The High Elves of the *Elder Scrolls* also live in cities and are known more for their wizardry than their toxophily. "Elves love magic" is actually a more fitting stereotype. Most elf factions have mages because the practice takes advantage of their magical talent and long lives.

I should add that elves don't favor bows because they're weak. It takes serious muscle to use a bow, and especially a war bow, which *starts* at around twice the draw weight of a decent hunting bow. 200-pound war bows are not unheard-of. Military archers were expected to shoot such weapons quickly and accurately, shooting 8 times to a musketeer's 5. Such strength and precision required a specialized physique and today we can identify a bowman's skeleton by the twisted lower spine and the oversized bones of the left arm.