One of the most striking images from medieval histories is the crusader penetrated with arrows and still fighting. One Christian chronicler evoked the otherwise harmless “hedgehog” to describe English King Richard I, as he fought on with arrows protruding from his body. ((A Christian chronicler described Richard as a “hedgehog” at Jaffa (1192). Ambroise, The History of the Holy War, 11,378-11,620.))
Lest we think this was merely a fanciful tale to prop up one side in the fight, a Muslim chronicler described a similar scene.
I saw various individuals amongst the Franks with ten arrows fixed in their back, pressing on in this fashion quite unconcerned. ((Bahā’ al-Dīn Ibn Shaddād, The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin, 179. This translation comes from the D. S. Richards translation (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002).))
The trick was the armor, which included chain mail over a “padded waistcoat which consisted of vertical layers of cloth sewn on to a leather foundation and lined with linen or silk.” ((Adrian J. Boas, Crusader Archaeology: The Material Culture of the Latin East (London: Routledge, 1999), 173.)) This undergarment protected the crusader from the roughness of the iron links. The arrows would pierce the chainmail, but not the waistcoat, giving the hedgehog effect.
Remarkably, with such a powerful image, I have yet to see Hollywood take advantage of it for a Crusading movie. Recently, Game of Thrones depicted a man, well a giant, covered in arrows. Before Game of Thrones, Marvel comic books and movies have employed the imagery.
In The Wolverine (2013), our protagonist Logan tries to outrun a group of ninjas who shoot him with arrows attached to ropes. The arrows pierce his quickly healing skin, but not his metallic bones. The result is the hedgehog effect in comic book form.
Like the crusaders of old, he continues to march on. Eventually, the poison tips bring him down.
Outside of Hollywood, this was not the first time Logan found himself looking like a hedgehog. In the director’s commentary for the extended cut of The Wolverine, James Mangold admitted he was inspired by Frank Miller’s depiction of a dream sequence in a 1982 Wolverine comic book.
Likewise, Frank Miller was inspired by Throne of Blood (1957), based on Macbeth, but also set in Japan with Samurai.
Yet, closer to the medieval crusaders is a 2003 comic book where Logan rescues an infant from a hail of arrows using his own back.
Deep in a fictional, war torn African country, Logan faces warlords with AK-47s, jeeps, and helicopters. Finally, the entire mission gets medieval as locals employ arrows. Logan then spends 8 pages of the comic book with a back full of arrows as he negotiates and fights his way out.
Logan endures all of this with the goal of saving an infant who will hopefully someday come back and rule his village, or what’s left it.
In the end, Logan fairs better than he did in the movie, as he walks into the sunset, covered in arrows like the crusaders of old. His enemies seemingly respect, or fear his resilience just as the Muslim chronicler respected the crusaders.
The depiction of Wolverine in arrows has appeared multiple times in comic books to the point it’s become a tired trope. Yet, when you consider that his mutant powers promote gun-less fights, the trope is an appropriate one. This form of medievalism rejects modern technology and takes us back to the Crusades where heavily armored knights looked like hedgehogs covered in arrows.