eee wrote:
They're ELVES, though. They probably see no reason they should have to change their armor, much better to devote their efforts to making the humans give up guns...
@eee: They're still at it! In Canada and the USA at least...
What I mean is: arrows, projectiles and "magic missiles" aren't fundamentally different from guns & bullets. But bullets are MUCH better at the job! So while guns may be new (didn't Dwarves have some techno goodies? Like cannons?) the idea is the same.
And hiding for all that time didn't help them (Elves) prevent the invention & spread of firearms... (oops!)
So I'm guessing (and @Impy is saying too) that both the armour AND the gun/bullets are/could be magical. The bullets won this round. The armour would be augmented by various shield & protection spells, if they'd spotted Jon coming for them...
Edit: I'm thinking of the gun & bullets in Who Framed Roger Rabbit...
"Oh no! Dum Dums!" = lolz!
I'm not saying anything of the kind, just providing color commentary.
Jon routinely eschews magical enhancements for his weaponry. We see that in some of the later chapters, because he doesn't trust the magic involved. Poe tells me that his rifle was enhanced, but his pistol wasn't.
Also the military elves, as opposed to the rangers, haven't stepped out of their self-imposed isolation in probably about 1800 years. Their armor is designed for the kinds of combat they faced back when they needed it routinely. That didn't really include archers or any other non-magical projectiles, and firearms (at least in their present form) aren't anywhere near that old. There's no reason whatsoever why their armor would do more to protect them from bullets than any other plate would, as the protections from magic are very different in approach. Jon appears to have targeted the joints, as well.
Personally, I think it's entirely likely that Jon got the drop on the elves simply because from firing distance he didn't yet register as a threat.
^-^'
Because scary little devil girls have to stick together.
eee wrote:
They're ELVES, though. They probably see no reason they should have to change their armor, much better to devote their efforts to making the humans give up guns...
@eee: They're still at it! In Canada and the USA at least...
Bloomberg and Feinstein are ELVES????
O...M...G. That makes SENSE!
Imp-Chan wrote:Jon appears to have targeted the joints, as well.
What you're saying also makes sense (duh! It's your book!). If the Elves are heavily reliant on combat magic and didn't bother with ranged weapons themselves? (Using magic in it's place) Then yup!
Also: hitting the seams means the armour could be bullet-proof, mostly! There's always a weakness or you'd be invincible, and so would your armoured opponent
The reason that Armor went out of fashion was because it didn't stop firearms. It had problems stopping Longbows also. One of the last suits of armor is on display with a bullet hole in it....
If you want a rationale for the shot placement, the metal could deflect a bullet and head shots are much harder. Jon seems more of a "Get things done" rather than a showoff.