The Real Reason The Walking Dead Characters Use Bows And Arrows
Joseph Russell
Published Mar 07, 2026
With the outbreak now spanning over a decade, The Walking Dead is knee-deep in a post-industrial world where necessities for life that many of us take for granted are growing increasingly scarce or are running out altogether. As explained in a Reddit thread by user u/httpher, "It's like the world has gone back 200 years. There are no cars, no guns, no ammo. In S9 they use majority horses to get around."
Logically, one has to wonder why the remaining humans wouldn't find a way to replenish their supplies to make their already difficult lives just a tad easier. In a comment by Redditor u/53134, such a solution isn't so simple. "It's likely they don't have the materials to make bullets anymore. They may still have a little ammo left but they mostly use bows and arrows now to preserve it," adding on that cars "ran out of fuel and [they] probably can't find any batteries for electrical cars." With this lack of raw materials in mind, it's pretty understandable why The Walking Dead is creeping back toward the Middle Ages.
Even still, not every Walking Dead viewer is willing to buy into this plot point. User u/penitentialarts argued that, statistically speaking, guns and ammunition shouldn't have run out yet, considering how plentiful they are in the United States alone. Also, when it comes to making their own ammo, "the stuff required to make bullets wouldn't be in short supply, either." The Redditor added, "Even if people had time to raid all the stores, the stuff they got would still be where they took it." Additionally, they mentioned, "Electric cars could still be charged, since there would be plenty of ways to generate electricity. Diesel vehicles can be adjusted to run fully on biofuels that they can make."
Whether or not The Walking Dead's bullet and fuel shortages are entirely factual is up for interpretation, but the fact remains that, in their fictional universe, bows, arrows, and horseback transportation are the best they can conjure up to stay alive.
