Alright, so we all know the Arrow to the Knee joke, but let's dissect the statement.

"I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took an arrow to the knee"

"Arrow to the knee", is the part I'd like to focus on. Here's some theories as to what it may reference.

• Merged Cuirass and Greaves. There are no more Greaves, so the guards would have poor knee armor
  
• No Locational Damage. Without locational damage, an arrow to the knee could put someone out of commission just as easily to an arrow to, say, the face.
  
• No Crossbows. This one's a stretch of logic, but there are no crossbows, therefore every guard must be hit with an arrow.

Post your Arrow to the Knee theories here,

It's IN the knee. That's my theory.

im pretty sure he is just saying he got shot in the knee and retiered to a safer guard duty

This.

that seems the most logical answer...LOGIC BE DAMNED! we dont follow silly things logic and reason on this forum!

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh159/esrafael/76835.jpg

It could be that the sentinel was a Hero like us, and that his fate is the fate of all destiny shaping myth walkers.

Yep, the Eternal Champion, Blades Agent, Nerevarine, Champion of Cyrodiil, and Dragonborn will eventually be shot in the kneecaps by a well placed arrow and resign themselves to speaking well known and parodied one liners of lore like:

"I saw a mudcrab a couple of days ago. Ugly things."

Getting shot in the knee with an arrow must hurt like hell. Wouldn't a person walk with a limp after that?

This +1

Also, it`s a well known fact that taking a serious injury to the knee usually puts you out of most physical professions like sports, military and such. Even in karate, we try to avoid knee attacks or `popping the knee` cos that can put you in trouble.

It`s one reason why I still don`t get the joke since it`s actually quite realistic to put out of action due to a serious wound to the knee.

Meh.

LOL pure gold

http://youtu.be/bNHDkrsJN3s

the arrow in the knee is obviously used to show the egotistical existentialism of man the knee representing the dialectic nature of the universe and the knee representing people's fallacies in logic

It's funny how far a thing like this travels...

In looking at the events affecting my hero in Godville today, I saw the following post:

02:54: Suddenly took an arrow to the knee. That really hurts, you know.

Maybe a bit too far.

Are you sure its "egotistical" - I was thinking about it and came up with the same thing you did - but was thinking it was "Egomaniacal"?
Humm... I would think about it some more but someone "stole my sweet roll" and I'm just too depressed to think about it right now.

Twaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanng - ouch my knee.

"Message for you sir!"

Also, a former Stormcloak soldier called Argrenor Once Honored can be found in Windhelm who, when spoken to, says to the player "I was one of the best soldiers the Stormcloak army had, but then I took a sword through the chest".

It's a combination of vanity and poverty. All adventurers are vain and he was also poor. Getting an arrow in the knee leaves an ugly scar that an adventurer of course don't want to show. As guards seem to be obliged to wear trousers, being a guard was the best job to hide it. He could not remain an adventurer: of course he didn't want to wear the ugly fur armour with trousers (to vain to do), glass armour was too expensive and all other light armour is knee-free. It's so obvious...

I'm amazed people haven't figured it out yet. Let us look at the evidence presented to us:

Arrow - Straight, Silent, Airbound, Harmful, Death
Knee - Leg, Bend, Balance, Agility, Speed
Adventurer - Brave, Handsome, Fearless, Thief, Gold Digger

By carefully studying this very cryptic message and meditating on the meanings of the words we can conclude that Alduin likes arrows in his butt and is possibly your daddy.



Not everything in life or in games has a hidden meaning. In fact, most things are exactly what they appear to be. It's just a guard explaining why he's a guard and not a famous hero like you.

I saw a guard slaying an ancient dragon with finishing move too! I shudder to think how strong he was before retiring!

No need to over think it, lol.

Guard was an Adventurer -> got shot with an arrow to the knee from a bandit or drauger -> had to retire from adventuring as they cannot cope with the physicality of what adventuring entails i.e climbing, running etc...

I was about to write an essay about the topic, but it became too long. I now plan to write:

The Ultimate Guide To "Arrow To The Knee".
Volume I: Guide to the Proper Arrows to be Used.
Volume II: Are Crossbows Allowed?
Volume III: Guide to the Proper Bows to be Used.
Volume IV: What Effect do Bowstrings have on an Arrow's Travel to the Knee?
Volume V: Crafting Bows and Arrows to optimize the Route to the Knee.
Volume VI: The Anatomy of the Knee.
Volume VII: The Impact of the Phrase on Society, Religion and Every Day Life.
Volume VIII: What if the Arrow of Time is being Used?
Volume IX: The Implications for Humor after the Phrase.
Volume X: The Proper Delivery of the Phrase.

I plan to write one volume a year. Release date of the Complete Guide: 2-22-2022.

The Adventurer got shot in the knee so he had to retire due a very painful and crippling injury, fortunatly for him he still gets to walk, I would assume getting shot in the knee with an arrow would do alot of irrepairable damage to the joint.


Epicness

_{It's just a phrase delivered by the Guard to try and Boast that he could be doing just what the user is doing - that's he's capable of it. But with the excuse that he can't actually PROVE it because of this... um... minor injury he has. But if he HADN'T got it, you know... he'd be AWESOME!}

I once caught an adventurer taking my Sweet Roll, so I got my bow and arrow, and shot him in the knee....