I don't know about any other time, but during the time frame of the Lord of the Rings, Aragorn does not have a bow. He carries the shards of Narsil, and while in Rivendell (before the Fellowship sets off) it is reforged and renamed Anduril. And I'm fairly sure that is his only weapon (no knife, nor no bow as the movies show).
It's typical of movies to 'hollywoodize' things and try to make it a little more exciting. So, as you'll see in most movies that show Orcs as soldiers, the Orcs are simply
canon fodder...or soldiers that are easily dispatched by the 'heroes.' You'll typically see in movies our heroes easily kill and fight there way through a seemingly endless horde of this
canon fodder. Hence, why Aragorn (in the movies) probably goes charging in with a sword, so he can hack up them nasty orcses. I think you get a different impression of the Orcs in the books (or at least in LOTR).
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Feredir, enjoy.
