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I had a big th*nk after yesterday, when another novelite asked Shiori's possible weapon in holocure.
One thing we really lost in modern media is the narrative purpose of weapons. By this I mean, do elves use bows because elves use bows, or do they use them because the bow is basically the universal indicator of a hunter, and we are supposed to relate elves with a hunting culture?
Some of the narrative meanings are fairly obvious - a sword can be considered a stand in for a cross, suggesting that a knight using a sword should be very religious (or it's opposite).
Other meaning can be more sneaky. The order of the pike in pathfinder is so evocative because, intentionally or not, it reminds us that the pointy stick is the first real weapon we had and how it helped us against far bigger creatures. The spear rider was a heroic archetype we really forgot, it survives as the lancer in some jp stuff but that's it.
Asking these questions opens up more elaboration. For example, the bow for us is the hunter's weapon. But in Japan it's a ritual and almost noble weapon (see kyūdō). And this almost hidden meaning of the bow might be why Japan likes elves so much: they don't realize it, but it speaks to their past and their samurai/noble glorification.
It reminds me of blue ray reflection, more specifically of one episode (forgot which one) where one of the evil girls buys a bunch of box cutters, and how those improvised weapons were one of the icons of female violence in japanese media (together with the kitchen knife, for obvious reasons).
So yeah I am not saying you should always give a layered meaning to what weapons your characters use but it's something to remember.
