I suggested the very same thing in the accessories thread before reading this comment! Coincidence. I actually suggested a Dark Tan bow, with a tan quiver. Other colors, of course, are fine if Lego does see fit to bring them back.. a larger bow might be stretching it as far as figure size, but it wouldn't hurt to see some concepts. When I first played with Lego, I didn't outright hate nor love completely the design of the bow (I too found the fixed arrow to be a bit odd), but it has grown on me over the years and I would like to see it return.The tan color might be nice, but IMO the new dark tan would be an even better choice.
As for the history of the bow, given my limited understanding, part of the British advancement with the bow came from the wood they used to construct it. So the adaptation, I believe, was based on using wood of the Yew tree, which had superior flexibility and resistance qualities therefore allowing for archers to become fabled with the distances they could fire. Whether this is an adaptation of craft over materials, I can't be sure... there's always Wikipedia to answer things
