We see in every war movie and TV show like Game of Thrones that archers would have arrows that are lit on fire at the end. I get that it looks cool, but did people actually do that? If so, what was the purpose?
This question was answered by /u/Freevoulous on https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/26wopt/just_how_common_were_flaming_arrows_in_medieval/
The TL/DR version of most explanations is "Yes, but not often." because shooting an arrow at decent speed would extinguish the flame, the bowstrings had to be loosened thus decreasing the flight distance of the arrow.