History Main / HeroicAmbidexterity

-->''He was the last man in Ireland who had equal dexterity in striking with his right and with his left hand. He was the last man in Ireland who had true valour.''
--->--''The War of the Irish with the Foreigners''

!! Examples:

[[AC:Anime and Manga]]

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

[[AC: Fan Works]]

[[AC:Literature]]

[[AC:Live-Action TV]]

[[AC:Tabletop Games]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' roleplaying games like ''TabletopGame/{{Deathwatch}}'' cast Space Marines, genetically enhanced super soldiers and arguably the main heroes of the setting, as equally capable of using any weapons with either hands thanks to their extensive training.

[[AC:Video Games]]

* Nathan Drake from the ''VideoGame/{{Uncharted}}'' series is only right-handed in the first game, but the next games bring him the ability to switch hands with his weapon when the cover he's currently using would require using the right or left hand to provide maximum cover. One can master it and turn around to trigger a shift when hiding behind short walls, in order to optimize the angle of shooting.

[[AC: {{Western Animation}}]]

Heroic Ambidexterity is related to DualWielding, GunsAkimbo, and SwordAndGun; although whether these tropes are also cases of Heroic Ambidexterity depends on whether they are limited to particularly strong fighters. When everyone and their grandma is dual wielding, or the dual wielder is not particularly strong, Dual Wielding is not Heroic Ambidexterity.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Zoro had signs of being left-handed (such as in his one-sword techniques, he primarily uses his left hand), but he can dual wield swords (and one on his teeth) just fine. Quite a number of people in the series have been fighting with two swords, but Zoro is the best among them.

[[AC:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'' is drawn by someone who has trouble differentiating between left and right, and because of this has avoided giving any of the characters a dominating hand, which results in everyone being this in practice.

* ''Webcomic/StandStilltaySilent'' is drawn by someone who has trouble differentiating between left and right, and because of this has avoided giving any of the characters a dominating hand, which results in everyone being this in practice.

[[AC:Tabletop Games]]

Hypothetically HandyFeet can give said individual [[MultiarmedMultitasking even more options]].

* Nathan Drake from the ''VideoGame/Uncharted'' series is only right-handed in the first game, but the next games bring him the ability to switch hands with his weapon when the cover he's currently using would require using the right or left hand to provide maximum cover. One can master it and turn around to trigger a shift when hiding behind short walls, in order to optimize the angle of shooting.

* Basic Ambidexterity: The warrior switches his attack weapon to the left hand, either to gain an [[IAmNotLeftHanded advantage]] on the opponent, or because their main hand is incapacitated, or just to show off.

* In the second book of Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheDarkTower'', after his right hand is mutilated by some mutant lobster creatures, it's revealed that the ambidexterity required by Roland's GunsAkimbo fighting style is the result of long training. He's trained so hard and fought that way for so long that he really ''is'' just as adept at shooting with his naturally non-dominant left hand as his right.

• In the multiplayer modes, since any player can choose any skin, every character has the ability to switch sides while being "normally" right-handed and wearing right-handed equipment (such as holsters).

* Basic Ambidexterity: The warrior switches his attack weapon to the left hand, either to gain an advantage on the opponent, or because their main hand is incapacitated, or just to show off.

* Impossible Super-Ambidexterity: Like Advanced Ambidexterity, but the warrior uses two weapons to successfully engage two ''different'' targets at the same time.

* Ambidexterity is a common {{perk}} in TabletopRPG systems, such as ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' and ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}''. It allows you to DualWield weapons much more efficiently than otherwise, even if you're already trained for it.

* In the second book of Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheDarkTower'', after his right hand is mutilated by some mutant lobster creatures, it's revealed that the ambidexterity required by Roland's GunsAkimbo fighting style is the result of long training. He's trained so hard and fought that way for so long that he really ''is'' just as adept at shooting with his naturally non-dominant left hand as his right, but [[DownplayedTrope his right hand is the stronger at almost everything else]].

* ''Literature/TheDarkElfTrilogy'': Drizzt Do'Urden was originally intended to train as a mage, but after his mother observed his natural ambidexterity she decided he could better serve the family as a warrior. He becomes an exceptional swordsman, twin scimitars being his weapons of choice.

* One of Creator/JRRTolkien's posthumously published essays about [[Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium Middle-earth]] ("Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals") reveals that Tolkien at least for a time entertained the idea that elves are ambidextrous (although this never actually showed in any of the Middle-earth books).

[[AC:Real Life]]
* Self-defense gun instructors insist on practicing firing one-handed with both hands, so that you are at least passable with your non-dominant hand, should your dominant hand/arm be disabled.
* Robert Baden-Powell, later in life the founder of the Boy Scouts, was ambidextrous and used it for his spy missions sometimes as part of his cover as an wandering artist who amused enemy soldiers he was spying on with his ability to draw with both hands equally well.

* In the ''Literature/{{Deryni}}'' works, Alaric Morgan is noted as training himself to fight with either hand, and often wields a sword in his right hand and a stiletto in his left. Morgan also advocates such training to his king Brion Haldane, when the king had an expressed preference for having all his pages and squires train to be right-handed. Morgan sensibly observed that fighters lacking training with their left hands would be defenseless if their left hands or arms became injured.

* Link of the ''VideoGame/LegendOfZelda'' series, has traditionally been TheSouthpaw; but in the earliest games, because of technical limitations, his sprite would switch hands depending on which way it was facing, and in later games, to accommodate motion controls, he reverted to being right-handed in order to match the majority of players (although handedness doesn't actually affect gameplay). WordOfGod decided that he's ambidextrous in order to smooth over the inconsistencies.

[[AC:Web Animation]]
* Qrow Branwen, from ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', displays this in his introductory fight with Winter in the third season episode "It's Brawl in the Family". He draws his sword with his right hand, and then immediately switches to his left, and poses as a way of mocking Winter's own fighting stance. He then spends much of the rest of the fight wielding the sword in whichever hand is most convenient at the moment.

-->''He was tall and strong and well skilled in the use of arms. He could wield the sword and shoot equally well with either hand, and he could deal blows so swiftly that three swords seemed to flash through the air at the same time. [...] It has been said that no man had been his equal.''

* Invoked in ''Literature/GestaDanorum'' (Book 5): Young king Frode of Denmark asks for the daughter of the king of the Huns in marriage, but the princess declines because Frode has not yet earned fame by heroic deeds. Frode's messenger Gotwar goes on to praise Frode's physical qualities, one of them being that "he use[s] his left hand as well as his right". The intent of this is apparently to convince the princess that Frode has all the potential to become a famous warrior.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': 'Combat' specialization gives Rogue class players a passive ability called 'Ambidexterity' that increases damage done by offhand weapons. Warrior class players with 'Fury' specialization have analogous abilities in form of 'Crazed Berserker' and 'Single-Minded Fury'.

* Link of the ''Franchise/LegendOfZelda'' series, has traditionally been TheSouthpaw; but in the earliest games, because of technical limitations, his sprite would switch hands depending on which way it was facing, and in later games, to accommodate motion controls, he reverted to being right-handed in order to match the majority of players (although handedness doesn't actually affect gameplay). WordOfGod decided that he's ambidextrous in order to smooth over the inconsistencies.