History Main / TheSouthpaw

* Also from ''Final Fantasy'' is [[FinalFantasyIV Kain Highwind]], though like Link, his dominant hand is somewhat inconsistent; his original artwork shows him as right-handed, but he equips weapons to his left hand in-game. The DS version inverts this; the artwork shows him as a lefty, but he equips weapons to his right hand now! He is generally considered to be left-handed, and he fights this way is ''Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy'' (though his artwork shows him right-handed to resemble his original art.)
* Golbez is a lefty too.
* And in FinalFantasyVII Barrett's right arm is replaced by a minigun, forcing him to be a lefty.

* How could we forget the legendary [[FinalFantasyVII Sephiroth]]? ''CrisisCore'' confirms that he isn't ambidextrous and isn't pulling an IAmNotLeftHanded through all of the original game.
** Of course this is subverted, given his [[ASinisterClue nefarious actions against the heroes...]] Cid Highwind plays this trope straight, however.

[[AC:RealLife]]
* Historical aversions include the Greek Phalanx and Roman Legions. Both of these forces required soldiers to fight right-handed. However, this was because unit maneuvers required men to cover their left neighbor's vulnerable right sword hand with their shield. If sword and shield were reversed, the cooperative ability would not exist. There are a few rumors of an attempt in Roman times to field an entirely left-handed legion, so that it would be reversed for every soldier.
* For similar reasons to baseball, left-handed cricketers are very useful both with the bat and with the ball: for example, it is generally a good idea for a batting partnership to consist of a right-hander and a left-hander, to put bowlers off their line and tire the fielders when the batsmen cross.
* Left-handed auto racers benefit greatly from keeping their dominant hand on the wheel while shifting gears. Averted by the more modern FormulaOne steering-wheel controls: now they use the left hand to shift down and the right hand to shift up.
* President BarackObama is left-handed, and that's cool.
** Since World War II, a full fifty percent of U.S. presidents have been lefties--Truman, Ford, Reagan, Bush Senior, Clinton, and now Obama. In 2008, ''both'' candidates in the general election were left-handed (Obama and McCain). The same was true in 1992, with Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, and Ross Perot all using their left hands.
* In late antiquity/early medieval warfare, a common trick (IIRC the saxons (maybe normans?) made good use of this) was to fight as though left handed, thus minimizing te enemies' shields and throwing them off.
* Left-handed bowlers can be seen as having a significant advantage over right-handed bowlers. Since most bowlers bowl right-handed, they're all throwing their ball along roughly the same path as each other, which can throw off the oil pattern significantly. Left-handed bowlers generally have fresh oil, since few people bowl along the left side of the lane, and are thus able to get a much more consistent shot.
* One defence used in medieval castles was to make spiral staircases twist clockwise so that a right handed defender's body was shielded by the centre wall. This made left handed troops a valuable resource when trying to storm such castles.

*** [[WordOfGod Shigeru Miyamoto]], however, once stated, that Link (just like [[SuperMarioBros Mario]]) is actually ambidextrous and only prefering to use his left hand. (Probably because it gives him some advantage over foes who are used to fighting opponents who use their right hand.) Link's character profile in TheWindWaker underlines this, saying that "his manual preference is "left"", but not outright calling him "left-handed." Miyamoto tends to make his games' characters ambidextrous, because he, himself is ambidextrous (but prefers his left hand, just like Link).

[[AC:WebOriginal]]
* Meet Southpaw, a new internet reviewer. "[[http://www.youtube.com/user/SouthpawReviews95]]"

* Luke fon Fabre in TalesOfTheAbyss is left-handed (which implies that [[spoiler:Asch]] is too, though he wields his sword with his right hand. Whether this is an attempt to differentiate between himself and Luke or something else is unclear), and thus his sword hangs perpendicularly from his back, rather than at his side as most conventional designs go. It isn't a major plot point, but it does make for a touching moment at the end of the game, where [[CoolOldGuy Cool Old Guy]]/[[ColonelBadass Colonel Badass]] Jade offers his own left hand for Luke to shake, despite being right-handed himself, out of respect for the [[CharacterDevelopment personal growth]] Luke experiences throughout the game

* Katakura Kojuro from ''SengokuBasara'' is the only left-handed character in the series. He is also one of the most superior swordsmen in terms of sheer skill and technique, and mostly relies on {{Diagonal Cut}}s from the opposite side that would be expected from a right-handed fighter. But despite how rare it was for samurai back then, no one ever comments on it.

* Also from Final Fantasy is [[FinalFantasyIV Kain Highwind]], though like Link, his dominant hand is somewhat inconsistent; his original artwork shows him as right-handed, but he equips weapons to his left hand in-game. The DS version inverts this; the artwork shows him as a lefty, but he equips weapons to his right hand now! He is generally considered to be left-handed, and he fights this way is ''Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy'' (though his artwork shows him right-handed to resemble his original art.)

* ''{{Rocky}}'' was a left-handed boxer, which led (in his backstory) to opponents refusing to face him out of fear that it would mess with their mechanics. YouShouldKnowThisAlready, but he defeats the world champion by learning to fight righty for most of the fight, and then switch to his natural stance and go for the KO...which of course occured in maximum {{Narm}} mode.

* Akiyama Mio of {{K-On!}} is a left handed bass musician.

* ''RurouniKenshin'''s Hajime Saitou. Note: All Japanese sword technique is taught strictly right-handed. The switch could be very useful in the context of kenjutsu.

*In late antiquity/early medieval warfare, a common trick (IIRC the saxons (maybe normans?) made good use of this) was to fight as though left handed, thus minimizing te enemies' shields and throwing them off.

*** For what it's worth, this cross-dominant-handed (''not'' ambidextrous) Troper, who ordinarily uses the Wii remote with a right-handed grip, attempted a left-handed grip while playing ''Twilight Princess''. She completed the game left-handed, with minor initial frustration.