History Main / SouthpawAdvantage

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': [[Characters/TheOwlHouseAmityBlight Amity Blight]] is one of the most gifted Witches of her generation, and only gets stronger as the series progresses. While it isn't obvious at first she is in fact left handed, a trait that is most apparent in her duel with [[spoiler:Hunter in "Eclipse Lake", as Amity almost exclusively uses her left hand to command the Abomination Goo that she uses to fight. Additionally, her favored technique of forming an [[PowerFist Abomination Gauntlet]] to punch someone is only ever seen used over her left hand as seen in "Eclipse Lake", "Follies at the Coven Day Parade", and "Clouds on the Horizon".]]

* In the second ''Literature/HowToTrainYourDragon'' book ''How to Be a Pirate,'' Hiccup initially ''sucks'' at swordfighting, just like he does with ''everything'' that's traditionally Viking-like, although unlike every other Viking discipline he at least ''tries'' to be better at it because he thinks some day he could be really good at it for some reason. At the climax, [[spoiler: He has to fight Alvin the treacherous with his right arm dislocated, and discovers that he's not only left-handed, but he's actually [[MasterSwordsman really good]] at sword fighting.]]

* Music/RingoStarr's distinctive drumming style comes from playing on a right-handed drum set, despite being left-handed himself.

** In boxing, left-handed fighters are often considered a more difficult matchup, because the change in stance and positioning of the hands and feet causes unique problems for right-handed fighters. How you have to move, (in order to avoid tripping over the other fighter or stepping on their foot) what punches are effective or that you become more susceptible to, the angles those punches come from and what tactics must be used all change, and in many cases become the exact opposite of how a fighter has trained all their life. It often takes a conscious effort for the right-handed fighter facing the southpaw to remember all this, instead of being able to automatically fall back into years of training and conditioning, leading many to say DamnYouMuscleMemory On top of that, the right-hander has to keep this all together while getting punched into the face, and possibly while only being semi-conscious. Meanwhile for the left-handed fighter, fighting a righty and using all those tactics and moves is just another day at the office.

** A large number of players learn to shoot left-handed[[note]](in ice hockey, handedness is based on the side from which a player normally shoots)[[/note]] even if they aren't natural lefties. If they find themselves in a situation sprinting or otherwise only holding their stick with one hand, it ends up being in their dominant right giving them more control. More important, though, is shooting angles. Generally left-handed shooters will play the left wing and righties will play the right wing although it's not a hard rule and sometimes a coach will flip them depending on how he wants a play set up. It's also just a good idea to be able to handle both directions since sticks frequently break in the middle of play. If that happens your option is skate to the bench and grab one from a teammate so you can get back in quickly and it's not always going to face the way yours normally does.
** Most goalies catch with their left hand and hold their stick in their right,[[labelnote:*]]Similar to a right-handed thrower in baseball or softball, whose glove will by necessity be on the left hand.[[/labelnote]] but some do the opposite and the opposing team generally has to use a different scoring strategy against them because the types of shot a left-winger might normally take on the blocker side won't be as effective if the goalie has his glove on that side (and vice versa).

* Racket sports, and tennis in particular, often have an advantage attributed to left-handed players. A good tactic in rallies is to hit to the opponent's backhand as it is (usually) weaker than the forehand. Of course, a left-hander's backhand side is the opposite to a right-hander's. Add this to the fact that rallies usually involve more cross-court shots than down-the-line, and you can easily end up stuck in a situation where you are playing from the backhand straight into the opponent's forehand every time. Plus, when receiving serve the spin of a left-hander's serve goes in the opposite direction to a right-hander's, often making for some unpredictable and hard-to-return serves. One prominent example is Rafael Nadal, who is a natural rightie but trained to play with his left hand because of the advantage it provides him.

* Left-handed drivers in right-hand-drive cars can shift gears effectively if learned correctly. Since the steering wheel and the driver seat are on the right side, and the DrivingStick (or any other type of transmissions) is on the left side of the driver's seat, it requires a left hand to shift the gears, thus southpaw drivers could learn it more effectively compared to righties.

* Something seen in medieval castle tours (and linked to ASinisterClue) is that spiral staircases in castle turrets give the advantage to the defender (the one on the higher step) if both are right-handed, as the attacker's sword movements are hampered by the ceiling and central axis. A left-handed swordsman would not have this disadvantage. There is a persistent myth that Ferniehirst Castle, in Scotland, was built with a spiral staircase running the opposite direction (counter-clockwise if you are looking up) to give left-handed defenders the advantage because the Kerr clan, who built the castle, were mostly lefties. There is indeed a "left-handed" spiral staircase in the castle, but no-one seems sure if the Kerr clan really had an unusual number of lefties.
* For soldiers, law enforcement, and other such lines of work, being able to shoot using either hand adds versatility to the positions one can fire from. If exposing the smallest portion of your body to return fire requires switching hands to take better advantage of available cover, then so be it. And if injury or other circumstances make it difficult to favor one's dominant hand, being able to continue fighting while relying on the offhand can come in handy.

* In construction teams, riveters would if possible include a left-handed riveter as they would be able to work at angles that would be awkward to right-handed people.

* Some models of firearm are easier to make use of left-handed. The most notable example would be the Colt Single Action Army, where the loading gate is designed to be accessed while holding it in the left hand. The reason for this was it was designed with cavalry use in mind, who at the time would reserve their dominant hand for the reins. So for a right-handed user its design made sense in that context, but it also benefits left-handed shooters.

* Some models of firearm are easier to make use of left-handed. The most notable example would be the [[CoolGuns Colt Single Action Army]], where the loading gate is designed to be accessed while holding it in the left hand. The reason for this was it was designed with cavalry use in mind, who at the time would reserve their dominant hand for the reins. So for a right-handed user its design made sense in that context, but it also benefits left-handed shooters.

* In ''VideoGame/EternalFighterZero'', Mai Kawasumi, another IaijutsuPractitioner, is a lefty: she holds the sheath of her sword with her right hand, so she can use her left hand to draw. [[note]]Drawing with the left hand and holding the sheath in the right is rather common among fighting game practitioners of iaijutus, though in many cases, it seems to be for visual purposes (Player 1 initially faces to the right, meaning the right arm is the arm closer to the screen, meaning drawing with the right hand and holding the sheath in the left would cause the character's back to be facing the screen). Mai being canonically left-handed is the reason she is noted on this trope.[[/note]]
* ''VideoGame/DayOfTheTentacle'': Ned and Jed, identical twins whose only differ lies in their handedness preference. In order to bypass Nurse Edna, who is guarding the video feed in the present, Hoagie (stuck 200 years in the past) has to switch the two twins while they are making a statue so that said statue flips in the present day, allowing Bernard to push Edna down the stairs without her being able to rely on the statue to right herself.

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', there is George [=McFly=]'s famous [[TookALevelInBadass badassery level up]] scene where he decks his lifelong BarbaricBully tormentor Biff Tannen with a big, left-handed haymaker to protect the girl he loves. In an early draft of the script, there was a scene where George discovers that his left arm is for some reason much stronger than his right (which would have been {{Foreshadowing}}).

** The tribe of Benjamin, who were overwhelmingly left-handed;[[note]]One wonders if the prevalence of left-handedness had anything to do with Hebrew being written from right-to-left?[[/note]] in a civil war between the tribes of Israel, the sons of Benjamin fielded three hundred left-handed slingers who were able to preferentially target the unshielded sides of their opponents.

** There's also Ehud (another Benjaminite who's left-handed) who hides a sword by strapping it to his right thigh (where he can easily draw it) before paying a visit to [[AdiposeRex King Eglon]]. Although the passage doesn't explicitly say so, the [[LawOfConservationOfDetail fact that it emphasises Ehud's left-handedness and which side he strapped the weapon to]] suggests that the guards missed the weapon because it was not on the side they were expecting.

** When the Bible is laying out the laws the Israelites will follow, it explicitly states to have military units made up of left-handed people using slings. Brilliant, under the shield wall fighting techniques and everyone's-in-the-military cultures of the time.

** When the Bible is laying out the laws the Israelites will follow, it explicitly states to have military units made up of left-handeded people using slings. Brilliant, under the shield wall fighting techniques and everyone's-in-the-military cultures of the time.

* Some naturally left-handed guitarists--such as [[Music/DireStraits Mark Knopfler]], [[Music/{{Aerosmith}} Joe Perry]], and Jared James Nichols--choose to play guitar right-handed. There are some challenges--Nichols has admitted that part of the reason he doesn't use a pick is because he found it unnatural to hold one in his right hand--but there are several advantages to fretting with your dominant hand, including faster hammer-ons and pull-offs, stronger vibratos, and easier bends.

* Some naturally left-handed guitarists--such as [[Music/DireStraits Mark Knopfler]], [[Music/{{Aerosmith}} Joe Perry]], and Jared James Nichols--choose to play guitar right-handed, resulting in faster hammer-ons and pull-offs, stronger vibratos, and easier bends since they're fretting with their dominant hand.

* [[Music/DireStraits Mark Knopfler]] plays guitar right-handed despite being left-handed. As you can imagine, fretting with your dominant hand lends itself well to a hammer-on and pull-off-heavy playstyle.

* In ''Manga/PrinceOfTennis'', Fuji's brother, Yuuta, is [[RedBaron known as]] "The Lefty Killer," because he knows most lefties aren't used to playing against a left-handed opponent and he's learned to capitalize on it. Coach Ryuzaki is initially dismayed to hear this, as both Ryoma and Tezuka (considered one of the best players in the middle school circuit) are left-handed, and she initially wishes she'd had Ryoma practice against Tezuka more.

** In ''Anime/VividStrike'', Vivio, who is right-handed, switches to southpaw style during her match with Rinne. Rinne is unable to adapt to Vivio's new style and ends up losing the match.

** During Gohan's first day at Orange High School, he takes the southpaw stance during the baseball game, which the P.E. teacher points out. However, Gohan doesn't have much experience with baseball and he was trying to hold back (unsuccessfully), so it is possible that he was either clueless or intentionally tries not to use his dominant hand in this game. The soutpaw stance does him very little in the end, since he doesn't even hit the ball and gets hit in the face instead, shrugging it off like nothing and advances to the first base because it's a dead ball.

* Sol Badguy in ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' wields his sword left-handed, in ReverseGrip no less. Naturally, he regularly defeats his right-handed [[TheRival rival]] Ky Kiske whenever they go at it. The same applies to Ragna the Bloodedge, the protagonist of Guilty Gear's SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'', right down to the reverse grip, though Ragna notes in ''Chronophantasma'' [[DownplayedTrope that outside of that, he's right handed]].

** The tribe of Benjamin, who were overwhelmingly left-handed; in a civil war between the tribes of Israel, the sons of Benjamin fielded three hundred left-handed slingers who were able to preferentially target the unshielded sides of their opponents.

** One wonders if the prevalence of left-handedness had anything to do with Hebrew being written from right-to-left?