Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the Hero of the Left-Handed League
On the scarcity of left-handed characters in fiction.
I am once again posting about Hiccup, the main character from the How to Train Your Dragon franchise.
Last week, I talked about Hiccup from the movies. This week, I’m going to talk about something specific from the books: Hiccup is a left-handed Viking.
Hiccup didn’t always know he was left-handed. In fact, he tried constantly to sword-fight with his right hand and was pretty awful at it. It was only when his right arm was broken and he was forced to defend others during a treacherous duel that he discovered something beautiful—all the moves and training he had learned and failed at finally translated when he fought with his left hand. In fact, once he realized he was left-handed, he became one of the most accomplished swordfighters on the island—one of the only traditional Viking skills he could claim to be proficient at.
In the film adaptation, left-handedness is treated a little bit differently. Young Hiccup writes with his left and occasionally fights with his left, but he does other, more “traditional Viking” actions with his right, especially when he is trying to emulate Berk’s views about dragons. When he approaches Toothless for the first time, he holds his dagger in his left hand, but when he tries to kill Toothless, he switches his grip to his right. Older Hiccup seems to have cultivated a double-hand dominance and is somewhat ambidextrous, at least as far as fighting goes.
Developed in the background and never mentioned outright, Hiccup’s handedness is used to visually symbolize his character growth. While the assumed backstory works, and while I’m glad that his left-handedness was transferred to the screen in some way, it never quite had the same impact as that one moment from How to be a Pirate, where Cressida Cowell wrote Hiccup as left-handed and then simply continued to portray him as a left-handed hero throughout the rest of the series.
There are very few left-handed characters in media. Of course, there are left-handed actors, but that’s a bit different. It seems especially scarce in literature. In all fairness, if you’re imagining writing a character, you probably aren’t going to consider which hand that character will prefer, and for a lot of fantasy, which draws from older traditions, a left-handed character would also require explanation for why the left-handedness wasn’t removed (or at least why ink doesn’t smear when attempting to pen letters).
So let’s branch away from literature for a second. I googled some left-handed characters. A substantial amount of characters on the Simpsons are left-handed (the show’s creator is also left-handed). There’s an episode where Ned Flanders builds a Leftorium, a store specializing in left-handed products.
Not including the Simpsons, Google offers a handy list that is mostly comprised of Saturday morning cartoon characters and also Link from Zelda, except it depends on the game. Moving back towards literature, some characters first described as left-handed are actually revealed to be so because their dominant hand got mangled. It’s not unreasonable to say that, in terms of characterization, being forced to be left-handed is not quite the same thing as being naturally inclined towards it.
Historically, left-handedness has been associated with more negative things. After all, the Latin for left is sinister. Even today, certain cultures disapprove of it enough for parents or schools to force left-handed people into writing with their right hand. A left-handed culprit has also become something of a mystery trope.
It’s not a big deal to have a left-handed character in a story, but it’s nice to see it acknowledged once in a while. The current league of natural left-handed literary characters (who are non-villainous) is as follows:
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III
Arya Stark (I haven’t read Game of Thrones, but she seems less terrible than some of the other characters in the series)
Lady Cecily (The Case of the Left-Handed Lady by Nancy Springer)
Speaking of the last entry, a recent left-handed figure outside of literature would be the Viscount Tewkesbury, Marquess of Basilwether, from the Enola Holmes film sequel, which loosely adapts The Case of the Left-Handed Lady. With it so glaringly referenced in the title, I was hoping it would appear in the film. The original Lady Cecily is too changed in the adaptation for the left-handedness to be important (in heroic incorporation, left-handedness often appears as an emphasis to the character’s outsider status, but in the film’s case, her being left-handed wouldn’t add much to the story). However, Viscount Tewkesbury does allow the film to homage the title in a smaller and more meaningful way.
It’s a very short scene, but Sherlock throws Tewkesbury a sword, and he catches it with his left hand. Tewkesbury’s assailant gets a reaction shot, Sherlock gets a reaction shot, and then they all go back to fighting.
It’s gratifying as a fan of the books and as a fan of left-handed characters to see that aspect of the book referenced. It’s also rare to see a reference in a modern movie carry that much restraint.
Does it really make or break a story to include something as small as hand-dominance? Or course not. In fact, it can sometimes be disappointing when it is used as a story element—especially if it’s being used to emphasize a character’s outsider/specialness factor. And is left-handedness really so different that it would impact a character?
Well, yes, though the degree of impact would depend on the character and the environment. Aside from the community’s view and acts of writing, eating, and fighting, left-handedness affects characters in smaller ways. Take the modern American age: left-handedness isn’t anything to be woebegone for; it’s just sometimes inconvenient. For example, writing in a class with the desks that taper off so the left side is shorter than the right. You know, these ones:
Or using the spring-based ice cream scoops where you have to push your thumb to release, but your thumb is on the wrong side. Especially when you’re supposed to be using them to serve any kind of rush hour of anything at a dining hall.
Nowhere near the end of the world. It’s fairly easy to adjust around it. And I haven’t tried fencing, but I know that most sports have some alternative offered (ex. left-handed bows in archery). But that doesn’t mean it lacks impact.
Take a fantasy environment where a young left-handed hero uses a spell that involves his hands. Would the spell still work if he inverted it to match his left-handed dominance? Would he be harder to rob for putting his satchel on the opposite side pickpockets expect? Would he have trained with his right hand? Would he pretend to be right-handed to ensure the element of surprise against attackers? Would he be considered a nuisance when learning a trade? And seriously, how do you write with a fountain pen without it smudging at least a little?
Am I a snoot for wanting something more than an implied, necessitated, or symbolic left-handed character? It’s not supposed to be the focus of the character; it’s simply part of the worldbuilding. But being a background element doesn’t mean it should be ignored.
Left-handed heroes exist in history, rare as they may be. The most familiar lefty in my recollection is Ehud from the book of Judges, who assassinated the king of Moab. He knew that his left-handedness would give him an advantage because the guards usually only checked the inside of a person’s left for weapons, and being left-handed, he strapped his sword to his right thigh. I also recently learned that the Anglo-Saxon man buried at Sutton Hoo—of the famous British helmet—was believed to be left-handed because his sword was buried at his right side.
If there’s currently only one real modern example of a left-handed hero who is consistently heroic and left-handed, Hiccup is a great hero to be able to claim. But I hope a few more left-handed heroes appear. At this point, it’s a more solvable derivative of the Fermi paradox1. Where is everybody?
The Fermi paradox: if aliens existed, we would have come into contact with them by now.
I have a left handed daughter. Got me thinking.
As a fellow lefty, I very much enjoyed this exploration.