A Sinister Clue: Difference between revisions

Another related trope is for a character to lose his right hand, symbolizing his loss of a moral compass. This can presage a [[Face Heel Turn]] by the Hero. It is also common for [[Mad Scientist|Mad Scientists]]s to have a mechanical right arm. Alternatively, the left hand might become the repository of [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can]]. Compare [[Red Right Hand]].

Note that this is not the same as [[The Killer Was Left -Handed]], because in that trope there is actually evidence that [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|The Killer Was Left Handed]], while in this case being left handed is simply a subtle form of [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]].

The opposite, when left-handedness is viewed favorably would be [[The Southpaw]]. Also see [[I Am Not Left -Handed]].

* Figures prominently in ''[[Read or Die (Anime)|Read or Die]]''. ''Really'' prominently - will ruin the main plot twist if you read the spoiler. {{spoiler|Nancy is left-handed and is [[The Mole]]. Then to add to that she has an [[Evil Twin]] and they are differentiated only by their dominant hand. Inverted because the right handed Nancy is the [[Evil Twin]]. As an alternative interpertation, it is not inverted because left-handed Nancy betrayed Yomiko first, and then betrayed and killed her own lover (although he had betrayed her), while right handed Nancy was at least loyal to her man, making the left handed Nancy experience a [[Heel Face Revolving Door]].}}

* Higuchi in ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]'', though nobody mentions it. Light's ambidexterity probably counts as well.

* ''[[One Piece (Manga)|One Piece]]'': An interesting case with the Straw Hats, as none of them are evil, but a large number of them have something of importance on their left side. Luffy has his scar underneath his left eye. Nami's tatoo is on her left arm. Zoro's earrings are on his left ear, and although ambidextrous appears to prefer his left hand. Usopp always wears his wrist band on his left hand. Sanji's left eye is always covered. Chopper's antler plate is located on his left antler. Interestingly enough, the two Strawhats that finally break this pattern, {{spoiler|Robin and Franky,}} are both introduced to the story as villains/antagonists to the Strawhats. {{spoiler|Brook}} then completely subverts it, as his one asymmetrical trait is on the right side of his face.

* [[Green Lantern (Comic Book)|Green Lantern]] villain [[Sinestro]] wears his [[Green Lantern Ring|power ring]] on his left hand.

* Arya from ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''. When her dominant hand is revealed to her fencing master, he reacts favorably because fighting left-handed will reverse her stance and movements, which will help confuse her opponents. However, her left-handedness might also be [[A Sinister Clue]] about her future, {{spoiler|training in a cult of assassins.}}

* In ''[[The Silmarillion]]'': both Maedhros and Beren lose their right hands. This trope is probably averted with Maedhros (though he's something of an [[Anti -Villain]], he remains fairly decent for a long time after losing his hand) and definitely averted with [[Author Avatar|Beren]], a wholly positive character.

* In [[The Bible (Literature)|The Bible]], Ehud, one of the judges, actually managed to assassinate a king by hiding a miniature weapon on his right hip. Thus the weapon wasn't found, and he could still use it, being left-handed.

* In ''[[V (TV series)|V]]'', whenever a human is [[More Than Mind Control|converted to the villains' cause]], it causes a brain-dominance switch. Since [[There Are No Lefties]] in TV Land, this leads to left-handed human collaborators.

* In ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]'', Data figures out he and Picard are trapped in a holodeck Enterprise when (the simulation of) Geordi catches a tool Data throws to him with his left hand, exposing a programming glitch Data was already aware of.

* ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'': "Left-handedness is one of the ten early warning signs of Commie mutant treason!"

* Dyne, a side-villain in ''[[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VII]]'', had his crippled LEFT arm replaced with a machine gun, and is distinctly portrayed as a serial killing lunatic. The reverse is true of Barret - even though he leads a terrorist organisation that blows up a power plant and kills hundreds of people, his RIGHT hand was the one replaced with a similar weapon. He turns out to be a nice, but misguided person who is a doting father and dedicated friend.

** Kain Highwind, a party member from ''[[Final Fantasy IV (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IV]]'', is left handed, which is shown by having weapon and shield slots in his inventory screen reversed. No points for guessing what he does, especially with [[Name of Cain|a name]] [[Cain and Abel|like that]]. Though he does get better... [[Heel Face Revolving Door|somewhat]].

* Barring the Wii version of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess]]'' (which was mirrored left-to-right from the Gamecube version), every game in the main franchise (until [[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Video Game)|Skyward Sword]] had a left-handed Link.

* In ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'', Master Hand is a giant, floating, apparently benign right hand who created the world that the characters find themselves in, and lives to be the ultimate challenge for heroes. His [[Evil Twin]] is the Crazy Hand, the left hand of the pair, who laughs maniacally upon his entrance and whose attacks and general movements are both bizarre and incredibly erratic. Whereas Master Hand is said to be a benign force and to represent the creative nature of a child, Crazy Hand is a destroyer, and supposedly represents that same child's more sadistic qualities.

* The two models of the [[Pokémon Colosseum|portable Snag Machine]] are depicted as being worn on the left arm. Neither of their wielders are particularly nasty ([[Anti -Hero|though one moreso than the other]]), but the folks behind inventing the device are [[Complete Monster|the epitome of evil]] in the Pokeverse.

* Inverted in [[Tales of the Abyss]], where [[The Hero]] is left-handed, {{spoiler|while his ([[Anti -Hero|sort of]]) [[Evil Twin|Evil]] ([[Cloning Blues|sort of]]) [[Evil Twin|Twin]] is right-handed, or at least favours his right hand in combat, allowing the pair to milk [[Fearful Symmetry]] for all its worth.}}

* In one "Treehouse of Horror" episode of ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]'', left-handed Bart turns out to be the evil twin of Hugo Simpson. Bart's left-handedness is never brought up in the episode though.

* Francine from ''[[American Dad (Animation)|American Dad]]'' was raised to think lefties were evil.

* In one episode of ''[[The Batman (Animation)|The Batman]]'', Mirror Master creates evil duplicates of Batman, Robin, and Flash. Batman quickly notes that the duplicates are left-handed.

'''=Examples of the related tropes:'''=

* Edward Elric of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (Mangamanga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' lost his right arm and his brother lost his entire body performing forbidden alchemy, which put him on a self-imposed [[Redemption Quest]] to restore his brother's real body. At the end of the story, {{spoiler|he has his right arm and his brother back, but Edward had to give up his ability to perform alchemy.}}

* Reverend Harry Powell from ''[[The Night of the Hunter (Film)|The Night of the Hunter]]'' 1955. The fingers on his right hand are [[Knuckle Tattoos|tattooed with the word L O V E]], while the left hand is tattooed H A T E. His [[Catch Phrase]]? "Do you want to hear the story of left-hand and right-hand?"

* In ''[[Star Wars]]: Attack of the Clones'' Anakin loses his right arm- symbolism of a move towards the Dark Side? Luke then loses his right hand in the same way- right before [[The Reveal]] that [[Luke, I Am Your Father]], and in ''Return of the Jedi'' Luke breaks free from his [[Freak -Out]] after he cuts off his father's right hand and realizes that both of them have mechanical right hands.

* Rotwang ''[[Metropolis (Film)|Metropolis]]'' 1926, here we have the subtrope with the [[Mad Scientist]] whose right hand is mechanical- also seen in [[Girl Genius (Webcomic)|Girl Genius]] with Professor Mongfish.

* In ''[[The World Ends With You (Video Game)|The World Ends With You]]'' Sho Minamimoto has a black left hand.

* The main villain of ''[[Final Fantasy IV (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IV]]'', Golbez, is left-handed. However, you only learn this when {{spoiler|he's freed from brainwashing (done by the ''real'' villain) and becomes a protagonist in the sequel}}. He wields weapons in his left and shields in his right. Similarly, {{spoiler|Kain}} is left-handed, and ends up brainwashed to fight for the villain.

* Notably inverted with a lot of the characters Shigeru Miyamoto creates. [[Super Mario Bros (Franchise).|Mario]] and [[The Legend of Zelda (Franchise)|Link]] are both left-handed, and Miyamoto himself is ambidextrous, preferring his left hand.

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