The Sad Truth About Link's Handedness
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- Link is supposed to be a left handed icon, but that's changing and the reason why is making me sad.
Also, Check out our socials:
Twitter: / analogsticks_
Patreon: / analogsticks
#zelda #tearsofthekingdom #breathofthewild - เกม
I know the Wii can run GameCube games, just pretend I didn't say that part
Oh yeah I forgot about that.
It's honestly a better game without the motion controls. I wish I had the gamecube version instead of the wii version and I'm right-handed
Not every Wii though, later on they made Wii Consoles which lost backwards compatibility.
We are both Left handed :)
I don't have any dominant-handedness at all since they are both dominant with their own activities and their is no overlap to my handedness either. Is it just me or are there other people that aren't dominant at all (and I don't mean both hands are dominant).
if you think about it both skyward sword link and breath of the wild link had been trained as knights. and it is known that in some schools endorse learning to use the right hand. and maybe that is what happened to those links. since as you noticed ss link uses the bow and slingshot as a left handed. and if you check in link's house in botw you'll see on the second floor a notebook with a pencil laying on the left side of the notebook (splain dat!).
Really good theory! I love this idea :)
Link's main hand is Left but he's been taught to fight using his Right
Meaning he's actually been Ambidextrous the whole time
Shelby, in alttp he was ambidextrous.
True! Knights HAVE to use shields, swords, and spears all the same way in order to make defensive formations work properly.
I like that theory! One problem though, Hyrule Warriors Link is a knight and is still left handed. It's been a long time since I played Hyrule Warriors, but I think I remember him being a new knight though, and Hyrule Warriors Link seems more stubborn, running off on his own when the castle gets attacked, so maybe that Link was just too stubborn to use his right hand?
I'm glad I could live my childhood with wind waker, such an amazing game (it was the HD one tho)
This is a guess, but it's possible Breath of the Wild started development with some degree of motion controlled swordplay in mind when it was still a Wii U exclusive title, then changed direction once it was decided it would release on the Switch too. If this is what happened, the handedness might be a holdover from an old design that was easier to leave alone, which had to carry into Tears of the Kingdom for consistency.
Hopefully the next incarnation of Link is back to his usual left-handed self.
(also this has been pointed out already, but quite a few of current Link's animations are left-handed, so him being right handed in combat due to knight training could be an explanation, at least as a head canon)
and before anyone says it, yes I know Aonuma said it's because the buttons are on the right side of the controller. that's a silly explanation, the buttons haven't moved any time in the last 40 years. it could have been a joke, it could have been a way to give a quick answer without having to get into specifics. he said it to an IGN editor during a press gameplay preview, and the answer didn't even make it into the article. I don't give it too much weight.
As a lefty, Link being a lefty was always so cool. A hero like me.
I'm left handed and since botw is my first zelda game I never knew this!
I'm not a leftie myself, but I'm still disappointed by Link being a rightie in the new games, the fact he was left-handed was what made Link unique from other game characters. Master Chief didn't hold his gun like a leftie, Doom Guy didn't do that, Samus' arm cannon is on her right arm, etc. The only other super prominent game character I can think of who uses their left hand a lot is Mega Man, and it's not like he's necessarily left-handed, his hand switches depending what direction you're facing.
I don't know man, I still find it hard to believe that the Wii was impossible to optimize for lefties, like they couldn't have possibly have implemented a mode where you hold the wiimote in your left hand and the nunchuk in your right and in game Link goes back to being left-handed, I mean, in Skyward Sword, when you use your bow, he holds it like a leftie! Can you not do that for his sword and shield? And then there's BOTW which, really? You don't even have motion controls as an excuse now.
as a lefty, I can tell all you righties that we do have some pains (or at least I do) like with pens since those things were made for you righties!
Honestly, the fact they switched Link's hand for the Wii just made it worse than switching it before the motion controls were introduced. There was no option to play left-handed, and while that didn't matter much with TP, it mattered a LOT in Skyward Sword. Bugged the living shit out of me, not just visually, but ergonomically. It would have been so easy to make it a menu option, or a button to switch stances, but they actively decided against it on a console where most other motion controlled games *asked*
Then again, until I had a Nintendo 64, I was 100% SEGA, so the Nintendo environment already felt hostile to me.
ALBW is not just ALttP. They share some aesthetics, but their themes, stories, and characters are all vastly different from one another sans a few characters with the same name. Dungeon designs are different too, as well as how the items work, story progression, and use of 3D elements.
Look man, I can sympathize with Left Link Enjoyers (as a righty I always loved seeing that Link was left handed), but I will not stand for ALBW slander like this. Other than that, I really enjoyed your video; good job!
As someone who is right handed, this also annoys me. It's nothing to do with it actually being the handedness but cause he's reincarnated so they should be the same handedness
As a righty, I was actually also a little disappointed by the direction to make link a righty. He's always been a lefty, except for the mandated motion control games. It's one small complaint about the masterpiece that is Breath of the Wild
I still don't understand why they switched in the first place. Waggling the controller was just like pressing a button, there was no correlation between how you shook it and how Link swung his sword... it made no difference which hand you held the Wiimote in. Later in Skyward Sword an attempt was made to have it match... it barely works and those three-headed Staldras (Stalfos-Hydras, get it?) are a pain in the bitch to defeat, though. Er-- but the point still stands. If you swipe NW to SE or NE to SW or whatever, it doesn't really matter which hand you use, it's gonna turn out the same... -a 50% chance of registering correctly.-
I'm a righty, and bought the Wii version of Twilight Princess to trade for the GameCube version because I didn't like the handedness change. I then never bought Skyward Sword. I'm stubborn but I'll have to sigh and let it go eventually.
Personally, I don't think Link's dominant hand means anything at all.
Uhm. Guys. You can change the handedness in the wii options? I remember this distinctly because my brother is lefthanded and I would have to change it back quite often.
I remember reading the manga before really getting into any of the games, and Link's left-handedness is treated as a HUGE deal in that. All the characters were like "He's left handed, he must be the chosen hero!" and as a left-hander myself, I found that quite cool.
Same here, I felt special in some kind of way.
Wich manga?
@@kevinyail6040they're written by Akira himekawa. They aren't canon but they're very well done and I love the way they've they've brought links character to life.
I’m right-handed, myself, but always enjoyed that defining trait about Link. With the concept of reincarnation, I felt like it would be one of the determining factors in whether or not you happened to be the reincarnated Hero of Legend.
According to a different comment on this video, that was part of an official Zelda manga
It seems to me that they're at least consistent within any given *incarnation* of Link keeping whatever handedness he has, with the exception of Twilight Princess, which you noted has more to do with the controller issue. I don't mind Link *sometimes* being right handed as long as he's still *usually* left handed. I'm kind of amused at the proportions swapping. But I do worry they'll mostly keep him right handed hereafter, and I don't want that. And yes, I'm right handed - but both my full siblings and birth parents are left handed, so I pay a fair bit of attention to the differences.
Well I think Breath of the Wild was originally intended to have the Skyward Sword motion controls. I think it was scrapped in development as a result of fan backlash of SS and the fact it would make the transition to Switch more difficult. It's clear that BotW was delayed by the idea of making it a Switch game that could run on Wii U and away from a Wii U game ported to Switch.
They've changed OoT Link to be right handed in the remake. I didn't mind new or different Links being right handed. But having one retconned away feels pretty bad.
I miss the left-handed Link. I always found him to be so special, and he was important to me. I'm not left-handed, but I understand the struggles of being left-handed.
I wish they would give him back that very cool and interesting part of who he was. We need our hero of Courage now more than ever.
Its the damn motion controls...sucks Nintendo changed Link just because of them
@@YumYum820 but BotW didn’t have them so wtf
He never was strictly left handed he was always Ambidextrous even in the Sprite work of the original, they were originally planning a Right Handed Link, but to to Technical limitations they made him left, however he still holds his sword in the Right Hand even in the original Sprite pending which direction you face
@@YumYum820 that's not actually true even in the Original LoZ, he was Ambidextrous
@@Joker3180Z He was left handed in the 3D games until skyward sword
As a right-handed person I was upset Link wasn't left-handed in Skyward Sword and the Wii version of Twilight Princess. The least they could have done was NOT flip the world and give us the option. I'm sure I would have gotten good at it eventually. Certain things I'm used to doing with my left hand, pretty sure swinging a sword in a video game would have worked good enough.
As an ambi left dominant, i use my right hand in fencing, anyone trained uses their right hand, hence why all untrained links use his left hand while the trained links use right for swords and left for everything else
@@nouns7504 im not sure why but I immediately thought of the sword fight near the beginning of the princess bride
You probably could have gotten used to it. I'm right handed but out of curiosity I've played through both Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess with my left hand. It's not hard at all, which makes me more annoyed they changed Link's handedness
I get why Link wasn't lefty in SS, the controllers just couldn't work if you flipped them (any left-handed controller that you will find is a scam, we don't get better with the joystick on the right hand), but the Switch version lacking a left handed mode has no excuse, we could use the left hand to swing the sword since the Joy-Cons are perfect for that.
Using a real sword in your lesser hand may be hard. But swinging a controller would be no problem
I'm not left handed myself but I've always had a fondness towards Links left handedness. It's just an iconic part of his character to me and I was honestly disappointed when he was shown to be right handed again in Breath of the Wild.
Same
Taking minority traits away always sadens me, humanity is a fountain of diversity but oh so often media streamlines exactly one way to be
As someone pointed in another comment, Link might just be ambidextrous now. Apparently in Link's house in BotW you can see there's a book with the pen on the left side. Also, they pointed that many knight schools in the past trained the knights to use the right hand in combat, and most right handed links were trained as knights.
So... Maybe he just fights with the right hand due to training and habit, but still writes and does other tasks with the left? I mean, I have left handed people in my family that still do stuff the right handed way because that's how they learned; like, my cousin is left handed but plays guitar the right handed way because of this.
@@SingingSealRiana Cringe, diversity is a pointless endeavor. Link being left handed is meaningful because he's based on Miyamoto who is left handed and explored old ruins.
@@AngraMainiiu "cringe, diversity is a pointless endeavor" -🤓
Okay... Do you have anything to actually add or are you just gonna gloss over the main point of this video and move on thinking you said something special.
As a kid growing up left handed and with a coordination disability on my right side, Link's left handedness was very special to me. Even now as an adult still with that disability, I look back at twilight princess and ocarina of time and wind waker happily because of the lefty stuff. Sure I played skyward sword and breath of the wild, with skyward sword being a struggle due to my problem, but I would hope we get lefty link back
Same hoping there will be a setting in tears of the kingdom that lets us switch it do link is a lefty again
Fellow left handers- I feel your pain.
I prefer using my Left hand, but am Ambidextrous
Both my parents are right handed, yet here I am a lefty
💪🏻
Thank you
@@prometheus5997 SAME, my whole family are all right-handed yet I am lefty
As a kid. I adored that Link was left handed. I was never bullied about it (surprisingly), but i was just happy there finally was a protagonist who preferred the same hand. I really hope that after tears of the kingdom. They go back to a left handed Link
It took me long then it should have of staring at art work for it to suddenly click that holy shit he's left handed
This is my first time hearing of people being bullied for being left banded
@Hex Maniac 9000 it's not something that really happens much if at all now but there was a time like waay back, for decades even where there was a heavy stigma against the south paws (like long time ago people were even forced into using their right hand/not allowed to use their left )
thankfully I never had to go through bullying or anything due to being a leftie either
@@HexManiac-nf1yg i should have specified. I was bullied a lot back in the day (like, needing therapy. A lot). So looking back, I’m surprised that being left handed was never used in bullying
@@HexManiac-nf1yg it was really common back then, actually in some places it was forbidden to be left handed, almost every culture has some kind of negative things atribuyes to left handed people, like in Egypt it is a sign of bad luck, while in Mexico kids' hands would be tied up to the chair so they would learn to write with their right hands. My mother suffered from this, and my grandmother despite being left-handed cannot write with it after so many decades of being forced to be right-handed.
We are in a good time to be left-handed.
I'm right-handed but I too kinda miss the left-handed Link
It's just a nice little quirk he had
Also being left-handed would give him a advantage in sword fight, since most people are used to fight right-handed foes
Same
It wouldn't sword fighting is designed around the right. It's a matter of all the major sword masters are right handed. Attacks ,parries, blocks, etc are taught from a right-hand because the majority of people are right-handed. If you were left handed it put you at a disadvantage. It meant you had to work with a hand you weren't used to. You didn't wield the sword in the left hand
@@thomaswest2583 Being left handed would absolutely not be a disadvantage by itself. It would only be a disadvanatge for a while if they were to be trained to fight right handed instead. And that disadvantage would only last until they get used to using their right hand, which really doesn't take that long. For example, you could get used to writing with your non-dominant hand within two weeks of practice.
But that's still only if they were forced to not use their dominant hand. pretty much all swords can be held the same with either hand, and the techniques used with them can also be done with either hand by simply mirroring the standardised right-handed stances and moves. The exceptions are swords with a Nagel or Ring on one side of the guard. You'd need the guard to be modified/changed/custom made to be properly used left handed.
In terms of fighting by yourself, there would be no disadvantage if you were left handed and possibly even an advantage. It's only a disadvantage in groups/formations (which is the main reason most were trained to fight right handed)
So for Link, who only ever fights by himself in all games except BotW, it really wouldn't affect him whether he fought left or right handed.
@@waiwai3704 The problem is that all sword masters used the right hand it just how sword fighting was done and taught. You can't just switch hands and expect a untrained hand to just magical become good at sword fighting. The disadvantage is the sword master would require you to learn with your right hand because that was what sword fighting hand sword fighting is based around. You would count as untrained if you used your left hand. It's not as easy as just switching hands.Your right hand is trained in attacks, parries, blocks, etc for years. If you just switch hands your gonna go done quickly. Especially if the other fighter has any experience
@@thomaswest2583I was taught tennis by right handers, i had to mirror there movements in my head to match them to my left but I learned, i even had an edge being left handed
small little note: what is portrayed in Link's handedness in Skyward Sword is actually known as mixed handedness! they are commonly confused to be the same thing, and in a lot of ways they are, however while ambidextrousness is the tendency to be able to use both hands as if they were dominant for everything, mixed handedness is the tendency to use specific hands for specific tasks, meaning they can't typically be swapped out freely.
ohhh cool, that's what i have! never knew there was a word for it :3c my right hand is dominant for most things like writing, but left hand dominant for sign language since it's more flexible (probably cuz my wrist bones are slightly different on each side just like my mom's)
thank you!! i’m actually mixed handed (we believe i was taught right handed to write by teachers but much prefer my left hand for other tasks), and sooo many people don’t get it. kinda fun to share that trait with link lmao
Oh lmao that's what I have, I thought I developed it for certain tasks to have my right arm/hand free (ex. carrying/opening bottles with my left hand, but I draw and throw with my right). Maybe that's still why I developed it though lol
honestly though, i cant hold a cup in my right hand without it shaking but i also cant write with my left hand :/
What you are describing is "Cross-Dominance"
The statement about left-handed kids not being able to experience a left-handed Link in TotK hit me so hard T _ T
frrr though. im a leftie & experiencing left handed link in oot made me so happy as a kid
@@popsicIes im sayin
God damn right-handed scissors.
I feel your pain, Link.
Never thought I'd actually hate myself for being right handed, thanks
Don't hate yourself. Everyone is different. I'm left-handed and I don't really care much. Handedness doesn't matter.
@@adamking5215 it does matter. we are better.
@@adamking5215 It would be great if we could get a game where you could choose which handedness Link has, but then they'd have to create cutscenes with both versions of him. Hopefully they do that in the future, but keep the map the same for both versions.
@@aidenwallin3523 tbh they could just mirror the cutscene, they did it for TP on the Wii, mirrored the whole game
@@AGaymerFry I didn't realize they had a mirrored version. I played TP on Wii but when I looked up a playthrough after, it was mirrored gameplay. Is that why?
Im right-handed, but im honestly saddened by what nintendo is doing to his handedness.
I fell in love with the idea of a left-handed link, and it just hurts seeing this happen to him.
Decided to make some of my OC’s southpaws in his honor. Go link 👊
I never knew there were other people who felt similarly about this lol, that's refreshing!
I agree Link should stay Left handed i thought it fit him
I'm not left-handed, but I always preferred Link being left-handed. It was a cool minor detail. They should've returned his left-handedness in BotW in my opinion since motion controls isn't a focus. We'll have to wait until after BotW/TotK era Link to see now.
Yes, this! I've always felt passionate about this exact thing. (Some of you may note, the Kirby in my profile picture is wearing his Link-like hat that he gets while using the Sword ability, and I've actually mirror-flipped the image to make it look like Kirby is left-handed. It's more than a reference to Link; it's also a better representation of me.)
I've actually explained some of these very things to people in real life, from the fact that Miyamoto is a southpaw, and that's why Link is too; to how it was such a comforting feeling to see a hero who wielded tools the same way I would. I absolutely relate to the struggles --- maybe not crippling struggles most of the time, but glaring inconveniences --- of trying to learn things in an inverted way, with nobody to teach you how to do it comfortably. There were a lot of things I learned more slowly, and some things I never could use as competently as most, because of how I had to self-teach those skills. So, it was a comfort to see that a character who struggled in the same way I did, still reached a level of mastery while learning on his own. In fact, seeing a lefty hero demonstrating such dexterity helped give me confidence; after many years and a lot of practice, there are a few things I've learned to do even more dexterously than most people can. Because I just imagined myself being like Link, until I essentially was just like him.
It honestly did kind of hurt when they made the motion-control Wii games more accessible for right-handed people, with no option for a mirror-flip. (I mean, heck, Ocarina of Time's "Master Quest" in the remakes does a mirror-flip of the entire world, changing Link's handedness along with it. Why couldn't they do that for other Legend of Zelda games?) Besides us losing a southpaw role model when motion controls became a thing, some games were just harder to play. I still feel frustrated when I remember the struggle of playing Metroid Prime 3, holding the controller in the "wrong" hand.
Of course, I also felt so happy that I had to comment about it on Miiverse (yes, back when that was a thing), when I first created a save file on Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, and the game asked me if my dominant hand was left or right. I may have even teared up a little bit; it was nice to feel included, and to know that I'd be able to play the game with less struggle. So, yeah. I get this.
One more thing I want to add to the points in the video, is that there is in-world ("diegetic," if you like that word) significance to Link being left-handed. As you mentioned, researchers aren't really sure why some people are left-handed, nor why it's relatively uncommon. But they do have theories. One of the main theories is that left-handedness eventually showed up in human genetics, because unusual handedness is a natural advantage in combat. Since most people --- lefties included --- are more accustomed to interacting with right-handed humans, we're all better at anticipating movements from that configuration. Guarding against a left-handed strike is a skill that most people will have practiced less often, thus they don't tend to do it as well as guarding against a right-handed strike.
I actually saw this in action, during a brief time when I joined a group that practiced fencing. In my very first duel ever, I was going against someone much more experienced than me. The winner would be the first to get ten hits. And even I, a complete rookie, got six hits on my opponent before he got me ten times. The southpaw advantage definitely played a part in that.
Anyway, Link fighting left-handed would cause him to experience that too. He would have to take longer to learn his skills, but with enough practice, he would have this special little gift that turns a natural struggle of his into a greater ability to fight. It's kind of symbolically, as well as literally, a demonstration of how being different makes him an especially good hero.
*Sigh.* I hope Nintendo never forgets this principle altogether.
Something that really bothered me while i was learning to handle a sword (aikiken)was that even the left handed samurai were forced to learn the sword using their right, I always switched it and had ro be reminded constantly of that. Maybe it is only in Japanese culture, but I thought that this change on link was because of formal training, not his dominant hand changing because *YeS*
This is actually a great insight. Very interesting to learn. Even if it isn’t canon in game, this is what I’m gonna pretend happened with Link
It’s also really interesting that ninjas used samurai’s right-handed training against them by specifically training left handedness. Samurais practiced with other right handed samurais, so were less prepared for left handed attacks from ninjas.
Perfect opportunity to learn left handed and use this ridiculous custom to your advantage.
@@Nitsirtriscuit would've been really cool then if the yiga clan in botw were left handed, as they're kind of ninjas
Headcanon that every time Link is right handed he was just forced to learn the right handed way cause that's how it used to be for all left handed people. I think it especially makes sense in Skyward Sword and BotW because i think those are the only 2 games where he receives formal teaching.
I'm right-handed, but I've always appreciated Link being left-handed. I hope we see the Master Sword in his left hand again someday.
As a southpaw, I both understand how trivial this seems and understand how deeply important it feels at the same time. I love, love when a character shares my left handed trait, and Link is a perfect example of that. The fact it feels like that's slowly being erased is immensely disappointing.
As a fellow left handed i could relate so hard to this, i too fell in love with link when i realized he was like me in the Wind Waker. I genuinely felt betrayed after botw. For the wii games i thought it couldnt be helped but botw? Why did you have to make him right handed, did miyamoto forget us? I used to think that link being left handed maybe was just a big deal to me but thankfully now i know i’m not alone :’3
I'm pretty sure the reason he's left handed originally is actually that Miyamoto himself is left handed
I myself am right handed but I always loved Link being left handed, it's nice seeing some variety for a change. Tbh I feel like for motion controls they could've just had the player select their handedness at the start of the game and mirror Link's animations during gameplay... They did it for Wii Sports and such
They changed it in botw to be different than other Zelda games, like they changed dungeons and the open world
Link's more useful hand is still the left, parrying can kill Guardians with immense ease.
Growing up I read books a lot more than I played video games, but all of the zelda manga really empathized Link being left handed, so even though I’ve only played botw he’ll always be left handed in my heart
Now that breath of the wild came out, I didn't understand why they didn't make Link Left-Handed again. I do miss Left Handed Link because in a way I wanted to be left handed. I am now ambidextrous because of him.
-gasp-
This is why! He was corrupting the children with his evil devil's-handedness! Burn the witch!
(fully jokes)
1:51 - 2:26 I'm left handed too and the exactly same thing happened to me man, it was amazing!!! I felt too identified with everything said in this video.
Back in the times, i came to accept that link was right-handed in wii games, and at least Twilight Princess Link was canonically lefty, but him being right-handed in botw hurt me xD
When I was talking to all my friends about this topic, they called me crazy and said that it was just a hand, so watching this video gave me a lot of satisfaction and made me realize that I am not the only one that thought about it and it gave me a feeling of being a part of something, thank you so much.
PD: Just discovered your channel, and I love it! You deserv way more subs!
As someone who is left-handed, but was made to learn to do everything with his right hand, this strikes a chord with me. Even though I am stronger with my left hand, more confident in learning things with it, and always seem to favour it when I’m not explicitly told to do otherwise (when I’m dealing cards, for example. My grandfather pointed that one out to me years ago), my parents, teachers, and most other authority figures in my life told me to write, draw, and do most other things with my right hand, as it would be ‘easier.’ Now, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve taken an interest in relearning these actions with my preferred dextrousness in mind. It’s already proving to be a lot easier, and in time, hopefully I’ll master doing things with my left even better than I have with my right.
No one says that anymore luckily
I have that with using forks and knives when eating, I never could learn the "proper" way. But in everything else I am right handed.
Good thing I was very rebelious as a child so I mostly use my left hand
I've always wondered if I was left handed and just didn't know, because my writing was always really messy, and I can do a lot of things ambidextrously despite mostly practicing on the right.
I was made in school to do everything right handed but I never really stopped using my left so a plus is I can write and do just about everything with both hands. I’ve noticed I’m better at doing dextrose things with my left but better with physical things with my right. I mess around on a regular basis shooting a basketball or throwing a football alternating hands every time and can still do well with both. It just sometimes feels off throwing with my left but it just works naturally. Same with writing with my right. I can do it but it takes me longer and feels weird doing so but everything is still perfectly legible. It’s weird but my handwriting looks totally different depending on which hand I use though.
I remember seeing a comment on some TH-cam video years ago where someone said lefties can never be good artists because they’re just not as dexterous or something. Obviously that’s completely ridiculous and not something anyone should take seriously, but as a left-handed aspiring artist, I just can’t forget that. Maybe I’m making a big deal out of nothing, but it’s just a little annoying that my handedness is just one more thing that makes me feel isolated from other people.
And like the video said, it’s never been a huge issue in most areas of my life. Hell, I can play Wii games with my right hand like anyone else. I just always liked that Link was a leftie. Hopefully he uses his left hand more in Tears of the Kingdom since his right arm is all messed up.
Also, didn’t know Miyamoto was a leftie, that’s really cool!
Before this video, I assumed that the reason SS Link and BotW Link were right handed was for historical accuracy or something, as at one point in time if you were left handed you would still be taught to do everything from the right hand, so maybe these two Links, as formally trained knights, were meant to be interpreted as southpaws who were taught to swing a sword with their right hand because nobody else knew how to use their left hands for something like this. I mean, other than Hyrule Warriors Link and kinda WW Link, I don’t know of any other Links who had any truly formal training to speak of before their adventures, they were all just kinda naturals as far as I’m aware. After this video, it’s a little disappointing to see that my interpretation may have just been wishful thinking on my part.
All techniques can be done with your left without issue but when it comes to training/sparing is where issues arise opposite handed ppl can fight each other that easily maybe that is why link can beat Ganon so well link had practice fighting minions so he knows tricks to deal with the awkward situation
If I recall correctly, Twilight Princess Link also has formal training and is right handed, which lends more credence to you theory. And Warriors Link is essentially an entire army on his own, so he stops fighting with his right hand because he's not often fighting in formation (or rather, he doesn't need to to defeat monsters). Regardless, I've always believed Link to be ambidextrous and merely prefers his left hand when he fights, though that is clearly not true.
The only thing it says to me to have Link right handed, even as a right handed person, is that the team were too lazy to allow for accessibility options, to be able to choose left or right handedness in the options menu. Seriously, that's all they had to do. Even as a righty, Link has always been uniquely left handed to me.
Strangely enough, as a right handed person, I feel like I could have still used the motion controls with a left handed link.
I can't see how it would have been any more difficult for right handed people. Though, I am saying this as someone who prefer controllers that can be used with both hands and uses both hands with rhythm games and other various things.
I think for me personally, a left handed Link in Twilight Princess might have required a little more hand-eye coordination.... but it's not like we would have to hold the controllers in our non dominant hand.
And even with that, I'm pretty sure most people would have gotten used to it after the tutorial stage anyway.
you'd be surprised. try wiping your ass with your left hand. even the most mundane things feel horribly wrong with the non-dom hand lmao
I always thought about this too. How hard is it for lefties to point or swing the remote with their non-dominant hand? I don't think it would've been that hard. Plus, you use the nunchuck in both TP & SS. All video game controllers have the joystick & d-pad on the left & buttons on the right. So it would probably feel awkward for even a lefty to have the joystick in the other hand.
meeting another left-handed person is so special somehow. There's something really cool and reassuring knowing that there are people out there like you.
13% of Americans are
@@thisiswhatilike54 considering how many people there are in the US in total, I'd say that's not too big a portion
I always take note of left handed people when I happen to come across them. And it happens a fair bit to me. Always put a little smile on my face
I think it's interesting that the different incarnations of Link don't all exhibit the same handedness. I find SS Link to be the most like me, primarily right handed, but left handed for certain activities or in certain situations. That is far more naturalistic from where I sit
Maybe he is like me, mixed handed.
That's called being ambidexterous .
It paints a more depressing image to me. That EVERY Link is left handed, but some versions have to go through the crappy childhood and then training that is sadly relatable to lefties IRL. Where he's only taught how to do things right handed, is told that's the right way to do it, and so he has a much more unnatural time mastering his skills. There are no right-handed or ambidextrous Links at all. There are only those who were allowed to learn left handed, and a few who were onfortunate to have the right-handed ways forced on them.
Link secretly being ambidextrous.
@@MissMoontree I am not ambidextrous. That is different. Mixed handedness is much more prevalent then ambidextrous.
I'm right handed but I frequently imagine characters being left handed. I wish that the default would be left handed and featured a mirrored mode so that left handed users could have a better sense of pride!
Edit: saw you only had 160 subs and this seems like a really good video??? I'm subbing.
I really appreciate that! I've already got a few more in the pipe, hope you'll enjoy them!
there are some strange problems you run into when mirroring the whole world.
It starts with simple things like text if you mirror the whole screen.
Note that twilight princess wii had an east-west error in the game due to the mirroring.
@@RuztyNails33I’m also left handed
I like the way Minecraft goes about it, where you can change ur handedness in the settings. If that was a feature, the devs could really achieve their goal of Link being relatable for everyone.
My sister is left handed, but is mix-handed. That means she writes with her left hand but does everything else with her right hand. No one taught her to be this way, she just did what felt more comfortable. It's supposedly uncommon, only about 1% prevalence. As someone who is strongly right handed, I often wonder what her brain thinks when she switches from hand to hand.
Yo I'm actually the same as your sister! I'm left handed and I do a majority of tasks with my left hand but there are some things I do with my right (like how I throw) because it just feels more comfortable.
Sometimes, there is no thought process behind it. You just do what feels right (or left...)!
@@Rammy_Latin She's left handed but the only thing she does left handed is write. She does everything else with her right hand, even writing on a whiteboard. It can be easy to forget that she's left handed because she doesn't really use her left hand that often. Even when she was in softball, she pitched, batted, and threw right handed. She said she couldn't even do it lefty.
@@FoxxyFire-HellFrost Wait, so she writes with her left hand EXCEPT when writing on a whiteboard??
Ok, well, I don't do _that_ 😅
@@Rammy_Latin Yeah. She probably trained herself to do it at school.
@@FoxxyFire-HellFrost That's really interesting!
I'm right handed, but the fact Link was left handed always struck me with a good sense. Exactly because I knew it was uncommon and that added up to his fantasy of a hero in my head. It also reinforced him as an original character, albeit small, being left handed was one of his quirks.
Tbh Breath of the Wild's biggest fatal flaw is that Link is right handed
Nice to hear someone who has an uncommonly shared experience to me growing up, the exact way you explained your handedness in life and that connection to link perfectly describes my own, so a soft thanks, for expressing a part of you
As a fellow southpaw, I feel your pain. Hell, all of the points you made in this video are things I've been telling my friends for years. It's really comforting to know I'm not the only one who feels slightly alienated and neglected by Link's change in handedness. Your experience with Wind Waker Link at the age of 5 was my experience with OoT Link at the age of 9. There was some unspoken pride about sharing the same dominant hand as my favourite video game protagonist. Skyward Sword and Breath of The Wild Link have both failed to resonate deeply with me, and I'd like to attribute their right-handedness to that.
I was playing one of the handheld Zelda games as a kid and my mom pointed out that he was holding his sword in his left; something I never realized!
I felt so validated as a fellow Lefty :3
I do find it strange how the devs coded in a flipped perspective but never gave the option to flip it back as a left handed accessibility setting.
Finally someone who gets it. As someone who is left handed, I felt the same joy playing a character I loved being left handed. It can be hard to put into words my feelings about being left handed and link himself, but I feel very similarly to you. Hopefully left handed link makes a triumphant return because with how the switch controls breath of the wild and other games don’t have a reason for him to be right handed at this point.
Apparently some officials at Nintendo said that Link is right handed in BotW because you press a button on the right side of the controller to swing your sword, on top of the fact that you can't control the direction of your slice with the left stick anymore like previous games in the series let you do (which was apparently one of the strictly gameplay related reasons why Link was still left handed in the older 3D entries). It doesn't help matters when 2D entries make Link left handed when facing north, south, and west, but then make him right handed specifically whenever he's facing east (though games like ALBW and the LA remake don't have this issue because they're actually 3D overhead instead of sprite based 2D).
Here’s a funny story. I actually first played twilight princess on GameCube, when I visited a friend who had it on wii and ask for me to help with the first time you are in Hyrule castle, in Link’s wolf form, the flipped world tripped my muscle memory up so f***ing much that I asked if there was an option to use my left hand as my main hand, which there wasn’t (later I decided to train myself to be ambidextrous, out of spite)
My man!
As a lefty I can truly feel this pain. It does suck, there are very few southpaw's represented in mainstream media
not to mention a good portion of them tend to be evil or side characters
Im right handed and still annoyed they mirrored the entire game on the wii 😭
As a right-handed person, I thought it was cool that Link was left-handed! Not many characters are and that made him stand out to me. So when Skyward Sword came out and Link was right handed, it just felt weird to me. Yes, it did line up with my handedness so swinging the sword felt natural, but it felt like a part of the character's uniqueness was lost... This is actually a symptom of a greater problem Nintendo has when making their games accessible. Yes, they love to make things easy to understand, but when it comes to players with special needs or disabilities (low vision, muscular dystrophy, being deaf, or in this example, left-handedness), Nintendo has been really bad at catering to those crowds. It's really sad that leftie Link got caught in the crossfire...
I always loved that Link was left handed. I'm not left handed but I think it's really interesting to see how he swings/uses his weapons.
As a right-hander, it kinda saddens me that they took away Link's left-handedness. It was just something different, and special with the character.
same feeling here. It does not even need to be "special" as 10% of the population are left handed, but it is specific that link is specifically left handed.
Link can change his tunic into different colours. His hair color is inconsistent. He is a different iteration of him self each time - but each time he is left handed (except breath of the wild for some reason - I do not count Twilight princess Wii - that literally happened in a mirror universe)
@@sarowie in link's house in botw, there is a pencil on the left side of a notebook, strongly implying link is left handed. however, because he trained as a knight, he was likely taught to use his right hand to fight, as it makes sparring and training easier. his left arm is powerful though; parrying a guardian laser is not easy
Maybe the reason Link is ambidextrous in Skyward sword is again to accommodate the right handed audience- in terms of immersion with holding the Wii remote (bow) in front of you with the right hand.
But anyway, I appreciate this video so much. I’m not left handed myself, but the story of seeing a hero “just like you” is really touching, and it was neat to hear it’s because Miyamoto was left handed!
I can't believe that you're this passionate about a twink's hands... I love it
I just know this channel's going to blow up and I'm here for it
So am I
As a left hander, and a fan of the series since the original Legend of Zelda, you have put my exact feelings in video form
Although I am right handed, I always liked knowing that Link was left-handed. I remember learning that for the first time while reading one of the Zelda encyclopedias I believe. Feeling proud of myself for knowing that, I went and played many of my Zelda games. For the longest time, I did know that Link was right-handed in TP and SS, but as a played BoTW, something changed. I was just casually running around Hyrule and I thought about that fact that Link is left-handed. I pulled out my sword and experienced horror - Link in BoTW is RIGHT-handed. I felt frustrated by that fact and it still bothers me to this day. Link being left-handed just seemed special to me.
This video was really well done btw. I never knew Link in SS was ambidextrous - that surprised me!
As a right handed person I love left-handed Link bc I always found it such a cute little unique detail about him
This video is exactly how I feel as a fellow south paw. Though my first Zelda game was ocarina of time and smash 64. Having a left handed hero is ultimately what made me initially love the series and when he switched in skyward sword and breath of the wild….something seems lost 🙃
THANK YOU
Finally, someone else who feels the same way I did about this.
Iirc, Aonuma himself said the decision to make link right handed in botw was because "the button to swing the sword is on the right side." What? The button has always been on the right side. What makes the difference now? Nobody complained about that before. And if this really is the reasoning, I can bet no future incarnation of Link will ever be left-handed again, which makes me really sad.
Left-handedness is not only rare but was historically shamed. Teachers would force lefty students to write right-handed, the left hand side was often deemed as the "devil's side" and seen as something evil. My 99-year-old grandma was also left-handed as a kid just like me, but was forced by everyone to use her right hand when she was growing up. Now she basically can't do anything with her left hand except brush her teeth. It's honestly really sad how left-handedness was historically depicted as something negative, so to see a hero (Link) depicted as left-handed made me feel incredibly happy and represented. Finally, left-handedness was being depicted in positive light.
To top it all off, 1 in 10 people are left handed, but only like 1 in every 1000 or so fictional characters are left handed, making left-handed fictional characters exceptionally rare. So to take away left-handedness from one of the very few left-handed fictional characters just makes me feel so wronged.
I'm just so glad I found this video, and now I don't feel as crazy for feeling the way that I did about Link no longer being left-handed.
I think people really undermine how prevalent discrimination against left handed people actually is. Even left handed people act like it doesn't exist or isn't important. Sure, it's not that common in America nowadays, but it certainly still happens in some communities, particularly in school settings, and it's more common in other parts of the world. It wouldn't be as big of a deal if children weren't the ones most often victimized, typically by people in positions of power over them, like teachers or their parents.
YES! THANK YOU! It meant the whole world to me that my favorite character was just like me! A lot of right handed folk like to tell us we’re over-reacting but they don’t get it.
Because of Link, I thought being left-handed was awesome and made you a very selfless hero. I carried this on as an adult and just think it's really cool and special now! Never had any negative thoughts about it but didn't think it would help someone's insecurities... I really miss left-handed Link... I wanted to play with my left hand! I have tried to train myself to become ambidextrous during school and sports but gave up lol
Omg I did the same thing! I spent like my entire 5th grade year DETERMINED to use my left hand for everything and I think wanting to be like Link was a big part of it, it’s so funny looking back at old papers and stuff from that time and seeing how godawful my handwriting was lmao
@hatinacat7344 oh my gosh that's AWESOME lol! Also I love your pfp wtf 😂
@@Tunabreath2001 lmao thanks 😂your name is pretty great too lmao
@@hatinacat7344 not sure if this is weird but, do you have discord?
@@Tunabreath2001 omg i'm so sorry i'm seeing this like 2 months later!!! i never get notifications and i always forget to check them 😭😭😭😭 yeah i have discord! also if it is weird, it can't be any weirder than me replying to this two months later lmaoooo
As a little kid, It meant so much to me to see one of my favorite heroes be left handed like me, especially when how little of my peers were left-handed as well ( I think there was only around one or two other left handed kids in my grade.)
I can relate a ton to liking a character because of a physical trait the 2 of you share!
King K. Rool was always one of my favorite villains in Nintendo’s history but his giant bloodshot eye made me really stick with em.
I’m basically extremely near-sighted in my right eye and I tend to squint a lot with that eye, but for some reason my left eye is completely fine. Odd comparison but it made me like him since he’s got eye issues too lol.
Just FYI, Skyward Sword was not ambidextrous, it's mixed handed.
Ambidextrous means you can use either hand for whatever. Mixed handed is more limited so you do some things with one hand and some things with the other.
For example, I'm mixed handed and I can write ONLY with my left hand but I do most things with my right side (punch, kick, throw, bat, bowl). For me it's like minor and major motor skills are left and right respectively but my understanding is it's not always that way.
I may be right handed but I loved the old left handed game play because in my mind it just compounded more why link was such a hero because being left handed may be a challenge but image having to learn sword play when you can't use a sword the way anyone else can he learned that by himself and honestly in my kid brain it was such a huge inspiration
I'm naturally a lefty as well, but I was forced to learn how to use my right hand due to some crazy teachers hitting me every time I tried to use my left hand. (I'm now ambidextrous. Which is...neat i guess? But I can't write with my left hand as well as I can my right because I never learned as a kid. But I do most things these days as a lefty outside of writing)
And I don't think so many people get, is how much representation matters. Even when it's something as small as which dominant hand a character uses. It's a reminder that, nothing is wrong with you. I could expand this into something more obvious, but i'm sure those who get what i'm alluding to, get it regardless. And I think that it would detract from the second point I wanna make.
And that is. the motion controls were never stopping a left handed Link. I can play Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess Wii, entirely left handed. And I did a few times. The most awkward bit was relearning the back buttons (B, C and Z) as in earlier entries (And TP Gamecube), they were essentially reversed for playing left handed for these 2 titles.
And despite Link being Right handed in those games, it didn't inhibit my ability to PLAY the game this way. And I know i'm not the only person to play on the Wii left handed.
Link's animations would not have been hampered in any way if he was left handed for either of those titles. It may have appeared slightly more awkward for right handed people for the start of the game. But they would have just adapted to it so long as the controls matched. I.E. you swing left, he swings left still.
That is why changing Link to a right handed protagonist bothers me so much. Because the ONLY reason it happened, was so right handed people could be slightly less inconvenienced for the first few minutes of the game. =/
It always felt to me like the decision to have Link hold his shield in his right hand in the first game was an arbitrary one, and they kept repeating it up through Twilight Princess because it was distinctive. I definitely like it! Hearing it was originally done with specific intention only makes it cooler.
80% people are right handed. This means 80% less arguments to Nintendo. Then again, they could get 100% less if they just asked your handedness and could choose righty or lefty. Then make a flipped model of Link. I think this would be the best solution. Also, I’m pretty sure people make mods for this. Though for people who don’t Homebrew (mod), This wouldn’t help
THIS is why I always felt so close to Link, I am also left handed. It was like a special bond we both shared. RIP.
Unless BOTW retcons everything there are what 11 different Links? Almost none show up in canonical sequels. Given that its not known why your brain is brokened, why should every Links be? You have more than 1/10. Stop complaining.
I'm right handed, but I always thought it was cool that Link was a leftie. It was another way he stood out, was different from everyone around him, which is something I'm familiar with. (Plus, I like chunky joystick controllers better than motion controls anyway, except maybe with bow and arrow.)
While the reason is likely just "devs made him right handed", allow me to really clutch at some straws here for a moment. Maybe I can invent a justification for his occasional right-handedness. While for independent swordsmen, being left-handed could be a good thing, because it would throw off a right hander who has only fought right handers before, in sword-wielding militaries (even into modern day dress uniforms), swords are held with the right hand. The idea being if you're in a line, side by side with other swordsmen, you don't want your sword-hand clashing with your neighbour's. Even if you were left handed, even if you did everything else left handed, you'd have right-handed sword use beaten into you.
Most Links are little village nobodies who are basically self-taught with the sword, but pick up skills form a sword master. One on one, there's no reason he would have been made to use his right hand. Breath of the Wild's Link, though, is the champion of Hyrule. Presumably he came to Zelda's attention through combat. It's not a huge stretch to imagine he learned his swordsmanship in a military tradition, and so, he'd use a sword right handed.
Of course, Link has been brown-haired, blonde, and pink-haired in his various incarnations. It's not inconceivable that some of his incarnations might be right handed. Personally, just to see certain reactionary folks lose their tiny little minds, I want a future Link to be a girl.
Skyward sword Link isn't necessarily ambidextrous. It's not too uncommon for people (such as myself) to be right-handed with a left dominant eye, meaning that when we shoot a bow & arrow we shoot 'like left-handed people' though that doesn't make us ambidextrous.
Twilight Princess Wii was my favourite game as a kid (it's still up there), and it was also my first Zelda title
Because of this, I actually didn't know for the longest time that Link was left handed until finding gameplay on TH-cam where I noticed the change in handedness (after I had noticed that the entire world was backwards and was immensely confused)
It suddenly clicked and honestly? I felt a bit disappointed
From a game development and sales standpoint, it makes complete sense to appeal to the masses so I was disappointed but couldn't really get upset or mad at it
But then came the return of right handed Link in BoTW >:T
I can see a lot of people theorizing that it could be due to formal training forcing righthandedness, but without it being stated in game I just feel as if that angle was not intended, and the right handedness instead just feels like a weird jab for no particular reason
Here's to hoping we see the return of left handed Link
Retconning such an integral character feature feels wrong
Link wasn’t left handed because Miyamoto was, he was left handed because of NES graphical limitations. If you look at promo art for the first Zelda game, Link is right handed. Nintendo couldn’t get the sprite to look right with a right handed Link, so they swapped it around quietly. The kept him a lefty for so long because it was more or less a nod to the original.
As someone who was left handed... Broke my arm for several years... Had to learn everything to the right... While my left arm is still weaker to this day. I am now confused-Ambidextrous. I do not know myself what side i am on or if i am more left handed or right handed. Some things yes, some things no. Most of the time i can do anything both hands if i try. But neither of them feels right (Or left) to me.
So yes, this new version of link... I like it. He's like me. Confused about being right or left.
Dude, honestly, I'm right handed, but I was really upset when Breath of the Wild didn't have a left handed Link! It's because of Zelda that, to this day, I draw all of my sword-wielding heroes left-handed (though I started drawing them as southpaws because it was easier to draw them mirrored to myself, but that's neither here nor there)
I hear so many people talk about Wind Waker and Spirit Tracks, but Phantom Hourglass is so underappreciated 😔
It was the first Zelda game ai ever played, and today I feel like the only fan of it....
It does sting a lot knowing that companies will make whatever compromises they can to bleed out as much profit as possible. As a south paw myself, it was always aggravating back in my school years... 2 decades ago wow. Being the only left handed person in my class and oddly being seen as the oddity.
-
So yeah I'll admit to being bitter about the treatment of an iconic fictional southpaw hero being changed for the profits of a company.
As a righty, let me say, my heart goes out. I was very mad at the change and figured that gamers should just adapt like we always do. So you swing your right hand to slash with links left... Odd... But so is almost anything nintendo often does. I had TP for gamecube and it still low key bothers me that they still habe him right handed.
even as a right handed guy zelda was always my favorite series, and i loved the fact he was left handed ! although on skyward sword and twilight princess it got me questioned "why couldn't they just make a switch hands settings ?" in BOTW i was just a bit sad that i couldn't play my favorite character as he was intended to be, a left handed sword master
Flipping the whole world so link is right handed in twilight princess seems silly to me, the controls wouldn't change how he attacks so they could have left him a lefty in that one. Skyward sword on the other hand (atleast the og wii version) I can understand it a little bit more. Either way with twilight princess HD it has been fixed, and they left the mirrored righty link as a mode you can play.
Anyways I always found link as a lefty to be interesting,only other game where the player holds the weapon on with their left that I know of is monster hunter, where if you use the SnS, Lance, or gunlance, the hunter has the shield on their right with the weapon on the left. But the reason is funny, they ain't left handed, the hunters in lore just favor defence and chose to hold shields on the right.
Wait... that entire rant about getting Twilight Princess and the GameCubes vs the Wii is pointless... the Wii can play GameCube games, meaning everybody had a choice of the version they wanted to play
I mean every Link isn’t the same person at least not physically they all share the same soul but their body isn’t an exact copy originally in the timeline Link was ambidextrous then he was born left handed for most of his reincarnations with the Hero of Twilight and the Hero of the wild being right handed so yeah it’s just the way it is I suppose tbh it’s kinda odd how Link is reborn left handed all but two times so guess the statistics are closer in Hyrule
If we also assume SS link and BOTW links "Knights" follows real life knights, than them being right handed makes sense as majority of knights in history are right handed.
It's a big characteristic that makes him different from other heroes. I have no idea why they kept it in BOTW. They should have made him left handed again. I'm hoping we see him continue being left handed.