A Warcraft 3 shower thought.

[Spacebuns]

It occured to me that the Human Peasant/Militia, Footman/Captain and Knight models hold weapons on the left hand. This is very strange considering that left-handedness only occurs in 10% of humans. So how did the Human Alliance come to fill the bulk of their army with one of the rarest groups of people? Another theory is that these soldiers have cross-dominance (i.e. certain tasks are favored by the non-dominant hand) but this phenomenon is present in only 1% of humans.
However, when looking at the human hero (with a weapon) models - Paladin, Archmage, Arthas, Jaina etc. - they all use their weapons in a right-handed motion. Even Sylvanas wields her bow in a way a right-handed person would.
Thus, I have come to theorize that, the Warcraft 3 universe (for humans, at least) is a bizarro one when it comes to handedness. Left-handers are as common in their universe as right-handers in ours and vice versa.

Is there any shower thought you'd like to share?

 

[Wareditor]

This is an interesting find and an amusing theory.
I hope this thread will serve as a collection of arousing warcraft ideas.

 

[DracoL1ch]

#blizzardGiveBalance #stopThreatingRightHanded

 

[Kaijyuu]

Left-handedness for footmen seems to have started with warcraft 2. Due to the sprite based graphics, the footmen in wc2 do change handedness based on facing, but the forward and backward facing sprites (which will never be flipped) are left-handed, meaning left-handedness was probably deliberate there.

I can't find any concept art of the footman from that era, but a random human foot soldier drawn by Samwise depicts a right handed person holding a warhammer. I'm guessing left-handedness was decided by whoever made the sprite itself.

 

[Kyrbi0]

I don't shower often enough to think about Warcraft during them.

Wait, what?

 

[Zwiebelchen]

You have a critical flaw in your theory: it is actually very common for shield-users to wield the weapon left-handed, as you definitely want more strength and dexterity in the hand that is protecting you (your shield).

Other units that hold their weapons in the left hand:
- Knights hold their lance in the right hand... I'd say this is definitely the heavier weapon of the two, so I'd say they are right handed too
- Priest uses his right hand to cast spells... so probably right-handed either
- Farseer: uses a shield, see above
- Deathknight... I'd give this a pass as left-handed, although they are using the right hand to control the horse. Funny trivia: Arthas changes from right-handed to left-handed when turning into a deathknight...

 

[Spacebuns]

Why wouldn't you want more strength and dexterity in the hand's that supposed to be chopping and stabbing the other guy?

 

[VeljkoM]

Because contrary to the poplar belief the shield is the main tool and not the sword. It is the shield that takes the brunt of the enemy attack while sword is there to stab and preform a quick kill and not clang against other sword over and over. Defend, Shield Bash, Strike and repeat.

Though I can only guess if the shield really was on the right hand, I can't really remember right now.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

Also remember that most tasks concerning fighting actually require to be ambidextrous. It's just like playing a guitar. Your muscles get used to it and you will develope dexterity in both hands for the tasks at hand regardless of if you are right or left-handed.