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Natani and Her Dexterity

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2020 6:41 am
by TheMasterOfOats
So I was reading chapter 17, and I noticed something interesting about Natani and which hand she dominantly used through the bath scene. For large potions, she holds things and supports Keith using her right hand and arm. But I couldn’t help but notice several events in which she used her left hand. These are in no particular order, and only cover the first potion of chapter 17. 1, when she pounces on Keith for smooch #2, her right hand hits his chest and her left grabs his arm. While this is more artistically pleasing, it’s seemingly more difficult to grab someone’s arm then push their chest, meaning it’s interesting that she used those hands. Second, when leaving Keith’s room, she supports him on hier left side, whereas elsewhere she used her right. Lastly, and possibly most importantly, when Keith asks if they’re in a relationship and she responds by covering his mouth. Notice, she used her left hand. This is made rather odd by the fact that she used her right hand to cover her own mouth minutes before. It would make sense Natani has some degree of ambidexterity, if only to help her as an assassin.

Now this is a fairly useless question, but it could grant some interesting info into her life before becoming an assassin, whether she was creative or not, simple things. Obviously a scientific approach would be useful to see what instances she uses either hand in.

I don’t know, I’m obviously very bored of whatever the heck I’m supposed to be doing right now.

Re: Natani and Her Dexterity

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2020 9:15 am
by Bellhead
As someone who once attempted to learn to be ambidextrous, this doesn't stand out to me. At first, you have to actively focus on using your less-dominant hand, then that focus becomes second nature, and you forget it's a thing you're focusing on. If he trained for it, switching his dominant hand (or not even having one) wouldn't be that unusual.

Just my 5 am perspective.

Re: Natani and Her Dexterity

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2020 5:33 pm
by Warrl
I'm somewhat ambidextrous - enough so that once a doctor glanced at the degree of muscle development in my arms and listed me as left-handed. (I corrected him.) So I don't see anything exceptional or improbable about Natani's bilateral dexterity.

Especially because he's a cartoon character. Cartoon characters tend to be ambidextrous because it gives their artists greater flexibility on camera angles.

Re: Natani and Her Dexterity

Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2020 12:39 am
by Technic[Bot]
Being perfectly honest I would chalk it up to Tom really not paying attention about dominant hand usage rather than a conscious effort at background characterization.

I am absolutely not ambidextrous, my left hand is mostly decorative*. But my father is. He had to become ambidextrous since he broke his right hand once. So yeah it is not easy to acomplish

*Of course a joke

Re: Natani and Her Dexterity

Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2020 1:04 am
by Bellhead
Technic[Bot] wrote: Tue Jul 14, 2020 12:39 am Being perfectly honest I would chalk it up to Tom really not paying attention about dominant hand usage rather than a conscious effort at background characterization.

I am absolutely not ambidextrous, my left hand is mostly decorative*. But my father is. He had to become ambidextrous since he broke his right hand once. So yeah it is not easy to accomplish.

*Of course a joke
To a point, that's true. However, it is easier the younger you are to master usage of each hand. When I was in elementary school, I did an experiment to see how long it would take to learn to write with my left hand. Took me two periods, and I could write legibly with some effort. I've done the same thing with other tasks, like using tools, performing daily activities, etc. I'm only 24, and it's already considerably harder than even a couple years ago, but still possible with effort. So it's definitely doable, with nerve and determination.

And while it may very well be him not paying attention, it may also be a semi-consious effort, like how Natani drooling/snoring while sound asleep has been a fairly consistent motif for quite a while. Little things like that do a lot for world building and realism, so it could be either, really.

Re: Natani and Her Dexterity

Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2020 1:59 am
by TheMasterOfOats
Bellhead wrote: Tue Jul 14, 2020 1:04 am To a point, that's true. However, it is easier the younger you are to master usage of each hand. When I was in elementary school, I did an experiment to see how long it would take to learn to write with my left hand. Took me two periods, and I could write legibly with some effort. I've done the same thing with other tasks, like using tools, performing daily activities, etc. I'm only 24, and it's already considerably harder than even a couple years ago, but still possible with effort. So it's definitely doable, with nerve and determination.

And while it may very well be him not paying attention, it may also be a semi-consious effort, like how Natani drooling/snoring while sound asleep has been a fairly consistent motif for quite a while. Little things like that do a lot for world building and realism, so it could be either, really.
Have you watched SmarterEveryDay’s video on the backwards bike? He goes into super deep detail on why that phenomenon happens.