Yogah of Yag
Mongoose
In various media Conan has been inconsistently rendered as now left-handed now right-handed, especially with regard to how he handles the most important instrument of Hyboria: the sword.
We can agree with very little debate that even at the relatively young age of his teens (during "Frost Giant's Daughter", or "Tower of the Elephant") Conan could--if he had to--wield a sword equally well with either hand. But when he was a good deal younger, was he predisposed toward righthandedness or the other? In our "Real World", statistically speaking, humans favour their right. (The kind Reader is directed most gently to understand the terms left and right as an issue of manual adroitness, or relative lack thereof, and not political-social inclinations.)
Below, I cite a few of many examples:
1) CONAN RPG core rules (cover): right-handed.
2) www.conan.com cartoon Conan for upcoming Red Nails feature shown with sword in left hand.
3) Conan (Busiek, Nord), #2, #3, #7: right, but #1, #5, #13: left.
4) Savage Sword of Conan, #1, #6, #10, #14, #49, #53: right, but #8, #34, #38, #48, #50, #52, : left, &c., &c.
5) Conan and the Daughters of Midora: left
Ambidexterity is not a natural ability at an early stage in life--children tend to one or the other--but it can potentially develop due to environmental circumstances, and the typical human specimen can accomplish a wide spectrum of tasks with either or both hands, but one would imagine that when it comes to a certain, individual task, there is normally a preferred hand.
Would Conan perhaps feel more accustomed to one over the other? Granted, this is not a critical topic for either our understanding of our favorite Barbarian in literature, comics, or film, nor is it crucial to the "crunch-mechanics" of Conan RPG...or is it? :wink:
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[As a tangential observation, the covers of "Savage Sword" #67, and #89 are nice examples of the Class Ability "Bite Sword"!]
We can agree with very little debate that even at the relatively young age of his teens (during "Frost Giant's Daughter", or "Tower of the Elephant") Conan could--if he had to--wield a sword equally well with either hand. But when he was a good deal younger, was he predisposed toward righthandedness or the other? In our "Real World", statistically speaking, humans favour their right. (The kind Reader is directed most gently to understand the terms left and right as an issue of manual adroitness, or relative lack thereof, and not political-social inclinations.)
Below, I cite a few of many examples:
1) CONAN RPG core rules (cover): right-handed.
2) www.conan.com cartoon Conan for upcoming Red Nails feature shown with sword in left hand.
3) Conan (Busiek, Nord), #2, #3, #7: right, but #1, #5, #13: left.
4) Savage Sword of Conan, #1, #6, #10, #14, #49, #53: right, but #8, #34, #38, #48, #50, #52, : left, &c., &c.
5) Conan and the Daughters of Midora: left
Ambidexterity is not a natural ability at an early stage in life--children tend to one or the other--but it can potentially develop due to environmental circumstances, and the typical human specimen can accomplish a wide spectrum of tasks with either or both hands, but one would imagine that when it comes to a certain, individual task, there is normally a preferred hand.
Would Conan perhaps feel more accustomed to one over the other? Granted, this is not a critical topic for either our understanding of our favorite Barbarian in literature, comics, or film, nor is it crucial to the "crunch-mechanics" of Conan RPG...or is it? :wink:
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[As a tangential observation, the covers of "Savage Sword" #67, and #89 are nice examples of the Class Ability "Bite Sword"!]
