This dark art of days gone by is easy to master with practise. Movies typically portray thrown knives as travelling in a straight line from the thrower to the target, the point of the knife always forward. This depiction is unrealistic, for unless the knife is fired rather than thrown, it develops a rotation as it flies, making it difficult to predict whether the point or the handle will be facing toward the target when it strikes. Figuring these variables into calculations requires a good sense of distance and the ability to change the number of spins the knife undergoes before striking.