Sidekicks

[pbray]

Next week I'll be giving my guest lecture at the 2009 Odyssey Workshop.. My topic is on characterization, specifically the hero/sidekick relationship in fantasy. I've been working on my talk for the past couple of weeks (so far I've resisted putting together Powerpoint slides, but given my corporate training I may inevitably succumb.)

I'll be starting the discussion with examples of sidekicks, and have come up with some of my favorites:

Gilgamesh / Enkidu (gotta love the classics)
Frodo / Sam
Holmes / Watson
Spenser / Hawk (Robert B. Parker series)
Batman / Robin (or Batman / Alfred, depending on which universe/version)
Dr. Who / Companion
Devlin / Stephen (as the author I know what I was trying to do with this one)

So, any suggestions? Favorite hero / sidekick pairings I should be sure not to overlook? Fantasy works best, but I'm open to all genres/mediums.

Comments

[cathschaffstump.livejournal.com]

Don Quixote/Sancho Panza

Kirk/Spock

Steed/Mrs. Peel

Napoleon Solo/ Ilya Kuryakin

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks!

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Nero Wolfe/Archie.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[cypherindigo.livejournal.com]

From Andrew Greeley's "Irish" series. Nuala McGrail and Dermot Coyne.

My spelling could be off.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[scbutler.livejournal.com]

Prince Hal/Falstaff

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Oooh, good idea. Since that pairing sets up the whole hero / sidekick character arcs evolving in different directions discussion.

[scbutler.livejournal.com]

I am a veritable god.

See you Saturday.

Oh, and I just wrote a scene where you're rolling your eyes at Josh.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Saturday! Where there will be much rolling of eyes.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Vlad Taltos and his Jhereg, Loiosh, from Steven Brust's Taltos series.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

And Loiosh was the brains of the two :-)

[guinwhyte.livejournal.com]

There is a dearth of women in the list/suggestions, and yet the only one I can think of offhand to add is Harry Dresden/Karrin Murphy.

[princejvstin.livejournal.com]

Xena/Gabrielle?

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Score one! That's a classic.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

You're right, there aren't many good female examples. Urban fantasy is primarily female protagonist, but rather than sidekicks we generally get heroine and her potential romantic/sex interests.

The other examples that came to the top of my head were relationships of equals, not hero / sidekick.

[sarcastic-elf.livejournal.com]

Barb and J.C. Hendee's Noble Dead books have a couple heroine/male sidekick pairs. There's Magiere/Leesil from the first series (though Leesil doubles as the love interest). In their new series they have Wynn/Chane (only one books so far so we don't know how their relationship is going to go).

I can think of a few more, but it does seem like most sidekicks for heroines also end up as the love interest regardless of gender.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the pointer. I own two of the Noble Dead books, but they're buried in my TBR stack.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Lightsabers always good. Joshua and I function as reciprocal sidekicks depending upon the occasion, but I'm pretty sure we're not fictional characters so that takes us out of consideration.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

How about Puddleglum as Jill and Eustace's sidekick in The Silver Chair?

The Tick and Arthur?

Do the sidekicks have to be, like, people? Because the fantasy genre is full of animal sidekicks (I'm thinking particularly of Tamora Pierce's Tortall books here...).

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there should probably be a whole subclass of "animal companions as sidekicks".

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Yup, already have notes on animal companions as sidekicks.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks.

[emmycee.livejournal.com]

Locke Lamora and Jean Tannen. (Just to throw in a slightly lesser known set of examples there.)

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

PN Elrod's vampire detective series -- can't find the books right now to get the names, but the detective and the British guy who bankrolls him

in Tanya Huff's Victory Nelson books, would Henry/Mike count as sidekicks?

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Good ideas!

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

Include your romance novel, where the hero's sidekick thinks every problem can be solved by the application of the pointy end of a dagger. :-)

Or the difficulties of a sidekick in one novel becoming the hero of another novel (again, your romances).

[pbray.livejournal.com]

You mean like Freddie getting his own book?

And hey, can't everything be solved by a pointy dagger? Or really really big truck!

[jemck.livejournal.com]

Aubrey and Maturin (Patrick O'Brien). Consider their different yet complementary skill-sets - and also, there's the romantic triangle angle in the early books.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Duh, I should have thought of those two. Thanks!

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

Mulder/Scully? As long as we're allowing TV.

F'nor/Canth ;-p?

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Mulder & Scully gets complicated-- at some points they are partners, other points it's definitely Mulder in charge with Scully as sidekick, and then they throw the romance angle in there.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Which, come to think of it, isn't a bad starting point for discussing how the sidekick relationship can evolve.

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

Though, as with Moonlighting, a mistake.

[larryhammer]

Stephen / Harry from Mythago Wood, which has an especially interesting scene where Harry leaves Stephen in order to stop being a sidekick and strike out as a hero of his own story.

---L.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I haven't read that since it first came out in the 80s--it's worth putting on the TBR shelf for a reread.

[larryhammer]

I've been meaning to reread in anticipation of the new Mythago book coming out this summer.

---L.

[dynastic-queen.livejournal.com]

Dr. Who / Sarah Jane Smith is my favorite Who pairing-up to date.
Han Solo / Chewbacca
Hiro / Ando (Heroes)
Matt Dillon / Festus (Gunsmoke)
Daffy Duck (Duck Dodgers) / Porky Pig

And of course, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl.

Just some I've enjoyed over the years...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Great examples, thanks!

Sarah Jane Smith is an excellent example of a sidekick who grew into her own lead role, with the Sarah Jane Chronicles. Though as far as companions go, personally I was always fond of Leela's "Let's just stick a knife into it" approach to problem solving.

[dynastic-queen.livejournal.com]

Leela is my next favorite. Haha! Great minds.