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

[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.