In the Vahalla that fictional characters go to, there is a special table reserved for sidekicks - such right-hand men {and women, though none spring to mind} as Falstaff, Watson and Tonto all have places of honour: where would Prince Hal, Holmes and The Lone Ranger have been without them? But who should sit beside them? Who are the great side-kicks of fiction?
I nominate Captain Haddock, from the Tintin books: a sea-faring man, a man of action, a man accustomed to command, a man of the world, a short-tempered, violent, accident-prone. drunken man, and the most inventive curser in fiction: “Coelocanths! Baboons! Billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles in ten thousand thundering typhoons!” They don`t write characters like him anymore, and he did much to enrich my childhood.
I nominate Clive Cussler’s “Al Giordino”. Would you have your little finger blowen off to save a friend? Al is the perfect sidekick/right hand man for “Dirk Pitt”
Morley Dotes from the Garrett, P.I. series by Glen Cook. He’s a vegetarian bone-breaker who runs his own restaurant in Tun-Faire. He’s mostly Dark Elf with maybe a little human too. And he’s so devilishly handsome that he sends shivers down the spine of every husband and father in the city.
He only barely beats out Garrett’s other partner, The Dead Man. A loghyr somebody stabbed in the back and murdered 400 years ago. Only his spirit has yet to take the hint and leave. He’s smart (7 minds) and has powers only hinted at.
I think Y.T. from Snow Crash is pretty cool. She’s only a 15-year old girl, but she gets around by harpooning cars on a skateboard, and she drives a hard sidekicking bargain with Hiro pretty early on.
Number 10 Ox, right-hand man to Barry Hughart’s Master Li . He is big and strong and intimidating, but gentle and kind. Whenever he does bring his great strength to bear, he often surprises himself . . . and the same thing happens when he uses his intellect. Everyone assumes that because he’s big, he’s dumb, but nothing could be farther from the truth.
Penfold! Well done, that man! One of my favourite shows - great villain in Baron Greenback: “Ahhhh, Dangermousssse”, and great henchman {a whole other thread} in Stiletto: “Si, Baroni!” But what was his little caterpillar called?
I’ll go with Nero Wolfe’s sidekick, Archie Goodwin.
I’m paraphrasing Leslie Charteris (creator of the Saint here): one of the nice things about Archie Goodwin is that, unlike the sidekicks in most mystery novels and stories (Sr. Watson, Captain Hastings, whoever), Goodwin is smart and capable in his own right, and isn’t above teasing or twitting his “genius” boss.
Hmmm, Samwise has been mentioned (and Penfold, too! Remember the “Blue Flash” episode?), so allow me to throw out another nominee: Stephen Maturin from Patrick O’Brian’s novels. I suppose it could be argued that Maturin is not really a sidekick, though.
Daffy Duck comes to mind, but he’s not really a sidekick, either.
How about a different Kato – Burt Kwouk’s character from the Pink Panther series?
My first thought was actually Archie Goodwin, as astorian mentioned, but I think that was mainly because I was watching an episode from the A&E series last night.
RR
I’d say a tossup between Wedge Antilles from Star Wars and Subotai from Conan the Barbarian. Both are total badasses in their own right, and both save the hero of the movie from a violent death several times.
“Whatever you do, Robin, don’t trip…”
“Batman! I tripped!”
I’m sorry, capable as all these fellows are, especially Archie G, my vote has to go to the Ur-sidekick, the Good Doctor.
Watson obviously downplayed his own intelligence for aesthetic purposes (I mean, how many of us have written so many good stories? Literary achievement is not a sign of chowderheadedness) but his loyalty, honesty, and dependability shine through.
To me, Archie always seemed cold; but I don’t think there’s a one of us who wouldn’t like to have the Doctor as a friend.
Tars Tarkas has been a mighty good one for me, though Tars is a chieftan in his own right, and therefore should be considered to be above the status of “sidekick”.
