My 5 Favourite Literary Sidekicks

Today’s Paper Hangover ‘Friday Fives’ question: Who are your FIVE favorite literary sidekicks?

There’s a lot of awesome sidekicks out there, so I just dove into my brain and pulled out a few of my most memorable favourites.

Hermione (Harry Potter) – Hermione is just the best. Smart and brave while still being awkward and irritating others around her. She’s realistic, and I completely related to her as a kid (and I still do now).

Tiny Cooper (Will Grayson, Will Grayson) – The larger-than-life gay theatre star, Tiny is an essential part of the WG, WG story, helping bring the two Wills together. I really want to read a spin-off book about this guy.

Mogget (Sabriel) – A morally dubious, dangerous cat-creature, Mogget’s been enslaved and forced to serve a family of necromancers. But Sabriel’s trials involve more than just putting up with the snarky animal – she’ll have to trust him.

John H. Watson (Sherlock Holmes) –

I’m on a huge Sherlock kick thanks to the fantastic BBC series, and I debated putting him on this list… but Doctor Watson is a classic, brilliant sidekick, and a trope-creator.

Where would we be, without Watson to explain the crazy workings of Sherlock’s mind? You could try to tell the story in first-person from Sherlock’s point of view (and I would love that, actually), but Watson’s there for more than just explanations – he shows that Sherlock does have a protective, human side. If Watson wasn’t there, Sherlock would risk becoming dangerous apathetic and distanced from people around him.

Samwise Gamgee (Lord of the Rings) – Just like Watson and Hermione, Samwise is a brilliant sidekick because you know the hero would be utterly screwed without them. They’re essential in stopping the protagonist being ruined by their own flaws – without Sam, Frodo would never be able to make it to Mount Doom.

And in a similar way to Watson, Sam keeps Frodo’s humanity in check by forcing him to stay down-to-earth and to care about Sam’s safety.

And because I had trouble narrowing this list down, have some Runners Up – these two were ruled out because they didn’t quite fit the ‘sidekick’ definition:

Marla Singer (Fight Club): Does she count as a sidekick? Marla’s a disturbed lady thrown into some absolutely insane circumstances, but she still carries this assured self-confidence with her that masks her issues. I’d kind of love to see a Fight Club sequel if it was from her point of view.
Angua (Discworld series): The first werewolf cop in Ankh-Morpork, Angua is every kind of kick-ass.