Having Fun With Epic Fantasy Tropes #12: Tried, Trusty, & True

‘Twas aways away back in 2018 when I promised a Having Fun With Epic Fantasy Tropes post on that stalwart of the genre, the Sidekick—and once I realized this, I decided I had best make up for the long delay immediately. So here it is — ta-da-dum! — the Sidekick!

Heroes and sidekicks

If the farm boy or gal who goes on a quest journey and the prince or princess that finds a destiny are the foundation stones of epic fantasy, then it is a truth universally acknowledged that shortly after setting out on their quest, the protagonist will acquire sidekicks. Sometimes, too, the sidekick become vital to the story in their own right—I’m thinking of characters like Sam here, in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. He even gets to carry the ring for a short time, and saves the day on any number of occasions, but no matter how potent in the story, so long as he remains with Frodo, Sam will always the sidekick and never the central character.

The fact it is possible to make the transition from sidekick to point-of-view (POV) character is illustrated by the hobbits Merry and Pippin. Both start, like Sam, as sidekicks to Frodo, but at the point the fellowship of the ring breaks up and their storyline deviates from that of Frodo, they both become point-of-view characters in their own right.

Since The Lord of the Rings has a significant number of sidekick characters, a similar transition can be observed with Legolas and Gimli, the elven and dwarf representatives in the fellowship respectively. So long as the fellowship remains together, both are clearly sidekicks and relatively minor ones, too, when contrasted with Sam, Merry, and Pippin. When the fellowship diverges, both become sidekicks to Aragorn, as opposed to Frodo, and play far more significant parts in the story.

The Lord of the Rings adopts a classic approach to the epic tropes, which have evolved out of myth, fairytale, and the hero tales of many cultures, and illustrates that the role of the sidekick is always a dynamic one. Arguably, though, the sidekick is as essential to the epic tradition as the hero.

To my mind, this is because one of the primary roles the sidekick plays, beyond straightforward companionship, is that of “foil” to the hero. Sam, therefore, always has his two furry feet firmly on the ground, and offers prosaic hobbit sense when Frodo is tortured by doubt and the weight of the ring. Similarly, an important part of Ron and Hermione’s parts in the Harry Potter series is as a contrast to Harry.

For example, Harry is an orphan and ‘boy alone’, whereas Ron comes from a large, tumultuous, and loving family. Harry (and Ron) are both from wizarding families, whereas Hermione’s parents are ‘muggles’ (without powers), and although Hermione is a hugely talented wizard, she’s also a girlie swot. Harry, by contrast, is much more engaged in the hurly burly of the real world—oh yes, and the quidditch pitch. 😉

Together, though, the diverse talents of the heroes and sidekicks in both The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter complement each other. They also achieve far more through alliance and cooperation than the hero would if alone.

And as the mentor, Aerin, points out to Hari in Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword, “it’s not fair that the heroes get all the adventures and all the glory alone”. Aerin’s point is that sharing both the danger and the glory builds stronger bonds within the heroes’ and sidekicks’ communities.

The sidekick, therefore, points to the importance of friendship and community in achieving the hero’s goals, even if it’s always the hero who must cast the story equivalent of the ‘deciding vote’ — whether its Frodo casting the ring into Mount Doom or Harry completing the final saving actions against Voldemort’s nefarious plots.

Returning to the point about the sidekick being a “foil” to the hero, the sidekick, or group of sidekicks, also enable insight into and commentary on the hero’s actions through their questions and arguments. So in David Gemmell’s Waylander, the companions the hero/antihero reluctantly acquires challenge his isolation and indifference to the events around him, with one in particular—the priest Dardalion—transitioning to become the story’s second pov character.

Similarly, in the television version of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens, Adam’s ‘gang’ of childhood companions challenge his emerging powers, influencing him against his darker heritage.

The point Dardalion illustrates, similarly to Merry and Pippin, is that in order to remain a sidekick, a character can rarely survive sustained point-of-view time in the story. Sidekicks offer insight into the main characters and heroes, and support the larger quest (not necessarily without grumbling 😉 ) but this works best if the spotlight stays on those central characters.

In terms of my own writing—yes, of course there be sidekicks! In Thornspell, Sigismund’s chief sidekick is Rue, but his childhood associates, Wat and Wenceslas, and the horsecopers, Fulk and Rafe, all qualify as sidekicks.

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The Wall of Night series has multiple point-of-view characters, each of whom has their own sidekicks, such as Garan with his eight-unit—which also crosses over to the Band of Brothers trope. So, too, do the sidekicks the geographer, Carick, encounters among the squires and knights of Emer, in The Gathering of the Lost.

Similarly, in Daughter of Blood, Malian has the hedge knight, Raven, as sidekick, while Kalan acquires a variety through the book: from the boy, Faro, in Grayharbor, to a handful of fellow competitors in the House of Blood honor contest, and a later group of fellow exiles.

It’s epic fantasy after all, and that means heroes—and where there be heroes, the epic tradition insists on sidekicks as well.

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