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— Scott Allison and George Goethals
^^ Ah, Jeremy Brett. The only actor to equal Basil Rathbone at playing Holmes. 😀
The topic of sidekicks is a very interesting one, as was the last topic of unsung heroes; it would be interesting to see both explored further in future entries. It’s all on topic, as sidekicks are a kind of hero, as are our anonymous benefactors.
Sidekicks do indeed bring out interesting facets of a main character, and are often quite necessary to their identity. Batman was a very dark figure before Robin came along. And poor Adrian Monk would have been useless without Sharona or Nathalie. I wonder how far back in time we could trace the concept of the sidekick. What prototypes are there in Shakespeare, ancient epics or mythology? Didn’t Gilgamesh have a sidekick named Sargon? I’ll have to research that.
This was a nice essay. Sidekicks are kind of an overlooked concept. 🙂
Gilgamesh had a side-kick of sorts in the form of Enkidu. At well over 4000 years old, that makes the idea of “side-kicks” quite old.
Yeah, it was definitely not Sargon. My brain is getting old. 😀
I guess that would make the concept of the sidekick an archetype.
The tough part about sidekicks is that there is very little glamor. Everyone wants to be Batman and not Robin or Alfred. This leads to the sidekick’s only recognition being when the main hero reaches his goal. Without these sidekicks, the legend of the hero would not be as great and for that, everyone should be grateful.
I have never really liked sidekicks i prefer the heros that can work on their own. Example being Batman from the dark knight i prefer him to the batman forever batman, in which robin is his sidekick. Side kicks never seem to do much but just save the hero just in time before he’s about to get killed.
I sometimes wonder about the psychology of sidekicks. Do they want to be the hero? What about a sidekick who kills their hero so that they can have the limelight for a while. Are sidekicks being trained to take over as the hero? I think acknowledging that you’re a sidekick must be difficult to take after every adventure. At some point, there must be a breaking point where the sidekick deals with the hero much like Campbell’s hero archetype must deal with the father figure.
Sidekicks often provide the comic relief to the heroic story. Despite the spotlight on the hero, sidekicks too contain heroic characteristics. All heroes need sidekicks to succeed, especially in real life. All of us have the one friend in our lives that we turn to to succeed and guide us through obstacles in our lives. While we may not be heroes, succeeding past these obstacles becomes heroic in our own lives.