We all know who our favorite famous fictional characters are, whether they’re heroes, villains, or anti-heroes. But sometimes we don’t give credit where it’s due. Occasionally, a sidekick is needed to give their hero substance. And so we give you the oft-neglected animal sidekicks who more often than not become heroes themselves in one way or another. Here are the 15 famous fictional characters and their animal sidekicks. This is why we think these animals deserve a bit more appreciation than they’ve got so far:
15. Don Quixote & Rocinante
Any knight requires a dependable horse, even when that knight happens to regularly confuse windmills with giants. Don Quixote considers himself a mighty hero, so he gives his aging horse a fittingly impressive name: Rocinante.
Rocinante is skinny, weary, and has little chance of winning any race. Even so, he bears his master into one absurd adventure after another. Sancho Panza might be the one attempting to talk some sense into Don Quixote, yet it is the horse that must do the walking.
14. Robinson Crusoe & Poll
Life alone on an island grows lonely, even if there is no shortage of work to occupy your time. In Robinson Crusoe, the stranded man comes across a parrot, gives him the name Poll, and trains him to talk.
Having spent so long by himself, Crusoe is taken aback when Poll suddenly calls out his name. The bird may not construct a shelter or discover a route home, yet he offers Crusoe something he desperately needs: a voice that answers him.
13. Sherlock Holmes & Toby
Sherlock Holmes typically depends on his own observational abilities. However, in The Sign of the Four, he enlists a dog called Toby to follow a scent that even he is unable to track on his own. Watson fetches Toby from his owner, and before long the dog has the detective and his companion rushing along behind him.
The trail ultimately brings them to a barrel containing the very substance they had been tracking. Even a talented nose can wind up at the wrong barrel.
12. Long John Silver & Captain Flint
In Treasure Island, Long John Silver is a cook whose friendly demeanor hides a secret scheme to steal the treasure. Captain Flint, his parrot, is far less careful about keeping quiet. She has a real knack for bellowing about pieces of eight at the top of her lungs.
Silver entertains Jim Hawkins with tales of the bird’s long years at sea, and she even sounds the warning when Jim nears the pirates’ camp. It’s a handy ability to possess when your crew has stopped paying attention.
11. Doctor Dolittle & Polynesia
Doctor Dolittle has the ability to speak with animals, yet this skill didn’t come to him by himself. In the tale as Hugh Lofting first wrote it, his parrot Polynesia informs him that animals possess their own languages and then helps him acquire them.
She is forthright, sharp-witted, and more than willing to offer the doctor her counsel. Given the sheer number of creatures that ultimately arrive at his home seeking help, he is greatly indebted to her. A handful of additional crackers strikes him as a reasonable recompense.
10. Wendy Darling & Nana
In Peter Pan, Wendy and her brothers have a rather unusual nurse: Nana, who happens to be a dog. She is also quite skilled at caring for the children – something that can’t be claimed for certain adults who brush aside her concerns.
Nana manages to catch Peter’s shadow when he comes into the nursery. She is powerless to keep Wendy from flying off to Neverland, yet one senses she’d have had a great deal to say about the journey had anyone thought to ask.
9. Pinocchio & Jiminy Cricket
A wooden boy who is constantly finding himself in trouble could benefit from some guidance. In Disney’s 1940 film Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket takes on that role, attempting to guide the puppet toward wiser decisions while he longs to become a real boy.
Their initial encounter in Carlo Collodi’s book is far less gentle. The cricket reprimands Pinocchio, and Pinocchio answers by hurling a hammer at him. Jiminy’s take on the role is hardly easy, yet at least his first day turns out better.
8. Alice & the Cheshire Cat
Wonderland is hardly the sort of place where directions come easily, and the Cheshire Cat does nothing to make things any simpler for Alice. He shows up in a tree, offers her advice wrapped in riddles, and tends to disappear until nothing, but his grin is left behind.
Even so, he is among the few creatures ready to steer her toward the next stage of her adventure. A straight answer would surely serve Alice well, but it would be nowhere near as much fun.
7. Mowgli & Baloo
In The Jungle Book, Mowgli is raised among animals, and Baloo the bear ends up as one of his instructors. In the tales by Rudyard Kipling, Baloo is the one who teaches him the Law of the Jungle along with the words required to speak with its creatures.
The Disney film turns the two into a more easygoing pair of friends, as Baloo shows Mowgli the joys of a carefree life. In both versions, the bear cares deeply enough to set out searching whenever the boy is in danger.
6. Dorothy & Toto
On the journey to Oz, Dorothy encounters many unforgettable companions, yet Toto is already by her side before the adventure even starts. The small dog makes the trip from Kansas with her and stays near as they travel through a land full of oddities.
In the 1939 film, Toto also plays a part in revealing the man behind the Wizard’s curtain. Dorothy might have the celebrated shoes, but her dog deserves recognition too for uncovering the truth.
5. Gargamel & Azrael
The ever-failing villain of the Smurfs, Gargamel, is ugly, poor, and evil – all the things you don’t want your kids to be.
But what makes him slightly more endearing is the fact that he has a cat named Azrael, who, like a loyal pet, is just as evil. He also looks like a stray rather than a well-groomed kitty.
The fact that Gargamel has Azrael in his life, though, demonstrates at least that he has a heart, despite wanting to destroy a civilization of cute little blue gnomes.
4. Billy & Kes
Scruffy and good-for-nothing Billy, born out of a grim industrial Britain, is not a character you can easily pity. He seems lazy, not very clever, and misbehaves. It is, therefore, a surprise when he manages to tame a wild kestrel.
He reads up on how to care for them and train them so that even the teacher becomes impressed – things start to look up a bit for Billy.
However, you’re soon reminded that this is a kitchen sink film, and any heartwarming moment you experience is usually followed by a massively gut-wrenching blow. Billy Casper learns how to deal with anger, grief, and the sense of loss in this beautiful film, and his kestrel serves as a symbol for hope, death, and, in particular, the death of childhood.
3. Shaggy & Scooby
Clearly, in Scooby-Doo, it’s not the handsome Fred and his romantic interest Daphne that take center stage, nor is it the clever mystery solver Velma. Rather, the stars of the show are Shaggy and Scooby, delivering great moments of comic relief and providing the main source of entertainment.
It’s not surprising that the whole show is named after the greedy, always hungry Great Dane rather than the other four characters.
2. Harry Potter & Hedwig
Still fresh in our minds is the boy wizard who grew up to be the savior of the wizarding world as well as the Muggle world. He thought he was a normal boy dealt a rubbish hand in terms of family: The Dursleys were not only anti-magic but also anti-Harry.
When he finds out that he’s a wizard and can escape the dull and cruel Muggle world for most of the year, he can finally flourish. Hedwig, his pet owl, played an important part here as she was a constant reminder and reassurance that Harry was indeed part of the wizarding world, even though the summer holidays in Little Whinging were anything but magic.
Eventually and very sadly, Harry & Hedwig both realize, just like Billy in Kes, that Harry had by that point grown up and needed to deal with life on his own.
Bye-bye, Hedwig, you helped Harry get there.
1. Wallace and Gromit
Now, we are not quite sure who the sidekick is here and who is the main character. Wallace is the lovable fool who invents weird and sometimes very impractical machines. However, more often than not, his loyal companion Gromit, a silent dog with no discernible mouth, gets him out of trouble or fixes inventions to make them work.
You could say he’s a man’s best sidekick.
Which are your famous fictional characters and their animal sidekicks? Let us know in the comments below!