Tropedia

  • All unique and most-recently-edited pages, images and templates from Original Tropes and The True Tropes wikis have been copied to this wiki. The two source wikis have been redirected to this wiki. Please see the FAQ on the merge for more.

READ MORE

Tropedia
WikEd fancyquotesQuotesBug-silkHeadscratchersIcons-mini-icon extensionPlaying WithUseful NotesMagnifierAnalysisPhoto linkImage LinksHaiku-wide-iconHaikuLaconic
Cowardly sidekick 9211

A Sidekick with a peculiar twist: presumably to serve as a Foil to a brave (or cocky) hero, they're so yellow that one has to wonder how the heck they ended up in the adventure business in the first place. The Cowardly Sidekick is often what happens when the Plucky Comic Relief isn't so... well, plucky. Anything but, in fact.

Often overlaps with Bumbling Sidekick. Compare The Drag Along, for which this usually wasn't his choice to begin with. Contrast Reckless Sidekick.

Examples of Cowardly Sidekick include:


Anime & Manga[]

  • Myoga the flea in Inu Yasha. Whoever he hides with in a battle has been used as an indicator of what's the safest place to be.
  • While Chamo of Mahou Sensei Negima may be mostly useless during fights (and not all that brave during the particularly dangerous fights), he's at least a capable strategist and is willing to be as useful a possible.
  • Pop/Poppu from Dai no Daibouken starts off like this.
  • Yoki in Fullmetal Alchemist.

Comic Books[]

Film (Animated)[]

Film (Live-Action)[]

Live-Action TV[]

Newspaper Comics[]

  • Rip Haywire has his faithful dog, talking collie TNT, who is in near-constant panic mode.

Tabletop Games[]

  • Magic: The Gathering's Norin the Wary, quoted in several flavor texts before getting a card of his own (with an appropriate ability, of course). He's probably the game's most famous coward, and as a summonable creature he arguably qualifies as the player's sidekick.

Video Games[]

Web Original[]

Western Animation[]

  1. Also, black comedians have been using this joke for years. When the scary/deadly shit happens, they get the hell out of there. It's even used in the first Scary Movie, where the BET news crew only stays long enough to say "White folks gettin' killed, we're outta here!" before making good on their report.