Fairy Companion



A type of Sidekick. A character is accompanied by a Fairy Creature, usually of the tiny variety and not one of the mean ones (at worst, this character has a mischievous streak). The Fairy often lends a magical helping hand, which doesn't always work out as planned. Hilarity Ensues.

These seem to be extremely common in video games, to the point of turning into a Discredited Trope. One reason for their popularity among developers is that fairies are easy to work with; a speck of light with wings doesn't need much animation.

See also Exposition Fairy and Small Annoying Creature (for the particular one you're thinking of), or Fairy in a Bottle (for another one you might be thinking of). There's often some crossover with Empathy Pet, Alien Scrappy, Sidekick Ex Machina, Fairy Godmother, and since fairies are generally depicted as cute girls or women, Fairy Sexy. Compare Mentor Mascot.

Anime and Manga

 * In the Sailor Moon manga, each of the Planet Senshi has a Sprite that basically looks like a chibi version of their respective ward, though they never appeared in other continuities. At one point, Usagi/Serena was going to have a pet fairy named Diana, The idea was scrapped, but the name was retained for Artemis & Luna's daughter.
 * One of the most notable Fairy Companions in anime is Cham Hau of the fantasy Humongous Mecha series Aura Battler Dunbine, who sat in the main character's cockpit and shouted encouragement to him.
 * The creator and staff of the above series liked Cham so much that she was given an Expy in their later, notably more Sci-Fi work, Heavy Metal L-Gaim. Said Expy, Lillith Fuau, was even voiced by the same woman as Cham. Cham and Lilith even get to meet in Super Robot Wars 4 and Super Robot Wars Compact
 * In the manga Aqua Knight, heroine Ruliya saves a caterpillar from her brother when the two are children. The lucky bug metamorphoses into a butterfly-like fairy named Pinoque, who crosses paths with Ruliya again years later during her quest for knighthood.
 * The Berserk manga has two fairy companions—Puck, who accompanied Guts at the beginning but tends to hang around with Isidro now, and Evarella, who is Schierke's supervisor and tends to dish out magical exposition when Schierke is busy.
 * Kero from Cardcaptor Sakura.
 * Lily of Kiniro no Corda.
 * To some degree, Fool of Kaleido Star.
 * Mahou Sensei Negima:
 * The first team that Negi and Kotarou faced as prize fighters in the Magic World Story Arc of Mahou Sensei Negima was a Tiger Man and his Fairy Companion. This particular fairy companion was a lot stronger than most of the usual ones, making effective use of plant based magic to entangle their opponents and fire massive beams. Of course, once the Tiger Man went down, she gave up immediately since she is just a small fairy.
 * Albert Chamomile (or Chamo-kun) doubles as this and an animal companion. He is technically a cat-elf fairy... that looks just like an ermine.
 * The Sweets Spirits in Yumeiro Patissiere are fairies who have to partner with humans and help them make sweets in order to become pastry chefs themselves.
 * In the manga, Dragon Knights, once the fairies are wiped out by a mysterious force, the surviving ones join up with the heroes.
 * England and Norway both have these, in addition to a plethora of other magical creatures.
 * Doremi and friends all had one. Notably, we do not see Onpu's until the first ep of season 2.
 * Fine and Rein got a pair in season 2.
 * Combined with Ghost in the Machine to create the Guardian Charas in Shugo Chara.
 * While not technically a fairy, Reinforce Zwei acts like this towards her Meister, Yagami Hayate. Certainly not helped by her 30cm-ish tall figure. She stops being chibi and becomes fully human sized by Force.
 * In the original Lyrical Toy Box short, it was Lindy who was the Fairy Companion to Nanoha.
 * Ascot from Magic Knight Rayearth

Comic Books

 * The Preservers from Elf Quest. Tiny, cute, with beautiful wings and varied personalities, primitive speech ("Highthing squeeze! No can hurt Petalwing!"), and the ability to spew time-altering webbing out of their mouths. Oh, and if you value your sanity, don't listen to their image song too often. Or maybe at all.
 * Skreet the Chaos Mite is a particularly Badass example; mostly since she's a companion to Lunatik and Thanos.

Fan Works

 * Tatl Beryllia in The Blue Blur of Termina. After being separated from her brother and the Skull Kid, and injuring herself in the process, she was forced to work with Sonic until they can find them.

Film

 * Jack is accompanied by Oona in Legend.
 * The Faun's helpers in Pan's Labyrinth.

Literature

 * Quite a few stories involving Santa Claus, such as The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus and Silver Spurs, give him Fairy Companions to accompany him on his sleigh ride. Usually, they unlock the door when the house doesn't have a chimney. (Such stories make you wonder why he bothers with chimneys at all but that's another matter.)
 * Subverted in the offbeat novel Top Dog. The hero (a dog) attends a meeting held by the evil side of the setting's battle between the forces of good and evil with a tiny sprite spy hidden in his ear. After the meeting, he sends her off to report what they have heard to the other good guys and she happily flies off
 * Tiffany Aching, in the Discworld young adult novels, has the Nac Mac Feegle, who are probably best considered a warped take on this trope. Yes, they're technically fairies; they just happen to be six inch-high Violent Glaswegian "Pictsies!". Note, however, that calling them fairies in front of their faces is considered suicide.
 * The Dresden Files:
 * In The Dresden Files, Harry Dresden has what amounts to a Hero Secret Service of faeries led by Toot-Toot. Not really a sidekick as Toot-Toot only shows up occasionally.
 * In Summer Knight, though, Toot gives him a Fairy Companion to guide him to the Winter and Summer Ladies in exchange for the latest pizza. This fairy, which is to Toot-Toot what Toot-Toot is to Harry, leaves after she finishes her job.
 * Arguably his godmother the Leanansidhe, too, although as one of the Sidhe she's less a sidekick and more a very powerful and dangerous nonhuman sorceress who sometimes helps him because she's made deals or something.
 * The Francesca Lia Block novel I Was a Teenaged Fairy uses this trope as its basic plot.
 * This is also the basis for the novel How To Ditch Your Fairy. Most people have one, but they can't see or communicate with it. They only know that they have one because they have particularly good luck in one area of life.
 * Applecore from Tad Williams' War of the Flowers is a classic example.
 * Beatrice Shakespeare Smith in Eyes Like Stars: Theatre Illuminata, Act I by Lisa Mantchev is accompanied by 4 fairies throughout her adventures: Mustardseed, Cobweb, Peaseblossom and Moth, of A Midsummer Night's Dream fame.

Live Action TV

 * Subverted in Buffy's fourth season Halloween episode "Fear, Itself" when Willow tries to create a fairy to guide her and the Scoobies out of the haunted house and it ends up chasing her. Scary fairy.

Newspaper Comics

 * Mr. O'Malley in Barnaby. Also a Fairy Godmother.

Tabletop Games

 * Muses in Talislanta are accompanied by Sprite-like creatures called Whisps. Which is amusing, as the Muses themselves are fairy-like, making them and the Whisps each other's Fairy Companions.
 * If you really want to, you can get a pixie as a cohort using the Leadership feat in Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition.
 * It's easy for a Familiar to be one of these too.
 * This is also one suggestion for Pixie adventurers in the 4th Edition book Heroes of the Feywild. Of course, being pcs, there quite a bit more Badass then most examples.
 * Subverted by Yu-Gi-Oh!'s plot for the "World Legacy" series, which is told by the artwork and titles of various cards in the series if placed and interpreted in the right order (and later told more straight-forwardly in cutscenes that are part of the tutorials for the Master Duel video game). Avram, Ningirsu, Ib, and Imduk find Lee the World Chalice Fairy, who leads them to the World Chalice, uses it to grant the four great power, and sets them on a quest (which she joins them on) to recover the other World Legacy items so they can defeat the Mekk-Knights that have taken over their world. After Lee is captured and Ib tries to rescue her, she accidentally discovers Lee is actually evil, leading to Lee possessing Ib and effortlessly wipe out the Mekk-Knights, who were actually trying to contain her.

Theater

 * Tinkerbell, in Peter Pan. Possibly the Trope Maker, definitely the Trope Codifier.

Video Games
"Mayor: "Stupid fairy.""
 * Link from Zelda is frequently accompanied by fairies. Unfortunately. Examples:
 * The most (in)famous of them is Navi, introduced in The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time to the horror of players everywhere. ("HEY! LISTEN!")
 * The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass has 3 different ones that can each be powered up to raise attack, defense or have the sword beam. Arguably the most useful ones so far, even story-wise.
 * Despite the fact that actual companion fairies hadn't existed in the games yet, the The Legend of Zelda animated series assigned Link a fairy named Spryte that had a crush on him. And watched him bathe. And was not shy about any of it. "Zelda's a snoot. I like you just the way you are. Especially now." This during the aforementioned bath scene.)
 * The spin-off Nintendo Power comic that retold The Legend of Zelda a Link To T He Past also gave Link a fairy companion named Epheremelda, who also had a crush on Link and at one point abandoned him in a huff out of jealousy of his feelings for Zelda.
 * The American series done by Valiant amd based on the first two games, gave him a fairy companion named Miff.
 * Yet another spin-off comic, a manga based on The Legend of Zelda Links Awakening created a fairy companion named Felicia that disappeared along with the island at the end of the story. She was also in love with Link. Clearly Nintendo picked up on a trend when they finally added canonical companions to the series, amd Miyamoto also stated that Navi is also in love with Link. He gets around.
 * Even Tingle has one, of sorts, named Pinkle.
 * Skull Kid, the villain of The Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask, had two, Tatl and Tael. Tatl gets separated from them and becomes Link's companion instead.
 * The onscreen cursor in the Wii version of The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess appears as a fairy, although this game's companion is rather different.
 * The Exposition Fairy of The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks, Princess Zelda's spirit, travels in the form of a little glowy ball, resembling a wingless fairy. When she wants to talk, she's your usual, glowing and floating in mid-air, ghost-girl.
 * Fi fills this role in The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword, she travels in the Master Sword, but materializes into a human size fairy to talk.
 * In an episode of The Powerpuff Girls, the mayor is playing what is obviously a Zelda game, and is so inept he kills his own fairy. Even though this isn't actually possible in any Zelda game, it's likely something many players have fantasized about.


 * Back when Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha was just a collection of mini-scenarios included in the Triangle Heart 3 ～sweet songs forever～ Lyrical Toy Box fandisk, Lindy took the role of a pixie that served as Nanoha's Fairy Companion.
 * Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne:
 * The protagonist's first demon ally is Pixie. Although, through the evolution and fusion systems, it can become any number of other creatures, some more horrible than others. However, keeping whatever creature would be considered the "descendant" of the original fairy all the way through the end of the Bonus Dungeon will cause it to turn back into its fairy form... but far, far more powerful.
 * Shows up again in the Digital Devil Saga Bonus Boss fight with the Demi-Fiend, clearly powered-up, slinging dark matter around. Mind you what comes out of Demi-Fiends other poke-balls are clearly not pixies!
 * In a stretch, Montblanc in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Doesn't get much more fairy in that setting than Moogles, kupo! Hurdy in the sequel fills a similar role, although he joins much later and isn't as vital to the story.
 * Kururu from Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure.
 * During the early planning stages of God of War, they were considering a rather brutal subversion in a fairy companion that gets horribly killed in the second stage.
 * Mieu in Tales of the Abyss.
 * Issun from Okami can be considered a fairy companion, coming from a race of tiny, forest-dwelling spirits. At first glance he might look like a bug, but close-up shots reveal him to instead be a tiny man wearing a beetle shell as a hat.
 * In Seiken Densetsu 3, the main character you choose will share a body with a fairy from the Holy Land. Said character will also double as The Chosen One.
 * In other Mana games, different magical spells are learned by befriending different Fairy creatures.
 * In Dawn of Mana, Keldy can't cast magic at all (and until near the end of the game, seems to be nothing more than a Badass Normal caught up in events beyond his control); his fairy companion Faye does it for him. It's eventually revealed that.
 * The various elemental Djinni in Golden Sun and its sequel.
 * Friday from Landstalker.
 * Fiona's ending in Arcana Heart showed her being accompanied by one in the Elemental World in her quest to become human again.
 * The eponymous character of Astyanax has a fairy sidekick named Cutie, who drags him into another world to fight the forces of the dark wizard Blackhorn. She occasionally appears as a power-up item, allowing the hero to refill his magic supply, or change the shape of his magic weapon. She's also in love with him, and at the end she.
 * Neverwinter Nights allows you to have a fairy as a familiar, she can be quite useful, as long as the quiet tinkling doesn't drive you completely mad
 * Guardian's Crusade has Nehani. Really, her is sweet and all, but she can be a bit of a nag sometimes. What kind of friend doesn't want you ransacking every house you find for treasure?
 * In Harvest Moon Exciting Animal March, the player character is followed around by Finn, the orange, flying, miniature sixth harvest sprite who gives the character advice and prods him or her to advance the plot.
 * Lilli in Rosenkreuzstilette
 * Super Paper Mario actually features a lot of different 'Pixl' partners who are basically powerups that can be switched out. You also have your (mostly) constant companion Tippi, who actually serves an important purpose in the plot...
 * In Mitsumete Knight, the Asian (the player's avatar) is followed by Piko, a fairy being originating from his heart, that only him can see. She's his sidekick since his young days.
 * In La Pucelle: Tactics, the pirate Homard has a fairy companion named Papillon. She has a massive crush on him and tends to get extremely jealous towards any other females Homard comes near.
 * Kirby 64 The Crystal Shards: Kirby does all of the work, while Ribbon collects the titular Crystal Shards.
 * Leonard has one in Drakengard. Unlike many of the other examples here, this fairy is extremely malevolent and seems to have little purpose in life other than making Leonard's own life as miserable as possible, which kind of makes you wonder why he agreed to form a pact with the fairy in the first place.
 * Agent Aika gives every player a fairy companion called a Pran. And yes, they do have their own personalities, and will frequently mouth off to your army commanders. They also have a bad habit of refusing to use their magic to help you at the worst possible time.
 * Growlanser (the first) has Tippi, a fairy-shaped homunculus, who's basically a voice acted Navi. Her function is mostly to be an Exposition Fairy to compensate for the Heroic Mime, though she also has the lovely function of shouting things whenever you battle an enemy. Her little "IKKKEEEEEEEEE!!" is particularly annoying notable.
 * The main character of Recettear is helped out by Tear, a fairy Loan Shark sent to collect on her father's debts.
 * A cute, diminutive fairy princess named Sugar is one of the 4 Guardian Beasts a player can be accompanied by In the GBA game Summon Night: Swordcraft Story.
 * Symphony of the Night has, among others, a summonable fairy familiar that can use items to heal you and cure status changes.
 * Spyro the Dragon is traditionally accompanied by a dragonfly, named Sparx.
 * Silk from the Cotton Shoot'Em Up series.
 * Airy of Bravely Default: Flying Fairy.

Web Comics

 * Fawn in Bardsworth.
 * Kiwi in The Dreamland Chronicles.
 * The Best Fairy Ever from Axe Cop. Abilities include a shrinking poison spray, a giant poison spray, and the capability to fly inside a bad guy and either slice or punch her way out.
 * In El Goonish Shive, Susan can summon a fairy companion. It looks like Nanase, and acts on Susan's subconscious.
 * Flint from My Roommate Is an Elf

Western Animation

 * Glomer, the awful little Gremlin thingie in the Punky Brewster cartoon.
 * Glitter the legwarmer-clad(!) Fairy from Kidd Video.
 * The Fairly OddParents basically uses this Trope as its premise.
 * Rainbow Brite has her Sprites, especially Twink.
 * Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather are a bit of this and a bit of Fairy Godmother for Sleeping Beauty.
 * As mentioned above, Spryte from The Legend of Zelda TV Series.
 * Allowing for cultural differences, the little dragon in Mulan might count.
 * The Winx Club got a bunch of pixie companions in season 2, and they were popular to the point that they got their own Spin-Off a few years later.