Hypercompetent Sidekick: Difference between revisions

** He also invested his considerable pay to such good effect that he could probably retire to a private planet if he wanted to.

* In Miquel de Cervantes's ''[[Don Quixote]]'' Sancho Panza occupies this position by the sheer fact that he's not completely crazy. This trope is older than the Enlightenment.

* Sydney Carton from ''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]'' is the Hypercompetent Sidekick to his boss, C. J. Stryver. He does all the paperwork and is responsible for winning the one case we see them handle. He has no ambition, however, while his boss [[Meaningful Name|Stryver]] is always shouldering his way through life.

* Burtsev and several other exiled Decembrist officers are this to supposed [[General Failure]] Paskevich in ''[[The Death of the Vazir Mukhtar]]''. Each of them manages one of the crucial areas of warfare, and their efforts seem crucial to all of Paskevich's victories.

* In ''[[The Shahnameh]]'', the ever-more reluctant Rostem is this to Kay Kavus, who is constantly leading Iran into trouble.

* Milo in the [[Gaunt's Ghosts]] series leans towards this in the first few books. He's unfortunately so good at his job that he attracts the attention of the Inquisition, thinking he's a previously un-identified pskyer. He later leaves Gaunt's side to become a full time soldier.

** Pretty much everyone knows he's the heir to the throne, but he steadfastly denies it except on a very few occasions that hint at [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] the rest of the time. And, for that matter, let's also not forget that #3 in the Watch hierarchy is his girlfriend, a gorgeous werewolf with an amazing sense of smell, super strength, and the ability to regenerate from almost anything. The only reasons she isn't a [[Mary Sue]] are that a) the criminals all know there's a werewolf in the Watch, so silver and peppermint bombs are becoming standard and b) [[Terry Pratchett]] is a freaking ''genius''.

** Somewhat averted in Carrot's case - he has a chance to run the Watch and consciously decides not to largely on the grounds that, "People shouldn't do what I say because Captain Carrot is good at being obeyed". He doesn't want to be in charge precisely because it's too easy. It's also worth pointing out that in the first few books, Carrot very clearly ''is'' [[The Hero]]; it's just that Pratchett ended up [[Breakout Character|finding Vimes more interesting...]]