View source for Non-Human Sidekick

{{trope}}
[[File:Jak and Dax 8585.png|link=Jak and Daxter|frame]]

{{quote|''We're sorry, the position of annoying talking animal has already been taken!''
|'''Donkey''', ''[[Shrek]] 2''}}

Odder than even an [[Odd Couple]], one of these guys isn't human! They might be an ordinary animal who's just a bit smarter than average, some form of [[Talking Animal]], a [[Robot Buddy]], a space alien, or even stranger, a normally inanimate object gifted with sentience or even locomotion (and sometimes [[Companion Cube|not even that]]). Particularly useful when it comes to going for help, stealing keys when the [[Big Bad]] has you locked up, or throwing the OFF switch on the [[Conveyor Belt O' Doom]] once he leaves the room.

In webcomics it often takes the form of the [[Snarky Non-Human Sidekick]]. May be a [[Bond Creatures|Bond Creature]].

This primarily applies if the sidekick is distinctly different from its buddy. Pinky from ''[[Pinky and The Brain]]'' is decidedly nonhuman, and the Brain's sidekick, but since the Brain is a mouse himself there's no real difference.

Compare and contrast with [[Amusing Alien]] and [[Token Non-Human]].

{{examples}}
== [[Advertising]] ==
* Many years ago, Dr. Pepper did a series of commercials set "[[After the End|after the Cola Wars]]", with a human hero and his diminutive alien sidekick. In one of them, the duo walk into a bar, and the female bartender greats them with "Well, hello stranger... and stranger yet!"

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* [[Ridiculously Cute Critter|Happy]], [[Cats Are Superior|Charle]], and [[Panthera Awesome|Pantherlily]] are the sidekicks to [[Idiot Hero|Natsu]], [[Badass Adorable|Wendy]], and [[Crazy Awesome|Gajeel]] respectively from the manga/anime [[Fairy Tail]].
* Bokomon and Neemon from ''[[Digimon Frontier]]''
* Most, if not all [[Mons]] shows can be seen as an inversion of this, because, let's face it, it's the ''mons'' who do the dirty work and get the stuffing beaten out of them when things get hairy, leaving [[The Kid with the Remote Control]] as the sidekick.
* To some degree, Shippo, Kirara/Kilala, Jaken, and Myoga in ''[[Inuyasha]]''.
* Jiji the black cat in the Miyazaki film ''[[Kiki's Delivery Service]]''
* The Battle Spiders from the ''[[Spider Riders]]'' anime of course.
* Princess Nausicaa's "fox squirrel" Teto in ''[[Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind]]''
* The transfigured "mouse" and "humming bird" from ''[[Spirited Away]]''
* Most [[Magical Girl]]s have one or more of these, who often overlap with [[Weasel Mascot]], [[Mentor Mascot]], and/or [[Ridiculously Cute Critter]]:
** Mepple and Mipple from ''[[Futari wa Pretty Cure]]''.
*** ALL the non-human characters in the [[Pretty Cure]] series.
** The talking cats Luna and Artemis from ''[[Sailor Moon]]''.
** Keroberos (Kero-chan), Yue, {{spoiler|Spinel Sun, and Ruby Moon}} in ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura]]''. The Clow Cards themselves could also qualify, as each card is shown to be a sentient, living thing.
** Access Time and Finn Fish in ''[[Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne]]''. {{spoiler|Later subverted with Finn's [[Face Heel Turn]].}}
** The titular beings in ''[[Shugo Chara]]''.
** Go, the robot-dog in ''[[Miracle Shojo Limit Chan]]''.
** Nubo and Cato in ''[[Hana no Ko Lunlun]]''.
** The trio of kappa in ''[[Persia the Magic Fairy]]''.
** Mogu and Pigu, the stuffed dinosaurs in ''[[Magical Stage Fancy Lala]]''.
** Posi and Nega, the alien cats in ''[[Magical Angel Creamy Mami]]''.
** Topo, the fairy spirit/purple stuffed flying squirrel in ''[[Magical Star Magical Emi]]''.
** Stonston the pig and Araessa the chicken in ''[[Yume no Crayon Oukoku]]''.
** Konpoco, the raccoon-looking dog in ''[[Esper Mami]]''.
** Shiina from ''[[Vampire Princess Miyu]]''. He's also a [[Ridiculously Cute Critter]] resembling a small pink rabbit... except when he shows the hideous, swollen eye he normally kept hidden behind one of his ears. Yeah, it's that kind of show.
* Elner in ''[[Galaxy Fraulein Yuna]]''. Debatably, also Yuna's three android doubles (who eventually can appear human).
* Friedrich, Caro's baby silver dragon in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (anime)|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]''.
** Not to mention all of the various devices and familiars
* Kir from ''[[King of Bandit Jing]]''.
* Almost every character in ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' has one, with cats, dogs, fish, birds, whales, aliens, fairies and such.
* Hermes the talking motorcycle in ''[[Kino's Journey]]''
* Chachamaru (a magic-powered gynoid) in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''.
** Also [[Weasel Mascot|Chamo]]. And Chachamaru's "sister" [[Perverse Puppet|Chachazero]].
* Both [[Funny Animal|Mu]][[Talking Animal|ta]] and [[Living Statue|Baron]] from ''[[The Cat Returns]]''. However {{spoiler|later in the film, this trope gets subverted when Haru herself starts to turn into a cat}}.
* Mylene's highly-emotive Furball Guvava in [[Macross 7]]
* Ryoko and her cat/rabbit thing Ryo-Ohki from ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]''
* Ein from ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]''. Different in that Ein is as intelligent as any normal human, yet otherwise a normal dog, and thus he can't speak.
* Jonathan the baby seal from ''[[Kaleido Star]]''.
* Lili the Fata (music fairy) in ''La Corda d'Oro''.
* Mokona the... thing... in several [[CLAMP]] works, most notably ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'', ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'', and ''[[×××HOLiC]]''.
** Mokona is Mokona! Mokona (the original one from MKR, anyway), is also {{spoiler|apparently God}}.
* Simon has Boota, his loyal little pig-mole, in ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]''.
** While Lordgenome has [[Four-Star Badass|General]] [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Guame]] [[The Dragon|The Immovable]]; who first filled almost exactly the same role and later evolved (literally) into a more direct sidekick role.
* Meowth of the Team Rocket trio in the [[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]] anime (though he's an equal member of the group more than a sidekick).
** Pikachu could easily be considered to be Ash's sidekick.
* [[Pronoun Trouble|Lord/Lady]] Belbel in ''[[There, Beyond the Beyond]]'' is a rabbit-like creature who accompanies the heroes in [[Viewer Gender Confusion|his/her]] capacity as a magician.
* Ruu the monkey (to Nowa), Setra the sceptre (to Menace), and Kere-tan the snake (to Echidna) in [[Queen's Blade]].
* ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]: Stardust Crusaders'' has among the protagonists Iggy, a pug who commands the sand-based Stand The Fool. The opposition has Pet Shop, a hawk who commands the ice-based Osiris. The two even duke it out one on one eventually. The fifth storyline (''Diamond Is Unbreakable'') has Stray Cat, a sentient cat-turned-flower with the power to launch bubbles, and the sixth (''Stone Ocean'') has Foo Fighters, ''a mass of plankton'' inhabiting dead ex-criminal Etro's body.
* ''[[Speed Racer]]'': Chim-Chim, Spritle's chimpanzee pal.

== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Truly bizarre comic book example: Grant Morrison's run on ''Doom Patrol'' introduced Danny the Street, a ''[[Genius Loci|sentient transvestite boulevard]]''. "How," you may ask, "can a living street be a transvestite?" Think pink lace curtains in the windows of hardware stores.
** Note that on a bizarreness scale of 1-10 calibrated for [[Grant Morrison]], this is running into the... Sevens or so.
* Avenger, the improbably intelligent golden eagle from ''Birdman''.
* Rufferto in ''[[Groo the Wanderer]]''
* Ampersand, Yorick's Capuchin monkey in ''[[Y: The Last Man]]''.
* Redwing, partner to [[Marvel Comics]] hero [[the Falcon]].
* The hero [[Squirrel Girl]] also has had two animal sidekicks, squirrels Monkey Joe and Tippy Toe
* A super villain, the Red Ghost, was active alongside three superpowered apes.
* The second Major Mapleleaf gained his powers from his sidekick, a horse named Thunder.
* ''[[Tintin]]'' has his dog Snowy.
* ''[[Spirou and Fantasio|Spirou]]'' has a pet squirrel with excactly the same role as Tintins Snowy. And the [[Marsupilami]] in earlier books.
* Krypto, the Super-Dog, [[Superman]]'s [[Silver Age]] Kryptonian pet, who has apparently made a recent comeback. He was later joined by [[Supergirl]]'s pets, Streaky the Super-Cat, Beppo the Super-Monkey, and Comet the Super-Horse (also Kara sometimes-boyfriend in his centaur form). Together, they formed the Legion of Super-Pets.
** Don't forget Ace, the Bat-Hound.
* Lockjaw from the ''Inhumans'' group from [[Marvel Comics]]. Noteable for his status changing. He goes from being a supersmart intelligent teleporting canine the size of a small car to...a sentient being trapped in large-dog form. Which is horrifying considering how noble the Inhumans are supposed to be. Oddly, not only do the writers play with this fact as if they can't look him up in the reference books, so do ''the characters''.
* Lockheed, Kitty Pryde's pet miniature dragon, from the [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]].
** The [[X-Men]] had a stranger version with the character Maggot, who was accompanied by Eany and Meany, a pair of [[Extreme Omnivore|matter eating slugs]]....which were his ''mutated intestines.''
* Gyro Gearloose's sentient-lightbulb "Helper" from Disney comics.
* In ''[[Elf Quest]]'' the Wolfriders have their wolves, and the Chosen Eight from the Gliders of Blue Mountain have their giant hawks. The Preservers could also be considered non-elf sidekicks, however annoying. A borderline example in recent episodes is Dart of the Wolfriders, whose wolf Kimo is actually a shapeshifting elf, and also his boyfriend.
* Skink, Ethan's sidekick in ''Scion''.
* Giselle's pet squit in ''Mystic''.
* Carson the Muskrat from ''[[Dork Tower]]''.
* Kevin from [[Sin City]] had an unnamed pet wolf.
* Often used in the [[Anthology Comic]] [[The Beano]] most well known with the pairing of [[Dennis the Menace UK|Dennis the Menace]] and Gnasher. But is also used with other characters such as Calamity James and his pet Alexander Lemming.
* Chameleon Boy of the [[Legion of Super-Heroes]] had Proty (best described as a shape-shifting blob of Silly Putty).
* Smiley the possessed pin acts as both a source of power and occasionally the voice of reason to his owner, ''[[Evil-Ernie]]''.

== [[Fan Works]] ==
* Inverted in the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'' fanfiction ''[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/6848/Silent-Knight Silent Knight]''. {{spoiler|Spike and/or Twilight Sparkle are the heroes, and Chirp is the mute ''human'' sidekick. Makes ya think, don't it...?"}}

== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[Star Wars]]'': Han Solo and Chewbacca. R2-D2 and C-3PO also work for the group as a whole.
* ''[[A Boy and His Dog]]'' features the titular boy and dog duo, which shares a telepathic bond.
* ''[[Beast Master]]''. Seeing as his best friends are a tiger, a hawk, two ferrets and so forth, Non-Human Sidekick sums up the entire concept of the movies and the show.
* Stanley Ipkiss's dog Milo in ''[[The Mask (film)|The Mask]]''.
* Possibly subverted in ''[[Ladyhawke]]'', a story of two cursed lovers, a man who is a wolf by night and a woman who is a hawk by day.
* Dog in ''[[Mad Max]] 2: The Road Warrior''
* The monkey in ''[[Mad Max 3]]: Beyond Thunderdome'' - does help him out in two occasions
* Mr. Shoop's dog Wondermutt in the rather silly '80s Mark Harmon vehicle "[[Summer School]]" Wondermutt has (and loses), his own NHC, a severed Raggedy Andy doll head called Bob.
* Roger plays a natural sidekick to Eddie Valiant in ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]''.

== [[Literature]] ==
* A number of these occur in the [[Tamora Pierce]] ''[[Tortall Universe|Tortall]]'' series.
** Alanna and Faithful, a black cat who is quite possibly a God avatar. Has [[Purple Eyes]].
** Daine - very justified in this case, as Daine is [[Speaks Fluent Animal|can speak]] [[Nature Hero|to animals]]. Her two closest non-human partners are Cloud, her pony, and Kitten, a baby dragon. A partial list of her other companions includes the cat, badger, and platypus gods, cats, dragons, Stormwings, basilisks, a marmoset, wolves, hyenas, bats, various birds, a squirrel, a ferret, and a {{spoiler|massive array of undead dinosaurs.}} Note that Daine also spent a considerable amount of time [[Raised by Wolves|living with wolves]]. Usually she only has a few of these at a time.
** Kel makes it a point to always be very kind [[Nice to the Waiter|to both animals and non-noble humans]], something not always approved of in her time and has an array of animal friends unmatched by any character other than Daine; interestingly, there Kel actually has more recurring animal friends than Daine has. She rescues a massive temperamental horse going for the slaughter, temporarily fosters a very hostile baby griffin at great personal risk, adopts a flock of sparrows, and has a dog who has accounted for a number of deaths in battle.
** Aly takes this to the next level, as she {{spoiler|ends up [[Interspecies Romance|marrying a crow who could turn into a man]], Nawat}}.
** Bekah Cooper has a cat <s>hinted to be</s> pretty blatantly the same cat that Alanna possesses - though Bekah lived a number of generations before Alanna.
* Conrad had Bortan, a mutated armoured dog for a pet (not really a sidekick as he's not there till th end of the book), in ''...And Call Me Conrad''
* In [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' series, first Twoflower and then Rincewind are followed about by the trusty [[wikipedia:The Luggage|Luggage,]] one of the best animated objects ''ever.''
** Additionally, [[The Grim Reaper|Death]] of the same series has the Death of Rats, a dark-robed rat skeleton that preforms the function of death for small rodents, and his horse Binky.
** It may be stretching the definition, but Tiffany Aching's loyal Nac Mac Feegles may also count.
** Greebo in the witch novels certainly does (except when [[Humanity Ensues]]). There's also Errol the swamp dragon in ''[[Guards! Guards!]]'', who briefly becomes the Watch mascot.
** Keith in ''[[The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents]]'' has the titular Maurice (a cat) and the educated rodents. Although Maurice would insist that the "stupid-looking kid" is ''his'' sidekick.
* Loiosh, the snarky dragonet familiar of the title character in the ''[[Taltos]]'' novels.
* Toto from ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]''. One could also make a case for the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion, in spite of their otherwise human characteristics.
** The Scarecrow definitely qualifies, as an inanimate object brought to life. Cowardly Lion is also a legit example, being a sentient feline in the original. He is later joined by the Hungry Tiger, who in a rather startling bit of kiddy-fantasy ''noir'' openly longs to 'eat fat babies', but can't because he has a conscience.
** Note that besides the Scarecrow, the ''[[Land of Oz|Oz]]'' series also contains the Patchwork Girl (a large stuffed doll), Jack Pumpkinhead (a mannequin), the Glass Cat and the Sawhorse, all of which become sentient via the magical - and later outlawed - Powder of Life. There's also mention of accidents with a phonograph and a bearskin rug.
** And it seems that every mundane animal (except Toto) that makes the trip to Oz ends up talking, such as Billina the hen, Jim the horse, Eureka the kitten, and the Wizard's piglets.
*** In ''Tik-Tok of Oz'' Dorothy finally realizes this; Toto then reveals that he can talk, he just doesn't much feel like it and prefers their dynamic with him remaining non-verbal.
* Tock (a literal '''watch'''dog) and the Humbug (an oversized beetle) in ''[[The Phantom Tollbooth]]''
* The Stark kids' direwolves in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''
* Wolf, of ''[[The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness]]''.
* Grimya the [[Talking Animal|telepathic mutant wolf]] from Louise Cooper's ''Indigo'' series.
* Let's not forget Gurgi from the [[Prydain Chronicles]]. He's not human, but what he is exactly is never really clear.
* Jame, the protagonist of P.C. Hodgell's ''[[Chronicles of the Kencyrath]]'', is always accompanied by Jorin, an ounce (small hunting cat), to which she is [[Bond Creature|psychically bound]]. Jorin, blind from birth, uses Jame's eyes to see, while Jame sometimes gets sensory impressions from Jorin's senses of smell and hearing. Jorin also warns Jame when he becomes aware of danger, though Jame sometimes ignores them to her detriment.
* Mogget and the Disreputable Dog in Garth Nix's [[The Old Kingdom]] series.
* Hedwig the owl, Crookshanks the cat, and (pre-''[[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (novel)|Prisoner of Azkaban]]'') Scabbers the rat in ''[[Harry Potter]]''. Fawkes the pheonix, as well, is this for Dumbledore.
* Gwin and Jink, Dustfinger's trained martins, in ''[[The Inkworld Trilogy]]''.
* Jordan and Ixil from [[Timothy Zahn]]'s ''[[The Icarus Hunt]]''.
* This page has been around how long, and no one has mentioned [[Humanx Commonwealth|Pip and Flinx]] yet?
* Greyn from ''[[Secretof Dragonhome]]'' fits this very well as a wolf. Given Melayne's power to speak to animals, he also acts as a mentor towards the end of the book.
* Horus and Jack from Matthew Reilly's ''Seven Ancient Wonders'', Horus being a Perigrine Falcon.
* Kazairl in the [[Shadowleague]] books.
* Somewhat part of this trope, as the protagonist isn't really human, In ''[[The Vampire Chronicles|Tale of the Body Thief]]'', the vampire Lestat adopts a stray dog, not for food, keeps him as a pet.
* In ''[[Star Wars]]: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance'', pirate Jet Nebula has a faithful droid called Clunker as companion, who can't talk (or even beep R2-style) but can use a military sign language for communication.
* Curdle the milk carton in ''[[Un Lun Dun]]''.
* Tobias and Ax in ''[[Animorphs]]''
* The cat Bastet in several of the early [[Amelia Peabody]] novels, even though these are mysteries, not fantasies. She is amazingly, though not quite supernaturally, intelligent and loyal. When she eventually dies at an advanced age, other cats show up — sometimes her descendants, sometimes just adopted strays — to continue the tradition, though only her daughter comes close to her calibre. By the way, the stories mostly take place in Egypt and the cat Bastet is _always_ referred to as "the cat Bastet," _never_ just "Bastet," as if even the very unsuperstitious Emersons wanted to be careful that she not be mistaken for any other Bastet.
* In the ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' series, the Companions (essentially avatars of the gods or souls of previous Heralds in horse form), Firecats (former Sons of the Sun reincarnated in cat form), and the Hawkbrother's bondbirds can function as sidekicks. Some Shin'a'in may consider their battlesteeds to be this.
* In Steven Brust's [[Dragaera]] books, Vlad Taltos has a jhereg familiar Loiosh, who looks like a miniature wyvern and acts as a [[Servile Snarker]].

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* Twiki from ''[[Buck Rogers in the 25th Century]]''
** Also Dr. Theophilus, although given that he's a sentient AI charged with helping run the affairs of humanity one could argue an inversion in this case.
* The Bear from ''[[BJ And The Bear]]''
* KITT from ''[[Knight Rider]]''
** Or is Michael KITT's sidekick, considering how often KITT gets Michael out of trouble?
* Austrian series ''[[Inspector Rex]]'' may be a unique example in that the dog is the main character.
* K-9 in ''[[Doctor Who]]''
** Also usually inverted with the Doctor and his companions: he's a nonhuman with generally human sidekicks.
** The [[Living Ship|TARDIS]] as well.
* On ''[[Wonderfalls]]'' the main character, Jaye, often receives cryptic advice from many supposedly inanimate objects, including a wax lion, a puppet chamaeleon, a wind-up penguin, and a teddy bear in a barrel.
* Salem on ''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]''.
* Fraser's deaf half-wolf Diefenbaker in ''[[Due South]]''
* Horse Comet in ''[[The Adventures of Brisco County Jr]]''
* [[The Spock|Spock]]. Possibly a [[Trope Codifier]].
* Muffit the robotic dog in [[Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)|the classic ''Battlestar Galactica'']].

== [[Recorded and Stand-up Comedy]] ==
* Comedian/ventriloquist [[Jeff Dunham]] and basically any of his puppet partners (IE: Walter, Peanut, Bubba J, Achmed, etc.). Made [[Crowning Moment of Funny|all the more hilarious]] in that one of the puppets, Peanut, points out several times that well-
{{quote|Peanut: You're arguing with yourself....[[Punctuated! For! Emphasis!|AND LOSING!]]}}
** Jeff plays off this with Walter and Jose as well.

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' (specifically 3rd edition) gave several character classes some variety of animal companion as a built-in feature. And any class might acquire one with proper feat selection. In 4th edition, only the Ranger class retained the option.

== [[Video Games]] ==
* Clank, Ratchet's [[Robot Buddy]] from the ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' series. Of course, Ratchet ain't human either...
* The nameless dog in ''Duck Hunt'', who catches the ducks you shoot, not returning it to you (it probably ate it). And when you can't shoot any ducks, he'll laugh at you, as if mocking your 'stupidity'. Nevertheless, it remains one of the earliest, and still [[The Scrappy|most hated]] video game character ever.
** No wonder there's versions of the game where you can shoot the dog ...
** This [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rN4yDNj5ME&feature=related video] probably contains the best [[Shoot the Dog|Shoot The Damn Dog]] ever. Too bad it's only hack.
* Wang Koh-San's pelican, Heoh-Heoh from ''[[Art of Fighting]] 3''
* Safiya's familiar the winged golem Kaji from the ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' expansion ''Mask of the Betrayer.''
* In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', [[The Woobie|Tali]] named her combat drone. In context, this is a holographic ball of light a little bigger than a basketball that is temporarily summoned by engineers to attack enemies.
** It's also TWO [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]] to characters from [[BioWare]]'s much ealier game [[Baldur's Gate|Baldur's Gate II]].
* Mieu in ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]''.
* Hanpan in ''[[Wild ARMs 1|Wild ARMs]]''.
* Dogmeat, in the ''[[Fallout]]'' series.
** Later, ED-E and Rex. Also, (technically) Fawkes, RL-3, Lily, Raul, and Charon. And maybe Jericho, judging by his comment about "growing a fourth arm."
* In ''[[Age of Empires III]]'', European explorers can get a dog to help them fight. Like the explorer himself, this dog cannot be permanently killed.
* Dragon Quest 8 has one of these in the form of Munchie. He solves puzzles on his own and can even assist you in battle with the right items. Not bad for a mouse.
* [[Samurai Shodown]] introduced Mamaha (Nakururu's falcon) and Poppy (Galford's dog). Later games added occasional others (Paku Paku, Cham Cham's monkey, for one). And then the last one let you play AS Poppy.
* The dog of Fable 2. So much so it became a back of the box feature.
* The Felynes in ''[[Monster Hunter]]'', who for all intents and purposes are cats of human intelligence that can talk and stand on their hind legs. You can hire them as chefs, and as companions in battle. Although they're very talkative in the form of text, in-game they just sound like cats. This makes it a little jarring when your companion gets attacked by something (especially if you happen to be a fancier of cats), even though they can just burrow underground to recover from injury, while you don't get that luxury. Thankfully, Felynes bailing to heal in this manner don't count against your faint tally.
** Felynes are town support NPCs at best in ''Tri'', unlike the other games. Your ally this time around is instead a Shakalaka, a little humanoid that is never seen without a mask. This one answers to Cha-cha. For those of you who miss your Felynes, there's a False Felyne mask you can get for Cha-cha... if you don't mind a less-than-friendly [[Stuff Blowing Up|fireworks display]].
* ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics Advance]]'' has Marche with Montblanc, Ritz with Shara, Mewt with Babus, and possibly, Doned with Nono and Cid with Ezel.
* Your Creature in [[Black and White]]
* Is Boo the sidekick of [[Boisterous Bruiser|Minsc]] or is Minsc Boo's sidekick?
* In [[World of Warcraft]] your characters can gain up to 150 different Non-Combat or Companion pets, most of which are miniature animals that follow your character around - cats, snakes, frogs and the like. Some are machines, tame miniature monsters, or meta-game characters such as a mini-Diablo. There are rewards for collecting as many as you can. As a reverse of the trope, one non-combat pet awarded for participation in a tournament is called the Argent Squire/Argent Gruntling - which is a human or orc (depending on your faction) who will carry a flag for you and, with an expensive upgrade, act as a store, bank or mailbox.
** Also, the Hunter Class is basically built around this trope.
*** And Warlock.
* Beneath a Steel Sky: Foster and Joey, the talking, sentient robot.
* [[Dragon Age|Dragon Age: Origins]] allows you to have a Mabari War Hound as one of your companions, whose default name is "Dog". A popular fan name is "Barkspawn", thanks to [[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|a certain webcomic]].
** I always name him [[The Silmarillion|Huan]], but that's just me.
* You acquire several non-human companions in [[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]], including friendly versions of the normally hostile Goomba, Koopa, Bob-omb, Boo and Lakitu.
** In ''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'', you get an air spirit named Madam Flurrie who helps you {{spoiler|when you fight the Three Shadow Sirens and get her necklace back}}, and a Shadow Siren named Vivian {{spoiler|who had decided to go over the [[Moral Event Horizon]] and }}helps Mario when his identity was stolen by Dooplus. {{spoiler|But she didn't know it was him before.}} When Mario squares off with Dooplus, she runs away for three turns, then does a [[Heel Face Turn]] to help Mario.
* Archimedes in [[Suika]] plays this role for Ojou. {{spoiler|That is, until he moves on to Chitose and sacrifices his life so she doesn't die during surgery.}}
* Teddie in [[Persona 4]]
* In ''[[Knights Of The Old Republic 2]]'', Bao-Dur is always accompanied by a small flying orb with built-in laser. You yourself have the option of three robotic sidekicks, plus several alien ones.
* In ''[[La Pucelle Tactics]]'', your entire party lineup aside from plot-essential humans consist of monsters you've recruited in the field.

== [[Web Animation]] ==
* The Cheat from ''[[Homestar Runner]]''.
** Technically, Strong Bad is non-human but The Cheat still counts.

== [[Web Comics]] ==
* George, the huge-eyed larval bit of monster kibble who can only emit the noise 'Meep,' is Evi's sidekick in ''[[A Moment of Peace]]''. And eventually  {{spoiler|the much more bashful Hulking Shyster joins him in this role.}}
* While Krosp better fits into the [[Snarky Non-Human Sidekick]] trope, the Jager trio of Dimo, Maxim, and Oggie from ''[[Girl Genius]]'' fit into this trope, considering they're monstrous constructs who have an almost puppy-like devotion to Agatha to the point that they'll break into dangerous cities to aid her and/or look after anyone she considers an ally or friend.
** And there are the dingbots.
* Molly the Peanut Butter Monster in ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]].'' Or, for that matter, her pet, [[Ugly Cute|Snookums the Tentacle Bunny.]]
* Blackwing the raven, Vaarsuvius' familiar in ''[[Order of the Stick]]''. Well, sort of—he only shows up, in V's own words, when Vaarsuvius acknowledges Blackwing's existence. Since V recently apologized for being such a terrible master and has been treating Blackwing with more respect, he could become a more straight example of this trope in the future, though.
* Conrad the vampire and the unnamed zombie from ''[[Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name]]''. Conrad's more whiny and the zombie's more stoic, so neither of them are really [[Snarky Non-Human Sidekick|Snarky Non Human Sidekicks]].
** Now there's also Toni {{spoiler|the werewolf}} and Veser {{spoiler|the half-selkie}}.
* Bob the Crab serves as the immoral foil to both the GM's workaholic personality, and Denise who is the voice of reason in the Las Vegas Tsunami of [https://web.archive.org/web/20170516173252/http://thedugs.com/ The Dugs].
* Boo and Sushi from ''[[Springiette]]''
* Hugo the rat from ''[[Capt'n Crazy|Captn Crazy]]''.
* ''[[Wicked Awesome Adventure]]'' supplies each of the playable characters with one or more live teddyanimals that function as upgradeable sidekicks.
** JET also carries around a [[Puss in Boots|real mouse]].
* While the main characters of ''[[Goblins]]'' are not humans, but, well, [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|goblins]], Dies Horribly has a non-goblin sidekick: Klik. Maybe K'Seliss and Kin counts, too.
* Mia from ''[[Unintentionally Pretentious]]'' has [http://www.unintentionallypretentious.com/index.asp?c=34 Aibo], her robotic [http://www.unintentionallypretentious.com/index.asp?c=101 guide dog] and [http://www.unintentionallypretentious.com/index.asp?c=121 guardian], making it also her [[Angry Guard Dog]], but with a manual [[Berserk Button]].
** And occasionally as [http://www.unintentionallypretentious.com/index.asp?c=59 a household appliance].

== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Appa and Momo from ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''. Appa's a giant flying six-legged bison, and Momo's a flying lemur. They're animal companions with just slightly higher than normal intelligence.
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20131019070840/http://mimg.ugo.com/201107/3/7/5/203573/korra-with-polar-bear-dog.png Naga the polar bear dog] and Pabu the Fire Ferret from [[Sequel Series]] ''[[The Legend of Korra]]''.
* Snarf from ''[[Thundercats]]'' and ''[[Thundercats 2011|ThunderCats (2011)]]''
* Plank from ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]''.
* ''[[Shrek]]'' and Donkey.
* Rufus, Ron's naked mole rat from ''[[Kim Possible]]''.
** And a living [[Deus Ex Machina]] to boot.
* Slimer on ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]''.
* Most (if not all) of [[Disney Animated Canon|Disney's]] human heroes and heroines have a pantheon of these (besides a sub-array of generic Adorable Woodland Critters), notably:
** The mice Gus and Jaq, who perform the aforementioned key-stealing chores so well in ''[[Cinderella (Disney film)|Cinderella]]'' that it's become the best-loved scene from that movie.
** Sebastian the crab, Flounder the fish and Scuttle the seagull in ''[[The Little Mermaid]]''. Not to mention Max the dog, though he inexplicably can't speak like the aforementioned three can.
** The three Good Fairies, also Prince Phillip's horse, in ''[[Sleeping Beauty (Disney film)|Sleeping Beauty]]''.
** Mushu the guardian dragon (essentially the exact same Eddie Murphy character as Shrek's Donkey) and Cri-Kee the lucky cricket in ''[[Mulan]]''. Also, in non-speaking roles, Khan the horse and Little Brother the dog.
** The enchanted castle servants, led by Cogsworth the clock, Mrs Potts the teapot and Lumiere the candelabra, in ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]''. [[Subverted]] at the end, as they are actually all humans under a magic spell. Played straight with Philippe the horse, however.
** The Genie, Abu the monkey, Iago the parrot and the Carpet from ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]''.
** Gurgi in ''[[The Black Cauldron]]''.
** Achilles (the horse), Djali (the goat), Victor, Hugo, and Laverne (three gargoyles) in ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]''.
** Phil and Pegasus in ''Hercules''.
** In an example of Disney taking it too far, Meeko the raccoon in [[Pocahontas]] had his own sidekick, the hummingbird, Flit.
** Bronx in the animated series [[Gargoyles]] is a subversion to this trope according to [[Word of God]], being unable to speak and rarely showing any emotion or intellectual understanding. Within the show, it is eventually revealed that Bronx behaves no differently than any [[Muggle]] of his species. Fans generally agree, and don't like the suggestion of Bronx as a 'sidekick' in the sense of this trope.
** Morph in ''[[Treasure Planet]]''. Dr. Delbert Doppler and B.E.N. fit the bill as well.
** [[Pinocchio]]'s conscience Jiminy Cricket is considered by many to be not only the first Non Human Disney sidekick in a long line of many, but also the first wise cracking sidekick who used (what was at the time) modern humor and colloquialisms. To boot, he was also voiced by a radio star who many households at the time would've been able to distinguish: Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards. In this movie there's also Figaro and Cleo.
** Double subversion in ''Ratatouille'', in that, not only is the non human sidekick the protagonist, but he has his own small human sidekick (or psychotic delusion - you decide).
*** Remy generally considers the ghost of Gusteau to be a figment of his imagination; the ghost agrees. Truth be told, one might argue that Linguini is Remy's non-rodent sidekick.
** Louis and Ray from ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]'' are sort of an odd example, considering the human protagonists are also in the form of frogs during the majority of the movie.
** Subverted in ''[[The Emperor's New Groove|The Emperors New Groove]]''; Kuzco angers Bucky the squirrel, who then wakes up the local jaguar pack, and later [[Suddenly Fluent in Gibberish|tells]] [[Punch Clock Villain]] Kronk where to find him. Also inverted with Kuzco and Pacha themselves.
** Baloo, Bagheera, and the vultures from ''[[The Jungle Book (Disney film)|The Jungle Book]]''.
** The Seven Dwarfs from ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs]]''.
** Archimedes the Owl from ''[[The Sword in the Stone]]''.
** The singing frogs, Carl the robot, and Tiny the [[Tyrannosaurus Rex]] from ''[[Meet the Robinsons]]''.
** The March Hare from ''[[Alice in Wonderland (Disney film)|Alice in Wonderland]]''.
** Dug and Kevin from ''[[Up (animation)|Up]]''.
** Both Bernard and Bianca are considered sidekicks to the human children they helped in both ''[[The Rescuers (Disney film)|The Rescuers]]'' films. Also the Albatross brothers, the Swamp folk, Evinrude the dragonfly, and Marahute the eagle.
** Maximus the horse and Pascal the chameleon from ''[[Tangled]]''.
** Koda, Rutt, and Tuke from ''[[Brother Bear]]''.
** Sasha the bird, Sonja the duck, and Ivan the cat to Peter from ''[[Make Mine Music]]''.
** Gunpowder the horse to [[The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad|Ichabod Crane.]]
*** Mole, Water Rat, Angus [[Mac Badger]], and Cyril Proudbottom the horse to [[The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad|J. Thaddeus Toad.]]
*** Tibbs the cat to Colonel the sheepdog from ''[[101 Dalmatians|One Hundred and One Dalmatians]]'
*** MO (a cleaner robot) and the cockroach to [[WALL-E]], a trash-compacting robot.
** And then, there's also the sidekicks of the bad guys. Examples include:
*** An unnamed raven to [[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|the Evil Queen.]]
*** Gideon the cat to J. Worthington "Honest John" Foulfellow the fox and the Phantom Blot-esque minions to the Coachman from ''[[Pinocchio (Disney film)|Pinocchio]]''.
*** [[Fantasia|Chenabog's]] demons.
*** The bloodhounds to [[The Ghost|Man]] from ''[[Bambi]]''.
*** The weasels to both [[The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad|Mr. Winkie]] and [[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?|Judge Doom.]]
*** Lucifer the cat to [[Cinderella (Disney film)|Lady Tremaine.]]
*** Si and Am to [[Lady and the Tramp|Aunt Sarah.]]
*** Diablo the raven to [[Sleeping Beauty (Disney film)|Maleficent.]]
*** The Sheriff of Nottingham (a wolf) to [[Robin Hood (Disney film)|Prince John (a lion).]]
*** Brutus and Nero to Madame Medusa from the first ''[[The Rescuers (Disney film)|The Rescuers]]'' film, and Joanna the goanna to [[Evil Poacher|Percival McLeach]] from the second.
*** Chief to [[The Fox and the Hound (film)|Amos Slade.]]
*** The Creeper, the Gwythaints, and the Cauldron Born to [[The Black Cauldron|the Horned King.]]
*** Fidget the bat to [[The Great Mouse Detective|Professor]] [[Vincent Price|Ratigan.]]
*** Roscoe and Desoto the dobermans to [[Oliver and Company|Sykes.]]
*** Flotsam and Jetsam the eels to [[The Little Mermaid|Ursula.]]
*** Percy the pug to [[Pocahontas|Governor Ratcliffe.]]
*** Scud the pit bull to Sid Phillips from the first ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'' film, and Big Baby to Lotso from the third.
*** Pain and Panic, the Fates, the Hydra, the Titans, and the Cyclops to [[Hercules (1997 film)||Hades.]]
*** Hayabusa the falcon to [[Mulan|Shan Yu.]]
*** Randall Boggs (a purple eight-legged reptilian monster) to [[Monsters, Inc.|Waternoose (a gray, crustacean monster).]]
*** Agent Wendy Pleakley to [[Lilo and Stitch|Dr. Jumba Jookiba]], and Captain Gantu to [[Lilo & Stitch: The Series|Doctor Jacques von Hamsterviel.]]
*** Anchor the hammerhead and Chum the mako to [[Finding Nemo|Bruce the great white.]]
*** Junior the bison to [[Home on the Range|Alameda Slim.]]
*** Chick Hick's pit crew and DJ (blue tuner), Wingo (green tuner), and Snot Rod (orange drag racer) to Boost (purple tuner) from ''[[Cars]]''.
**** Also, the ninja race cars to Kabuto (obnoxious Japanese racing car) from [[Pixar Shorts|''Tokyo Mater''.]]
**** And the Lemons and Professor Z to  {{spoiler|Miles Axlerod}} from the sequel.
*** DOR-15 to [[Meet the Robinsons|Michael "Bowler Hat Guy" Yagoobian.]]
*** GO-4 (scanner robot) and the securibots to [[WALL-E|AUTO (steering wheel robot).]]
*** [[Up (animation)|Charles Muntz's]] dogs.
*** The Friends from the Other Side to [[The Princess and the Frog|Doctor "The Shadow Man" Facilier.]]
** Notable aversions: Both ''[[Atlantis: The Lost Empire|Atlantis the Lost Empire]]'' and ''[[The Incredibles]]'', which have the least nonhuman characters (zero in all) of any animated Disney film.
* Wow nobody wants to mention "[[Hanna-Barbera]]"'s LOVE of this trope? You couldn't HAVE a Hanna Barbera cartoon at one point in time WITHOUT a wacky/annoying non-human sidekick. Mr. Cool (Fonz and the Happy Days Gang), Godzooky (Godzilla animated series), Doing (Mork & Mindy cartoon), Sgt. Squealy (Laverne & Shirley in the Army), Dribbles (Harlem Globetrotters) and so on and so forth.
* Villains get these too—see Rasputin's bat Bartok in ''Anastasia.''
* Faffy and, to a lesser extent, Twinkle the Marvel Horse in ''[[Dave the Barbarian]]''.
* Radarr, the blue-monkey creature from ''[[Storm Hawks]]'', plays the role of co-pilot and constant companion to Aerrow, the leader of the heroic Storm Hawks.
* Capt. HuggyFace in ''[[Word Girl]]''.
* Every DTV [[Barbie]] movie seem to have one.
* Fetch, Loud Kiddington's dog on ''[[Histeria!]]''
* Bandit from ''[[Jonny Quest]]''.
* Custard in the 2002 ''[[Strawberry Shortcake]]'' series.
* Blip from ''[[Space Ghost]]''.
* Brain from ''[[Inspector Gadget]]''. [[Right-Hand-Cat|Mad Cat]] had his moments as well; how often does the [[Evil Genius]] tell his pet cat to launch the missiles, anyway?
* The television show ''[[Get Ed]]'' had no less than four examples of these, spread out evenly amongst the protagonists and antagonists. Series [[Big Bad]] Mr. Bedlam had a computer AI named Kora who tended to function as the system administrator for his evil empire (while also giving snarky comments on the side). Similarly his toaster apparently grew a skinny body to become the robot Crouch who tended to be somewhat less snarky and more of a suck-up but who nonetheless seemed to be the one who helped designed the vehicles for the evil mooks. One the good guys' side the title character wound up acquiring Torch for his flying surf board, a sentient navigational program that helps to keep Ed in the loop as to his surroundings. Perhaps oddest of all is [[Cloudcuckoolander]] Loogie's sidekick Dr. Pinch, a catfish puppet decked out in a doctor's outfit. While the idea that Loogie suffers from disassociative identity disorder can be used to explain Dr. Pinch's animated nature, this troper can't help but remember the episode where, in order to sneak into Bedlam's firewall protected Virtual Reality World after each one was locked out, the good guys wound up placing the VR interface on Pinch's head (read that, PINCH'S head, not Loogie's) and the puppet was able to enter the virtual world (as a puppet on BEDLAM'S arm no less) with his personality completely present. Even team brain [[The Smart Guy|Fizz]] wasn't able to come up with an explanation for this.
** Also, there was one episode where Dr. Pinch got put on someone else's arm (Was one of the guys, can't remember which) and still had the same personality and voice.
* In two of the Superfriends cartoon series from the 70's, there were non-human sidekicks belonging to the "junior" superheroes. First, there was Wonderdog, sidekick to Wendy and Marvin in the original cartoon series. Then there was Gleek the monkey, sidekick to Zan and Jayna, the wonder twins.
* During ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'' Wishology trilogy, [[Alien Among Us|Mark]] is actually declared Timmy's sidekick.
* The Secret Saturdays - Zak has three - Komodo the komodo dragon, Fisk the gorilla-cat, and Zon the pteradactyl.
* Liz from the ''[[Magic School Bus]]''.
* Altivo the warhorse from ''[[The Road to El Dorado]]''.
* Zeek to [[Fishtronaut]] .
* Jake the dog from ''[[Adventure Time]]''.
* The eponymous [[Scooby-Doo]].
* [[Tom and Jerry]] themselves in ''[[Tom and Jerry: The Movie]]''.
** Also, The Fat Dog on a Skateboard for [[Tony Jay|the villain.]]
* ''[[Making Fiends]]''. Vendetta's sidekick is a giant hamster named Grudge.
** Also, one episode in the webseries, she had replaced grudge with another in-human sidekick, named Rubella.
* [[Invader Zim]] (who isn't human, but if [[Doctor Who|the Doctor]] can be listed here, he can too) has his [[Robot Buddy]] GIR, and gains another - just before the series was cancelled - in Minimoose.
* All three of Seth MacFarlane's animated series (''Family Guy, American Dad,'' and ''The Cleveland Show'') feature a Non-Human Sidekick, who is also a [[Snarky Non-Human Sidekick]] most of the time. ''Family Guy'' has Brian, Peter's talking dog and best friend. ''American Dad'' has both Roger the alien and Klaus a goldfish with the brain of a German spy. And in ''The Cleveland Show,'' Cleveland's best friend is a bear.
* Blue Falcon had Dynomutt.
* [[Futurama]]: Fry has Bender; Zapp has Kif; Farnsworth has Zoidberg.
* ''[[South Park]]''{{'}}s Mr. Garrison has Mr. Hat/Mr. Twig.
* ''[[Harley Quinn (TV series)|Harley Quinn]]''; Poison Ivy has Frank, her sapient, talking, [[Deadpan Snarker| rude, snarky]], [[Man-Eating Plant]], whom she is [[Running Gag|constantly telling to shut up]].

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[[Category:Foil]]
[[Category:Otherness Tropes]]
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Funny Animal Tropes]]
[[Category:Loyal Animal Companion]]
[[Category:The Millennium Age of Animation]]
[[Category:Magical Girl Tropes]]
[[Category:Pet and Animal Companion Tropes]]
[[Category:Sidekick]]