History HypercompetentSidekick / Literature

* ''Literature/StarterVillain'': Jake Baldwin {{unexpected|Inheritance}}ly wills his [[EvilInc supervillain business]] to his estranged nephew Charlie, along with his long-time assistant Matilda, who actually knows the industry inside and out. In the end, [[spoiler:it's all revealed to have been a ploy to eliminate Jake's rivals; Matilda is [[TheManInFrontOfTheMan the real heir to the company]], but Charlie gets a comfortable retirement for his efforts.]]

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'',

* ''Literature/StarterVillain'': Jake Baldwin {{unexpected|Interitance}}ly wills his [[EvilInc supervillain business]] to his estranged nephew Charlie, along with his long-time assistant Matilda, who actually knows the industry inside and out. In the end, [[spoiler:it's all revealed to have been a ploy to eliminate Jake's rivals; Matilda is [[TheManInFrontOfTheMan the real heir to the company]], but Charlie gets a comfortable retirement for his efforts.]]

* Gunner Jurgen, aide of Literature/CiaphasCain, possesses the incredibly rare talent of being [[AntiMagic able to nullify Warp powers within a certain area of effect]]. This (and his [[{{BFG}} melta]]) often come in handy for saving Cain's posterior in situations that would probably have gotten him killed ''long'' ago otherwise. The fact that he's a blank is part of the ''reason'' no one notices him. As the author has joked, if anyone actually ''noticed'' Jurgen, he'd probably be the famous one. (Though the idea would probably horrify him.)
** He'd probably fit the trope even without his Blank abilities: He's an incredibly good driver of vehicles ranging from luxury cars to APCs, a crack shot with his Lasgun, capable of out-obstructing even the worst ObstructiveBureaucrat and can scrounge up pretty much anything Cain needs, from luxurious lodgings and food in the middle of a warzone to staff cars, heavy weapons and restricted armor. And as the short story ''The Smallest Detail'' shows, he can be quite cunning as well.
* Burtsev and several other exiled Decembrist officers are this to supposed GeneralFailure Paskevich in ''Literature/TheDeathOfTheVazirMukhtar''. Each of them manages one of the crucial areas of warfare, and their efforts seem crucial to all of Paskevich's victories.
* Nick in the ''[[Literature/DiamondBrothers Diamond Brothers]]'' series. His TooDumbToLive older brother Tim (actually named Herbert Simple) believes that he's a world-famous and brilliant detective, while Nick actually does almost all of the real detective work. Nick is usually the one who actually solves the case at the end.

* In a direct ShoutOut to Jeeves, Creator/PoulAnderson's ''Literature/DominicFlandry'' series has Flandry's alien valet Chives, although Flandry himself is very smart and competent.

* Teresa of Literature/DoraWilkSeries. She's been a seneshal (second-in-command) of another vampire for years before [[HairTriggerTemper Gajusz]] picked her up. She's capable of translating his "do this, now!" into coherent orders, she's able to organize everything in the nest while he's only playing inter-nest politics, she's able to smooth his fits of rage into relative calmness, she's able to aid him even when he clearly doesn't want help... It's insinuated that Gajusz would fall long ago if not for her.

* ''[[Literature/GentlemanBastard Red Seas Under Red Skies]]'': Justified. Jean and Locke are forced to pose as the commanding officers of a sailing ship. Since they know nothing about sailing, they are provided with a seasoned underling who is technically junior to them in rank but more than capable of commanding a ship.

* The archetypal example of this trope is the valet (not butler) Jeeves from Creator/PGWodehouse's ''Literature/JeevesAndWooster'' novels, and the various TV adaptations of the same.

* Kaliko, the level-headed majordomo of the hot-headed CardCarryingVillain, the Nome King, in the [[Literature/LandOfOz Oz books]].

* Gilly serves as Literature/{{Maledicte}}'s butler, spy, secretary, [[MoralityPet conscience]], muscle, seer, and, on one occasion, poisoner. And he's good at ''all'' of it.
* Although she becomes a POV character in ''The Mirador'', [[Literature/DoctrineOfLabyrinths Mehitabel]] first appears as this in ''The Virtu''. Thanks to her geographic knowledge, quick thinking, and [[MasterOfDisguise ability]] to go undercover as anybody, Mildmay and Felix actually manage to survive Kekropia and rescue the victims of a [[BurnTheWitch witch hunt]] to boot.
* ''Literature/NewAmsterdam'''s Jack Priest belongs to two revolutionary movements, speaks multiple languages, [[ShowSomeLeg flirts]] his way into confidential documents, can find anybody, and provides much-needed blood to his vampire employer, Sebastien de Uloa.

* OlderThanSteam: ''Literature/PussInBoots'', who happens to be [[ChessmasterSidekick a trope on his own]].

* In ''Literature/TheRavenTower'', [[FarmBoy Eolo]] is this for [[TheWrongfulHeirToTheThrone Mawat]], which even Mawat eventually comes to recognize. Mawat isn't exactly ''stupid'', but has a HairTriggerTemper and feels entitled as part of his position as heir to the Raven's Lease, not to mention his unflinching faith in the Raven. This means Eolo has to provide his lord with a voice of reason and to do all the actual investigation Mawat isn't able (or willing) to do, which he performs skillfully. [[spoiler:Mawat failing to heed Eolo's advice eventually kills him in the climax.]]
* Jame Retief, in Creator/KeithLaumer's ''Literature/{{Retief}}'' series of SF diplomacy stories, is always one rank below Magnan, despite being the only effective one of the pair. Of course, his techniques weren't terribly diplomacy oriented. Almost the whole point of the series was that the diplomatic corps is utterly useless, and only by breaking their (incredibly involuted and wrong-headed) rules can Retief achieve the supposed objectives of policy.

* If Collot d'Herbois had been in charge instead of Chauvelin in ''[[Literature/TheScarletPimpernel The Elusive Pimpernel]]'', he [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim would have just shot the Scarlet Pimpernel]] instead of planning an elaborate FateWorseThanDeath.

* Dr. Watson in many versions of Literature/SherlockHolmes, including the original. He is an ''actual'' MD (back when many "doctors" weren't), a war veteran, a skilled marksman, generally far more personable and likable than Holmes, and is even patient enough to put up with Holmes on a regular basis (which on it's own is probably deserving of a medal). It's also often show that, while he lacks Holmes' near supernatural detective abilities, Watson has picked up enough to be a reasonably capable detective himself. Subverted in that Holmes is a highly intelligent and hyper-competent in his field, as well as capable of kicking ass himself when needed.

** The Hand of the King is supposed to be this to the King.

* Literature/{{Psmith}} was originally introduced into P.G. Wodehouse's ongoing BoardingSchool serial as cricketeer Mike Jackson's sidekick, but took over the series to the extent where Mike only existed to be saved from various authority figures by his GuileHero antics.
* Archie Goodwin from the ''Literature/NeroWolfe'' books. Wolfe is certainly no fool, but he ''is'' incredibly slothful, misanthropic and reclusive, and would be happy to spend his entire life alternating between tending to his orchids, eating and reading books if given the opportunity. Archie, on the other hand, is the one who does all the actual work -- he nags Wolfe into taking jobs, he puts Wolfe's orders into effect, he gathers the evidence and witnesses for Wolfe to piece together the mystery, he manages Wolfe's finances to allow him to live his opulent lifestyle, and so on. He's even responsible for maintaining the germination records for Wolfe's beloved orchids.
** At one point Archie has to live for a period of months with Wolfe in hiding and out of contact. Disregarding instructions to continue drawing his salary, he rents his own office, prints his own cards and ads, and works for himself (subcontracting when needed, as usual for the series). He always brings in more than his salary would have been, runs a reputable and successful practice... and only writes about his jobs in summation, deeming none of it interesting enough.

* Astromech Droids in the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse. Other than [=R2D2=], the ''[[Literature/XWingSeries X-Wing]]'' novels brought us Corran Horn's droid Whistler, who can circumvent restraining-bolts thanks to a custom internal lay-out, has advanced data-gathering programming for criminal investigation purposes and once ran a minor pro-New Republic resistance cell on a minor Imperial world. Other notable droids included Emtree, who operated a commodities brokerage out of the Rogue Squadron barracks until they were forced to throttle back his programming, and Tonin, who helped Lara Notsil to infiltrate and practically take over a Super Star Destroyer, which functioned as TheMothership of the BigBad of the series.
* ''Literature/JediAcademyTrilogy'': In the third book, the commander of the stormtroopers Daala left behind at the Maw Installation serves this role to Tol Sivron and the other scientific leaders who he takes orders from. He is the only one who actually has any idea how to fly the Death Star protoype, and often makes reasonable tactical suggestions when the others have no idea what to do.