Basic Trope: The hero of the story has a sidekick that is lacking bravery or courage when put in dangerous situations.
- Straight: Bob the hero is adventuring the forest with his sidekick, Alice. Bob loves to watch the wildlife and the plants around him, but Alice hangs around very closely with him to ensure that he can protect her anytime there is danger nearby.
- Exaggerated:
- Downplayed:
- Justified:
- Inverted:
- Alice is a Fearless Fool who has no qualms about endangering her life.
- Bob is instead the coward, while Alice is instead brave in the face of danger.
- Subverted:
- Double Subverted:
- Parodied:
- Zig Zagged:
- Averted: The sidekick is not cowardly in anyway and is brave in danger.
- Enforced:
- "We need a Foil for our hero to be given Hidden Depths and to stand out from his lame sidekick."
- "Our sidekick must be afraid of everything around them to give a sense of fear for our hero and audience on the grim situation."
- Lampshaded:
- Exploited: Seeing that Alice has the status of being Bob's sidekick, she can easily use him as her own personal meat shield, whenever danger is close, because Bob is too brave to be scared of danger and to ditch her.
- Defied: Alice trains herself to get over her the fear of losing her life, so that she can enjoy adventuring with Bob and fighting villains.
- Discussed:
- Conversed:
- Deconstructed:
- Reconstructed:
Back to Cowardly Sidekick.
