Companion

Character Role Analysis

Sallah

Everyone needs a buddy, even swashbuckling grave-robbers, and Indy certainly has more than his share. Marcus and Marion both appear to fill the sidekick role here and there, and that shifty pirate Katanga turns out to be true blue when the chips are down. But if you need to point to a definitive sidekick, then look no further than Indy's old buddy Sallah, the "best digger in Egypt" who slips Indy into the German camp without so much as a hiccup.

He also provides loyal workers for Indy to dig out the Well of Souls, locates someone capable of translating the writing on the headpiece to the Staff of Ra, and even sends his own kids into a bar full of cutthroats to rescue Indy. When you lay the fruit of your loins on the altar for the sake of a buddy, you enter a new class of sidekick-dom. We can't think of anyone more deserving of the honor.