**Sidekick Showcase ~ #36 ~ From the Emerald Isle**

Sidekick Showcase (previously known as Sidekick Saturday) is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Jaclyn at JC's Book Haven. There are many secondary characters that are as great as the primaries. In some cases, the sidekicks actually steal the show and you like them better than the heroine or hero. Maybe they didn't have enough page time for how great they were. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Choose a sidekick *or someone other than the hero or heroine* that you would like to put in the spotlight that fits in this week's type
• Share a picture (if possible) and information about the character
• Give the title and author of a book the character can be found in
• Please don't include too many spoilers when describing why the character is such a great sidekick
• Put your link in the Linky thing and comment

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March's themes revolve around the Oscars and St. Patrick's Day. Since we're still closer to St. Patrick's Day than the Oscars, I tried to come up with something for that theme. I'm telling y'all, this month's themes are killing me. I really got nothing! ;) So I'm stretching it with my choice but here goes...  

My theme is From the Emerald Isle 

My choice of character: 
Niall
from Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely Series

Niall is a Gancanagh, a creature from Irish mythology known known for seducing women. He's one of my favorite characters from the Wicked Lovely series. When we first Niall, he's serving Keenan, the Summer King, as advisor. However, he was at one time linked to Irial, the Dark King. Irial misled Niall about what he was so Niall left the Dark Court to serve the Summer King. 

Over the course of the series, Niall meets and falls in love with a mortal girl. When Keenan betrays him, Niall becomes a solitary fey. This delights Irial, who never having found an heir, plans to pass on his position to Niall. By the end of the series, Niall is the Dark King.

I think what I liked so much about Niall is his conscience. When he discovers that he's a gancanagh and can effectively kill people by addicting them to himself, he feels incredible guilt. He spends his existence doing whatever he can to make himself less attractive to mortals. Even after he falls in love with Leslie, he stays away in order to protect her. When the Dark, Summer and Winter courts go to war, Niall attempts to fight on his own to protect everyone. Niall is a good man, a good friend, and I loved seeing his goodness.

If y'all haven't read this series, I highly recommend it. It's dark, gritty, and has a great cast of characters. It is YA but it's mature YA.