Welcome, ladies and gents! Step right this way for another mind-boggling fantasy reflection guaranteed to get the old brain cells moving … and stop hair loss. Disclaimer: this post was penned in a spurt of mad creativity fueled by an overabundance of coffee and Dr. Pepper. Consider yourself warned. 
No, I’m afraid I can’t tell what the quest is beforehand. Top secret and all that. Must take precautions. Obviously how you decide to go about said death-defying quest will influence your decision on which fantasy creature to choose as a companion. If you prefer stealth mode, I can almost guarantee Smaug is not the best choice. Good try though. A- for effort. I plan to start my quest in stealth mode and see how far I get before my cover is blow—because, let’s face it, covers are almost always blown. One that happens, I’ll race in with guns blazing—swords flashing—to finish the quest and save the day … Mounted on Shadowfax. Yes, I would choose him for my companion. Who wouldn’t want to ride one of the Mearas? A horse swift as the wind, capable of covering vast distances with a speed that would kill a lesser beast. The lone steed to stand undaunted before the arrival of the Witchking. Aye, Shadowfax is the companion for me. Wind in my hair, face to the sky, faithful steed beneath, I’d gladly face any perils the road has to offer. How about you? Who or what would you choose as your fantasy creature companion?
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Hmmm. Not having the scenario makes this a complex question (I love your Fantasy Reflections in general by the way). I think I've already said in response to a previous post I think Reepicheep would be the fantasy character I'd most like as a partner. I suppose you could call him a "fantasy creature," but I don't think that's what you had in mind.
I think I also would prefer to try stealth mode first, followed by force. The ideal companion creature for that would be one of Middle Earth's eagles, no, the Eagle King himself, who could fly me so high or through clouds that I'd remain invisible to beings on the ground. And if stealth failed, he could call the other eagles to battle, all of whom have talons…
My first instinct was to take my dragon, the one from my book, who is smallish for a dragon (about 30 feet long) and takes occasional passengers but Blunt Force isn't my style. I'm assuming from the options that persuasion will not work on this foe. I'd like to use Trickery but I'm not sure I'm clever enough. However, stealth does make sense for a plan A with trickery as a B then force as a last resort (RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!). I think I'll bring a trained version of the killer bunny from Monty Python. No one will expect the carnage!
A killer bunny certainly has the element of surprise on its side.
Is it cheesy to choose on of my own characters? If not, I'd probably choose Anssi from my book The Memory. He's a little like a cross between a lemur and a cat, very inquisitive and intuitive and mischievous, and one look into his eyes can reveal to me realities that I can't see with the naked eye. I think trickery would be his style. At least, if I can keep him from chattering in rage at the enemy and dancing madly on my shoulders.
But if I couldn't choose him, I'd choose Fledge from The Magician's Nephew. Given his size, I doubt we could use either trickery or stealth, so we'd just ride in with a clatter of hooves and a beating of mighty wings. His common sense and humility would make him a faithful friend.
Oh Anssi sounds like a fascinating character! Probably just the sort who would be helpful on a death defying mission. :)
I hope it's not cheesy to choose one of my own characters, because that's what I ended up doing. :P I would bring Ytyr, a Virtrilli. He's a dragon fighter. He looks something like a horse/unicorn thingy. He has a row of horns down the back of his neck where a mane would be, with a larger horn on his forelock. All of these horns are hollow, with a small hole at the tip that can excrete acid. He has scales and wolf-like paws. He's intelligent, and has telepathy. (Which /can/ be a pain, since he has a nasty attitude and you can't shut him up.)
Attitude aside, he sounds like someone one would want on a death defying mission.
For once, the answer is actually really easy: I'd want a minor dragon, like the ones in the DragonKeeper Chronicles. A chameleon dragon like Rayn in Dragons of the Valley would be the coolest, but if I couldn't find one of those, I'd want a green (healing) dragon. But I'd be happy with just about any kind of minor dragon.
Now there is a useful, and entertaining, companion.
Ooh fun choice! And a healing dragon would be super useful.
I believe I have mentioned her before, but I suppose I can do so again. Can I bring Beana? I really like that 'goat'. Her courage and common sense would help in the times when I would say "Oh dear, it looks as if we might die….again."
Yes, of course. I think she would be an excellent choice.
I'm going with Thorn, from Inheritance. I've seen very few situations in which a dragon wouldn't be handy. Stealth would be out, but I could live with that. Obviously with a dragon blunt-force would be in my favor, and I'm cool with that.
Thus far, dragons seem to be the top choice for this reflections post … :)
I'm gonna have to go with Yole – dragon from my book. He can shape shift into a different form if we really need stealth, he has dragon magic, and really… I just can't choose anything other than a dragon. They're pretty all-around useful – unless you're dying of heat/dehydration… but in just about any other scenario, a dragon would probably be helpful.
Chased by villains on horseback? Fly away.
Freezing to death/need a cooking fire/too dark to see? Fire-breathing comes in quite handy.
Battle? Having the biggest/fiercest creature on earth tends to be useful.
Wounded and unable to get away? Dragon can stand over you and probably protect you for rather a long time.
Yep. Dragon.
If I can't have one of my own dragons, then I'd go with Kazul or one of the good dragons from the Death Gate Cycle. :)
I really love your fantasy reflection posts!
Glad you enjoy them! I always think they're fun.
Oh, hmm.
I wouldn't mind Falon from The Door Within Series. A dragon would be cool too. Shadowfax would be awesome.
But quite honestly, the fantasy creatures I would most want come from my own stories. I'd definitely like The Daisha, though she's more of a person than a creature, though she looks like a mammalian dragon. Having a creopex (a sort of wild cat) would be awesome too. And I would love to have Cise, the wraith wolf, on my side.
Ooh, Falan is a good choice. I wouldn't have thought of that! :)
Geer, Bardon's dragon, from the Dragon Keeper Chronicles. We would be a very good team.
We would first distract the enemy by having a very confusing, funny, and quite crazy argument. Then escape.
I like your method of accomplishing the quest! Turn potential weaknesses in strengths! :)
Ah ha ha haaaa! Brilliant!
I would probobly choose one of those flying birds from Avatar. They are so dangerous to everyone, but you! And they are cool looking and you ride them, which makes them super awesome!
Ooh. Cool choice.
I would need to know about the mission before deciding how to go about completing it, but in any case I would probably take Mithrandir (Gandalf). ;D Wizards are so useful, you know.
And I'd probably choose to go in stealth mode, because in my imagination (sigh) in Middle-Earth, I'm half-Elf, half-Dwarf, with a trace of Human from goodness-knows-where. ;) So I can go secretly as any of the above! :)
If Mithrandir isn't a possibility, I'd take Aragorn, or if I were trying to go with a creature-companion, Shadowfax is a really good choice. :)
What if I could pick The Company?!!!!!
P. S. My sis says that she would take Bilbo. :) On second thought, she'd take Sam.
NO WAIT! She'd take Pippin, he's so funny. How about she would just take all of them? Or Radagast, from the movie.
(In her imagination, Middle-Earth, she's a Hobbit – or partly a Hobbit.)
P. P. S. by the way, I really like these Fantasy Reflections. :)
P. P. S. S. Sorry for the totally ridiculous comment….. ;D
Oh, my, what an awesome question … and nearly impossible to answer, I might add! I have to agree with a couple of the commenters above and say that Gandalf would be a companion I'd feel extremely safe with! But, then, Aragorn is so good looking …. choices, choices!
I'm going to cop out and say, depending on the mission, I would choose different people/beasties. Stealth? I'm bringing Locke Lamora, eponymous hero of Scott Lynch's "Gentleman Bastards" series. Thieving? Probably Luthien, because who doesn't want to sing all the bad guys to sleep and waltz out with their goodies? Fighting? Ohhhh … ohhh the options …