Who accompanies Don Quixote as his squire?

Sancho Panza accompanies Don Quixote as his squire.

Sancho is a poor neighboring peasant and former servant whom Don Quixote recruits during the knight’s second sally. Don Quixote promises him the governorship of an island or kingdom that they will supposedly conquer, and Sancho accepts in hopes of improving his family’s fortunes. He travels on a donkey rather than a knightly horse.

The pair form the novel’s central comic partnership. Don Quixote interprets inns as castles, windmills as giants, and ordinary objects as enchanted treasures, while Sancho usually sees the practical reality. Even so, Sancho is not merely a voice of reason: he is sometimes drawn into his master’s fantasies and occasionally helps sustain them.

Sancho’s earthy proverbs and practical observations balance Don Quixote’s lofty language. Their relationship also changes over the course of the novel, with Sancho becoming more imaginative and Don Quixote sometimes becoming more aware of the real world.