Patrick Harper

In 1809, Harper and the other riflemen get a lieutenant who came up from the ranks, and they don't like it. Harper openly defies Sharpe, and they settle it with their fists. During the mission behind French lines, distrust turns into respect, and Harper becomes Sharpe's right-hand man.

With the squad attached to Colonel Simmerson's South Essex, Harper helps Sharpe train redcoats who have never seen a fight. At Talavera, when Sharpe goes for the French eagle, it's Harper who cuts a path beside him through the enemy ranks. It becomes the first big story the two share.

After fighting beside Sharpe for the Talavera eagle, Harper becomes Sergeant Hakeswill's target, framed until he's busted down. Even so, on the night of the Badajoz assault, he's with Sharpe racing to save Teresa and little Antonia.

When Wellington hands Sharpe the Royal Irish Guard, Harper becomes the bridge between the major and those men. He understands their pride and their anger at the English, stoked by fake newspapers about abuses in Ireland. With Harper in the middle, the bodyguards nobody took seriously become fighting men and help bring down the Frenchman Loup's brigade. The win comes at a price: young Perkins, one of the riflemen closest to Harper, is killed.

In England, Harper enlists under a fake name alongside Sharpe to find out where the South Essex recruits are going. At the secret camp, Colonel Girdwood, who hates the Irish, sends him into the marshes to be hunted. Sharpe rescues him, and the two bring down the scam.

In 1815, Harper shows up in Brussels claiming to be a horse trader and fights beside Sharpe again. At Waterloo, he sees Hagman and Harris die because of an order from the Prince of Orange.

In 1817, Harper is the agent who goes missing in India, and he's the reason Sharpe comes out of retirement. The two infiltrate Khande Rao's fortress, and Harper shoots the traitor Bickerstaff. On the next trip, he takes on Sergeant Wormwood hand to hand and kills him.

Daragh O'Malley played Harper in all 16 films, from 1993 to 2008. In the books, Harper rises to regimental sergeant major.