History Main / PrincelingRivalry

** During the Liu Song dynasty, two of Emperor Wen’s sons, Liu Shao and Liu Jun, staged a coup and killed their father and many of his allies, including [[SelfMadeOrphan Liu Jun’s mother.]] Liu Shao then began to execute many of his cousins. Before he could do much however, another brother, Liu Jun(a different character to Liu Shao’s ally), staged a rebellion, and had both Liu Shao and Liu Jun beheaded with their sons, and forced their concubines and daughters to commit suicide.

* There’s a reason why this trope is so common in PeriodPieces set in ImperialChina:

** ''Series/ThePrincessWeiYoung'' combines this trope with EvilUncle. Tuoba Yu and Tuoba Han plot against each other and their nephew, Tuoba Jun. For his part, Tuoba Jun tries to stay out of his family's in-fighting until he has no other choice.
** ''Series/GoodbyeMyPrincess'': Cheng Yin and all his brothers spend most of their time trying to kill each other. Cheng Ye takes it a step further and openly rebels against their father.
** ''Series/TheRiseOfPhoenixes'': Ning Chuan is behind the deaths of two of his brothers. Ning Yi doesn't personally kill any of his siblings, but he does arrange their downfall.
** ''Series/NirvanaInFire'': Prince Yu and the Crown Prince are plotting against each other for the throne. Prince Jing refuses to stoop to their level, so Mei Changsu has to scheme against the other princes on his behalf.
** ''Series/LostLoveInTimes'': Most of the emperor's sons are constantly fighting among themselves and even outright trying to kill each other. The emperor himself killed his brother for the throne.
** ''Series/TheEternalLove'': Between Lian Cheng and Yi Huai. Yi Huai sees Lian Cheng as a threat so he gets one of Lian Cheng's concubines to spy on him.
** ''Series/TheGlamorousImperialConcubine'' plays with this trope. Of the two sets of princes -- Qi You, Qi Yun and Qi Xing in one family; Lian Cheng and Lian Xi in another -- none of them are on bad terms with their brothers at first. Instead their mothers are rivals and are constantly scheming on their sons' behalf.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}'': Mufasa as the strong firstborn, and Scar as the smart, plotting younger brother who has been jealous of Mufasa for some time. But he doesn't begin his betrayal in earnest until after Mufasa's son Simba is born, displacing him in the line of succession. Scar murders Mufasa and attempts to kill Simba as well so that he can rule Pride Rock unopposed. Simba lives and leads a charge to defeat Scar in his adult years. It’s actually revealed in later media that a stranger convinced Scar he should be king because he was more powerful than Mufasa since he had the Roar of the Elders. His attempt to overthrow Mufasa with his Lion Guard failed and he later started his plan seen in the film.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}'': Mufasa as the strong firstborn, and Scar as the smart, plotting younger brother who has been jealous of Mufasa for some time. But he doesn't begin his betrayal in earnest until after Mufasa's son Simba is born, displacing him in the line of succession. Scar murders Mufasa and attempts to kill Simba as well so that he can rule Pride Rock unopposed. Simba lives and leads a charge to defeat Scar in his adult years.

* A chain of sorts in Sacha Guitry's ''Le diable boiteux''. First the Comte d'Artois is shown checking up on his elder brother Louis XVIII very often, clearly expecting him to die soon. Then, when he ascends the throne as Charles X, his cousin Louis-Philippe does the same to him (though in Charles' case, he is dethroned before dying).
* ''Film/TheIronMask'' has Philippe, the EvilTwin brother of King UsefulNotes/LouisXIV, hidden away in a countryside chateau. A jealous, bitter Philippe eventually overthrows Louis, takes his place, and has Louis chucked into a dungeon where he has to wear an iron mask. This is a change from the Dumas novel (--as seen in Literature below--) where King Louis is the mean one and Philippe is the one wearing an iron mask in a dungeon.
* ''Film/TheManInTheIronMask'', filmed in 1998, yet again pits King UsefulNotes/LouisXIV and his hidden twin Philippe (both played by Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio) against one another. Here, the Strong Firstborn Louis is ''even worse'' than in the novel whereas the Smart Secondborn Philippe is still gentle and reasonable, though with a BewareTheNiceOnes streak.
* ''Film/TheKingsSpeech'': Prince Albert's brother David (the crown prince) mocks him by misinterpreting his words as intending to replace him on the throne, calling it "positively medieval".
* ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}:'' Arthur and Orm are half-brothers who fight for the throne of Atlantis. Arthur, the older one, is larger, less sophisticated, more laid-back, and heroic, while Orm, the younger one is more wiry (but by no means less strong), elitist, stern, and villainous. [[spoiler:Orm wins their first duel, but is defeated in the end.]] Many initially consider Arthur to be unfit given that his father is human, although technically both claims come from their mother Queen Atlanna, who is of royal blood, while Orm's father Orvax was a consort who used his influence to seize power from his wife.

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', High King Jakoven ''was'' first in line. He still had his younger brother locked up in an insane asylum, just to be on the safe side. The protagonist Ward is first in line to become the lord of castle Hurog but has been declared insane and unfit to rule by Jakoven. His younger brother Tosten suspects that Ward intends to murder him to get rid of the competition, but in a subversion, Ward has no intention at all of doing so, having been the one who saved Tosten's life after a suicide attempt.

* Although cousins rather than siblings, King Verence and Duke Felmet from ''Literature/WyrdSisters'' are like this. Verence is the large and heroic king, who gets murdered by his plotting cousin Felmet. Tomjon, Verence's son, raised by a theatre group, is expected to [[RightfulKingReturns return and overthrow his uncle]]. [[spoiler: Things didn't quite turn out that way, but the kingdom of Lancre did get ''a'' rightful king. Probably.]]

* Subverted in ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy''. At the end [[spoiler:Shasta]] just discovers he is really Prince Cor of Archenland and will inherit the throne, being 20 minutes older than his twin brother Corin. Cor apologizes to him for [[UnexpectedSuccessor unexpectedly taking the throne from him]], but instead [[RebelPrince Corin]] cheers because he ''didn't'' want to be king; as a prince, he won't have to worry about responsibility and will get to keep having fun. He only gets angry and threatens to beat up Cor when Cor ''insists'' on giving him back the throne.

* In ''Literature/{{Destroyermen}}'', among the [[LizardFolk Grik]], when a [[AdiposeRex Celestial Mother]] dies, her successor is chosen from among her daughters by having them fight one another in the arena to the death. The survivor becomes the new Celestial Mother. The obvious problem with that is even lampshaded: what if there are no survivors?

** ''Series/ThePrincessWeiYoung'' combines this trope with EvilUncle. Tuoba Yu and Tuoba Han plot against each other and their nephew, Tuoba Jun. For his part Tuoba Jun tries to stay out of his family's in-fighting until he has no other choice.

* ''Series/QueenForSevenDays'' has an initially one-sided version. At the start Lee Yeok looks up to Lee Yung, while Lee Yung hates Lee Yeok and thinks he's planning to overthrow him. Lee Yung's actions [[SelfFulfillingProphecy lead to Lee Yeok actually planning to overthrow him]].

* ''Series/MagnificentCentury'', a soap opera based in the life of Suleyman TheMagnificent, uses this quite a bit among Suleyman's sons (which is TruthInTelevision, as seen below). The two eldest Princes, Mustafa (Strong Firstborn, mothered by Suleyman's first wife Mahidevran) and Mehmet (Smart Secondborn, mothered by Suleyman's second and most beloved wife, Roxelana/Hurrem), are particularly bad at this.
* In Marvel's ''Series/{{Inhumans}}'' Maximus didn't develop powers after his Terrigenesis but managed to avoid being relegated to the mines by virtue of being king Black Bolt's brother. But it left him with a massive chip on his shoulder and he attempts to overthrow his brother by trapping him on Earth.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', King Endrin's middle child was convicted of murdering Trian, the eldest brother, and was exiled; Bhelen, the third and youngest child, is suspected of having a hand in the murder, which causes a SuccessionCrisis when Endrin allegedly has second thoughts before dying about putting Bhelen on the throne. (The events are seen in more detail in the Dwarf Noble origin, with the PlayerCharacter being the middle child; Bhelen does try to manipulate the PC into killing Trian. Regardless of whether the PC goes along with it, Trian ends up dead, and the PC takes the fall and is exiled.)
* When a king passes on in the ''VideoGame/CrusaderKings'' games, the new king's brothers usually inherit some sort of claim of their own on the throne, guaranteeing there will be strife if the eldest isn't really cut out for the job. Even princes who are fairly far down in the line of succession may petition their ruler to grant them holdings of their own from time to time so that they'll at least get ''something'' to leave to their own children.
** Of course, that's with the Primogeniture method of succession, which is generally considered one of the best means but many Western European monarchs start out with Gavelkind, where holdings are divided up among all sons. Naturally, sons who may lose their inheritance are likely to rebel if father tries to switch succession methods.
* The plot of ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic II: The Succession Wars''. King Morglin Ironfist is dead, and the Royal Seer is supposed to determine which of his two sons should succeed him. Archibald, the evil one, murders the Seer and several successors, then blames Roland for it. Roland flees, and Archibald is able to take power. Roland isn't going to let him win, and civil war ensues. The unnamed player character can side with either of the two.
* The second act of ''VisualNovel/ThePiratesFate'' heavily involves the rivalry between Queen Nakhta and her elder sister, Bilba. Nakhta's entire reason for collecting the [[PlotCoupon magic coins]] is to prevent Bilba (whom she describes as ruthless, amoral, and cruel) from capturing the throne. Bilba, in turn, says the same of Nakhta. [[spoiler:Nakhta is the better choice, as it turns out, because she's completely right about her sister, and at least Nakhta insists on ''non-lethal'' measures against her own sister.]]

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011''. The King's adopted son (Tygra) and blood son (Lion-O) often fight, usually because Tygra has proclaimed (yet again) that he'd be a better king than Lion-O... but, despite being visibly tempted by the idea, Tygra never betrays him. [[spoiler:Because of OutsideContextProblem Mumm-Ra killing and usurping their father early in the series]], their rivalry is, actually, only relevant for a handful of episodes.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' has Aquaman and Orm. Orm chains Aquaman and his newborn son to the side of a cliff that's falling into magma. Aquaman gets one arm free and uses it to chop off his other hand so he can get them both out in time, and then goes to attack Orm directly. As this is the "underwater Conan" take on Aquaman, he's less than forgiving of the man who tried to kill his son -- and ends up leaving Orm to fall to his death.

* ''Series/LostLoveInTimes'': Most of the emperor's sons are constantly fighting among themselves and even outright trying to kill each other. The emperor himself killed his brother for the throne.

** ''Film/BlackPanther2018:'' T'Challa / Black Panther, the son of the deceased king and N'Jadaka / [[spoiler:Killmonger, the son of the former king's younger brother]] contest for the throne of Wakanda. [[spoiler:T'Challa has no idea Killmonger even exists after his father has killed Killmonger's father and has covered it up. Killmonger challenges T'Challa to a ritualistic duel, nearly kills him and seizes the throne. In the end, T'Challa returns, mortally wounds his rival and reclaims his place as the rightful king.]]

[[folder:Western Animation ]

[[folder: Anime And Manga ]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} is the strong first born who, in most incarnations, is betrayed by his younger half brother Orm/Ocean Master. But this being a classic comic book character, he escapes the peril and puts Orm behind aquatic bars.

[[folder: Films -- Animated ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'': The Disney adaptation makes passing mention that Zeus and Hades are brothers. Zeus rules Olympus while Hades rules the underworld. The central conflict of the story involves Hades' scheme to supplant his brother Zeus, and become supreme ruler of Olympus, Tartarus and all the Earth in between. Zeus is of course the strongest god and older brother[[note]] According to Greek myth, Zeus was actually the youngest of six siblings and Hades was the oldest of the three brothers Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. He also had no particular resentment of Zeus and never tried to oust him.[[/note]], while Hades is a schemer.

* In the post-apocalyptic world in Creator/RalphBakshi's ''WesternAnimation/{{Wizards}}'', the fairy queen Delia begat twins: Avatar the attractive wizard, and Blackwolf the repulsive wizard. Shortly after Delia's death, the two brothers fought. Blackwolf was defeated, and slunk away to the land called Scortch. There, Blackwolf developed a growing army of mutants and monsters, seeking to vanquish his brother Avatar, and attain mastery over all the Earth.

[[folder: Films -- Live-Action ]]

* ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}:'' Arthur and Orm are half-brothers who fight for the throne of Atlantis. Arthur, the older one, is larger, less sophisticated, more laid-back and heroic, while Orm, the younger one is more wiry (but by no means less strong), elitist, stern and villaneous. [[spoiler:Orm wins their first duel, but is defeated in the end.]] Many initially consider Arthur to be unfit given that his father is human, although technically both claims come from their mother Queen Atlanna, who is of royal blood, while Orm's father Orvax was a consort who used his influence to seize power from his wife.

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'', the royal family started a ''war'' about which princess should be considered Eldest. Particularly pointless, as sisters usually rule jointly; the Eldest merely has more influence. The protagonists avert it, since Princess Ren doesn't really want the responsibility, which is forced onto her by the deaths of her elder sisters. The next in line, Halley, goes undercover and vanishes from the palace. It's an attempt to force people to look up to Ren more, as they usually asked Halley about everything important first.
* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', High King Jakoven ''was'' first in line. He still had his younger brother locked up in an insane asylum, just to be on the safe side. The protagonist, Ward, is first in line to become the lord of castle Hurog, but has been declared insane and unfit to rule by Jakoven. His younger brother Tosten suspects that Ward intends to murder him to get rid of the competition, but in a subversion, Ward has no intention at all of doing so, having been the one who saved Tosten's life after a suicide attempt.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Mythology & Religion ]]

[[folder: Theater ]]

* ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''. King Hamlet was the first born who was a warrior king with some implication in the text that he wasn't the most likable guy; Claudius, the second born, is the smart and charming plotter. [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready Claudius murders King Hamlet and Prince Hamlet ends up trying to avenge his father's murder]].

* In ''Theatre/TheLionInWinter'' Henry's three sons, John, Geoffrey and Richard, all aspire to be king. Queen Eleanor favors their oldest surviving son Prince Richard, while King Henry wants John to be the one to inherit his throne.

[[folder: Video Game ]]

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe''. In ''Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword'', Hausen as the strong first born, and Lundgren as the smart, plotting second born. Lundgren thought he would just wait it out until Hausen died naturally after Hausen's only daughter eloped. But when word spread that Hausen's long lost granddaughter Lyn was coming to claim her rightful throne, Lundgren started poisoning Hausen to speed up the process before she arrived. Totally backfires when Lyn kills Lundgren and Hausen makes a full recovery from the poisoning.

* When a king passes on in the ''VideoGame/CrusaderKings'' games, the new king's brothers usually inherit some sort of claim of their own on the throne, guaranteeing there will be strife if the eldest isn't really cut out for the job. Even princes who are fairly far down in the line of succession may petition their ruler to grant them holdings of their own from time to time, so that they'll at least get ''something'' to leave to their own children.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

** Iroh is the larger, good-hearted, rightful heir and Ozai is the plotting evil younger brother who tries to use Iroh's moment of weakness (his only son dying) to persuade their father to pass over him for succession. Some shady business later, their father dies, and his dying wish is exactly what Ozai wanted. Unusually, although Ozai is an evil schemer and has a smaller frame, there's no indication that Iroh is any stronger (the usual dynamic for this trope). They're both firebending prodigies; the outcome of a duel between them would be uncertain, and Iroh is even more uncertain about the prospect by the time of the show, when he has become old and Ozai is in his prime.
** While she is smaller, and a schemer, and evil, Azula is also stronger than her older brother Zuko who should be OverlordJr, but is instead a TokenGoodTeammate to his evil family and rightful heir. Azula never really indicates that she has designs on the throne for herself until [[spoiler: Zuko does a HeelFaceTurn and leaves the family and]] it's about to be handed to her, but she always made sure that if anything went wrong in the family, Zuko would get the blame from the beginning.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' has Aquaman and Orm. Orm chains Aquaman and his newborn son to the side of a cliff that's falling into magma. Aquaman gets one arm free and uses it to chop of his other hand so he can get them both out in time, and then goes to attack Orm directly. As this is the "underwater Conan" take on Aquaman, he's less than forgiving of the man who tried to kill his son -- and ends up leaving Orm to fall to his death.

[[folder: Real Life ]]

[[/folder]]

* In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'', the royal family started a ''war'' about which princess should be considered Eldest. Particularly pointless, as sisters usually rule jointly, the Eldest merely has more influence. The protagonists avert it, Princess Ren doesn't really want the responsibility, which was forced onto her by the death of her elder sisters. The next in line, Halley, went undercover and vanished from the palace, in an attempt to force people to look up to Ren more, as they usually asked Halley about everything important, first.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', King Endrin's middle child was convicted of murdering Trian, his elder brother, and was exiled; Bhelen, the third and youngest child, is suspected of having a hand in the murder, which causes a SuccessionCrisis when Endrin allegedly has second thoughts before dying about putting Bhelen on the throne. (The events are seen in more detail in the Dwarf Noble origin, with the PlayerCharacter being the middle child; Bhelen does try to manipulate the PC into killing Trian. Regardless of whether the PC goes along with it, Trian ends up dead, and the PC takes the fall and is exiled.)

* The second act of ''VisualNovel/ThePiratesFate'' heavily involves the rivalry between Queen Nakhta and her elder sister, Bilba. Nakhta's entire reason for collecting the [[PlotCoupon magic coins]] is to prevent Bilba (whom she describes as ruthless, amoral, and cruel) from capturing the throne. Bilba, in turn, says the same of Nakhta. [[spoiler:Nakhta is the better choice, it turns out, because she's completely right about her sister, and at least Nakhta insists on ''non-lethal'' measures against her own sister.]]

** Iroh is the larger good-hearted rightful heir and Ozai is the plotting evil younger brother who tries to use Iroh's moment of weakness (his only son dying) to persuade their father to pass over him for succession. Some shady business later, their father dies, and his dying wish is exactly what Ozai wanted. Unusually, although Ozai is an evil schemer and has a smaller frame, there's no indication that Iroh is any stronger (the usual dynamic for this trope). They're both firebending prodigies; the outcome of a duel between them would be uncertain, and Iroh is even more uncertain about the prospect by the time of the show, when he has become old and Ozai is in his prime.

** Tonraq as the strong first born, and Unalaq as the smart plotting second born in ''WesternAnimation/LegendOfKorra''. Unalaq tricks Tonraq into getting himself banished. [[spoiler: After experimenting in the Spirit World, Unalaq becomes stronger than Tonraq too and actually engages and defeats him in a proper duel.]]

[[/folder]]
----

-->-- ''Disney/TheLionKing''

* ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'': The Disney adaptation makes passing mention that Zeus and Hades are brothers. Zeus rules Olympus while Hades rules the underworld. The central conflict of the story involves Hades' scheme to supplant his brother Zeus, and become supreme ruler of Olympus, Tartarus and all the Earth in between. Zeus is of course the strongest god and older brother[[note]] According to Greek myth, Zeus was actually the youngest of six siblings and Hades was the oldest of the three brothers Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. He also had no particular resentment of Zeus and never tried to oust him.[[/note]], while Hades is a schemer.
* ''Disney/TheLionKing'': Mufasa as the strong firstborn, and Scar as the smart, plotting younger brother who has been jealous of Mufasa for some time. But he doesn't begin his betrayal in earnest until after Mufasa's son Simba is born, displacing him in the line of succession. Scar murders Mufasa and attempts to kill Simba as well so that he can rule Pride Rock unopposed. Simba lives and leads a charge to defeat Scar in his adult years.
* ''Disney/RobinHood'': Prince John has his attendant Sir Hiss hypnotize his brother King Richard into embarking on a years-long crusade so that John can rule, at first ostensibly in Richard's name, but as time passes increasingly in his own.

* Although cousins rather than siblings, King Verence and Duke Felmet from ''Discworld/WyrdSisters'' are like this. Verence is the large and heroic king, who gets murdered by his plotting cousin Felmet. Tomjon, Verence's son, raised by a theatre group, is expected to [[RightfulKingReturns return and overthrow his uncle]]. [[spoiler: Things didn't quite turn out that way, but the kingdom of Lancre did get ''a'' rightful king. Probably.]]

* In ''Literature/{{Destroyermen}}'', among the [[LizardFolk Grik]], when a [[AdiposeRex Celestial Mother]] dies, her successor is chosen from among her daughters by having them fight one another in the arena to the death. The survivor becomes the new Celestial Mother.

* ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}:'' Arthur and Orm are half-brothers who fight for the throne of Atlantis. Arthur, the older one, is larger, less sophisticated, more laid-back and heroic, while Orm, the younger one is more wiry (but by no means less strong), elitist, stern and villaneous. [[spoiler:Orm wins their first duel, but is defeated in the end.]]
[[/folder]] Many initially consider Arthur to be unfit given that his father is human, although technically both claims come from their mother Queen Atlanna, who is of royal blood, while Orm's father Orvax was a consort who used his influence to seize power from his wife.

[[/folder]]