A collection of tropes that deals with rivalries, rivals and other adversaries' relationships. Compare and contrast Frenemy Tropes which combines rivalry with friendship. Compare Discord Tropes.
Tropes:
Categories:
- Animal Jingoism: Certain animal species are rivals with other species.
- Arrogant God vs. Raging Monster: Personal hate between the ace and the berserker.
- Better Partner Assertion: Romantic rivals argue their superiority to the person they're fighting over.
- Betty and Veronica: Two girls are rivals in being the main character's love interest.
- Cain and Abel: Brothers who don't get along well.
- Claiming Via Flag: Rivals may try to plant their flag first to claim land before the other.
- Clashing Cousins: Cousins who are rivals.
- Dartboard of Hate: Someone throws darts at a picture of someone they dislike.
- Dreams vs. Nightmares: "Good" dreams are rivals with nightmares.
- Dueling Messiahs: Two heroes are at odds with each other due to their different views on how to save the world.
- Elemental Rivalry
- Enmity with an Object
- Evil Counterpart: A villain who is essentially an evil version of the hero and may be a rival with their heroic counterpart to accentuate their nature as the hero's moral opposite.
- Fandom Rivalry: A rivalry between the fandoms of two different works.
- Feuding Families: A rivalry between two whole families.
- Fire/Ice Duo: A pairing consisting of a character with power over ice and cold as well as one with power over fire and heat, who will often dislike each other due to their opposite nature.
- Friendly Rivalry: Rivals who are chummy and only being competitive toward each other in good fun.
- Friendship-Hating Antagonist: An antagonist who hates friendship and bonds, serving as an antithesis to the main hero.
- The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Sisters who don't get along well.
- Headbutting Heroes: A hero who has a rivalry with another hero.
- A House Divided: The cast, who should be working together, start to turn against each other.
- Intergenerational Rivalry: As its name says: when two people of different generations become rivals.
- Interservice Rivalry: Two branches of the government have a rivalry that sometimes affects their work.
- Intra-Scholastic Rivalry: Different groups within a school consider each other rivals.
- The Native Rival
- Nice Job Breaking It, Rivals!
- Opposed Mentors
- Opposing Sports Team
- Personal Hate Before Common Goals: These characters now have similar mindsets, and could actually be allies, if it weren't because at least one of them hates the other too much.
- Privileged Rival: The rival is upper-class in contrast to the hero.
- The Psycho Rangers: A whole team of Evil Counterparts to a team of heroes.
- Raised by Rival: A child is raised by the rival or enemy of their parent.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni
- Removing the Rival
- The Rival
- Rival Dojos
- Rival Final Boss
- Rival Science Teams
- Rival Turned Evil
- Rivalry as Courtship
- Rivals Team Up
- School Rivalry: When the students and/or faculty at two or more schools are rivals.
- Seduction as One-Upmanship
- Shadow Archetype: When the rival is a more unscrupulous version of the other guy.
- Sibling Rivalry: Siblings who constantly get into squabbles.
- Stock Shōnen Rival
- Tanuki/Kitsune Contrast: Two youkai who are portrayed as rivals in folklore and media.
- Technician Versus Performer: A highly skilled "technician" and a more inventive "performer" at odds.
- Technician/Performer Team-Up: When the two rivals end up teaming up, due to their contrasting styles complementing one another or are going against someone who they both have a conflict with.
- Unknown Rival: One person sees another as a competitor, but the other person either doesn't know that this guy exists or is oblivious of how this guy feels about them.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Best friends who express their friendship in ways that make them look like bitter rivals.
- Welcome Back, Traitor
- Working with the Ex: A couple who have broken up are forced into a position where they have to work together.
- Worthy Opponent: A character shows their respect for an enemy.
