If you think the Drow on the left is the bad guy, you're very, very, wrong.
"Amber casts an infinity of shadows, and my Avalon had cast many of its own, because of my presence there. I might be known on many earths that I had never trod, for shadows of myself had walked them, mimicking imperfectly my deeds and my thoughts."
See the full list of examples at Mirror Character.
- In Cal Leandros, Cal and Grimm are both half-Auphe, half-human hybrids created by the Auphe in hopes of making one who could create gates. They are also the only successes and the only two who remained free and lived into adulthood. Both hate their monstrous parents, but they have very different goals and takes on what that means for them, throwing them into conflict despite their similarities.
- A Christmas Carol: Jacob Marley and Ebenezer Scrooge, who were both fairly abusive bosses with similar faults. Scrooge learns from Marley's mistakes to avoid falling into the same fate.
- The Chronicles of Amber: Eric, the eldest son of King Oberon by his second wife before they married, and Corwin, the eldest acknowledged son of Oberon by her. Corwin says they are probably the most alike of the siblings despite Oberon's children numbering in the double-digits, and their bitter rivalry fuels the plot of the early books.
- Chronicles of the Kencyrath: One of the key reasons Jame makes Torisen so uneasy is that she reflects back at him all the parts of himself that is uncomfortable with and represses—his Shadow Archetype. And yet at the same time, he loves her, and loving those parts of her helps him come to terms with them in himself.
- Darth Plagueis: Plagueis to Cosinga Palpatine. Both are incredibly wealthy Smug Snakes with a penchant for violence, though Plagueis restrains his darker impulses unless he needs to unleash them; both try to be The Man Behind the Man, with Cosinga wanting indirect control of Naboo via placing his mistress's brother on the throne and Plagueis wanting to be Palpatine's co-chancellor; both try to influence (or outright control) Palpatine with disastrous results; and both are slain in a way that Palpatine manages to both cover up and directly benefit from.
- Don Camillo: The titular priest and his Sitcom Arch-Nemesis, the village mayor Peppone, are very similar once you scratch away their respective slogans. Both men are veterans of World War One and fought as anti-fascist partisans in World War II. Both men are corrupt, scheming, pugnacious, unsophisticated and take a great delight in upstaging each other. Both men are generous, fundamentally decent and have a weakness for cigars and sob stories. Both men are pillars of the community and take their obligations seriously, in their own way. Peppone, as a Communist, is ostensibly an atheist (which he will go on about at length), but gets a lot of crap for regularly attending church and insisting on having his youngest son baptised (with the name Libero Antonio Lenin Explanation , no less). Camillo is politically conservative, but gets a lot of crap for frequently siding with Peppone's communists and calling out the greed and selfishness of the conservative landowners in the area. And, of course, if you pointed out these similarities to either of the men involved, they would kick your arse for your trouble.
- The Empirium Trilogy: A lot about Rielle and Eliana mirror one another. Aside from the obvious fact that they're both subjects of a prophecy and share incredible powers, they're also both young woman who have to deal with other people's expectations of how they should use those powers, how they should behave, what their role(s) is/are, etc.
- Ghost Roads: A dual example with the Together in Death couples of Rose and Gary, and Laura and Tommy. Rose died young, and Gary never stopped loving her, finding a way to be with her after he died 60 years later. Tommy also died young, but refused to move on until he could be together with Laura again. Rose even lampshades how they're a dark mirror of her and Gary.
- Harry Potter:
- Harry is frequently unnerved by how similar of a background he has to Voldemort, and is even on the receiving end of a "Not So Different" Remark from the piece of Voldemort's soul in the Diary Horcrux in Chamber of Secrets. They're both half-blood orphans raised by Muggles who were ignorant of their magic powers before coming to Hogwarts and have a horrible life in the muggle world, causing them to consider Hogwarts their first true home. They become inextricably linked when Voldemort hears a prophecy about a child born with the power to defeat him, and assumes it to mean Harry, with Dumbledore theorizing that he chose Harry over Neville, the other possible subject of the prophecy, specifically because he saw similarities between himself and Harry, thus marking Harry as his equal and ironically helping fulfil the prophecy. They are further linked when Voldemort's attempt to kill Harry fails, not only making them arch-enemies for life but also transferring a piece of Voldemort's soul, and with it many of his powers, such as his ability to speak Parseltongue, into Harry. Their wands also contain a phoenix feather core from the same bird, which prevents them from working properly against each other. They are even described as looking somewhat alike, being dark-haired, skinny, and pale, at least until Voldemort becomes disfigured by his experimentation with dark magic.Diary Horcrux Voldemort: There are strange likenesses between us, Harry Potter. Even you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself. We even look something alike.
- Harry and Snape have a lot more in common than either of them would ever want to admit. Both are half-bloods who grew up in abusive households with family members who hated magic and found Hogwarts to be a much more welcoming home than their real one. In Deathly Hallows, Harry even refers to himself, Snape and Voldemort as "the abandoned boys" because all three of them found their first true home at Hogwarts. Both had their lives changed forever on the night of Harry's parents' deaths due to a love connection with Harry's mother Lily. Snape's love for Lily convinced him to make a Heel–Face Turn in order to avenge her death, while Lily's love for Harry saved him from Voldemort and gave him the powers he would need to achieve his destiny as The Chosen One. The similarities between them make it all the more bitterly ironic that Snape hates Harry due to association with his father, Snape's school rival and bully, James, because Snape considers Harry to be a Generation Xerox of James, which is pure Psychological Projection on Snape's part as the only things Harry and James have in common are Quidditch talent and physical appearance.
- Snape and Voldemort's similarities are part of what draws Snape in to becoming one of Voldemort's most ardent supporters, but the key difference between them is what causes Snape to betray his master. Both are half-bloods who promote pure-blood supremacy, partly because they both hated their Muggle fathers. Both had terrible childhoods and considered Hogwarts more of a home than their real home. Both were gladly sorted into Slytherin and embody all of the house's worst qualities, seeking power no matter the cost and idolizing the Dark Arts. Both wanted the Defence Against the Dark Arts teaching job at Hogwarts but were turned down by Dumbledore, though Voldemort was turned down because Dumbledore already knew he was pure evil and didn't want him anywhere near the students, to which he responds by cursing the job, while Snape is repeatedly turned down because he's too valuable to Dumbledore as a spy and Dumbledore doesn't want him killed by this curse. Both are masters of Legilimency, which is what allows Snape to spend years lying to Voldemort's face about his true allegiance without detection, which almost nobody else is capable of doing. The big difference between them is that Voldemort is a true sociopath who refuses to accept love, while Snape, for all his faults, loved Lily Potter, which is why he spends years working to protect Harry and bring Voldemort down to avenge her death at his hands.
- To his shock and disappointment, Harry discovers in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that his father James was extremely similar to Harry's arch-rival Draco Malfoy in his youth. Both James and Malfoy are only children to rich, pure-blood families who have biases and prejudices against other Hogwarts houses, and both are spoiled and arrogant bullies, in particular having a vicious rivalry with a member of an opposing house (Snape and Harry respectively). The main difference, as James's friends point out to Harry in an attempt to rebuild his father's character in his eyes, is that James always despised the Dark Arts and those who practice them, while Malfoy spends most of his youth openly plotting to follow in his father's footsteps as a Death Eater. Both mellow out significantly after their school days, having happy marriages and overall becoming nicer people.Draco: Imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I’d leave, wouldn’t you?
James: Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?
- Harry is frequently unnerved by how similar of a background he has to Voldemort, and is even on the receiving end of a "Not So Different" Remark from the piece of Voldemort's soul in the Diary Horcrux in Chamber of Secrets. They're both half-blood orphans raised by Muggles who were ignorant of their magic powers before coming to Hogwarts and have a horrible life in the muggle world, causing them to consider Hogwarts their first true home. They become inextricably linked when Voldemort hears a prophecy about a child born with the power to defeat him, and assumes it to mean Harry, with Dumbledore theorizing that he chose Harry over Neville, the other possible subject of the prophecy, specifically because he saw similarities between himself and Harry, thus marking Harry as his equal and ironically helping fulfil the prophecy. They are further linked when Voldemort's attempt to kill Harry fails, not only making them arch-enemies for life but also transferring a piece of Voldemort's soul, and with it many of his powers, such as his ability to speak Parseltongue, into Harry. Their wands also contain a phoenix feather core from the same bird, which prevents them from working properly against each other. They are even described as looking somewhat alike, being dark-haired, skinny, and pale, at least until Voldemort becomes disfigured by his experimentation with dark magic.
- The Hound of the D'Urbervilles: In his contemptuous dismissal of the Thin Man (i.e. Sherlock Holmes), Moriarty at one point sneers about how immature and childish he is. In his narration, Moran notes that Moriarty going all the way to the Thin Man's home to essentially taunt and boast about his genius and invincibility, and then gloating about it and mocking at the Thin Man behind the Thin Man's back, is itself a rather immature and childish thing to do. Further, Moran notes that Holmes also has the habit of not filling in his partner about his plans.
- The Hunger Games: The books have this as a recurring theme between Katniss and her mentor, Haymitch Abernathy. Both are cold and abrasive, but well-meaning individuals and Haymitch later reveals that the Capitol ordered his loved ones to be executed, which made him into the bitter man he is now and also mirrors Katniss' own fears of losing her loved ones. At the end of the books, Haymitch votes for a Capitol Hunger Game, after Katniss did, since she just lost her sister.
- The Iliad: Hector and Achilles mirror each other as the most brilliant warriors their respective cultures produced, and after Achilles kills Hector's beloved brother, Hector winds up returning the favor with the death of Patrocles.
- Inheritance Cycle: Eragon and Murtagh are both young dragon-riders who are even half-brothers (and thought to be full brothers for a significant chunk of the series). Murtagh is forced into an oath because of his father and winds up following a similar path while Eragon takes after his own genetic father, but they have similar skill sets and even use matching swords for dragon riders. Word of God has it that if Saphira hadn't hatched for Eragon, she likely would have for Murtagh—and dragons in the series are picky about finding proper riders.
- The Last Days of Krypton: Zod and his rival Tyr-Us are more alike than either of them will admit. Both of them feel partially entitled to power due to each being the son of a previous head councilor. Both genuinely believe that their goals and methods are good for Krypton, when they're really endangering the planet. Both can be ruthless and bitter grudge-holders who won't listen to reason from anyone they dislike. And both of them have somewhat decent relationships with one of the Only Sane Man El brothers, although Zod and Jor-El eventually turn against each other.
- The Lord of the Rings:
- Frodo and Gollum, both hobbits who fell to the power of the ring but managed its influence very differently. If Frodo had not had his friends, he likely would have ended up a ring wraith as well.
- Gandalf and Saruman are both Maiar older than the world itself sent to earth posing as elderly wizards to stop Sauron, and Gandalf himself says he is Saruman as Saruman should have been had he not been corrupted by desire for the One Ring.
- "The Most Dangerous Game": As Zaroff himself notes when they first meet, Zaroff and Rainsford are both Egomaniac Great White Hunters from refined backgrounds (at least more than common sailors) who are so skilled they find it difficult to find a challenge.
- The Secret Garden: Mary and Colin are both ill-tempered spoiled brats who have no idea how to deal with other people and have been doted on their entire lives, but Mary finds Colin so off-putting she starts getting better, and her stubbornness and lack of patience with him eventually wins out over his.
- In Shades of Magic, Kell, the Antari from Red London, is mirrored by Holland, the Antari from White London. They are the only known Antari for the bulk of the series, incredibly powerful wizards who are the only people in the known multiverse who can travel worlds. This ability comes with the heavy burden of not only an Ambassador's duties, but of trying to save their homes from the other Londons. If the tragedy of Holland's dying home had not been so sharp, they would've lead very similar lives.
- Sherlock Holmes: Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty, both brilliant and equal matches in nearly every way except in that Moriarty is devoted to crime. The mirroring catches attention so effectively that despite Moriarty being a fairly minor character in the original canon, he has an outsized role in many, if not most, adaptations, and they are Mirror Characters in...pretty much every adaptation, too.
- The Snow Queen Series: A major theme of the story — Moon and Arienrhod are as similar as they are different. Moon is just as capable of manipulative and pragmatic behavior as Arienrhod, and through her twisted relationship with Sparks Arienrhod rediscovers feelings she'd thought long lost.
- Used as a theme in Neil Gaiman short story "A Study in Emerald", which is a crossover between Sherlock Holmes and the Cthulhu Mythos. Here there is a detective who lives on Baker Street and is aided by his housemate/war veteran friend. Said detective investigates crimes, often at the behest of Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard. Only at the very end of the story does it become increasingly clear that the detective is in fact Professor James Moriarty, (and that the war veteran is Moriarty's right hand man Colonel Sebastian Moran) while the criminals/rebels being hunted are Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson.
- Temeraire: Temeraire and Lien despise each other, but they're both Celestials who are unusual among their kind (him for fighting and Western upbringing, her for her albinism), both introduce Chinese influenced reforms on dragon treatment and warfare to the West, and both command a significant amount of loyalty from their draconic fellows through sheer force of personality. And as he makes clear, if he was ever to lose Laurence, he would do almost exactly what Lien did.
- The Underland Chronicles: Gregor notes how he and Lapblood are like two sides of the same coin, a boy trying to save his mother and a mother trying to save her children.
- Warrior Cats: The majority of the plot for the second half of The New Prophecy is about how similar Brambleclaw is to Hawkfrost and how they are, in turn, like their father. Firestar has also been compared to Tigerstar (since they are both somewhat ambitious) and Scourge (Since they are unknowingly related, and the author's note at the beginning of Rise of Scourge talks about how the author wanted to take a character born with the same gifts as Firestar and give him a more negative upbringing).
- Rand and Ishamael/Moridin in The Wheel of Time. Both of them began as idealists and both found themselves driven to despair by a world of Eternal Recurrence and reincarnation where nothing ultimately seemed to be able to change except for the constant threat of the Dark One trying to destroy reality, and both teetered on the edge of nihilism. Except that Rand came to the realization that Eternal Recurrence and reincarnation exists to give people an infinite opportunity to redeem themselves from their mistakes and dedicates himself to protecting the world; Ishamael embraced nihilism completely and dedicated himself to the Dark One's service in order to put reality (and himself) out of its misery.
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: Oz and Dorothy are both from the civilized world and transported to the Land of Oz where they were mistaken for great magicians. However, while the plot of the book revolves around Dorothy trying to return to the civilized world, Oz stayed in the Land of Oz and let the people of the land think he was there most powerful wizard.
