Basic Trope: Two families that don't get along.
- Straight: The Argies do not like the Bargies, and they are constantly fighting
- Exaggerated: The Argie/Bargie feud escalates into a full-blown war.
- Downplayed:
- The Argies and Bargies regularly draw insulting graffiti on each other's family homes. Everyone else is appalled.
- An Argie kills a Bargie in a Duel to the Death. A Bargie challenges the killer and slays him. In a panic the family elders meet and negotiate terms ending the feud with minimal loss of life.
- The Argies and Bargies regularly sue one another. The barbarity is shocking to the other families who only kill each other.
- The Argies and Bargies are rival baseball teams.
- Justified:
- One family has done something especially heinous to the other, and not everyone is very forgiving.
- Both the Argies and the Bargies are part of a Barbarian Tribe.
- Inverted: The families are allied with each other; however, within the familes are all sorts of Cain and Abel relationships and Black Sheep relatives.
- Subverted: The Argies don't like the Bargies, and describe the generations-old feud between them, but the Bargies appear to have no idea about any of this.
- Double Subverted: But then out of the blue the Bargies assassinate Papa Argie.
- Parodied: The Argies and the Bargies are fighting over something stupid, such as a sports rivalry or Ship-to-Ship Combat.
- Zig Zagged: The Argies and Bargies have been at peace for a while, then one of the Argies kills one of the Bargies. In response a Bargie kills an Argie. Then the local lawman arrests the murderers. Then the two families team up to rescue the prisoners and kill the lawman. Then The Government sends an army through the district bent on bringing the Wretched Hive to heel, and both the Argies and the Bargies flee into the hills. When the army leaves the Argies and the Bargies start the feud again. While they are doing this an Argie boy meets a Bargie girl and falls in love. Because of this both are murdered. In their horror at the violence all the other Clans in the district demand peace. Finally a Grande Dame of the Argies and a Grande Dame of the Bargies meet and arrange for the two families to meet at a Fancy Dinner to hold a Peace Conference. The Argies and Bargies swear a sacred oath of eternal friendship. Which means it will probably be about ten years before they start feuding again.
- Averted: There's no particular feud between the two families featured.
- Enforced: The feud is a metaphor for a larger conflict.
- Lampshaded: "I hate the Bargies so much! I will never forgive them for what they did to us."
- Invoked: A small and inconsequential family started Let's You and Him Fight to bring down its biggest rivals.
- Exploited: The Don of the Cargies takes advantage of the chance to increase his power while the Argies and Bargies are busy killing each other.
- Defied:
- The two families make peace with one another, and intermarry to seal the deal.
- The Emperor, who is established to not be a fan of Romeo And Juliet, establishes Loony Laws that any kind of crime in which it is established (or even suspected) that it was fueled in any way, shape or form by a grudge between families will be paid by both families by any means necessary (any means necessary).
- Discussed: Angelo Argie has a beef with Benvolio Bargie, but his father warns him not to do anything that might start a generations-long vendetta between the two clans.
- Conversed: "So this town is ruled by two huge, ancient dynasties. I bet they're best friends!"
- Deconstructed: Star-Crossed Lovers, Cycle of Revenge.
- The feud gets so out of hand that both families cross the Moral Event Horizon, killing and/or harming a bunch of people not related to either just to spite each other. This causes the whole village, sick of the aristocrats' feud causing the commoners misfortune, to take matters into their own hands.
- Reconstructed: One optimistic paterfamilias tries to end the Cycle of Revenge, but it's a Crapsack World and there's a Succession Crisis going on, so family honour and duty is the only thing providing any stability at all. Seems like it's a choice between Feuding Families or Everything Trying to Kill You.
- Played For Laughs:
- The Argies and the Bargies have a friendly (or maybe not-so-friendly) rivalry over who has the nicer yard, home, etc. The "war" consists of sabotaging the other family's nice lawn.
- The feuding families are feuding because they are fans of differing soccer teams (to the utter befuddlement of the American protagonist).
- Played For Drama:
- The family elders don't get along, but their children do. Cue Star-Crossed Lovers.
- The protagonist is an arbitrator called in to solve the feud.
- The two families agree to settle the matter in a Combat by Champion
- The Empire invades and all the Feuding Families must quickly settle their feuds.
- The Empire invades and one of the families joins them, selling out their country for the chance to beat their rival.
- 'Played For Horror: Screw the Capulets and the Montagues. The Argies and the Bargies borrow their playbooks from the ruling Houses of Westeros. Every single time a pair of Star-Crossed Lovers have tried to seal the deal in this town, a Red Wedding is what ensued.
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