History Main / ReverseRelationshipReveal

* ''Film/NakedKiller'' opens with a beautiful woman apparently being stalked by a man who follows her up to an apartment and surprises her in the shower...whereupon he demands to know what she's doing in ''his'' apartment. She answers by kneecapping him with a silenced gun and then bashing out his brains with a barbell.

** Early in the comic, the BigBad Xykon, and TheDragon, Redcloak, appear to have a VillainousFriendship. This is revealed to be very much not the case in the prequel work ''Start Of Darkness'', which reveals that initially Xykon was TheDragon to Redcloak and his brother, Right Eye, who partnered with him to advance their well-intentioned goals. Ultimately, Redcloak helped Xykon become a lich and Right Eye realized that Xykon was bad news and wanted to pursue a peaceful life, and attempted to stop Xykon. Redcloak killed his brother, and Xykon then gave Redcloak a brutal (and accurate) TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, revealing that he couldn't have been harmed anyway but wanted to see what Redcloak would do- he states that he knows he can't trust Redcloak, but knows Redcloak would never betray him, because [[NeverMyFault while Redcloak knows he did/is doing the wrong thing, if he ever admitted it,]] [[SunkCostFallacy he would be acknowledging that his brother died for nothing]].

** Early in the comic, the BigBad Xyon, and TheDragon, Redcloak, appear to have a VillainousFriendship. This is revealed to be very much not the case in the prequel work ''Start Of Darkness'', which reveals that initially Xykon was TheDragon to Redcloak and his brother, Right Eye, who partnered with him to advance their well-intentioned goals. Ultimately, Redcloak helped Xykon become a lich and Right Eye realized that Xykon was bad news and wanted to pursue a peaceful life, and attempted to stop Xykon. Redcloak killed his brother, and Xykon then gave Redcloak a brutal (and accurate) TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, revealing that he couldn't have been harmed anyway but wanted to see what Redcloak would do- he states that he knows he can't trust Redcloak, but knows Redcloak would never betray him, because [[NeverMyFault while Redcloak knows he did/is doing the wrong thing, if he ever admitted it,]] [[SunkCostFallacy he would be acknowledging that his brother died for nothing]].

Two characters have contrasting roles that relate to each other in some way. One could be a mentor and the other a student, one a stoic comforter and the other an emotional wreck, one an abusive ManipulativeBastard and the other their helpless [[TheIngenue Ingenue]] victim, and so on.

Two characters have contrasting roles that relate to each other in some way. One could be a mentor and the other a student, one a stoic comforter and the other an emotional wreck, one a ManipulativeBastard and the other an [[TheIngenue Ingenue]], and so on.

* In ''Anime/OccultAcademy'', among the characters the "[[ClassicalAntiHero hero]]" Fumiaki interacts with are Chihiro, a suspicious character who spies on the heroine, Maya, and has an [[AbhorrentAdmirer unwanted]] crush on Fumiaki, and the sweet Mikaze, who is the Betty to the heroine's Veronica. It turns out Chihiro was GoodAllAlong and trying to protect Maya and the innocent Mikaze is actually a [[HornyDevils Horny Devil]] and the BigBad.

May involve TheManBehindTheMan. BettyAndVeronicaSwitch and ActuallyThatsMyAssistant are subtropes, as is DecoyLeader as long as the audience doesn't know before TheReveal. Compare also AggressiveSubmissive. This not the reverse of RelationshipReveal.

* In ''Film/WithoutAClue'' it's revealed early on that Dr Watson is actually the brilliant detective, and SherlockHolmes is the bumbling sidekick.

* It also appears in several ''SherlockHolmes'' stories.

* ''Film/TheSixthSense''. Malcolm is a child psychologist and Cole is a child who can see dead people. Malcolm suggests to Cole that he is supposed to help the dead people in their path to the afterlife and let go of their earthly concerns. It turns out that Malcolm is dead and Cole is helping him in his path to the afterlife.

** In both ''Towards Zero'' and ''Literature/MurderIsEasy'', the real murderer killed their victim(s) for the sole purpose of getting their spouse or significant other framed and hanged for the murder, while initially appearing to be in need of protection from their "murderous" partner.

* In ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', [[SacrificialLamb Junko Enoshima]] [[CruelAndUnusualDeath is sadistically killed by Monokuma]] right after the start of the first case as punishment for protesting the rules of his "game." Later, it's revealed that there is a 16th student whose identity has been kept secret: "Super High School-Level Soldier" Mukuro Ikusaba, who is immediately speculated to be the true identity of the mastermind. However, it turns out that Mukuro and Junko are ''sisters,'' [[TwinSwitch and they switched places before the game even started]]: not only is Junko the ''real'' mastermind, but ''she'' killed Mukuro rather than vice versa!

Two characters have contrasting roles that relate to each other in some way. One could be a mentor and the other a student, one a stoic comforter and the other an emotional wreck, one a ManipulativeBastard and the other an Ingenue, and so on.

** The fangame ''VisualNovel/SuperDanganronpa2'' contains another example: the Otonokoji twins are initially depicted as the BrattyHalfPint Hibiki terrorizing her [[ShrinkingViolet meek and submissive]] sister Kanade. [[spoiler:Then Chapter 3 reveals that Kanade is a sociopathic SerialKiller who has repeatedly subjected Hibiki to emotional abuse ever since they were children]].

May involve TheManBehindTheMan. BettyAndVeronicaSwitch and ActuallyThatsMyAssistant are subtropes, as is DecoyLeader as long as the audience doesn't know before TheReveal. Compare also AggressiveSubmissive.

** In both ''Towards Zero'' and ''Murder is Easy'', the real murderer killed their victim(s) for the sole purpose of getting their spouse or significant other framed and hanged for the murder, while initially appearing to be in need of protection from their "murderous" partner.

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'', Glenda initially assumes that the tall, willowy and commanding woman attending an Unseen University function is the Vampire Lady Margolotta, while the small dumpy woman with her is her librarian. Only after complaining about Margolotta at some length to the latter does she catch on that it's actually the other way around.

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* Similar to the above, in ''Film/MurderByDeath'', the now-not-so-blind butler takes off his LatexPerfection disguise to reveal that he's really Lionel Twain. After everyone leaves and he's by himself, he removes ''his'' LatexPerfection disguise to reveal that he's ''really'' the now-not-so-deaf-and-dumb maid. She proceeds to laugh herself hoarse.

* Similar to the above, in ''Film/MurderByDeath'' Lionel Twain takes off his LatexPerfection disguise to reveal that he's really the blind butler - who then takes off ''his'' LatexPerfection disguise to reveal that he's ''really'' the deaf maid. Who had had scenes with each other.

Unlike HourglassPlot, in which the characters gradually swap their positions and/or situations over time, this trope involves no actual swapping but only the temporary illusion of the reverse situation. The trope can also apply to two groups or parties.

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Danganronpa}}'', [[SacrificialLamb Junko Enoshima]] [[CruelAndUnusualDeath is sadistically killed by Monokuma]] right after the start of the first case as punishment for protesting the rules of his "game." Later, it's revealed that there is a 16th student whose identity has been kept secret: "Super High School-Level Soldier" Mukuro Ikusaba, who is immediately speculated to be the true identity of the mastermind. However, it turns out that Mukuro and Junko are ''sisters,'' [[TwinSwitch and they switched places before the game even started]]: not only is Junko the ''real'' mastermind, but ''she'' killed Mukuro rather than vice versa!