A storm is brewing.
As two lesser-used elements compared to Fire and Water, but still very prominent, the elements of Wind and Lightning are often juxtaposed with one another.
Wind and lightning are both notorious forces of nature, as hurricanes and thunderstorms are well-known weather disasters, and wind and lightning are both associated with the sky, and the element of air. Thus, the depiction of the two as rivals.
Though this trope often finds itself in magical fantasy settings, it actually has its roots in Japanese Mythology, which featured the feuding twin weather gods Raijin, the god of lightning, and Fujin, the god of wind. Indeed, many examples tend to reference these two deities, and these examples are very commonly coded with the colours blue (lightning) and green (wind), respectively.
A Sister Trope to Lightning/Fire Juxtaposition and Fire/Water Juxtaposition, as this trope also deals with a specific Elemental Rivalry. If two characters represent this trope, they will usually be Foils, and will often have a Red Oni, Blue Oni dynamic, with the Lightning being the Red and the Wind being the Blue. Compare Elemental Rivalry. Contrast Weather Manipulation, where a character might use these elements in sync with each other.
Examples
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Animation
- BoBoiBoy: Both of the elemental hero's lightning and wind counterparts unlock each of their Next Tier Power Ups in a state of strong emotion, rage summons Thunderstorm and laughter brings about Cyclone. In their duel against each other, both of them appear equally swift and strong. They are a considerably close duo, similarly to that of other supposed juxtaposed elemental duos such as Blaze with Ice and Thorn with Solar.
Anime & Manga
- Ayakashi Triangle's protagonist, Matsuri Kazamaki, wields the power of wind, to serve as a contrast to his rival and senior, Soga, who is associated with thunder and lightning.
- Bakuten Shoot Beyblade features the protagonist, Takao, whose bit-beast Dragoon is associated with wind and has a strongly speed-focused playstyle. Meanwhile, one of his lancers, Rei, has the bit-beast Driger, who has lightning powers and whose playstyle is more balanced.
- Maken-ki!: Azuki and her rival, Yan-Min, utilize wind and lightning respectively. Azuki's Maken ("Hawk") allows her to move at such speed, that she can create walls of solid air in her wake. Yan-Min's ("Kienbu") directly infuses her body with lightning, which greatly enhances both her speed and striking power as well.
- Metal Fight Beyblade, following on from its predecessor, has Gingka's Pegasus bey wielding many wind-based powers and connotations, in contrast to Masamune's Striker bey having motifs and attacks related to lightning.
- Naruto: While the titular protagonist wields Wind Release Chakra, Sasuke, who is The Rival, wields Lightning Release. Indeed, their respective Signature Moves, the Rasengan and Chidori, are designed as opposites to one another, with the boosted form of the former, the Rasenshuriken, being imbued with Wind chakra.
- Yaiba has the protagonist, Yaiba, who wields the Raijin sword, juxtaposed with his rival, Onimaru, who wields the Fujin sword.
Comic Books
- Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): Surge the Tenrec is an Oddball Doppelgänger of Sonic created by Starline. In contrast to Sonic who has a wind motif, Surge commands the power of lightning which she uses to boost her speed, among other things. She is also depicted as brutal, sadistic, and cruel in contrast to the friendly and easygoing Sonic.
Literature
- The Spectrum Game: Makoto wields Lightning as a secondary element, while Inigo's primary element is technically Ice, but tends to manifest in the form of really cold wind. The two start off as rivals and enemies, but become allies later on, with their personalities used to present them as foils to one another.
Live-Action TV
- Kamen Rider Blade: The eponymous hero is associated with lightning due to the Thunder Deer Rouse Card, while his rival, Kamen Rider Chalice, is associated with wind due to the Tornado Hawk Rouse Card.
- Power Rangers Ninja Storm has the schools of wind and thunder. The two are supposed to be working together, but the Big Bad Lothor has turned the Thunder Brothers against the Wind Trio. There is also an episode focusing on the rivalry between Shane, who controls wind, and Hunter, who controls lightning.
Mythology & Religion
- Japanese Mythology features the Trope Codifiers of this dynamic, with the demon brothers Fujin and Raijin, controlling wind and thunder respectively.
Tabletop Games
- In Magic: The Gathering, Lightning is most associated with Red mana, the color of impulse and chaos, and is most often used to deal direct damage (such as with the classic Lightning Bolt
). Wind is most associated with Blue mana, particularly in the form of creatures with "Flying" (of which Blue has by far the most), the color of logic and knowledge. The two are considered "enemy" colors and are philosophical opposites.
Video Games
- Chrono Cross has the green innate, which covers wind and plant magic, juxtaposed with the yellow innate, covering earth and lightning. The game runs off a strange form of Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors, where innate colours deal and take extra damage from their opposite, and green and yellow are considered opposites.
- EarthBound: The Sanctuary Guardian for Pink Cloud is Thunder & Storm, a lightning spirit intertwined with a wind spirit in respective reference to Raijin and Fujin. The duo's two PSI attacks, PSI Thunder β and PSI Flash β, are respectively described in-game as "a Crashing Boom Bang attack" (representing a lightning strike and the accompanying thunderclap) and conjuring up a storm of wind.
- Final Fantasy VIII has two characters named Raijin and Fujin, who start out as the only friends to Seifer, and later become Punch Clock Villains when Seifer becomes The Dragon. Raijin serves as The Brute and relies almost exclusively on physical attacks with his staff, though he can absorb lightning attacks used against him, while Fujin uses a combination of physical attacks with her chakram and wind magic.
- Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance: Raiden's name is a typical transcription for "Raijin". He can generate electricity around his body to boost his speed and power his strikes, and at one point, he is even called "Mr. Lightning Bolt". The main villains of the game are Desperado's high-ranking members, who are known collectively as the Winds of Destruction. All of them, with the exception of Armstrong, are named after winds, and Raiden has a personal rivalry with Jetstream Sam, who is presented as his Shadow Archetype.
- Monster Hunter: Rise:
- The two final Elder Dragons of the main game are the wind-controlling Wind Spirit Ibushi, describing itself as "storm incarnate", and the electrokinetic Thunder Spirit Narwa. Upon the latter consuming Ibushi as part of her mating ritual, she can become Narwa the Allmother, who has the wind and lighting powers of both Elder Dragons.
- The ecology video for the Electric element Furious Rajang in Sunbreak has it in a duel against the aerokinetic Elder Dragon Kushala Daora.
- Mortal Kombat: Raiden, Earthrealm's God of Thunder modelled after Raijin, receives his foil and wind representative in the form of Fujin in 4, a wind god much like his namesake as well as Raiden's brother (at least in ''11''). Raiden's color scheme consists primarily of blue, and he is the more logical of the two siblings; Fujin's design and wind powers mainly feature the color green, and he is more emotional and empathetic towards mortals than Raiden.
- Octopath Traveler: A lot of Lightning-elemental enemies are weak to Wind, and vice versa. Furthermore, a post-game banter reveals that Tressa is afraid of thunder, which is an example of Gameplay and Story Integration because her primary job, Merchant, uses Wind spells.
- Persona 5: Ryuji's persona primarily uses electric attacks and is weak to wind, while Morgana's primarily uses wind attacks and is weak to electricity. Ryuji and Morgana also bicker frequently throughout the game's story.
- Pokémon Black and White: The Forces of Nature trio, comprised of Tornadus (Flying), Thundurus (Electric/Flying), and Landorus (Ground/Flying). According to myths, Tornadus and Thundurus wreaked havoc across the land with their tornadoes and thunderstorms before being punished by Landorus.
- Shin Megami Tensei: An extremely common tendency that results from the franchise's Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors is to give Wind/Force users a weakness to Electricity and vice-versa. That's mainly because the Earth element is featured in a very small number of games, so they had to match up Wind with something.
- Sonic the Hedgehog has Sonic and his Evil Knockoff, Metal Sonic. Sonic is associated with the wind, often using the turbulence generated by his speed to attack when he isn't straight-up using wind-based projectiles. Metal Sonic, on the other hand, has consistently been displayed with lightning-based attacks, as is fitting for his robotic nature. His main rival, Shadow, has also been depicted using lightning from time to time.
- Terra Battle 2 features Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors with its main three elements, with other elements including Lightning and Wind, which oppose one another instead of being in a cycle.
Web Animation
- Hothica from the Sock Series can manipulate lightning and wind alike.
Western Animation
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: Protagonist Aang is the eponymous last airbender, and his overarching nemesis is Fire Lord Ozai, who, while primarily a firebender, is also one of the few characters in the original series who can also bend lightning.
