"Yes, but I’m not my brother, remember? I am you. Prepared to do anything. Prepared to burn. Prepared to do what ordinary people won’t do. You want me to shake hands with you in hell, I shall not disappoint you."
— Sherlock Holmes to James Moriarty, Sherlock
See the full list of examples at Mirror Character.
- 24: Jack's arc in Season 8 mirrors Tony Almeida's in Season 7, as he makes a Face–Heel Turn and goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge after the death of his Love Interest, no longer caring how many innocent people might end up as collateral damage of his actions. However, Chloe is able to stop Jack from triggering World War III by reminding him that Renee wouldn't approve of the actions he's committing in her name, while Jack's similar effort to talk Tony down by referencing Michelle fails.
- In the first episode of Adam-12, Malloy lists the many shortcomings that Reed has and that about the only thing Reed does well is "wear the uniform right". The Lieutenant says that he said many of the same things to his watch commander about a rookie he got saddled with years ago - a brash hot-shot by the name of Pete Malloy.
- In All in the Family, Archie Bunker and George Jefferson are bitter rivals yet have definite similarities in personality and outlook, including their strong racial prejudices (Bunker against black people, Jefferson against white people), which oddly makes them unlikely allies on occasion (like when George's son Lionel goes out to a dance with Archie's white niece). Both men are domineering, stubborn, Book Dumb, and hardworking, and they're both married to sensible, openminded women who keep their negative traits in check.
- The grand irony of Beef is that besides their different social classes resulting in an Escalating War, Danny and Amy are extremely similar. This is something made clear not just in the identical way they react to the road rage incident and their rare moments of connection, but also in their backstories: both experienced family drama as a result of their Immigrant Parents and are projecting successful futures to motivate themselves.
- Billions: Chuck Rhoades and Bobby Axelrod are both very prideful and refuse to make a settlement with the other because they're obsessed with beating them. They even used to be friends, back when Chuck was still in private practice and Bobby was still a trader. Wendy describes them as enjoying being "the smartest guys in the room". Naturally, when Chuck gets fired and the conflict between them is over, the two bury the hatchet and begin to bond again.
- Southern Areas Inspector Brian Kitson is this to Gordon Brittas in The Brittas Empire. They both have had experience running a leisure centre, both have a dream, believe that attendance figures are not important in the long run, and are more interested in tidy noticeboards and clean centres. This actually saves Brittas from getting fired as any other inspector would likely have closed the place down.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
- Willow and Faith. Both had pretty shitty lives (although Faith's is implied to be far worse), gained new, amazing abilities which they began to abuse, causing problems. After a great trauma, they turned evil, trying to kill Buffy and end the world (or, in Faith's case, do whatever the Mayor was trying to do). They were both brought down by someone showing compassion when they really didn't deserve it, leaving everyone they knew for a while and then returning in Season 7 with more control over themselves, but distrusted. One wonders what they talked about during that car ride.
- Buffy and Angel. They're both leaders and champions, martyring, have an almost identical rivalry with their respective "other" (Faith for Buffy, Spike for Angel), and are consistently cut off from everyone around them as they walk the line between the human and demon world. Both have been shunned or turned on by their team. Not to mention they both had a "dark" nihilistic phase on their own show eerily reminiscent of the other right down to sleeping with a soulless vampire to "feel"...
- In the continuation comics, this is noted in-universe as potentially having become true for Spike and Angel. They're both vampires with souls, both in love with Buffy, deal with problems by brooding, and are currently The Atoner trying to make up for what they've done in the past. In addition, the TV show noted that Angelus is a big reason Spike was how he was because he wanted to make someone similar to himself. Angel is too flustered to argue well when Willow brings it up, while Spike only manages the comeback that they're different as night and day because he's British while Angel's Irish. The issue itself presents a different difference: Spike is more open to change than Angel and possibly more capable of it due to having gotten his soul much more recently.
- Chousei Kantai Sazer X: Fire Shogun Blaird is one for Takuto Ando. Both are Hot-Blooded and impulsive fire-themed warriors who have complicated feelings regarding their respective father-like figures.
- Cobra Kai:
- Despite their many differences, Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso are revealed to have had very similar upbringings. Both lost their fathers at a young age, both turned to their karate senseis as a new father figure, and both considered Ali Mills to be their First Love. After talking things through, the pair will frequently come to the conclusion that they could have had very similar lives in slightly different circumstances, although this usually doesn't last long before the universe contrives to have them back at each others' throats. Season 3 has Ali return, and she blatantly tells Johnny and Daniel they're more similar to one another than they care to admit, and that they see parts of themselves in each other that they don't like.
- The two main rivals of the show's younger generation, Miguel Diaz and Robby Keene are mirrors of each other's mentors, Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence. Like Daniel, Miguel is a poor fatherless kid living in Reseda who learns karate to defend himself from a Jerk Jock bully. Like his father, Johnny, Robby is a troubled delinquent with a poor relationship with his (in Johnny's case step) father who finds direction in life through karate and a new father figure in his sensei. Miguel is who Daniel might have been if he had joined Cobra Kai, while Robby is who Johnny might have been if he had been trained by Mr. Miyagi.
- Samantha LaRusso mirrors the role of Ali Mills, especially in Season 1. She's an Uptown Girl to the series' main hero, caught in a Love Triangle between the hero and his karate rival. However, unlike Ali, Sam is an Action Girl who actually participates in karate herself, and while Ali decided she wanted to be with Daniel early on, with the Love Triangle mostly existing inside his head, Sam does have conflicting feelings for Robby and Miguel. Both Sam and Ali also have to deal with their parents potentially disapproving of their boyfriend, but while Ali's parents dislike Daniel because of pure snobbery, and she completely ignores their disapproval, Daniel has the more understandable motive of his grudge against Cobra Kai for misjudging Miguel, and Sam is desperate for her father's approval of their relationship.
- Sam also mirrors Julie Pierce from The Next Karate Kid, as she becomes a target for bullying after rejecting a jerk's advances and has to rely on her karate training to fend him off.
- Miguel's mother, Carmen, is this to Lucille LaRusso, being the Struggling Single Mother to a bullied new kid who is studying karate from a father-figure who hangs around in the same apartment complex.
- Hawk is very like Dutch from the original film, as The Berserker to Cobra Kai and a Toxic Friend Influence to Miguel, just as Dutch was to Johnny. He even unknowingly imitates his attempt to flirt with girls by throwing stuff at them in a movie theater.
- Hawk to Sam, because of their closet geekiness. Both of them reject "geeky" things in order to attain higher popularity. However, Hawk goes out of his way to bully geeks (especially his friend/ex-friend Demetri) while Sam does not go out of her way to bully geeks but is passive with/earns from other people bullying them without necessarily aproving of it (watch Yasmine bullying Aisha back when the former was a cyberbully Alpha Bitch). Hawk is also able to mend his friendship with geek Demetri much faster and more profoundly (a Cobra Kai vs. Miyagi-do/Eagle Fang fight that broke out at Sam's home where Hawk changes sides sealing the deal) than Sam with Aisha (who settle for being Friendly Enemies).
- Over the course of Season 2, Robby's arc draws several parallels and similarities between him and Miguel, to the point where Robby is essentially going through many of the same beats as Miguel's season 1 storyline, all the way down to having a Crazy Jealous Guy streak appear when Sam actually cheats on him with Miguel (compared to Miguel only thinking there was cheating going on thanks to Johnny's misguided teachings), seemingly having his rival demonstrate more skill in their season-ending confrontation, and then taking advantage of his rival's better nature to defeat and injure him, shaming his master. Unfortunately for Robby, his injury of Miguel is considerably worse than Miguel's injury of him...
- Robby and Tory have very similar backgrounds, coming from broken homes, being raised by single mothers who are either (in Robby's case) too inattentive or (in Tory's) too sick to look after them, forcing them to fend for themselves. Both are juvenile criminals, and even have a chance meeting at the Probation Office after the school brawl. Both are victims of Sam and Miguel's cheating, and are the most responsible for the devastating consequences of the school brawl, with Tory starting the fight by attacking Sam, and Robby finishing it by kicking Miguel off the second floor. Both consider the other's ex to be their Arch-Enemy, with Robby hating Miguel for taking his All-Valley victory, his girlfriend, his father, his freedom and reputation, as well a mentor figure in Daniel LaRusso, while Tory resents Sam for her privileged lifestyle, stable family and being her rival for Miguel's affections. Both have problems in their lives after the school fight that are solved thanks to Kreese's intervention (Tory is being coerced into sex by threat of eviction by her sleazy landlord before Kreese threatens the latter with a cigar chopper, while Robby gets tormented in juvie on a regular basis by Shawn Payne before Kreese suggests Robby to "strike first," resulting in Robby nearly kicking Shawn's ass and being finally left alone by the latter), with him filling the absent father figure role in their lives as a result. Thanks to Tory's influence, Robby decides to copy her Never My Fault attitude towards his predicament, and the two end Season 3 as allies in Cobra Kai.
- In a more comedic example, Stingray could best be described as "Johnny Lawrence if he were an even bigger loser." Like Johnny, Stingray is a Disco Dan stuck in the 80s with an obsession with karate who mooches off a rich parent (step-parent in Johnny's case). However, while Johnny is able to channel these qualities into something worthwhile by becoming a sensei, Stingray is a Manchild with nothing better to do than take karate lessons with a bunch of teenagers (and even they think he's a loser). Johnny hated having to rely on Sid and happily broke ties once he had a stable living with Cobra Kai, Stingray is content to remain a deadbeat and panics at the idea of his privilege being put at risk. Both are also guilty of assaulting minors, but while Johnny had the excuse of having had a very bad day and being provoked, Raymond clearly just wanted to get in on the school fight.
- Ali becomes one to Amanda LaRusso upon her return in Season 3. Both have had romantic relationships with Daniel, recognize how petty Daniel and Johnny's rivalry really is and try to act as the Voice of Reason to bring it to an end. However, where Amanda is sarcastic and dismissive of the rivalry, Ali is unceasingly calm and understanding, and she ultimately succeeds where Amanda failed in getting Daniel and Johnny on the same page. It helps that Ali was around during the events of the original film and has a deep history with both men, giving her an insight into the origins of the rivalry and the ways in which they are similar that Amanda doesn't have.
- The Carsini brothers in the Columbo episode Any Old Port In A Storm seem to be completely opposite on the surface, with Rick being tall, handsome, and athletic and interested in living a party lifestyle, whereas Adrian is short, pudgy, uptight, and obsessed with fancy wines. However, they're both ultimately interested in spending huge amounts of money to fund the hobbies and pleasures they take very seriously, all while refusing to take advantage of their talents in those areas to make money—namely, Adrian refuses to let the family wine company make more accessible products due to his uncompromising standards, and Rick won't become a professional athlete because of his sense of sportsmanship.
- Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Rebecca has Trent, her own obsessed ex, who shares many of her own flaws and tries many of the same tricks to get with her that she does to win back Josh. Trent is necessary to the audience realizing the antagonist Valencia is actually quite right in her assessment of Rebecca.
- Defiance:
- Rafe and Datak really aren't all that different. Rafe just knows when to control his temper.
- Nolan and Yewll actually have a lot in common, both trying to do better after a life of sins they'd rather forget.
- Nolan and Pottinger are both cocky, clever charmers who act like tough guys to hide their vulnerabilities. Pottinger is just a little slimier and more petty.
- Elementary:
- In "While You Were Sleeping" Joan sees similarities between her and Sherlock's emotions regarding themselves and their pasts.
- In "The Woman" Irene Adler says exactly this to Sherlock about Moriarty and him. Given that she is Moriarty, her theory is proven, since both of them felt in love with each other.
- In "Step Nine", Joan comes to this conclusion about Mycroft and Sherlock after Sherlock tells her that Mycroft exploded what was left of Sherlock's possessions and considers it a clean slate. In "Art in the Blood", it's revealed that while Holmes is a brilliant detective who uses his formidable mental skills consulting for law enforcement, Mycroft turns out to be a brilliant intelligence asset who uses his formidable mental skills consulting for MI6.
- Father Ted: Ted's bitter rivalry with Dick Byrne appears to be borne of the fact that they're carbon copies of one another, even extending to their violent alcoholic and "poor, strange idiot-boy" priests who live with them in an identical house.
- Frasier: The recurring gag with Frasier's Sit Com Arch Nemesis, Cam Winston, was that Cam was almost exactly like Frasier, just slightly more successful at it.
- In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Phil and Will are a lot more similar than they realize. Both have a history as The Casanova (Uncle Phil was one too when he was around the same age as Will Smith). Both are major Deadpan Snarkers. Both are afraid of losing their mothers to another man. Both grew up in poor backgrounds. Both are very fast to stick up for their relatives (even the ones they have trouble getting along with) when they need it the most.
- In The Remake of The Fugitive, despite their adversarial relationship, both Richard Kimble and Lt. Gerard are trying to avenge their late wives. Kimble by finding her real killer and Gerard by catching him (Gerard's first wife was killed by a Drunk Driver and aside from feeling guilty about being unable to save her, he's enraged that Kimble would destroy what he would give anything to have back and extra angry that Kimble has evaded justice as his own wife's killer did).
- Game of Thrones universe:
- Game of Thrones:
- Roose Bolton and Tywin Lannister. Both are the patriarchs of their families, both are Straight Edge Evil and Manipulative Bastards who usually lock down their emotions and both have evil descendants (Ramsay for Roose, Joffrey for Tywin), both employ other psychopaths as their top enforcers (Locke and Gregor Clegane, respectively) but while Tywin is defined by his Pragmatic Villainy and total devotion to his family's legacy, Roose every now and then lets slip that he just might be in it For the Evulz, although he's far more subtle about it than his son, and both betrayed their kings. It's also fun to point out that Michael McElhatton looks quite a bit like a younger Charles Dance. They also both die an Undignified Death at the hands of their respective sons.
- Ramsay Bolton and Joffrey Baratheon. Both are bastards who nonetheless manage to rise to significant positions of power and become enemies to the Starks, both are engaged to (and in Ramsay's case, married to) Sansa Stark and are horribly abusive to her to the point of becoming her Arch-Enemy, and both are completely unhinged Sadists who use their power to kill and torture anyone they see fit. However, Ramsay eventually proves himself to be far more dangerous and brazen in his evil than Joffrey. While Joffrey is the definition of Stupid Evil and is openly disrespected and ignored by many of his supposed subordinates who in reality run his kingdom for him, Ramsay possesses dangerous cunning that allows him to take true control of the North by murdering his father and he shows much more tactical intelligence in battle than Joffrey, although his intense sadism means he is still too shortsighted to realize that making so many enemies is not a good idea in the long run. Ramsay is also a much more capable fighter than the pathetically weak and cowardly Joffrey. And while Joffrey prefers letting others do his dirty work for him, Ramsay does it himself.
- House of the Dragon:
- In some ways, Aemond Targaryen is practically a male version of his mother Alicent Hightower, only much more sensitive to the wrongs he suffers and much less inclined to forgive them. Both are children deeply devoted to their main parenting figure and extremely diligent in fulfilling what everyone expects of them. Yet not only is this rarely recognized but their efforts are not rewarded as they would like. Both are then placed in situations where they cannot help but harbor deep envy and resentment respectively against Rhaenyra and Aegon due to their shared position as heirs to the throne, which grants them advantages and favoritism that are instead precluded to Alicent and Aemond. No wonder why the two of them are so close to each other in the end.
- The direction, the writing of the scenes, their matching looks, similar family background, the non-verbal acting of the actors' gazes (as well as the excellent casting choice of Ewan Mitchell as a 16-year-old Aemond, given a slight physical resemblance to Matt Smith), the fact that their first names are anagrams of each other, and especially the characters propensity to unleash chaos in a moment of peace, all of this during "The Lord Of the Tides", place Aemond and Daemon as two sides of the same coin. Both are also the more competent younger brothers of underwhelming older brothers, and wield artifacts of Queen Visenya (Daemon wields her Valyrian steel sword Dark Sister while Aemond rides her dragon Vhagar).
- Game of Thrones:
- In one episode of Homicide: Life on the Street, Bolander discovers he and his eccentric neighbor are quite similar; they're both divorcees still devastated by their marriage's end, and they're both deeply lonely. Bolander later discovers his neighbor shot himself, which serves as a wake-up call to him.
- On Gilmore Girls, Jess and Rory are nearly the same character with a few difference that often mean they play foils for each other. Both the product of teenage pregnancies, they were raised by single mothers and had absent fathers; they share a Commonality Connection over literature, music, and pop culture. They’re both highly intelligent and skilled writers, both ending the series as novelists. However, Rory was raised with love and stability, while Jess was left to raise himself by a Junkie Parent and shipped off to Luke when she didn’t want to deal with him anymore. She is a Wide-Eyed Idealist at the start of the series while he is a loner with trust issues. However, despite ending the series in different places, fans have noted that their character arcs mirror each other, such as this
Youtube video that does a side-by-side scene comparison. Word of God says they were written as “really understanding” each other, and this trope is probably part of the reason why. - In Good Omens (2019), just as in the book, Aziraphale and Crowley are more alike than they are different as the angel and the demon who cannot fit in with their factions and abandon it for humanity, and Crowley says that Aziraphale is "Just enough of a bastard to be worth liking."
- In The Invisible Man, Darien sees a lot of similarities between himself and the Catevari. Heck, the Official put Darien on the case because of this trope.
- JAG: In the episode "Baby, It's Cold Outside", Harm uses this trope as a defense tactic. His client is dishonorably discharged Black Marine Drill Instructor who pushed his Black recruits harder than the whites because he refused to accept their crap and wanted to turn them around into decent young men. When two men died on a force march through a swamp, he pleads guilty and faces the consequences of his actions. The prosecutor, intending to put him away for life with the Three Strikes law for a later crime of felony assault, is also a Black man who refuses to cut favors for his fellow Black men and sees the parallels between himself and the defendant. The prosecutor agrees to remove the third strike from the man's record in exchange for just two years in jail.
- Kamen Rider Ex-Aid has Hiiro Kagami/Kamen Rider Brave and Taiga Hanaya/Kamen Rider Snipe. They are both smug, cold DoctorJerks who have only minimal care for the patient if any at all. They are also both JerkassWoobies hiding under the mask of stoicism and generally nasty behavior to be able to soldier on at all. It still goes deeper to point that they are very similar characters that were influenced by different circumstances. Since they also start the story hating each other this is a recipe for disaster. With Emu's life at stake, they resort to Teeth-Clenched Teamwork, but the edges only get duller from that point onwards.
- Kamen Rider Geats:
- By the end of the Yearning arc, both Ace Ukiyo and Tsumuri have inherited the Goddess of Creation's Mitsume powers of creation. Their parallels in obtaining and using these powers are highlighted further thanks to a wish Ace made earlier, effectively making them siblings. They both end up creating Buckles to help someone as they are dealing with the lost of a family member. The first Buckle Tsumuri creates — Bujin Sword — was intended to console a grieving Keiwa Sakurai, and winds up as a tool for vengeance because he can't let go of what he's lost. The first Buckle Ace creates for someone else — Fantasy — helps Kousei Kurama move past what he's lost to look forward to a new present.
- Late in the series, both Keiwa Sakurai/Kamen Rider Tycoon and Michinaga Azuma/Kamen Rider Buffa end up becoming similar despite their different goals and wishes (the power to crush Kamen Riders for Michinaga, reviving all victims of the DGP along with his whole family for Keiwa) as they both lost their loved ones to the DGP — Michinaga's best friend Tohru participated in the DGP, was ambushed by fellow Riders, and left to die. While Keiwa's parents died in a previous game, and ultimately Daichi Isuzu and Michinaga himself were both responsible for his sister Sara's death. Their losses leave them cold, embittered, and full of hatred, driving them to start a vengeful crusade against those responsible for their pain, becoming prejudiced against those they feel responsible (Kamen Riders for Michinaga, Creation Deities for Keiwa), and are influenced by their own supporters into joining antagonistic factions led/influenced by them for a chance to grant their wishes by exploiting a Goddess of Creation's powers. They also resent Ace for what he represents in their eyes and treat him as both a rival and a primary obstacle to their goals, and seek to defeat him to get their wishes granted, but ultimately end up defeating their former supporters at the end of the series and dedicate themselves fully to Ace's cause.
- Interestingly, Keiwa's character development in the Genesis arc unfolds in parallel with Kousei Kurama's progression, despite the two never crossing paths in the show. Both characters experience the profound grief of losing family members—Keiwa mourning his older sister Sara, and Kousei mourning his young daughter Akari leading them to a point where they become emotionally detached from others, seeking closure for their loved ones' deaths through the DGP management, but despite having their wishes granted, both Keiwa and Kousei find themselves still mired in misery. Furthermore, they each receive a Buckle, a manifestation of the powers of creation, during the same arc, emphasizing the exploration of their grief within the narrative. Another commonality lies in their Heel Realization, as both characters come to a moment of self-awareness when the individuals they wronged extend kindness and forgiveness, despite the consequences of their actions.
- In the Legends of Tomorrow episode "Outlaw Country", there's Sara and Jonah Hex. While there's a lot of friction between the two at first, mostly due to Hex's sexism, the two eventually find common ground due to their similar personalities, including both being driven by a personal revenge and ultimately both having chosen to spare the one responsible for their tragedies, bringing the two mutual friendship and respect.
- Leverage has Nate and Starke. When Sophie is saying how a brilliant man whose pride has been hurt and personally challenged, will lead him to do a bigger, more dangerous con, one of the team asks if she's talking about Starke or Nate. This is emphasized by interspersing clips of Nate and Starke giving pretty much the same speech and even putting their suit coat on in the same fashion.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Galadriel and Sauron in many ways are almost mirror opposites, Sauron representing darkness and fire where Galadriel represents light and water. There are, however, also many similarities between the two, something which Galadriel becomes increasingly aware of and horrified to realise during the first season. They’re both extremely Hot-Blooded Determinators who are not above using others to get what they want, and they both have a desire to rule and have influence over others. It’s these qualities that make Sauron see her as worthy of being his queen, as he believes he can see her greatness and her power where her fellow elves can’t.Adar: It would seem I'm not the only Elf alive who has been transformed by darkness. Perhaps your search for Morgoth's successor should have ended in you own mirror.
- Lost:
- In Season 6, Jack becomes a mirror of his former ideological rival, John Locke, as he is now convinced of his destiny to protect the Island and is the most adamant about staying when the rest of the survivors plan to leave.
- Also in Season 6, Claire is noted in-universe to have become exactly like Danielle Rousseau, having been separated from her baby and left alone on the Island for years, resulting in her undergoing a significant Sanity Slippage while also taking a level in badass, living wild and making booby traps for the Others in the jungle.
- Mako Mermaids: An H₂O Adventure mirrors several characters from H₂O: Just Add Water by framing them from the opposite side of the shore they were born in, the cast of H2O being humans-turned-mermaids and the cast of Mako Mermaids being mermaids-turned-humans.
- Sirena is meant to mirror Cleo, being the most sheltered and naïve character of the protagonists. Both are frequently pulled into whatever trouble the other two members of the trio come up with, rarely starting trouble themselves— unless they're in siren mode, being the only mermaids of their respective shows to become sirens. The departure of a few members of the cast between seasons (Lewis in H2O, Lyla and Nixie in Mako Mermaids) ends up requiring both of them to step up to fulfill the roles that were left behind. Their second season also has Cleo and Sirena show a more assertive side of themselves as part of their character development, though Cleo's was a Clingy Jealous Girl that drew out a conflict with the season's antagonist, while Sirena's was the new and confident leader of the mermaid trio.
- Sirena's siren mode is a dark mirror to Cleo's by virtue of not being Played for Laughs. Cleo brainwashing all the boys in town into becoming her adoring fans is framed as comedic, as is Emma and Rikki's inability to contain her until the moon sets and her voice returns to being Hollywood Tone-Deaf. Sirena on the other hand is powerful enough to affect not only men, but other mermaids with her voice, leaving Mimmi and Ondina scrambling to figure out a way to counter her. Mimmi also explains that enough exposure to Siren Songs results in the victims losing their memories until they becomes shells of themselves that can only adore the siren that ensnared them.
- Nixie is meant to mirror Rikki as the aggressive and paranoid rebel of the trio. The two of them toe the line of rule-breaking, and fall back on sarcasm as humor or a defense mechanism. Nixie is more passive-aggressive than Rikki, though her paranoia tends to work out less, and she's more easily manipulated. They also have the most antagonistic relationship with their show's male leads, with Rikki frequently butting heads with Lewis and Nixie making it clear that she likes Zac the least out of any other mermaid.
- With Nixie absent from season two onwards, Ondina fills her role as the mirror to Rikki, possibly even better. Ondina is as sharp-tongued and quick to anger as Rikki was, and with an equal dislike of sharing her feelings with the rest. To drive the point home, Ondina is able to empathize with Rikki when the two of the meet, being critical to receiving her aid in defeating the show's final antagonist.
- Lyla is meant to mirror Emma, being both the Team Mom and the most responsible member of the group. They're also the least enthusiastic about their transformations, Emma having lost a prolific swimming career and Lyla hating her new legs. Lyla is colder than Emma was, having been friendless at the beginning of the show while Emma had Cleo and Lewis and her family as support.
- Mimmi mirrors Emma in a different way than Lyla, with both of them being The Smart Guy of their groups. It's just that Emma's Book Smarts are limited to human education, meaning she's out of her depth when it comes to mermaid stuff, while Mimmi knows mermaid magic and potions in and out, being at a loss when it comes to human stuff.
- Rita Santos is meant to mirror Louise Chatham, being the eldest mermaid and The Mentor to the teenage protagonists. Louise is at least two decades older than Rita and often longs for the days when she and her friends were mermaids, occasionally projecting their old issues onto Emma, Cleo, and Rikki. Rita had a nastier fallout with her friends and is trying to live as a human, even getting prickly when she thinks Mimmi, Ondina, and Weilan were sent to convince her to return to the sea.
- Evie is meant to mirror Charlotte, being a love rival to a member of the mermaid trio who winds up becoming a mermaid herself but ultimately loses her tail. Winning her love triangle as opposed to being strung along by a man who didn't actually want her meant that Evie became friends with the mermaids, unlike Charlotte who ended up hated and alone.
- Weilan is meant to mirror Bella. As Bella was transformed into a mermaid at the age of nine, Weilan was given legs at an unspecified but similar age, and the two of them grew up in each other's worlds since.
- The Mentalist: Patrick Jane is frequently described as eerily similar to his nemesis, Red John. The words "Patrick" and "pink" have the same meaning in Latin, while Jane is the female equivalent of John, making his name essentially a lighter shade of "Red John". The two have similar high-brow tastes in literature, a shared love of tea and flair for the dramatic, and in his voice-only appearances before his true identity is revealed, Red John is voiced by Jane's actor Simon Baker.
- Merlin (2008): Merlin and Morgana have a huge Mirror Character thing going on. Anything she's done, he's done as well. Hide their magic in an unwelcoming country, even within the very castle, attempt to murder an innocent to prevent a prophecy, take away free will, betray a close friend, killing lots of people.
- A One Foot in the Grave episode opens with Victor's Sitcom Arch-Nemesis Patrick writing a long, vitriolic letter to the Reader's Digest Prize Draw, while his wife asks him if he realises who else they know does things like that. He doesn't. Over the course of the series, it becomes clear that Victor and Patrick have very similar attitudes to the irrational and bizarre things sent to try them. It's just that Patrick considers living next door to Victor to be one of those things.
- Sadakatsiz: Doctor Asya and Mrs. Gönül are both mothers who will do anything to protect and support their children, even if it's underhanded and sometimes not quite legal. They are also very cunning, resourceful, and observant, picking up small clues and enacting efficient plans to meet their goals. It's extremely hard to rile them up in a verbal confrontation and both are prone to roast their opponent with witty, deadpan remarks. Finally, their husbands cheated on them at some point — Asya's after years of marriage and Gönül's just before they married.
- Samurai Sentai Shinkenger: With The Reveal in #44 and #45, Takeru gains a mirror in both Kotoha and Kaoru:
- He is revealed to be a kagemusha, and thus, not being the "true" 18th Shinken Red as he was substituting for a yet-to-be-born Kaoru. This parallels Kotoha's own situation and feelings about not being the "true" Shinken Yellow due to substituting for her ill sister, though Takeru is much better at hiding and handling his depression and insecurity than Kotoha is until right around the end of the series.
- Kaoru very much resembles whom Takeru was at the beginning of the series: a distant and almost cold figure dedicated to the mission of defeating the Gedoshu that hides a far more kind and caring side to their character. She even lampshades this during their one on one conversation, where she knew that Takeru is was just as lonely as she was, which he doesn't deny.
- Sex/Life: Billie and Cooper are a little too alike in their obsession over Brad. Billie constantly reminisces over Brad's sexual escapades and prowess that made her feel so good, and Cooper ends up stalking Brad for one episode just to get a look at the competition.
- Sherlock: Yet another Holmes and Moriarty mirror: Jim is basically who Sherlock would be if Sherlock let his antisocial tendencies and boredom overcome his morality.
- Star Trek: Data and Spock are both highly intelligent unemotional beings, whose counsel is valued by their respective captains. Both frequently have to deal with Fantastic Racists. The main difference is that Data wants to be capable of emotions, while Spock seeks to free himself of emotions entirely.
- Superman & Lois: Tal-Rho (AKA Morgan Edge) is this for Superman. His pod was also sent by his father just before Krypton's destruction. But while Kal-El was adopted by a loving family, Tal-Rho was hunted and captured, before being imprisoned and tortured for years by the British government. He eventually escaped and built his own Fortress of Solitude, where his father's AI tortured him in order to harden his son for his task. Also, while Jor-El has always been supportive of his son and taught him to protect humanity, Zeta-Rho always belittles his son and subjects him to pain to toughen him up. No wonder Tal-Rho resents Superman for choosing to submit to humans rather than be a god among them. In addition, Tal-Rho is Kal-El's half-brother from Lara's first marriage. Tal-Rho even tells him once that they're the same, referencing the fact that Superman has to always control himself to avoid hurting the Puny Earthlings, and how great it feels to let go and use his full strength when battling other Kryptonians. Superman doesn't take the bait, though, and even insists that General Lane keep the anti-Kryptonian weapons he was about to destroy, just in case he ever turned against humanity. Privately he admits to Lois that he did enjoy the feeling.
- In Supernatural:
- Dean and Sam and Michael and Lucifer are paired together, with Dean mirroring the older "brother" Michael, who loved his younger brother and was loyal to a neglectful father, and Sam mirroring Lucifer, the younger "brother" who rebelled, and had a demonic side.
- Castiel and Meg, the angel and the demon who both rebelled against their factions to help the Winchester boys.
- The Umbrella Academy (2019): All of the Hargreaves siblings present very differently in their lifestyles, career paths, and outward personalities. However, in one of the series's most well-known scenes, all of them in separate rooms automatically start dancing to "I Think We're Alone Now," making it clear that they're not as different as they seem. They're all victims of their father's abuse one way or another, which shapes them into the adults they are.
- The Untamed: A character's behavior in public is a mask to hide their true nature. They're involved in plotting against (and ultimately causing the death of) someone they were once close to. Is this a description of Jin Guangyao or Nie Huaisang?
- Westworld:
- Dolores and William share some major parallels. They start out as the quiet, nerdy, harmless-looking characters whom everyone underestimates... only to develop into some of the series' biggest antagonists, three decades down the line. Along the way, they get their fair share of abuse and mockery, hook up while already having romantic commitments (Teddy for Dolores, Juliet for William), turn the tables on their former abusers and become more self-confident... Darkly subverted when they end up in a doomed romance that, over the decades, festers into a deeply dysfunctional parody of their previous friendship. In the Season 2 finale, when they meet again and admit they've caused the deaths of their loved ones, William seems outright bemused. He openly evokes the "we're rather similar" trope in front of her, prompting a livid "We're nothing alike!" response from Dolores. While she might be right that she endured much more physical abuse than he ever did, at that point, both of them have committed loads of murders, even of their own species, and have more than a few skeletons in their closet. Their Teeth-Clenched Teamwork as they ride towards the Forge comes across as a bitter, jaded inversion of the child-like innocence seen in their friendship thirty years earlier. In season 3, this thematic tie warps in an interesting way: Dolores lets go of her anger and becomes The Messiah to humanity, while William independently comes to the conclusion that saving humanity is his job but thinks he's going to do it by killing all of the hosts. Both of them die but are survived by copies of themselves, notably with one of Dolores' copies aligning with the host version of William. By the end of the show, both of their copies are responsible for the destruction of sentient life.
- In Season 3, Dolores' actions are similar to Robert Ford, co-founder of the titular park. After being disillusioned with guests' rampant violence in his park, Ford realizes the hosts are under a constant loop and that they are capable of self-consciousness which caused him to change his mind and decide to free them from Delos' control and let them choose who they want to become. Meanwhile, Dolores also realizes the humans are experiencing being in loops too and there are some humans who can also make decisions which caused her to change her plans from destroying humanity to freeing them from Rehoboam and letting them choose their own fate. Dolores is willing to shed blood in order to carry out her revolution which is also what Ford did who killed a lot of people to ensure that his plan would work. They also lost someone who is very close to them (Arnold and Teddy) which causes them to reflect on their actions. Both of them met their demise but they passed their legacy to the people who they initially antagonized: Bernard and Maeve.
- What We Do in the Shadows (2019): Ange the werewolf and Nadja are both bloodthirsty lady beasts who are tired of their men's squabbling and mismanagement, preferring to go straight to fighting. They come to grudgingly recognize this in each other during the big showdown.
- White Collar: Neal Caffrey and Matthew Keller are both born con artists and used to work together before Neal reformed to work for the FBI. Keller repeatedly makes Not So Different Remarks to Neal, who doesn't buy it.
- The Wire:
- Stringer Bell wants to reform the drug trade and run it more like a business. He's just like Major Colvin, who's trying to improve the policing in the Western District despite the higher-ups' desire for good numbers over quality police work. Stringer sees himself and Colvin as equals, "both trying to make sense of this game" from opposite sides of the law. Not surprisingly, when their reform attempts fail, they both say "Get on with it, motherfucker!" to the person ending their attempts for good: Stringer to Omar and Brother Mouzone as they prepare to shoot him to death, and Colvin to Burrell and Rawls as they relieve him of command.
- In the final season, many of the child characters introduced in season 4 end up as mirrors of the older generation, reinforcing the show's History Repeats themes and how the broken education system makes it impossible for them to escape Baltimore's drug underworld.
- Michael becomes an independent "stick-up boy" making money by robbing drug dealers, just like Omar.
- Dukie becomes a homeless drug addict like Bubbles.
- Randy has his Nice Guy personality beaten out of him in a group home and becomes a hardened thug who distrusts the police, appearing to be well on his way to becoming the new Bodie.
- Namond manages to escape the drug game after being adopted by Colvin, but his newfound interest in debate and his inadvertent quoting of Clay Davis suggests that he may emulate him by going into politics.Namond/Clay: I'll take any motherfucker's money if he's giving it away!
- Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger: Despite Endolf and Dogold hating each other, they're pretty much the same. They are both Knight of Cerebus, both are Jerkasses, and both are more serious than the other Knights...which, in hindsight, explains a lot about their rivalry.
