"The Mirror of Truth doesn't lie. I'm a reflection of your true self. So maybe your faith in her isn't quite so absolute after all."
— Dark Pit, Kid Icarus: Uprising
See the full list of examples at Mirror Character.
- While it does depend on how you roleplay The Hero, your half-brother Sarevok in Baldur's Gate is implied to have several similarities to you. Perhaps the most damning evidence is a vision in Throne of Bhaal which shows that, had your positions been reversed, you each would have ended up exactly like the other. You can't fulfill this trope any more than that.
- BlazBlue:
- Shockingly (and many seem to forget), Kokonoe is dangerously similar to Terumi, the very individual she hated the most. Both of them are not 100% human, and at the same time look down on them. They also placed themselves so highly in priority and damn insufferable in it, so the majority of Kokonoe's would-be Well-Intentioned Extremist acts end up failing because she's only thinking of her own desires, such as the nukes she stored, she doesn't care if she'll have to take the whole civilization and humans in it so long as Terumi is dead by her own hands, the humans can die for all she cares, the same thing as Terumi only thinks of how he can have his fun of making people around him suffer or hate him.
- Siblings Ragna and Jin also are also more similar than they first appear. At first glance, they look like your standard hot-headed protagonist and cool-headed rival archetypes, but as the series continues and they both go through their respective character arcs, it becomes increasingly clear that they're both kindhearted people who want to protect what's close to them, even if their attitudes don't always make this fact obvious. There's still some bad blood between them despite this fact though.
- Jin also has this dynamic with Kagura. They're both tall, physically attractive, snarky and immensely badass heads of powerful noble families in the Duodecim. It's suggested by characters in story that if Jin were never born, Kagura would've been the Hero of Ikaruga. They even both have a thing for motorcycles! The main difference between them, however, is personality: Kagura is a laid-back Nice Guy, Jin is an arrogant Jerkass.
- Dyztopia: Post-Human RPG: Robun's additional characterization is only revealed in the event where Edgar escapes from Morgalia early, and it shows that like Akari, he believes non-human civilization isn't worth saving. While Akari was a victim of the Smog Empire's sexism, Robun faced discrimination for a disease that affected his physical appearance. Both want their fellow non-humans to be killed and/or enslaved by humanity, but Akari knows humanity will create a self-destructive dystopia while Robun has the delusion that humanity will create an egalitarian society, at least for themselves.
- The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind: Vivec, the Tribunal deity, clearly was never a big fan of the Dwemer. As one of Nerevar's councilors, Vivec believed that peace could not be had between the Chimer and Dwemer. He later urged Nerevar to make war on the Dwemer when evidence was brought forth that showed they were in possession of the Heart of Lorkhan and were attempting to tap into its power. However, Vivec would later draw his own divine powers from the Heart and the A God Am I-type response he gives if you question his past actions is very similar to the one he attributes to the Dwemer Architect Kagrenac when Nerevar originally questioned him about the Heart in The Battle of Red Mountain:Vivec: "Can you, mortal, presume to judge the actions and motives of a god?"Kagrenac (per Vivec): "But Kagrenac took great offense, and asked whom Nerevar thought he was, that he might presume to judge the affairs of the Dwemer."
- In Ensemble Stars!, few characters hate Eichi more than Madara, who dedicates much of his energy into taking him down. However, his methods are sometimes quite similar to Eichi's own, and he occasionally takes things too far in his single-minded quest for revenge — in The Revolutionary Live Heralds The Dawn his actions endanger Anzu, earning him a thorough calling out from Kuro, who was technically aligned with Eichi but always tried to protect anyone he interacted with. Madara is very chastened by the event and resolves to do better from then on.
- Fate/Grand Order:
- Morgan and Altria Alter are both tyrannical but surprisingly agreeable rulers of Britain. They are both dedicated to the task of being King, and both wield dark variants of holy weapons.
- Altria Alter and Vortigern are noted to be similar as tyrannical kings. Vortigern is the personification of the White Dragon, the Saxons while Altria Alter is the personification of the Red Dragon, and the Anglo-British people. Jeanne Alter herself even lampshades it to Altria Alter pointing out that Altria Alter is just like her uncle Vortigern.
- Ritsuka Fujimaru and Kadoc Zemlupus as Masters whose only publicly recognized trait is their compatibility with Chaldea's Time Travel technology and have to otherwise claw out their merit by themselves, much to the latter's own realized ire. Kadoc understands Fujimaru's actions and mental state better than his other allies can, and the insults he throws in that same explanation could easily apply to himself as well. When Anastasia dies Taking the Bullet for him, his reaction is even comparable to Fujimaru's when Mash did the same for them against Goetia. The two develop complexes envying the other's experience; Kadoc sees Fujimaru as someone who stole his chance to prove himself for his one designated special value while Fujimaru eventually sees Kadoc as a better Master whom Chaldea will value more for being an actual mage and not some random ordinary person like them. Once Kadoc stops being opposed to Chaldea and has a Heel–Face Turn in Traum, he settles further into this role as he finds himself actually putting up with Servant shenanigans the same way the protagonist does. The two even have the exact same reaction of resignation to hiking all the way back to the Via Regia capital. Visually at this point, Kadoc also wears a white coat with similar buttoning and pose to mirror the protagonist in their Decisive Battle Chaldea Uniform.
- In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Edelgard is more similar to Rhea than she would realize. Both are Nice Girls who not only share the Crest of Seiros, but also had horrible tragedies in their lives: Crest experimentation and the Red Canyon event, respectively. They developed not only trust issues, which leads them to hide information from their closest allies, but also an obsession with destroying what had wronged them: the system of nobility/Church of Seiros and Nemesis, respectively. They are willing to go the extreme to see their goals completed and ironically, both have Byleth as their Morality Chain.
- God of War (PS4): The Stranger/Baldur is basically what Kratos would've been if the devs had decided to set the original trilogy in Midgard instead of Ancient Greece, being an immortal who hates gods due to their causing a Trauma Conga Line (though in the Stranger's case, it's one singular curse he's had to live with for over a century) and is more than a little Ax-Crazy as a result. Kratos himself, now Older and Wiser, sympathizes with him and tries to reason with him, but it works about as well as reasoning with Greek-era Kratos did for everyone in those games.
- Hidden City has Mr. Black and the Detective, the respective "guardian of Justice" in the Upper and Lower City. They typically serve as the lead investigators of their regions' primary quests and they assign various tasks to the player character to assist in such cases. Additionally, they are both in love with a blonde beauty (Juliette for the Detective, Sophia for Black), though nothing come out of it (Juliette only sees the Detective as a friend, while Black decides that love is unnecessary/irrational and stops courting Sophia).
- IDOLiSH7: Tenn and Riku are (fraternal) twins who are both the "centers" of their respective idol groups and incredibly talented singers and dancers. They even have basically a mirrored version of each other's haircut, and have a lot of baggage to work through together.
- James Bond: GoldenEye: Rogue Agent: The only difference between Bond and Goldeneye is whose side they're fighting on. They're both "blunt instruments" (to quote Ian Fleming himself) in the service of their masters.
- In Kid Icarus: Uprising, Dark Pit is a clone of Pit and represents not only his darker, repressed traits, but some of the positive ones, such as his resentment at being a tool of the gods. While they're opponents when Dark Pit first appears, they reconcile and Dark Pit assists Pit later. He was even created by the Mirror of Truth.
- Kingdom Hearts:
- Master Xehanort, the Big Bad, and Sora, The Hero, both grew up on Destiny Islands and became Keyblade wielders. Both became a sort of composite being (Xehanort steals the bodies and hearts of others to extend his life, while Sora lets others share his body and heart to extend their lives), and both became a Heartless and a Nobody.
- Xehanort is also Riku's Evil Counterpart, as they share very similar backgrounds being dissatisfied with life on their tiny world and wanting to see the outside, even if it means delving into darkness. Both lose themselves in darkness in pursuit of his ambitions. Riku however pulled himself back and reformed, while Xehanort kept going deeper into the darkness and was lost for it.
- Additionally, pairs of characters with their Nobodies, are also mirrors, as Nobodies inhabit the same body and memories as the original, but lack their heart, emotions, and passions.
- Knights of Ambrose: In the second timeline, Lissandra turns out to have many parallels to the object of her revenge, Lilith. Both lost their chance for a fulfilling youth due to being manipulated by Zamas. Even when they find freedom, both are bitter and obsessed with revenge, but Lissandra doesn't target anyone other than Lilith and Zamas while Lilith takes out her rage on Helen out of jealousy, who has nothing to do with her tragic past. Both also have a Morality Pet to humanize them; Lissandra has her son Achilles, who she wants to have a happier life, while Lilith has her dog Strider, who she leaves with Freya to keep safe.
- Library of Ruina: Roland and Angela. Like her, he's actually a very bitter and angry individual who has refused to confront his past trauma while being completely controlled by it, which in turn incurs his Floor Realizations. The direct source of his rage has long since died just like Ayin to Angela, but he feels no catharsis and ends up going after numerous other people for the sake of fulfillment regardless of how innocent they actually turn out to be. The only reason his body count isn't as high as Angela's is that he's a mortal man who can be killed.Roland: A dimwitted egoist whose sight is limited by their own selfishness...A proper fool chasing after immediate results...That's what you are. And who I am...
- Mother 3 features protagonist Lucas who is eerily similar to both overarching antagonists of the series, Giygas and Porky. Lucas and Giygas were both sensitive children with mothers that coddled them and that they loved very dearly and were very close to, but both lost their mothers' tragically and it scarred them emotionally. Lucas and Porky were both children who after a point were neglected by their parents and shunned by all the people and "friends" around them, essentially outcasted and had no one to rely on, which made them bitter and jaded. All three of them ended up becoming very emotionally scarred/tormented by the situations/circumstances surrounding them and their lives, but a key difference is that Lucas managed to hold onto the love his mother and family gave him and not forget the kindness and good lessons she instilled in him, and didn't become evil nor learn to hate the world like the antagonists. Lucas managed to rise above his suffering and be a better person for it rather than a worse person, and with the love in his heart made the world a better place.
- In Persona 2, twin deities Philemon and Nyarlathotep embody the best and worst traits of humanity, respectively. The plot of the game is set into motion by a bet the two make on whether humanity will be more like Philemon and elevate themselves, or more like Nyarlathotep and destroy themselves. Nyarlathotep is a prideful Jerkass who breaks the rules of the bet from the outset to make humanity ruin itself, so naturally, Philemon is Big Good by default, right? Maybe not. Even though they have polar opposite goals and Philemon is unfailingly kind and helpful, they both have the exact same method to get people to do what they want: give them some power and manipulate them into fighting the other's agents. Plus, as good a benefactor Philemon is, he shows the same callous disregard for his champion's suffering as the villainous Nyarlathotep does. There's even an option to punch Philemon in the face later on.
- Re:Kuroi: Kaito and Asha seem like complete opposites, with Kaito being a naive Nice Guy and Asha being an unethical information dealer whose friendliness comes off as dishonest. However, the two are shown to have subtle similarities, since both cling to magic as the only thing that gives them self-worth. In Kaito's case, he sees magic as both a way to be useful to others and to maintain his friendships in the wizard community. In Asha's case, she was raised as an artificial wizard and has a serious case of ether drug addiction, so she can't imagine a life without magic. Both are willing to do selfish things to maintain their standing as mages, since Kaito wants to make sure no one discovers that he accidentally turned Noelle into a monster while Asha is willing to betray the party to claim the Black Pearl shard for herself to maintain her power without ether drugs. They end up diverging in their character development in the ending, since Kaito is willing to give up his magic and friendships to save Noelle while Asha betrays the Magic School remnants and runs off, implying that she refuses to cooperate with them further because they're trying to remove magic from the world, which she still clings to.
- Sherlock Holmes Versus Arsène Lupin: Parallels are drawn between Holmes and Lupin—both are well off, highly skilled gentlemen who do what they do mainly as a way to stave off boredom.
- Sonic the Hedgehog:
- Metal Sonic is Sonic's Evil Knockoff, a robotic doppelganger designed by Dr. Eggman to match and exceed Sonic's skills to the letter. They were even both voiced by Ryan Drummond in Sonic Heroes. (albeit, Metal's voice being heavily distorted)
- Shadow was the second character designed like this, in fact his early design sheets made him look exactly like Sonic albeit with a darker color scheme and scar over his eye. Shadow's final design still heavily resembles Sonic's despite having more distinctive features. It becomes a plot point in Sonic Adventure 2 when due to said similarities, Shadow ends up inadvertently framing Sonic for his actions, and every boss fight between the two is a Mirror Match. Personality wise, while Shadow is more reserved than Sonic, they both posses a cocky, self-assured and a somewhat headstrong attitude. They even shared the same voice actor for a few years. Shadow is an off and on ally of Sonic depending on their respective goals.
- The Babylon Rogues serve as this to Team Sonic, both teams having a similar line up; a cocky-headstrong speedster serving as the leader, a tech-savvy sidekick, and a strongarm enforcer. This is particularly evident with Sonic & Jet, the aforementioned speedsters, who's color schemes, eye colors, and even their character portraits in the first Sonic Riders are direct inversions of each other. Like with Shadow, they also shared the same voice actor for a short time, and Jet's teammates subsequently shared voice actors with Tails and Knuckles later on.
- Star Wars: The Old Republic: The Sith Inquisitor and Sith Warrior PCs are essentially character studies of each others' respective Starter Villains. Like the Warrior, the Inquisitor's Sith Academy rival Ffon Althe is a scion of Sith aristocracy clearly favored by Overseer Harkun to be Lord Zash's requested apprentice, in contrast to the Inquisitor, who was recently freed from slavery to attend the Academy and is hated by Harkun on sight. In contrast, the Warrior's rival Vemrin is a common-born aspirant who has spent the better part of a year clawing his way to the top of the student hierarchy, and resents the Blue Blooded Warrior for being widely respected the minute they arrive. Both rivals, however, lack the similar PC's natural talent and cunning as the main character, and therefore fail their final tests and end up dead (the Warrior kills Vemrin in single combat, and Lord Zash executes Ffon to punish Harkun for trying to rig the selection by passing the Inquisitor's success off as Ffon's), whereas the Warrior ultimately becomes the personal assassin of the Sith Emperor and the Inquisitor becomes a Darth and wins a seat on the Dark Council.
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Galeem and Dharkon, the light and dark counterpart bosses in the main story line. They have different goals (and of course different color schemes), but their powers are pretty much the same in every respect and their methods identical; they capture the living fighters and turn them into lifeless trophies, then create dark copies of them to serve as Mooks.
- Tales of Berseria: Velvet, the revenge-obsessed "Lord of Calamity" and Eleanor, the sweet and polite exorcist who just wants to help people, are so much alike it's rather frightening. A kind young woman taught by her idol, Artorius, raised on his maxims and ideals, who is motivated by the horrific murder of a loved one. When she sees said murderer, she flies into a blind, unstoppable rage that cannot be stopped or quenched until the murderer is dead and buried. She grew disillusioned with her idol and those old ideals, and seeks to carve out her own identity based off her own free will. She feels immense guilt for killing someone who was only trying to protect a family member they loved, and seeks to atone for all the sins she feels she facilitated or committed no matter how small or how little agency she actually had in those same sins. Both women become Cool Big Sisters to Laphicet, they are both friends to all children, they both enjoy cooking and cleaning, and they both end up developing an Odd Friendship with their total foils despite their enmity.
- Tales of Symphonia: Colette and Zelos. Both are The Chosen One for their respective worlds, and while their personalities are extremely different, with Colette being a sweet, selfless girl who tries to befriend even her enemies and Zelos being a crass, selfish, cynical womanizer, the game shows more than that. Paying close attention to their scenes and backstories show that they are both extreme Stepford Smilers, hiding their troubles from others to their personal detriment, as a result of their status. Additionally, there is implication that Colette could have potentially ended up with a personality more closer in line with Zelos's had it not been for Lloyd and Genis: A side event in the game has Zelos revealing that he's bitter because of how many people act fake around him and try to suck up to him because he's the Chosen. In the manga, there's a side story showing that when Colette was young she also had negative feelings about how she was treated 'just because she was the Chosen'. The big difference was Colette had friends who she knew truly cared about her, and Zelos had basically no one.
- Tales of the Abyss has an example of two villains with opposing ideologies mirroring eachother. Grand Maestro Mohs believes that the Score is responsible for everything good in the world, and so any action taken in the name of the Score must be good, including starting a war and killing many innocent people. Van Grants believes that the Score is responsible for all the world's problems and that the only way to "save" the world is to free it from the Score... and since the Score is hard-wired into the planet, the only way to do that is to destroy the world, killing everyone in it and start a new world of Artificial Humans. Ultimately, both are opposites, but both are trying to kill countless people because of the Score.
