History Main / TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry

* This trope is the reason Literature/HarryPotter grew up with MuggleFosterParents who [[AbusiveParents hated him]] (well, and that whole Voldemort thing). Harry's treatment by his Aunt Petunia was essentially revenge against his mother/her younger sister Lily for being the better sister (it seems Lily got the looks ''and'' the brains ''and'' was a witch to boot -- no wonder Petunia was so jealous). That's not the reason Vernon abused him, of course, but that's a moot point since Petunia wouldn't be married to someone like Vernon if she hadn't chosen to be like that.

* Laura and Mary [[Literature/LittleHouseOnThePrairie Ingalls]] have elements of this. Mary is very pretty and perfectly well-behaved, while Laura is active, energetic, and brave. Some subversion in that they're both pretty smart, though. They laugh about it when they're older. (They also have two younger sisters, Carrie and Grace, but Carrie avoids conflict with Laura and Mary due to them being focused on each other, and the age gap between her and Grace (almost seven years) is significant enough to avert a rivalry there as well.)

* Laura and Mary [[Literature/LittleHouseOnThePrairie Ingalls]] have elements of this. Mary is very pretty and perfectly well-behaved, while Laura is active, energetic, and brave. Some subversion in that they're both pretty smart, though. They laugh about it when they're older. (They also have two younger sisters, Carrie and Grace, but their ages and personalities don't lend themselves to the trope.)

** Marilyn and Carolyn Arnold; Dawn and Mary Anne exhibit signs of this in the early days of their stepsisterhood.

* In [[FanFic/EquestriaAHistoryRevealed Equestria: A History Revealed]], Princess Celestia is very popular and well-loved among her citizens, most likely due to her established cult of personality, while Princess Luna is seen more as the outcast and "the lanky, weird one". This leads to slight jealousy on Luna's end which eventually bubbles over to a literal all-out Civil War.
* In ''FanFic/HarrysNewHome'', although both sisters were attractive, the blonde one was bubbly, outgoing and utterly dimwitted, while the brunette was quieter, more intellectual and a bit of a DeadpanSnarker.

* In ''FanFic/ADifferentDursleyFamily'', Petunia speculates that her mother tried to invoke this by only praising her daughters when they were out of earshot and unfavorably comparing them to each other, perhaps out of the belief that it would lead to healthy competition. It didn't work, and Petunia struggles with her resentment towards Lily for years, even seeking therapy when it starts to affect the way she treats Harry.

* The relationship between Flandre and Remilia Scarlet has slowly turned into this by the time ''[[FanFic/IcedFairysANewWorld A New World]]'' begins. There's still a lot of sororal love -- it's just that Flandre has reached a certain plateau of SmugSuper, ''knowing'' she's the strongest vampire in Gensokyo, while Remilia has largely given up on her ambitions after the deaths of Meiling and Sakuya. Flandre also resents Remilia for losing herself in her grief and entering torpor instead of staying with her.

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* Creator/JoanFontaine and Creator/OliviaDeHavilland. One of the most famous feuds in Old Hollywood, and was STILL ongoing at this entry's original inclusion in 2012. By the time of Joan's death in 2013[[note]]Ironically, Joan had joked that if she were to die first, Olivia would probably be annoyed because she'd beaten her at something[[/note]], both sisters were just a little under 100 and hadn't spoken to each other in 30 years. The rivalry was all the more intense because both of them were A-list actresses back in the day, each winning Oscars for Best Actress. Rivalry compounded by the fact Joan had been ''forbidden'' by her parents to use her family name for acting -- she had to settle for "Fontaine".

* The Smart Sister: A bookish, explicitly smart character. Very often a DeadpanSnarker and TheSnarkKnight. Very socially awkward and subject to far less male attention, although this often has more to do with her personality than [[HollywoodHomely her appearance]]. Endlessly criticizes her sister for her willing or apparent shallowness.

See also BrattyTeenageDaughter, TomboyAndGirlyGirl.

Can overlap with PolarOppositeTwins and is a subtrope of SiblingYinYang.

'''Ruth:''' ''[[[grimly]]]'' Yes, she's a blonde, good-looking kid.

'''Ruth:''' ''[[[DeadpanSnarker grimly]]]'' Yes, she's a blonde, good-looking kid.

* ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie'': Jeannie and her wicked sister, also named Jeannie. Arguably, the pretty one (the blonde Jeannie) is the sympathetic one, and the smart one (the dark-haired Jeannie) is an evil, bitter shrew. The blonde Jeannie may have been less knowing of the modern world, but she does have the excuse of being trapped in a bottle for two millennia, mind you.

** Also played straight with Karen and her stepsister Al. Al is not particularly book smart (more of a sporty tomboy) but is very witty, snarky and she often teases her overly vain stepsister Karen in early seasons. They stop bickering in later seasons and become good friends, bordering on ThoseTwoGirls.

* ''Literature/LittleWomen'' has four sisters; among them, Jo and Amy fit the trope.

* In ''Manga/{{Gunnm}}'' Gally's [[SendInTheClones TUNED clones]] had a ''literal'' War (or, more precisely, Hunt) Of Sisterly Rivalry, where [[YouAreNumberSix GR-6]] sought to destroy every other clone and then the original [[MiddleChildSyndrome to prove herself]]. The only survivors of which, GR-6 and the twins GR-11 and GR-12 later started to call themselves [[BilingualBonus Sechs, Elf and Zwoelf]] respectively, and retroactively kinda ''became'' [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling her siblings]], pushing the trope further. Though [[BloodKnight Sechs]] actually dropped out of it, due to [[RunningGag now]] [[GenderBender him]] switching to the DumbassTeenageSon role.

* ''Series/{{Velvet}}'': While neither sister is the "dumb" one, Clara is the more flirtatious outgoing Montesinos sister while Rita is the {{Adorkable}} Montesinos sister who is insecure about her attractiveness to men.

* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' has Abigail Lincoln, a.k.a. Numbuh Five, and her sister, Cree. This show takes this trope UpToEleven since Cree is a teenager and a sworn enemy of the Kids Next Door, in which Numbuh Five is involved. Cree was once a KND operative herself, known as Numbuh 11, and the sisters got along rather well then, but when Cree got older, she was no longer allowed in the KND but escaped being decommissioned. This has also somewhat caused their personal relationship to sour as well.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Subverted. The rivalry between Buffy and Dawn is short-lived and somewhat one-sided. However, there are some callbacks to this dynamic in later episodes, especially season 7's ''Him'', in which Dawn and Buffy fall under the same guys' love spell.

* ''Series/OnceUponATime'': Regina, [[Disney/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs the Evil Queen,]] versus her half-sister, Zelena, [[Film/TheWizardOfOz the Wicked Witch of the West.]] Zelena's FatalFlaw is jealousy and from her perspective, Regina had everything she ever wanted and she set out to take everything from her sister. Regina begs to differ because their mother Cora, was an emotionally AbusiveParent who saw her daughters as nothing more than mere tools to cement her own social status and majorly screwed up Regina's life. The sisters still bicker and fight, especially after Zelena tricked Regina's SecondLove, Robin Hood, into impregnating her and Regina herself is trying to break the cycle of hatred and abuse and redeem herself to true happiness. In Zelena's eyes, she is the smart, worthy one, and her sister is the beautiful, not-green undeserving favorite of their mother. By the end of the fifth season, their mother explicitly asks them to make amends and be good sisters.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': [[LovableAlphaBitch Sansa]] and [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling Arya]] Stark have this going on, with added FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling vibes. According to [[SternNun Septa Mordane]], Sansa is "the responsible one" and Arya is "the difficult one", and they are each treated accordingly, which doesn't help either interact with the other civilly. Sansa is seen as being significantly more beautiful, is popular and is accomplished in the airs and graces of high society and she's the more [[{{Bookworm}} indoorsily bookish]] of the two, if ''very'' [[ThinksLikeARomanceNovel naïve]] and fairly sweet with it (despite a tendency to find high horses from which to look down on Arya). Her sister's bluntness, lack of standard graces, manners, polish and outright preference for the Heartswood, however, constantly embarrasses her, and she always feels the need to call Arya out on any faux pas she makes. Arya is more practically minded and StreetSmart with a rebellious streak. Having said that, however, Arya doesn't ''hate'' all romantic storybooks, but quite likes mathematics and selected, action-heavy histories a bit more. She has a comparatively homely appearance and is highly uninterested in learning the social games of court. Arya is ''very'' critical of Sansa's perceived shallowness and unwillingness to get out to smell the wider reality in return for the put-downs Sansa (and her small girl posse) regularly dishes out. Their relationship seems to straddle the line between truly loving each other and CainAndAbel: you cannot leave them alone in the same room for ten minutes without each finding novel ways to hurt the other. [[BreakTheCutie Both of them are horribly broken upon their being separated]].

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': [[LovableAlphaBitch Sansa]] and [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling Arya]] Stark have this going on, with added FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling vibes. According to [[SternNun Septa Mordane]], Sansa is "the responsible one" and Arya is "the difficult one", and they are each treated accordingly, which doesn't help either interact with the other civilly. Sansa is seen as being significantly more beautiful, is popular and is accomplished in the airs and graces of high society and she's the more [[{{Bookworm}} indoorsily bookish]] of the two, if ''very'' [[ThinksLikeARomanceNovel naïve]] and fairly sweet with it (despite a tendency to find high horses from which to look down on Arya). Her sister's bluntness, lack of standard graces, manners, polish and outright preference for the Heartswood, however, constantly embarrasses her, and she always feels the need to call Arya out on any faux pas she makes. Arya is more practically minded and StreetSmart with a rebellious streak. She has a comparatively homely appearance and is uninterested in learning the social games of court. Arya is ''very'' critical of Sansa's perceived shallowness and unwillingness to get out to smell the wider reality in return for the put-downs Sansa (and her small girl posse) regularly dishes out. Their relationship seems to straddle the line between truly loving each other and CainAndAbel: you cannot leave them alone in the same room for ten minutes without each finding novel ways to hurt the other. [[BreakTheCutie Both of them are horribly broken upon their being separated]].

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': [[LovableAlphaBitch Sansa]] and [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling Arya]] Stark have this going on, with added FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling vibes. According to [[SternNun Septa Mordane]], Sansa is "the responsible one" and Arya is "the difficult one", and they are each treated accordingly, which doesn't help either interact with the other civilly. Sansa is seen as being significantly more beautiful, is popular and is accomplished in the airs and graces of high society and she's the more [[{{Bookworm}} indoorsily bookish]] of the two, if ''very'' [[ThinksLikeARomanceNovel naïve]] and quite sweet with it. Her sister's bluntness, lack of standard graces, manners, polish and outright preference for the Heartswood, however, constantly embarrasses her, and she always feels the need to call Arya out on any faux pas she makes. Arya is more practically minded and StreetSmart with a rebellious streak. She has a comparatively homely appearance and is uninterested in learning the social games of court. Arya is ''very'' critical of Sansa's perceived shallowness and unwillingness to get out to smell the wider reality in return for the put-downs Sansa (and her small girl posse) regularly dishes out. Their relationship seems to straddle the line between truly loving each other and CainAndAbel: you cannot leave them alone in the same room for ten minutes without each finding novel ways to hurt the other. [[BreakTheCutie Both of them are horribly broken upon their being separated]].

* In Myth/OceanianMythology, Pele (the goddess of fire) and Poli'ahu (one of the four goddesses of snow and ice) are like this. Not only because they are, you know, ''diametrically-opposed {{Elemental}} forces'', but because they often competed over the same mortal men, most memorably a young ''ali'i'' (chief) by the name of Aiwohikupua. They also competed in ''[[https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/content/holua-sledding-death-defying-sport-hawaiian-chiefs holua]]'' sledding, which (to make a long story short) is [[JustSoStory why there are glaciers on Mauna Kea, and why Mauna Kea is dormant]] (which was said to be Poli'ahu's home, [[DaddysGirl gifted to her by]] [[EveryoneIsRelated her and Pele's father]].)

* Erina and Alice Nakiri in ''Manga/ShokugekiNoSoma'' are a cousin variation of this, although they zigzag a bit on the "smart" and "beautiful" roles. Erina was mean to Alice when they were growing up and still looks down on her, preferring to stand as the superior chef. In exchange, Alice teases Erina where she knows her cousin is less experienced — social life and behaving like a normal teenager. Despite this, as the story advances it's revealed that the two love each other very much.