History Main / UnknownRival

* When Hugo Chávez was alive, he fancied himself and the "Revolution" he lead in Venezuela as the biggest enemy of USA, deprecating the "Empire", rejecting American humanitarian help, antagonizing with every American functionary he could and insulting whoever was the States' President at the time. Suffice to say, the feeling wasn't mutual. The thing was perfectly summed up in a [[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Zqvj99gVfLQ/SBTq2IGA_dI/AAAAAAAACDI/Kf5JdC0tX2g/s400/DANGER.jpg political cartoon]] who despict Chavez as a gas employee insulting car driver GeorgeWBush while the latter says "whatever, I don't understand a word of what are you saying... fill up the tank, boy!"

** And more-than-likely the case with Ian Starshine, who thinks his own plan to topple Tarquin is significant to the latter, to the point that he (very, very falsely) believes that Elan was sent by Tarquin to infiltrate the Order of the Stick to get close to Haley and then, by extension, Ian himself. Tarquin hasn't said a single word about Ian since he was introduced, and his interest in Haley hasn't gone any farther than "she is Elan's girlfriend". When they actually meet, Tarquin fails to recognize Ian, though the fact that Ian's been in jail for a long time might have something to do with it.

* Vyndktvx, a 5th dimension imp with RealityWarper powers uses them to make Superman's life a living hell and try to kill him. Superman has no idea why he hates him so much. It's because Mxyzptlk used his encounters with Supes to entertain the 5th dimension. Vyndktvx was jealous of Mxyzptlk's popularity and blamed Superman for it.

* In ''Literature/TheFountainhead'', Toohey considers himself Howard Roark's arch-rival. When he confronts Roark and asks him, "What do you think of me?", Roark replies, "I don't think of you, Mr. Toohey."

** There's also Mihoko for Hisa, who played Hisa in an Inter-Middle tournament during their last year of middle school, and Hisa pressured Mihoko so much she accidentally opened her right eye- which she keeps closed due to it being [[MismatchedEyes a different color from her left]]- in surprise. Hisa then told Mihoko that her right eye was pretty, and Mihoko wanted to see her again to talk with her. Unfortunately, the next day, Hisa dropped out of the tournament due to unknown circumstances, changed her last name from Ueno to Takei, and did not recognize Mihoko when they saw each other again three years later. However, in the individuals match, after Mihoko opens her eye, [[HeartwarmingMoments Hisa finally remembers her]].

** Kiba has become this to Naruto (moreso in the anime, but it's there in the manga, too). [[ShippingGoggles Does he have a crush on Hinata?]] Or is it simply being ashamed of CantCatchUp? Or is it just because the whole "Fox and the Hound" bit is supposed to be funny?

* Haruka in ''Anime/MaiHime'' and ''Anime/{{Mai-Otome}}'' (all adaptations) apparently has an ongoing rivalry with Shizuru, which Shizuru never seems to acknowledge.

* At the ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode ''[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesTheClockKing The Clock King]]'' this trope is deconstructed, or maybe parodied: Temple Fugate get his StartOfDarkness that would make him the ClockKing thanks to an AdviceBackfire from Mayor Hill. Fugate makes Hill seem incompetent, and then places him in a DeathTrap. Hill doesn’t recognize Fugate because the StartOfDarkness happened seven years ago, he was JustTryingToHelp and for [[ButForMeItWasTuesday Hil it was an inconsequential conversation in a subway]]. To make it even more ridiculous, he only recognizes Fugate when he does a DramaticUnmask… with his ScaryShinyGlasses (Fugate is not WearingThights). Did we mention this episode is a GenreDeconstruction of ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''?

* At the ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode ''[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesTheClockKing The Clock King]]'' this trope is deconstructed, or maybe parodied: Temple Fugate get his StartOfDarkness that would make him the ClockKing thanks to an AdviceBackfire from Mayor Hill. Fugate makes Hill seem incompetent, and then places him in a DeathTrap. Hill doesn’t recognize Fugate because the StartOfDarkness happened seven years ago, he was JustTryingToHelp and for [[ButForMeItWasTuesday Hil it was an inconsequential conversation in a subway]]. To make it even more ridiculous, he only recognizes Fugate when he does a DramaticUnmask… with his ScaryShinyGlasses (Fugate is not WearingThights). Did we mention this episode is a DeconstructionGenre of ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''?

* In ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'', Aladdin and Jafar spend a good two-thirds of the film unaware of each other's true identity/intentions. Jafar assumes Aladdin died in the Cave of Wonders, then when he returns as Prince Ali neither of them knows who the other is. It's not until Jafar sees "Ali" has the lamp that he puts it together.
* Disney's ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'': Hercules doesn't even know he ''has'' an arch-nemesis until the final act of the movie.

** This happened briefly in Seattle too in the mid-'00s. A new alternative station popped up with a lineup of DJs that was almost exclusively formerly with the alternative station that had existed in Seattle for around a decade and a half at that point, and their ads and listener testimonials repeatedly made a point of noting how the more popular alternative station sucks now. The more popular station never, ever acknowledged their existence and the upstart alternative station was gone within a year.

** Several political analysts see the traditional Anti-American feeling prevalent in South America as a form of this trope. While not denying the controversial policies applied in the region, and the justified hate several citizens of certain countries have against USA; the truth is that, more often than not, the countries that obsess the most against the USA tend to be the ones who have had less direct American intervention during their history.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', [[NuttySquirrel a red squirrel]] hates Jake because Jake never prints the squirrel's letters in his advice column. The squirrel considers Jake his mortal enemy, while Jake has no idea the squirrel even exists. [[spoiler:When the squirrel appears again in season five he is even more fixated on Jake, and Jake still doesn't know who he is.]]
-->'''Squirrel:''' You son-of-a-bleep-blob! JAAAAKE!

* North Korea has been constantly threatening the United States and South Korea with nuclear war. Judging by the comments on news stories about these threats, most Americans are unaware why North Korea is suddenly so angry at them and are not at all intimidated.

* In the late 19th Century, the thought of annexation by the US was a huge issue to Canadians. Politicians won elections campaigning against it, political cartoons were circulated in Canadian newspapers depicting Canada or Britannia kicking Uncle Sam to the curb, etc. Meanwhile, most Americans weren't focused on Canada, caring much more about the Civil War, the conflicts with the Native Americans, and military interventions in Central America.

* In the [[ComicBookAdaptation supplementary manga]] of ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha A's'', no sooner did Fate become a NewTransferStudent did she gain a schoolgirl rival in [[ThoseTwoGuys Alisa]] after the [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter latter overachiever of a student learned]] that the former [[TeenGenius was way too advanced for the curriculum]].

* Parodied in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' - ButtMonkey Gumshoe announces himself to be Phoenix's rival, who is both confused and flattered - but mostly amazed.
** Even more so with Winston Payne, who is hardly remembered by Phoenix and completely ignored by fellow prosecutor Edgeworth.

* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', [[StudentCouncilPresident Issei]] considers Rin to be his arch-nemesis. Rin never responds to his enmity, which only makes him ''more'' suspicious and jealous. And on a less humorous note, [[{{Jerkass}} Shinji]] has this going on towards [[TheHero Shirou]], but this grudge reaches extreme levels fairly quickly.

* Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple: When Kenichi is training to fight against YOMI, an old enemy known as Shinnosuke Tsugi (The crazy hair guy that was Kisara's henchman.) appears, claiming he'd been training hard to fight his rival again. [[ButForMeItWasTuesday Kenichi barely remembers him, and neither does]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Kisara.]]