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Knowing nothing about the work, if Foil required interaction, then your reasoning seems sound to me. Maybe PM the other person to explain it to them in greater detail?
The first entry might be fine, since the author clearly intended for them to be compared to each other. The other two are blatant misuse, as they clearly don't fit one of the two criteria.
Edited by idonom Y'ALL JUST GOT SHREKT
I've removed the two misuses and reluctantly left in the first example (and tried to improve it) as a compromise, on the basis that the murder investigation counts as enough interaction and comparisons (but if anyone else thinks it's still misuse then they are free to delete it too). I've explained the Foil criteria in the edit reason, citing this thread + the other Foil sources.
From what I understand, Foil requires the two characters to 1) have both similar and different characterisation, and 2) actually be seen together and have interactions that purposely highlight (1). Sources: the page description, Square Peg, Round Trope, Foil thread 1
, Foil thread 2
. (The second criteria has apparently become debatable, but it's generally the rule.)
When I recently moved the Foil subpage Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi I also removed a lot of examples (history of the original page here
for reference) because they didn't meet one of the above criteria (usually (2)), which I made clear in my edit reason. The original editor added back
three of them, saying two of the characters have similar stories and therefore they and their friends are intentional foils.
The three examples in question:
At most, I can see the first pair being okay if we're lenient with (2) (I don't disagree that the author intended to compare them, just unsure if significant enough to be Foils). I'm confident the other two are still misuse. Would like some confirmation if my evaluation is in/correct before I remove or edit the examples.
Edited by Rhapsody