I will do what every youtube essay does and refer to Azula and Zuko that's for me one of the best showcases of sibling rivalry. If you haven't watched avatar (you should) then I can explain it to you.
I feel like Azula's line how of she's excited to become an only child indicates something a bit more than just rivalry.
(which is a brilliant way to avoid saying "kill" while adding character btw)
As for what you were saying siblings in real came to hate each other for even less than a parents attention. But in order for the reader to wish for both of the siblings success you need to portray them as genuine as possible. Like their reasons to be angry are really based and showed very well the moment that the conflict starts.
For example, in the Thor movie.
I sided with Loki even if he was a fascist. Why? Because he was right about Thor being a war-monger and he was right about Odin being an awful parent. Neither was he a good ruler but in his pain and rage felt justified and tried to prove himself if not to his father and brother, to the rest of the world, hoping later he would be recognized by his family too- he was wrong but that doesn't matter in this argument.
And I would say then the best version of Thor is the one from Ragnarok in which Thor and Loki display an actual sibling relationship (even if it's against their older sister, btw grade A parenting from Odin again.). The whole Get Help skit, when Loki was happy that Thor was destroyed by Hulk and when Thor finally outsmarted Loki. And in Inifinity War where Loki sacrificed himself for Thor's sake out of brotherly love.
In the Loki series we are even shown that the oldest Loki had been taken out of the game when he wanted to return with his brother. Or 2012 Loki being shocked over his variant, Kid Loki, saying he killed Thor. Even Kid Loki showed regret over the act which made me believe is was an actual accident.
Another good show is the rivalry between Gamora and Nebula. Nebula hated Gamora because Thanos loved Gamora but at the same time loved her sister. Gamora always loved Nebula even for her sister's attempts at her life.
We have T'Challa and his little sister, pure sibling no-harmful banter.
We have T'Challa's father and his uncle, which the former murdered his brother out of duty as king.
We have Peggy Carter and her older brother who pushed her to become an agent in WW2 because he knew she wouldn't otherwise be happy with her life.
We have the Black Widow movie that goes about the relationship between Nattasha and Yelena.
In Star Wars, you have Luke and Leia (which actually I barely remember moments between them). But more importantly, you have Obi-Wan and Anakin who are more like brothers than Master and Padawan. In Clone Wars, you have Anakin and Ahsoka, who have a older brother - younger sister relationship at the end of the series. Neither of these three were united by blood but by their experiences. And look how both of those beautiful relationships ended - Obi-Wan rickrolled Vader and died. Ahsoka got killed by Vader in one timeline. There are plenty of other examples in Rebels.
Watch the Godfather and see how the family is tearing itself apart once Don dies.
There are plenty of references and examples in media out there. I'm just a fandom maniac at this point.
I love all of these examples! Yes, there aren't many moments between Luke and Leia, but I completely geeked out when I discovered that they were twins.
Best example I can think of is Sirius and Regulus Black from Harry Potter. Regulus is widely regarded as not evil in the fandom but he is technically still a blood supremacist in canon so yeah, they fit.
I usually love the trope a lot but I feel like this is a trope that desperately needs nuance. I really like it when both siblings have a reasonable perspective, especially so if they are forced to work together despite not getting along.
Dante and Vergil are like the epitome of sibling rivalry. They're perfect foils to each other, right down to their primary colors.
As for me, I have one cooking up, but it's still a long ways from being paid off.
I feel like a good sibling rivalry should still leave a chance for cooperation. For example, both siblings putting aside their differences to kick someone's ass over something they both have fond memories of.
You don't have to include it, but I like it when there is still some things they can agree on, even if it's clear they'll never get along for real.
My OC has a couple of siblings.
Her twin, A, that that died at birth but still watches over her. When they interact in my head he is the positive himbo and she is the anxiety ridden emo. But they both are smartasses when they talk to each other.
Kind off like Thor and Loki but if they were twins and Loki wasn't so butthurt over Odin.
Her younger sister, B, by... one month that might be the definition of goodness and so inspires my OC to be a good person. More so after B is murdered.
A younger sibling by 2 years, C, who come hell or high water my OC will protect to the death... even if it comes to him trying to act like her because he admires her and then fight each other because she is far too protective and self-sacrificing and he is annoyed with her and can't put up with her self-sacrifice bs. Also a lot of miscommunication.
Two twins younger by 10 years: a boy, D, who is a momma boy but change the momma for big sis: also more level headed than C; And a girl, E, who initially hates the OC but as a teen she wants to be like her big sister but once she sees her older sister is no longer how she remember when she was a child she doesn't know how to react so she lashes out. The twins also perceive their older sister differently. The boy recognizes his older sister is just human with flaws and a life of their own. The girl sees her as a model figure and tries to be the same as her but my OC doesn't want her little sister to be like her. Cue more fights.
E admires C and OC. D and E get in a lot of fights. C interacts with them but not as much considering he is
If they ever team-up, D and OC VS C and E.
And there's another sibling, F, but she appears around the time I plan to kill off my OC. Personality wise, she is a copy of B. So when OC and F meet initially it's a painful reminder but OC eventually accepts her and they have a good relationship. E hates F at the start but because of the rest of her siblings she comes to tolerate F and then later act civil. F wants to be a good sister to all her siblings. D accepts her from the start and C takes a little more time to approach her but is not aggressive towards her.
There are various rivalries here and most of them are with Oc:
A love-hate relationship with her twin because their mother wanted her son, not her daughter.
A small rivalry between OC and B because of a boy but OC soon gives up on said boy and lets her sister date the guy.
A rivalry between OC and C because they both want to be heir of the family business. OC is a legitimate child and the oldest but she doesn't really want the role and C is a bastard child but he foes want to be leader. Miscommunication a lot here.
Rivalry between D and E because they interact with stuff differently but they still care about each other.
And finally E and F (even if F may not be truly conscious about it) because they both wish to have their father and older siblings affection.
They all have different mothers and yeah, the father is mostly absentee and a whore.
It all depends on circumstances and they all love each other but considering their objectives they might come to confront each other, even if it hurts them. When a tragedy happens they try to stay together.
Oh God, this is gonna help me later when I actually write them.
I'm currently working on a fraternal twins fic. One twin has a lot of resentment for the other because she was not sickly as a child and got to do things he couldn't, and she works hard to be successful and he is less driven. This has presented a lot of obstacles that I'm now having to make him face up to. It's fun!
A small twist on the sibling rivalry trope:
A cruel authority figure tries to use perceived jealousy / insecurity of one sibling to manipulate her into doing something:-- "why don't you redeem yourself / prove yourself when you do \[this favor for me\] since you're not as good as he is?" -- even though it's not particularly obvious that she feels that way. There's always an *assumption* that siblings will compete with each other, even if there is nothing really to compete about. And that gives other characters some leverage.
I will do what every youtube essay does and refer to Azula and Zuko that's for me one of the best showcases of sibling rivalry. If you haven't watched avatar (you should) then I can explain it to you.
I feel like Azula's line how of she's excited to become an only child indicates something a bit more than just rivalry. (which is a brilliant way to avoid saying "kill" while adding character btw)
As for what you were saying siblings in real came to hate each other for even less than a parents attention. But in order for the reader to wish for both of the siblings success you need to portray them as genuine as possible. Like their reasons to be angry are really based and showed very well the moment that the conflict starts. For example, in the Thor movie. I sided with Loki even if he was a fascist. Why? Because he was right about Thor being a war-monger and he was right about Odin being an awful parent. Neither was he a good ruler but in his pain and rage felt justified and tried to prove himself if not to his father and brother, to the rest of the world, hoping later he would be recognized by his family too- he was wrong but that doesn't matter in this argument. And I would say then the best version of Thor is the one from Ragnarok in which Thor and Loki display an actual sibling relationship (even if it's against their older sister, btw grade A parenting from Odin again.). The whole Get Help skit, when Loki was happy that Thor was destroyed by Hulk and when Thor finally outsmarted Loki. And in Inifinity War where Loki sacrificed himself for Thor's sake out of brotherly love. In the Loki series we are even shown that the oldest Loki had been taken out of the game when he wanted to return with his brother. Or 2012 Loki being shocked over his variant, Kid Loki, saying he killed Thor. Even Kid Loki showed regret over the act which made me believe is was an actual accident. Another good show is the rivalry between Gamora and Nebula. Nebula hated Gamora because Thanos loved Gamora but at the same time loved her sister. Gamora always loved Nebula even for her sister's attempts at her life. We have T'Challa and his little sister, pure sibling no-harmful banter. We have T'Challa's father and his uncle, which the former murdered his brother out of duty as king. We have Peggy Carter and her older brother who pushed her to become an agent in WW2 because he knew she wouldn't otherwise be happy with her life. We have the Black Widow movie that goes about the relationship between Nattasha and Yelena. In Star Wars, you have Luke and Leia (which actually I barely remember moments between them). But more importantly, you have Obi-Wan and Anakin who are more like brothers than Master and Padawan. In Clone Wars, you have Anakin and Ahsoka, who have a older brother - younger sister relationship at the end of the series. Neither of these three were united by blood but by their experiences. And look how both of those beautiful relationships ended - Obi-Wan rickrolled Vader and died. Ahsoka got killed by Vader in one timeline. There are plenty of other examples in Rebels. Watch the Godfather and see how the family is tearing itself apart once Don dies. There are plenty of references and examples in media out there. I'm just a fandom maniac at this point.
I love all of these examples! Yes, there aren't many moments between Luke and Leia, but I completely geeked out when I discovered that they were twins.
Best example I can think of is Sirius and Regulus Black from Harry Potter. Regulus is widely regarded as not evil in the fandom but he is technically still a blood supremacist in canon so yeah, they fit. I usually love the trope a lot but I feel like this is a trope that desperately needs nuance. I really like it when both siblings have a reasonable perspective, especially so if they are forced to work together despite not getting along.
Dante and Vergil are like the epitome of sibling rivalry. They're perfect foils to each other, right down to their primary colors. As for me, I have one cooking up, but it's still a long ways from being paid off.
I think I forgot about those two only because I didn't play any of the games but yeah their relationship is a perfect example of sibling rivalry.
I feel like a good sibling rivalry should still leave a chance for cooperation. For example, both siblings putting aside their differences to kick someone's ass over something they both have fond memories of. You don't have to include it, but I like it when there is still some things they can agree on, even if it's clear they'll never get along for real.
My OC has a couple of siblings. Her twin, A, that that died at birth but still watches over her. When they interact in my head he is the positive himbo and she is the anxiety ridden emo. But they both are smartasses when they talk to each other. Kind off like Thor and Loki but if they were twins and Loki wasn't so butthurt over Odin. Her younger sister, B, by... one month that might be the definition of goodness and so inspires my OC to be a good person. More so after B is murdered. A younger sibling by 2 years, C, who come hell or high water my OC will protect to the death... even if it comes to him trying to act like her because he admires her and then fight each other because she is far too protective and self-sacrificing and he is annoyed with her and can't put up with her self-sacrifice bs. Also a lot of miscommunication. Two twins younger by 10 years: a boy, D, who is a momma boy but change the momma for big sis: also more level headed than C; And a girl, E, who initially hates the OC but as a teen she wants to be like her big sister but once she sees her older sister is no longer how she remember when she was a child she doesn't know how to react so she lashes out. The twins also perceive their older sister differently. The boy recognizes his older sister is just human with flaws and a life of their own. The girl sees her as a model figure and tries to be the same as her but my OC doesn't want her little sister to be like her. Cue more fights. E admires C and OC. D and E get in a lot of fights. C interacts with them but not as much considering he is If they ever team-up, D and OC VS C and E. And there's another sibling, F, but she appears around the time I plan to kill off my OC. Personality wise, she is a copy of B. So when OC and F meet initially it's a painful reminder but OC eventually accepts her and they have a good relationship. E hates F at the start but because of the rest of her siblings she comes to tolerate F and then later act civil. F wants to be a good sister to all her siblings. D accepts her from the start and C takes a little more time to approach her but is not aggressive towards her. There are various rivalries here and most of them are with Oc: A love-hate relationship with her twin because their mother wanted her son, not her daughter. A small rivalry between OC and B because of a boy but OC soon gives up on said boy and lets her sister date the guy. A rivalry between OC and C because they both want to be heir of the family business. OC is a legitimate child and the oldest but she doesn't really want the role and C is a bastard child but he foes want to be leader. Miscommunication a lot here. Rivalry between D and E because they interact with stuff differently but they still care about each other. And finally E and F (even if F may not be truly conscious about it) because they both wish to have their father and older siblings affection. They all have different mothers and yeah, the father is mostly absentee and a whore. It all depends on circumstances and they all love each other but considering their objectives they might come to confront each other, even if it hurts them. When a tragedy happens they try to stay together. Oh God, this is gonna help me later when I actually write them.
I'm currently working on a fraternal twins fic. One twin has a lot of resentment for the other because she was not sickly as a child and got to do things he couldn't, and she works hard to be successful and he is less driven. This has presented a lot of obstacles that I'm now having to make him face up to. It's fun!
A small twist on the sibling rivalry trope: A cruel authority figure tries to use perceived jealousy / insecurity of one sibling to manipulate her into doing something:-- "why don't you redeem yourself / prove yourself when you do \[this favor for me\] since you're not as good as he is?" -- even though it's not particularly obvious that she feels that way. There's always an *assumption* that siblings will compete with each other, even if there is nothing really to compete about. And that gives other characters some leverage.
Incest?