Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
213,963
edits
No edit summary |
(This page was getting big, with some very large sections. Moved all of the examples to subpages.) Tag: Replaced |
||
(41 intermediate revisions by 11 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:not so different 2876.png|link=Basic Instructions|
{{quote|''"You think I am [[Complete Monster|a monster]], but you're no different from me, [[The Hero|Drake.]] [[What Measure Is a Mook?|How many men have you killed? How many, just today?]]"''
|'''[[Big Bad|Lazarevic]]'''|''[[Uncharted]] 2''}}
"We're not so different, you and I."
Line 8 ⟶ 9:
Two characters who seem radically different turn out to have more in common than they would like to believe.
As a good thing, the phrase is associated with the frequent resolution of an [[Enemy Mine]] or [[Locked in a Freezer]] plot: two enemies learn that there is [[Sympathetic POV|more that unites them]] than divides them. The punch line to about 50% of plots in an [[Odd Couple]] or [[Odd Friendship]] series.
As a bad thing, the phrase prefaces the realization that our hero is really just a hair's breadth away from villainy. In these cases, it's almost always the ''villain'' who is the first to notice: our hero has him cornered and even seems to ''[[Evil Tastes Good|relish]]'' the prospect of finally ridding himself of his nemesis, and the villain deftly points out, "We're not so different after all." The hero realizes [[If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him|how close he is to crossing the line, and spares the villain]] (though every once in a great while, he'll decide that it's worth crossing the line, off the villain anyway, and then have several episodes of moral anguish over the darkness in his soul: see [[Shoot the Dog]]). Especially common when the villain is the hero's [[Evil Counterpart]].
Also a bad thing when the bad guy [[Hypocrite|points it out]] after the hero has bested him through questionable tactics. Often followed by the hero's hysterical protests along the lines of, "I'm not like you! I'll never be like you!" Occasionally followed by the hero's observation that they are different, because of some other aspect that the opponent overlooked or intentionally ignored. However, the hero should have some snappier comeback, like "You noticed?" or "That's why I can beat you," and worry about the differences later - or a comment that the dog that protects the flock is a very close relative of the wolf that ravages it. Then again, a simple "[[Shut UP, Hannibal]]" can work wonders. Another common rebuttal might be for the hero to acknowledge that they share some similarities, but are sufficiently different where it ''counts''; not all similarities are equal.
When the villain who believes this also believes that the hero denies it because he is a [[Slave to PR]], he often sets up [[What You Are in the Dark]] to get the hero to act like it. The failure rate for this approach is... high.
Sometimes goes hand-in-hand with a [[Double Aesop]], [[You Could Have Used Your Powers for Good]] / Evil, [[We Can Rule Together]], or [[He Who Fights Monsters]]. Can also be phrased, "You would have made a good thief / [[Career Killers|assassin]] / [[Star Trek|Klingon]] / [[Star Wars|Mandalorian]] / [[Doctor Who|Dalek]] / [[Babylon 5|Minbari]] / [[Dr. Pedia and Mr. Trope|Troper/Wikipedian]]."
Line 21 ⟶ 22:
Contrast [[Sympathy for the Devil]]. Sometimes, the difference is only that the heroes are [[A Lighter Shade of Grey]]. [[Hitler Ate Sugar]] is when this trope becomes a logical fallacy based on the idea that sharing ''any'' similarity with someone 'evil', no matter how minor, makes the sharer just as evil. This trope also happens to be a staple of many a [[Break Them by Talking]]. Can also come with much [[Foe Yay]].
This is part and parcel of the [[Hypocritical Fandom]].
{{examples on subpages}}
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Foil]]
[[Category:Morality Tropes]]
[[Category:Arch Enemy]]
[[Category:
|