Well part of my idea was the the other guy would be out for glory. His motivations are not nearly as noble as Link's. Link wishes to save Hyrule and defeat evil while the rival would only want to make a name for himself and reap all the rewards for heroism without any of the honor. The clash in ideologies between the true hero vs. the wannabe hero would make an interesting parallel. I imagined any fight between them would be started by the rival angered at Link's success while Link would be more concerned with bigger and more important things. The rival's self serving attitude would help drive Link's more noble quest.
I think that sounds great,
if they do it that way. I think it'd be cool if in the final battle, the other guy saves Link from a really big attack from the final boss, having finally learned how to be a true hero, and then one of them does what Collin did in TP, and one of them dies to save the other. I can't decide which would be a better ending to the game. I think it'd probably be Link dying, actually. He would save the other dude from the boss guy, and then the other guy would defeat him, and return home. The people of Skyloft would sing praises to him as their hero, but the other guy would be looking down, sad that Link --the true hero-- had died saving him. Someone would eventually notice his unhappiness, and they'd all find out the terrible news --that the real hero is now dead. Then they'd roll the credits showing the funeral for Link, probably having a huge painting of Link on their wall.
