One of the genre-defining principles in the Ossetian novel of the 1920s was the combination of various systems of ethnic archetypes. The essence of this principle is examined using the example of A. Tsalikov’s novel “Brother against brother” (1926). In his novel, the writer applied a system of archetypes widely used in world mythology and literature: the plot archetype, the conflict archetype, and the hero archetype. The plot archetype, traditional in world mythology and literature, depicts the hero’s return home from a long, dangerous, and distant journey. Typically, he finds a completely new reality there, in which he is forced to seek his place and assert himself. The plot of the novel “Brother against brother” is built on the return home of Alibek, a “golden shoulder strap” officer in the former tsarist army, after the 1917 revolution, in the midst of the Civil War. The writer also utilizes the conflict archetype, also traditional in world mythology and literature. This is a fierce, irreconcilable, and uncompromising struggle between good and evil, which always comes at a high cost to the hero and the nation, claiming the lives of many. It breaks some, while forging the character of others, who defend the fundamental values of their national existence and consciousness. The conflict in the novel is built on the confrontation between Muslim Ossetians and Christian Ossetians, which leads to a terrible national tragedy and the deaths of many. The hero archetype, also traditional in world mythology and literature, plays an important role in the system of archetypes that shape the novel’s genre structure. These archetypes include the warrior hero, the sage elder, the father, the mother, the maiden, the youth, the child, and others. Creatively using the archetypes of plot, conflict, and hero, Tsalikov artistically and convincingly explores the uniqueness of Ossetian social existence and consciousness. Emphasizing the absurdity of what is happening, which is shattering both the national “self ” of the people’s existence and Alibek’s personal fate, the writer turns to folk wisdom and its foundation – the “collective unconscious”, that is, the centuries-old spiritual experience of the Ossetian people, passed down from generation to generation. And he does this by actively using archetypes, or “primary images”, that have symbolic significance in the novel’s artistic world and structure it, imbuing it with profound philosophical and ethical meaning.