Distillation the Relationships

One must distill the relationships of their characters down to its core.

For example,

Story of Jesus Cruxifiction
Story of War of 1812
Story of The Shining

Jewish leaders convince Pilate his throne is in trouble because of Jesus while it is truly the Jewish Leaders who fear dethroning.

British King convinces Native American's their land is in trouble because of the American Revolutionaries while it is truly the British who fear dethroning from America.

Ghost convinces Jack his throne is in trouble because of his own son while it is truly the ghosts who fear the power of the sun...son.  

SO...
The core relationship is Character A tricks Character B to do their bidding against Character C.

Once you distill the relationship down to the core you can then interweave many cultural stories, symbols, and metaphors into yours.

NOTE!  "tricks" above is the "emotional tool" used in these three examples.  So you use whatever emotional tool you have picked to connect the characters.