History Main / SettleforSibling

See also DoesHeHaveABrother and DoppelgangerReplacementLoveInterest. LoveFatherLoveSon is similar, but with a generational difference. If the timing of when feelings change isn't ideal, look out for the SiblingTriangle.

* Kaworu ends up taking this route in ''Fanfic/NobodyDies'', since Rei is... ''emphatically'' not into him (as demonstrated by a gruesome NoodleIncident involving "[[EyeScream loss of ocular virginity]]" when he tried to press his suit too hard) but her marginally saner sister Kei is. It tells you something about Kaworu that it took Kei to point out that she is literally physically identical to her sibling (they're clones) for him to even realise this might be an option.

* Played with in ''Film/TheFriscoKid''; the rabbi protagonist is arranged to be married to the daughter of a local Jewish merchant, without having met her; she's vain, selfish, a total flirt, and obviously not a good match for him. Her shyer, more modest, and withdrawn sister is a much better match... as the rabbi discovers when he eventually arrives in town, takes one glimpse of the younger sister and falls hopelessly in love with her, without having even met his intended bride. He ends up marrying her instead.

** The opening credits play out over a bizarre, dialogue-free sequence in which the bride and groom, Gerry and Tom, seem to be in two contradictory situations at once. We later learn that Gerry and Tom are both one of a pair of identical twins, and Gerry's sister was engaged to Tom's brother. However, Gerry also loved Tom's brother and decided to take her sister's place at the altar... not knowing that Tom had taken his brother's place at the altar so he could marry Gerry's sister. So even though Gerry and Tom weren't initially in love with each other, they both settle for the siblings of the people they really loved.

* PlayedWith in ''Film/WhileYouWereSleeping''. Lucy, who was mistaken as the fiancée of comatose Paul (whom she had saved from falling onto train tracks, and had flippantly said she was going to marry him when in really she only had a crush on him and didn't know him), ends up falling for Paul's younger brother, Jack. Paul woke up with amnesia, and initially he and Lucy are almost married. But she finally admits everything at the altar, though [[SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace it turns out she's hardly the only one with an objection]] ([[ExaggeratedTrope to put it mildly]]). In the end, Lucy ended up with Jack.

** In the Literature/CutlerSeries, Jed Booth wanted to marry Violet ([[spoiler:Lillian's real mother]]), but instead married her sister because polite society dictated he should court the oldest daughter.

* The eponymous character from ''Literature/{{Clarissa}}'' suggests this to Roger Solmes, who wants to marry her, as her sister considers him a good man and Clarissa hates him with a passion. Her family treat this as a huge insult.

* In ''Literature/TheColorPurple'', Mr. initially had asked for permission to marry Celie's younger sister, but was denied by their father, so he marries Celie against her will instead.

* ''Film/GoneWithTheWind''. Frank Kennedy ''thinks'' he's doing this in regard to marrying Scarlett instead of her sister Suellen, who he's been courting for years, thanks to Scarlett's lie that Suellen's going to marry someone else.

** Littlefinger seems to be happy with Lysa Tully, as he can't have her sister Catelyn [[spoiler: until he pushes Lysa off a ledge out of the Eyrie]]. Later on, he decides [[spoiler:to go after the far more disturbing "[[LoveFatherLoveSon Settle for Daughter]]" with Catelyn's daughter Sansa. Made even squick-ier by the fact that Sansa is posing as ''his'' daughter, under the false name Alayne Stone, by that point]].

* ''Literature/TheSummerITurnedPretty'' features a SiblingTriangle that has aspect of this trope. Belly is initially head over heels in love with Conrad, but the latter is mostly indifferent to her. Belly eventually grows tired of his mixed signals and decides to date his brother, Jeremiah, who is in love with her. But then [[BelatedLoveEpiphany Conrad begins pursuing Belly]], causing her to become confused by her feelings for the two boys. Finally, Belly decides to part ways with Jeremiah [[RunawayBride right when the two are about to marry]] so she can be with Conrad.

** The reason why Leah Clearwater is cold and aloof is because her relationship with Sam Uley, leader of the werewolf pack, broke down when he imprinted on Emily Young. Emily is only Leah's second cousin, but they were close like sisters when they were young.

* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', Berrynose was in love with Honeyfern, but Honeyfern died of an accident. Moons later Berrynose mated with Honeyfern's littermate, Poppyfrost.
* ''Literature/BridesheadRevisited'' contains a kind of bisexual variation. Charles first loves Sebastian, who eventually spirals into alcoholism and dysfunction, before moving onto his sister Julia. Of course, this relationship doesn't work out so well either considering that Julia is a divorced Catholic and thus incapable of marrying. It's [[Main/DysfunctionJunction that kind of book]].

* On ''Series/TheBoldAndTheBeautiful'', Caroline, Taylor, and Brooke all ended up with Thorne Forrester at various intervals, generally because they were fed up with big brother's Ridge's constant waffling between them and Brooke (in Caroline and Taylor's cases), or them and Caroline or Taylor (in Brooke's case).

* ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'' -- In Season 2, Eddie brings this up when he thinks Patricia and Alfie might be into each-other, stating that it might be what Alfie is thinking.

* {{Downplayed}} on ''Series/ModernFamily'': Jay eventually reveals that he'd originally been attracted to Gloria's sister Sonia, and his aborted attempt to flirt with her actually led him to striking up a conversation with Gloria (who he hadn't noticed up until that point) and he ended up asking ''her'' out instead. However, it's pretty clear that Gloria is far more his type and that he didn't in any way settle for her.

* ''Series/OneTreeHill'': Karen Roe was Dan Scott's high school sweetheart, then when she got pregnant with their son Lucas he left, remarried, and had another son, Nathan. Karen raised Lucas as a single mother but was always friendly with Dan's much-nicer brother Keith before it blossomed into romance [[spoiler:shortly before his death]]. This resulted in another child, a daughter named Lily Roe.
* ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'': In ''Mark of the Berserker'', Clyde Langer's father Paul come back in his life after he abandoned him and his mother Carla and moved to Germany with his maternal aunt Melba. It is revealed (after an ensuing confrontation with an alien pendant that nearly transformed Paul into an alien Berserker) that he came back to Clyde because Melba became pregnant with his child (and Clyde's half-sibling). Clyde tells him to be there for his newborn child.

* Happens in ''Literature/{{Mahabharata}}''. King Vichitravirya of Kuru died childless, leaving behind two wives, Ambika and Ambalika. In keeping with the ancient Vedic custom of ''niyoga'', the two were "passed down" to Vichitravirya's maternal half-brother, Vyasa. Vyasa's union with Ambika conceived Dhritarashtra (father of the one hundred Kauravas), while his union with Ambalika conceived Pandu (father of the five Pandavas). However, both boys were legally considered Vichitravirya's heirs, and succeeded him as kings of Kuru.

* In the DS version of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'', [[RichBitch Debora]] ''assumes'' Crispin has a thing for her, and is just 'settling' for her younger sister [[ProperLady Nera]]. It's obvious to everyone else, however, that he genuinely loves Nera and isn't exactly interested in Debora. PlayedForLaughs, natch.

** A deconstruction happens in the case of [[spoiler:Joe's parents, James and Hildegarde. James was initially in love with Hildegarde's sister Melissa but Melissa was more focused on her schoolwork and ambitions of being a successful business owner and had no desire for a relationship. He and Hildegarde developed a friendship along the way and the two of them took a liking to each other and began dating. However, Jim never really got over Melissa. Then he met a younger woman named Erin during a business trip while he was going through a self-described "midlife crisis" of sorts and left his family, admitting to Hildegard that he sometimes felt like their marriage was a sham from the start]].

* On ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor,'' Numbuh Two/Hoagie has a PrecociousCrush on Numbuh Five/Abigail's older sister, Cree. In the DistantFinale, Hoagie and Abigail are married.

** Marge's high school prom date, Artie Ziff, had [[UnrequitedLoveLastsForever a decades-long infatuation]] with her, but later winds up having a fling with Selma. Their shared dislike of Homer helped to forge an attraction.

* In the third season of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', Will Harper(Red Arrow), years after his wife Jade abandoned him and their daughter Lian, develops mutual attraction for her sister Artemis. In fact, Artemis' mom [[ShipperOnDeck actively encourages Artemis to settle with him]] even though the latter is quite reluctant about dating her brother-in-law. [[spoiler: Eventually subverted. After a failed first date, Will and Artemis agree to remain friends]].

* UsefulNotes/HenryVIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was originally married to his older brother, Arthur. Naturally it was an ArrangedMarriage, so when Arthur died young it was agreed that Henry would marry his brother's widow (because you don't give up a strategic marriage to a literal Spanish Princess whose nephew is due to become ruler of one of the greatest empires the world had yet seen,[[note]]The nephew in question being Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, who was also Carlos I, King of Spain. In the former capacity, he ruled Austria, Burgundy, and the Low Countries as well as (at least theoretically) all of Germany and half of Italy, while in the latter capacity, he held not only Spain but also most of the Americas -- and all of their silver.[[/note]] especially not when she and the new king [[PerfectlyArrangedMarriage actually know and rather like each other and seem quite compatible personally]]). This was somewhat problematic -- the concept of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affinity_%28canon_law%29 affinity]] meant that the couple was technically considered incestuous, so the pope had to give special dispensation to allow it. When five of the couple's six children later died young ([[HeirClubForMen leaving only a daughter]]) Henry claimed that {{God}} disapproved of the marriage and that it should thus be annulled, "justifying" the separation of the English Church from the Roman when the Pope refused to retract the dispensation. This led, eventually, to the end of the Tudor succession/the passage of the English crown to the Stuarts, the UsefulNotes/EnglishCivilWar, and the birth of modern liberal representative democracy. Small trope, big impact.
* Also happened with Catherine's older sisters. Catherine's eldest sister Isabella married King Manuel of Portugal, but died from childbirth, and her son died only a year later. Due to being left without a wife and heir, Manuel then married Isabella's younger sister Maria, who bore him ten children, eight of which lived to adulthood.

* A variant in Creator/JacquelineWilson's ''Literature/HettyFeather'' series: Hetty's foster brother Jem promises to marry her when they grow up, but after Hetty returns to the Foundling Hospital, she is devastated to learn that Jem has now made the same promise to their younger foster sister Eliza. [[spoiler: Ultimately subverted since Jem ultimately marries a third woman nothing to do with the family.]]

* In ''Series/{{Hollyoaks}}'', after Becca Dean was murdered, her husband Jake moved on to and married her sister Nancy in fairly short order.

* Two examples in ''Webcomic/{{Avalon}}''.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', Ingrid was set to be in a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage with Glenn before he was killed. The player has the option to raise her to an A+ support with his brother Felix that results in them marrying in the epilogue.

** [[spoiler:Margaery]] marries [[spoiler:Tommen]] after [[spoiler:Joffrey]] is killed [[spoiler:at their wedding]].

* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'':
** Part of the reason Carlisle turned Rosalie was so she could become a mate for Edward, the only bachelor in the Cullen coven. She even kept her surname (Hale) so it wouldn't have been weird if the two hooked up. But as Edward was resistant to any charms Rosalie could muster, she grew tired and eventually settled for Emmett, a new vampire who took the Cullen surname and as a result is legally Edward's brother.

* Played with in the case of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria. He was supposed to marry [[KissingCousins his cousin]] Helene, but instead he fell in love with her younger sister Elisabeth (Sisi/Sissi). He married Elisabeth in spite of their parents' objections... and the marriage was a disaster.