History Main / TwoDunIt

** Even fan-games are prone to this: the big twist of Chapter 3 in ''VisualNovel/SuperDanganronpaAnother2'' is that both [[CreepyTwins Hibiki and Kanade]] are the culprits.

* ''Ace Attorney Investigations 2'' has multiple "killers" in case one. The problem is figuring out (and proving) who did what and why.

!!Note: This is a SpoileredRotten trope, that means that ''EVERY SINGLE EXAMPLE'' on this list is a spoiler by default and most of them will be unmarked. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned This is your last warning]], only proceed if you really believe you can handle this list.

!!Examples:

* ''Literature/DarkPlaces'': [[spoiler:There are two killers working separately. One is Calvin Diehl, "the Angel of Debt", who Patty hired to kill her, and ended up killing Debby accidentally. The other killer is Diondra, working completely separately, who kills Michelle because Michelle learned about her pregnancy.]]

** In book 1, a werewolf proves responsible for most of the murders due to being trapped in a house full of potential victims during the full moon, but [[spoiler: Adam Stalker, a member of the influential [=DeFerrier=] family who was operating under an alias]] was responsible for the deaths of Councillor William Blackstone and later his wife Katherine.
** In book 2 (''Winner Takes All''), early on, James Adamant tells Hawk and Fisher that someone's been embezzling from him, and leaking information on his campaign to his enemies. It's revealed later that two different people were responsible -- [[spoiler: his political advisor had fallen for a woman who was working for the opposition and was being tricked into telling her all sorts of things, while Adamant's wife Dannielle was embezzling to feed her drug habit]].

* ''Literature/JudgeDee'': After a retired general is found dead the day after his birthday, with clues pointing at a local painter (whose father claimed the general was a traitor and a coward, and was kicked out of the army for it), the Judge investigates and discovers a tiny arrowhead embedded in the general's throat, along with a poisoned fruit. It turns out the general was wanted dead by two people: a ([[PosthumousCharacter now-dead]]) former governor who knew the general ''was'' a traitor[[note]]he'd bribed an enemy into retreating by sacrificing part of his army- the part Tsiao Tai was in[[/note]], and the general's son, who was having an affair with one of his father's concubines, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Abominations a major no-no in Tang society]] (it's outright referred to as incest). The son gave his father a box of poisoned fruit, hoping to blame the murder on the painter, while the governor had given the general a booby-trapped quill, to be used on the day he wrote his memoirs. The quill killed the general, but the Judge orders the general's son to commit suicide (see major no-no above).

** During the events of book 1, the coven learns that two people are responsible for the death of Olivia and the theft of their spell book -- a witch, and a thief who does their bidding. [[spoiler: The thief and killer turns out to be Lisbet, Joe's partner in as a homicide detective, under the influence of her mother Matilda, an ancient witch who's trying to extend her own life by killing other witches and stealing their powers.]]
** In book 3, Makaleigh Verza, a member of the Grand Council of Witches, is murdered. [[spoiler: Hedyle, her arch-rival, set it up and got another member, Bairne Caelius, to do the actual killing, because Makaleigh wanted to make changes to the council that Hedyle and Bairne didn't approve of. Shortly after it comes out, Hedyle herself is killed, but it turns out to be the witchfinder Antonio de Santiago, who was just taking advantage of the confusion and knew her death would free him.]]

A less crowded version of EverybodyDidIt. As this is a PlotTwist trope, this page will contain lots of unmarked '''{{Spoiler}}s'''.

Compare LotsaPeopleTryToDunIt, where multiple characters make separate attempts on the life of the victim.

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** Nick's original theory has [[spoiler:Charles and Suzi]] conspiring (which they are, but unsuccessfully).
** Then he theorizes it's [[spoiler:Grace and Tobias]], which is half right.
** The actual killers are [[spoiler:Juan and Grace]].
* Subverted in ''Film/HotFuzz''. At first Nicholas Angel suspects the ObviouslyEvil local supermarket manager Simon Skinner of being behind the string of mysterious deaths, but he has a waterproof alibi. Just when Angel realizes that there must be more than one killer, he's attacked by Skinner's brutish thug, who tells him to rendezvous at a castle after believing Nicholas to be disposed of. Once Nicholas gets there, it turns out that [[spoiler:in fact [[EverybodyDidIt almost the entire town is in on it]].]]
* ''Film/BloodAndBlackLace'': [[spoiler:There are two people under the featureless mask at separate times Massimo killed some of the women, and Cristina killed the others to draw the police's attention away from him.]]

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[[folder:Live-Action Television]]

* This trope is rare in ''Series/MidsomerMurders'', but it does happen in "[[spoiler:The Creeper]]", where the killers turn out to be a mother and daughter-in-law killing to protect a family secret.
* In ''Series/DeathInParadise'', this turns out to be the solutions in''[[spoiler: The Blood Red Sea, The Complex Murder, and Murder at the Polls.]]''

A type of reveal where misdeeds depicted in the work were in fact committed by two agents (man or beast), either separately or working together.

** ''Literature/EvilUnderTheSun'': Supposedly Arlena and Patrick are in a dysfuctional marriage and Patrick is carrying on an affair with Arlena, who turns up as the murder victim. In fact Arlena and Patrick are quite HappilyMarried, and evil, as they collaborated together to kill Arlena.

* In ''Series/DeathInParadise'', this turns out to the solutions in''[[spoiler: The Blood Red Sea, The Complex Murder, and Murder at the Polls.]]''

* In ''Series/DeathInParadise'', this turns out to be the key to ''[[spoiler:Murder in the Polls]]'' -- one murderer, and one accomplice to arrange a fake alibi.

* In ''Literature/TheIlluminatusTrilogy'' universe, [[WhoShotJFK John F. Kennedy was shot]] by [[ArcNumber five]] snipers simultaneously.
* In ''Literature/{{Maskerade}}'', the major break in the case happens when Granny realizes there are two Opera Ghosts. One Opera Ghost is the hapless but good Walter Plinge, who used the Ghost to hide out under the opera house and do some other mysterious but not evil things. The other is Salzella and actually killed the dead opera members.

* After the killer Santa Claus's identity is revealed in ''To All a Goodnight'', it is shown to the audience that there is also a second one.

** ''Anime/Danganronpa3 Side:Future'': The mastermind of the Final Killing Game is Kazuo Tengan, head of the Future Foundation, whose goal was to [[WellIntentionedExtremist eradicate despair for good]] by [[BreakTheCutie tormenting Ryota Mitarai until he snapped]] and decided to use his talent to [[HavingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul brainwash the entire world into feeling nothing but hope]]. The "spy" that was supposedly going around killing everyone does not exist, all of the "murders" were actually brainwashing-induced suicides. Monaca Towa also killed Miaya Gekkogahara at some point before the events of the killing game and replaced her with a remote-controlled robotic duplicate that she was using to spy on the Future Foundation, but she was ultimately a RedHerring who [[NotMeThisTime had nothing to do with the Final Killing Game]].

*** Chapter 1: Leon was the one who killed Sayaka, but Sayaka herself was trying to kill Leon first- Leon fought back and killed her in the heat of the moment. The manga also has it be an AccidentalMurder on Leon's part.

*** Chapter 4: Sakura was DrivenToSuicide, but Aoi was manipulated by Monokuma into trying to get everyone else killed as well.

*** Chapter 2: Subverted. Peko killed Mahiru, but it seems that Fuyuhiko ordered her to do it. Turns out Peko did it of her own accord.

*** Chapter 4: Gundham killed Nekomaru, but they fought in a duel to the death- had Nekomaru won, he would have killed Gundham.

** ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls'': The was between kids and adults in Towa City was set up by Monaca a Towa and AI Junko Enoshima, the latter disguised as Shirokuma and Kurokuma.
** ''Anime/Danganronpa3 Side:Future'': The spy who set up the final killing game is actually three people. Monaca, disguised as Miaya Gekkogahara; Kazuo Tengan, the Future Foundation Chairman and primary mastermind; and Chisa Yukizome, who brought Tengan to despair in the first place.

*** Chapter 1: [[DecoyProtagonist Kaede]] set up the trap to kill the mastermind, but said mastermind, Tsumugi, saw it coming and killed Rantaro to frame her.
*** Chapter 2: Actally averted; Kirumi is the sole culprit behind Ryoma's murder this time.
*** Chapter 3: Subverted; while it seems like Angie and Tenko may have been killed by two different people, Korekiyo murdered both of them.

*** Chapter 6: Monokuma masterminded the game with the help of Tsumugi and [[EvilInc Team Danganronpa]].

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[[folder: Visual Novels ]]

* In ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'', the True Ending of the game reveals that the mastermind behind the Nonary Game, Zero, is actually ''two'' of the game's participants.
* Eventually it's revealed that there are two masterminds behind Monokuma, the villain of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', collectively known as Ultimate Despair. There's a subversion, though: the mastermind who was manually controlling the bear murdered her accomplice early in the story, by baiting her into breaking the rules. This was done to hide the fact that they had [[TwinSwitch swapped identities]].
* A possible theory about the truth of Rokkenjima in ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' is that the events are caused by two teams working independent of each other, one planning and one opportunistic.

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[[folder: Real Life ]]

* Eventually it's revealed that there are two masterminds behind Monobear, the villain of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', collectively known as Super High-School Level Despair. There's a subversion, though: the mastermind who was manually controlling the bear murdered her accomplice early in the story, by baiting her into breaking the rules. This was done to hide the fact that they had [[TwinSwitch swapped identities]].

* In ''Discworld/{{Maskerade}}'', the major break in the case happens when Granny realizes there are two Opera Ghosts. One Opera Ghost is the hapless but good Walter Plinge, who used the Ghost to hide out under the opera house and do some other mysterious but not evil things. The other is Salzella and actually killed the dead opera members.

* Subverted in ''Film/HotFuzz''. At first Nicholas Angel suspects the ObviouslyEvil local supermarket manager Simon Skinner of being behind the string of mysterious deaths, but he has a waterproof alibi. Just when Angel realizes that there must be more than one killer, he's attacked by Skinner's brutish thug, who tells him to rendezvous at a castle after believing Nicholas to be disposed of. Once Nicholas gets there, it turns out that in fact [[EverybodyDidIt almost the entire town is in on it]].