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18[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/DespicableMe3 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/despicable3_disneyscreencapscom_2676_1.png]]]]
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20A plot in which two siblings (usually identical twins) who were separated at birth now meet up as youngsters or adults. Usually the twins are mistaken for one another by family/friends and HilarityEnsues. Often the two characters were previously unhappy with their lots in life, [[PrinceAndPauper but after having walked a mile in somebody else's shoes, they gain a new appreciation for what they have]]. Notice that Separated at Birth doesn't have to apply ''literally'' -- their parents might have divorced, and each parent took one kid and neither kid was told of the other's existence, but before that they were one family for some time. But Separated At Birth, especially if combined with DeathByChildbirth, can make for so much ''drama.''
21
22A plot which sometimes rises from this is {{Twincest}}. This is also a good way to drop an EvilTwin on your doorstep, though that variant is a DeadHorseTrope by now. It is a common cause of RichSiblingPoorSibling.
23
24A SpeculativeFiction variant is SplitAtBirth. Sub-trope of LongLostRelative. Compare SwitchedAtBirth, where one baby is swapped for another. Also compare OneTwinMustDie, in which the separation is [[DeathTropes forever]]. For twins ''literally'' separated at birth, see ConjoinedTwins. Not to be confused with SeparatedAtBirthCasting, where multiple unrelated actors prevent the need of ActingForTwo. Encountering this trope is like meeting your IdenticalStranger; except that if it were that trope, you would get the extreme similarity in appearance without the [[JustifiedTrope justification]] that it's because the identical stranger is a long-lost identical twin.
25
26----
27!!Examples:
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29[[foldercontrol]]
30
31[[folder:Advertising]]
32* State Farm insurance has a series of ads depicting insurance agent Cliff Paul, the long-lost twin of NBA star Chris Paul. Naturally, Cliff is just a character played by Chris. In one ad, the two meet as adults, and to Chris' surprise, Cliff's life is every bit as exciting as his own.
33[[/folder]]
34
35[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
36* [[spoiler:Mei Misaki and Misaki Fujioka]] from the anime ''Literature/{{Another}}''. [[spoiler:Mei was adopted by their aunt Yukiyo after she had a miscarriage that left her very emotionally unstable, but when they learn the family secret, they spend all their time together despite Yukiyo's objections, until Misaki's death of illness.]]
37* Momiji and Kaede of ''Manga/BlueSeed'' are an unusual example of this trope in that they are fraternal twins. No one would mistake one for the other but the fact that they ''are'' twins (and Kaede is the eldest, if only by minutes) has serious supernatural consequences over the course of the story since it dilutes their hereditary magical powers.
38* In the ''Anime/CodeGeass'' spinoff manga ''[[Manga/CodeGeassNightmareOfNunnally Nightmare of Nunnally]]'', [[spoiler:Lelouch Lamperouge and Rolo vi Brittiana]] are examples. Though they could both fit the criteria for EvilTwin, [[spoiler:it's Rolo]] who defiantly wins the part of the Even More Evil Twin.
39* Part of a subplot in ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'', where two boys named Kouichi and Kouji discover they are twin brothers, and one of them is lured to the dark side. It takes a ''lot'' for his brother to make him pull a HeelFaceTurn. [[spoiler:And then, they discover that in the real world, the first twin is ''[[DeadAllAlong dead]]'' and only his subconscious remains in the Digital World. A bit of TimeTravel (as in, returning to Earth almost at the same time the dead twin has the accident that eventually killed him) was needed to save the kid's life.]]
40* Goku and Raditz in ''Anime/DragonBallZ''. It's a non-twin case. It's apparantly common for Saiyans to send babies to planets with weak people to kill off the population. It was later {{Retcon}}ned later, the flashback that introduced their mother shows that Goku was at least a toddler before being sent away in order to avoid his demise along with the rest of the planet. Then, Goku fell on his head and thus invoking this trope.
41* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}''
42** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'', due to the fact that Kira and Cagalli, despite being twins separated at birth and raised by different parents since [[spoiler:the twins's biological father, Ulen Hibiki, was a MadScientist who experimented on baby!Kira via having him taken out earlier despite his wife/partner Via's pleas, then 'raised' in an artificial womb until he was properly born.]] It should also be noted that [[AllThereInTheManual other materials]] state that Kira's adoptive mom Caridad Yamato is, in fact, his and Cagalli's maternal aunt (the younger sister of [[spoiler:the aforementioned]] Via Hibiki) [[spoiler:who took the babies in right after their parents were murdered]]. This is a {{Homage}} to ''Franchise/StarWars'' anyway...
43** Subverted in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00''. [[spoiler:After the death of their family when they're teenagers, the twins Neil and Lyle Dylandy ''consciously'' decide to stay out of each other's lives since they weren't able to properly deal with their own problems ''and'' Neil wasn't very into the idea of having Lyle learn about his involvement with terrorists either. Ironically, more than a decade later Lyle would take up Neil's place as "Lockon Stratos" in Celestial Being and deconstruct the idea of being a BackUpTwin for him.]]
44* ''Toys/{{Jewelpet}}''
45** ''Anime/JewelpetTwinkle'': HalfIdenticalTwins [[spoiler:Yuuma and Alma]] are the progeny of a Jewel Landian woman and a man from the human world. They had to be separated for two reasons: [[spoiler:one is that Alma inherited her mother's magic and as such couldn't stay in the human world, while Yuuma didn't and the opposite is true for him; the other is that their bodies encase a key that unlocks the source of all evil, so it's better that they are kept separate for the sake of both worlds.]] What's more tragic is that they do remember each other, and their dead mother, and this informs their personalities for better or [[RevengeBeforeReason for worse]].
46** ''Anime/JewelpetSunshine'': [[spoiler:Kanon and Mikage. They were separated because Kanon was born with an odd mark. Her grandmother demanded that she be, uh, ''disposed'' of, because she thought it was a sign that Kanon would bring disaster, so her parents gave her away to another family. This all ends in SurpriseIncest because Kanon and Mikage date for most of the second half of the show.]]
47* [[spoiler:Ryuko Matoi and Satsuki Kiryuin]] from ''Anime/KillLaKill'', are later revealed to be sisters. However it was revealed that after [[spoiler:Ryuko]] was casually discarded by [[spoiler:their Mother and was later rescued by their father Soichiro Kiryuin, who then took on the fake identity of Dr. Isshin Matoi to protect himself and Ryuuko ''and'' build LaResistance against Ragyo]]. They are later reunited as enemies years later until TheReveal of [[spoiler:Ryuko's]] [[LukeIAmYourFather parentage was revealed]].
48* The trope is played for horrible tragedy in the ''Manga/SaintSeiya'' {{filler}} Asgard Saga: [[spoiler:the Asgard Warriors, Mizar Syd and Mizar Bud, were twin brothers who had to be separated since Asgardian traditions look down on twins. The older twin Syd was raised by his noble family while the younger Bud was raised by a lumberjack; after finding out the truth on his own, Bud started to ''loathe'' Syd and specially after they were designated as the Mizar Saints, which meant Bud [[TheUnfavorite would forever be in Syd's shadow]]. But in reality, Syd always knew that Bud was his brother and longed to be properly reunited with him... but he died before being able to reconcile with him.]]
49* In the ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}'' manga, Hakkai and his twin sister were placed in different orphanages shortly after birth, but met and fell in love. Even after learning their identities as brother and sister, [[BrotherSisterIncest they continued the affair]].
50* Another fraternal twins example, this is the case with [[spoiler:Fujisaki "Bossun" Yuusuke and Tsubaki Sasuke]] in ''Manga/SKETDance''. [[spoiler:Both of their parents died]] in the same day of their birth, and the doctor [[spoiler:adopted Sasuke as his son (at their mother's last request)]] while [[spoiler:giving Yuusuke to Akane, without telling her about Sasuke]]. Their relationship is {{foreshadow|ing}}ed via a lot of {{Not So Different Remark}}s.
51* [[spoiler:Toriko and Starjun]] from ''Manga/{{Toriko}}''. [[spoiler:Starjun discovers this when eating ANOTHER awakens his Food Memory of suckling his thumb while sharing the womb with Toriko.]] He chooses to keep this to himself, so his brother remains in the dark.
52* Hiei and Yukina of ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' are this. Well, it varies, depending on the translation, or if you believe what Hiei has to say in the dubs. The generally accepted belief is that they're twins separated at birth; Hiei was cast off the Koorime Island for being born male in their female-only race, while Yukina was allowed to stay with their mother. While they do meet in the series and are often in each other's company, Hiei is the only one of the two definitely aware of their relationship while it was never made clear if Yukina was aware herself.
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55[[folder:ComicBooks]]
56* Northstar and Aurora of ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight'' were separated as infants when their parents died. They quickly developed a very... ''intense'' sibling relationship, despite not having been raised together.
57* Franchise/{{Batman}} villains the Trigger Twins ''think'' this is what happened to them. They don't know for sure, but there aren't a lot of other explanations for two complete strangers who look exactly identical to one another. One of them even mentions something he saw on TV about separated twins leading unusually like lives as adults... and the Trigger Twins met when they tried to rob the same bank.
58** Subverted with the Trigger Triplet; a woman who claims to be a third sibling, but who is lying to manipulate them.
59* The Creator/MarkWaid run of ''Franchise/TheFlash'' introduced Malcolm Thawne, Barry Allen's identical twin who was SwitchedAtBirth. However, while an earlier encounter was retconned in, their biological relationship didn't come out until after Barry was dead.
60* In ''Comicbook/YoungAvengers'', with a twist. Wiccan and Speed are from different biological parents, but have the souls of the twin sons of the Comicbook/ScarletWitch. They therefore treat each other like brothers, especially Speed showing a lot of BigBrotherInstinct towards Wiccan.
61* ''Comicbook/{{Shazam}}'': The original [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Marvel#Original_Fawcett_origin Fawcett background]] had this history for Billy and Mary Batson. DC changed it.
62* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 used to have]] a twin sister named ComicBook/{{Nubia}} who was stolen at birth. Comicbook/PostCrisis in ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'' they rebooted her to be unrelated to Diana. In the ''[[ComicBook/WonderWoman2011 New 52]]'', it seems that [[Creator/DCComics DC]] likes that because in this arc we were introduced to Jason, who was separated from his twin sister [[spoiler:Diana]] for two reasons: for [[spoiler:Hippolyta]] to escape Hera's fury and because men are not allowed in Themiscyra.
63[[/folder]]
64
65[[folder:Fan Works]]
66* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'': Revealed to be the origin of [[spoiler: Maddie Pryor a.k.a. Rachel Grey]], where she's [[spoiler: Jean Grey's twin sister]], stolen mere hours after birth. As it is, very few people initially knew and she thought that she was an ArtificialHuman, created to be a LivingWeapon and was more or less at peace with the idea (though not without a few doubts) because she'd been indoctrinated from birth. Unsurprisingly, she has a significant breakdown after the truth comes out.
67* Gamzee and Feferi are a variation in ''FanFic/{{Hivefled}}''; they are quite possibly the first case of trolls actually knowing who their siblings are, as their biological parents never raise them. Feferi doesn't know as of yet, but Gamzee does.
68* The protagonists of ''Fanfic/HuntersOfDeath'' are two [[Franchise/MassEffect Shepard]] twins who went through this. The hospital they were born in was attacked by Kaiju, and Jane was presumed killed. As such, her background in Earthborn while John is a Spacer.
69* ''Fanfic/JimmyTwoShoesTheMovieMiseryLovesCompany'': This is the case with Beezy and his [[LongLostRelative long-lost fraternal twin]] Belphy. Their mother Maggie gave birth to them shortly after she left Lucius, but chose to leave Beezy in his father's care as a DoorStopBaby due to Belphy's ProphetEyes worrying her.
70* Through various circumstances, [[WesternAnimation/Ducktales2017 Huey, Dewey, and Louie]] in ''[[https://www.archiveofourown.org/works/26364385/chapters/64213435 Scattered to the Winds]]'' are split up and taken in by three separate guardians before they even hatch after Donald and Scrooge are accidentally blasted off into space alongside Della: Huey is taken in by Launchpad (who, being TheDitz, forgot that there were two other eggs) and taken to Cape Suzette so that the latter can find work with Don Karnage, and is eventually adopted by Meg. Dewey is taken in by Gyro Gearloose, who desperately works to find the other children. And Louie is taken in by Goldie O'Gilt, who did it in a fit on consciousness after being guilt-tripped by a portrait of Scrooge.
71* ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/367008/yes-my-lady Yes, My Lady]]'', a crossover of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' and ''Manga/BlackButler'', includes a subplot involving a pair of twin sisters who were conceived via a one-night-stand and separated at birth, with one raised by the father and his new wife and the other being raised by the mother. The father was later incapacitated; luckily, he'd arranged a living will that returned custody of his daughter to her birth mother should something happen to him (though neither sister was given the full story at the time, and they still don't know as of its end). [[spoiler:The sisters are Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara, and their birth parents are Applejack and Filthy Rich, making this also a case of RelatedInTheAdaptation (for Diamond and the Apple family, and Apple Bloom and the Rich family) and FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo (for Apple Bloom and Applejack, since the latter raised Apple Bloom as her sister).]]
72* A very popular FandomSpecificPlot for ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' is for the turtles to be separated at their mutation and raised by various other characters. One such example for ''[[WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Rise]]'' is ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/44860255 Severed Brotherhood]]'', which sees Mikey still raised by Splinter, Leo by Hypno-Potamus, Donnie by Baron Draxum, and Raph by Big Mama.
73[[/folder]]
74
75[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]
76* Austin and his [[spoiler:twin Dr. Evil]] are separated in ''Film/AustinPowers'', with one being raised by a negligent spy father and the other raised by [[spoiler:a cruel Belgian man and his French whore girlfriend]].
77* The film ''Film/BadCompany2002'' uses this for Creator/ChrisRock, as his character is 'recruited' by the [=CIA=] to replace his twin brother, who recently died during a crucial assignment; it is explained that their mother died giving birth to them and Rock's character had a serious lung infection as an infant that prompted the hospital to let his brother be adopted separately from him as they assumed he wouldn't survive.
78* The entire plot of ''Film/{{Big Business|1988}}'' -- times TWO (it's a [[RecycledInSpace 1980s update]] of ''Theatre/TheComedyOfErrors'').
79** Creator/BetteMidler and Creator/LilyTomlin star as two sets of twins: the Midlers come from rich city parents, the Tomlins come from poor country parents. Both families end up with one Midler (Sadie) and one Tomlin (Rose) each. The movie is one part this, one part SwitchedAtBirth, one part [[TheCityVsTheCountry The City Mouse And The Country Mouse]]. Hilarity ensues.
80* ''Film/BrothersFive'': The five titular brothers are from a righteous family who lose their parents to an evil warlord. Separated and raised in different parts of the city, they are eventually reunited when a swordswoman seeking to overthrow said warlord seeks all five of the brothers and convince them to work together. They recognize each other as siblings thanks to [[EveryScarHasAStory a single scar that runs through the back of their hands]], which they received as babies.
81* ''Film/ClassOfNukeEmHighPartIIITheGoodTheBadAndTheSubhumanoid'': Near the start of the movie, when Victoria is in labour with the twins, everyone is called away, allowing Dr. Slag Ph.D and his cronies to steal one of the babies right out of Victoria's womb. They all come back in time to witness the birth of the second one, [[DeathByChildbirth and the strain of it all kills her]]. As a result, no one ever finds out about them being twins.
82* ''{{Film/Enemy}}'': {{Discussed|Trope}} as one possibility for Adam and Anthony's being doubles. Both Adam and Anthony's mother deny it, however (they also possess the same scar, something identical twins would not have, unless {{synchronization}} is in play).
83* Late in ''Film/TheLossOfSexualInnocence'', two orphan twin girls cared for by Italian nuns are separated when one of them is adopted by an English family, so that one grows up Italian and the other English. As adult women (played by the beautiful Saffron Burrows), they meet face to face by chance and stand transfixed for a while, staring at each other in wonder. But then they go their separate ways without even having spoken to each other.
84* ''Film/MyTwentiethCentury'': Two twin sisters, who grew up separately, Dóra, a pseudo-aristocrat, and Lili, an anarchist bomber, are reunited through Z, a mysterious traveller of the luxurious Orient-Express.
85* ''Film/TheParentTrap1961'' and ''Film/TheParentTrap1998'' each revolve around the reunion of twins who were separated very young when their parents split up and ultimately decided [[SolomonDivorce to keep one daughter each.]]
86* in ''Film/SecondTour'', reporter Miss Pove finds out that Mercier (who is candidate in an election) has a twin brother. She later discovers that he doesn't know that.
87* ''Film/ShaolinPrince'' tells the story of two princes who got separated at birth when an usurper of the throne massacres the palace and kills the Emperor. The titular character ends up being raised in the Shaolin Temple, where he discover his true lineage after a chance encounter with his brother, adopted by another royal family.
88* ''Film/StartTheRevolutionWithoutMe'' has a similar situation as ''Big Business'': two sets of identical twins (one noble, and one peasant) are born at the same time and placed on the same bed. Since nobody could figure out which set of twins belonged to which set of parents they decided to re-combine the pairs since that guaranteed they'd be "half right".
89* Luke and Leia in ''Franchise/StarWars'' were separated at birth to [[ChangelingFantasy hide them from their father]].
90* In ''Film/TomAndThomas'', [[spoiler: the boys were left on a hospital doorstep, but before the staff knew they were there, Tom was taken away by a woman and ended up in an orphanage. Thomas was taken in by the staff and was later adopted by a kind father (played by Creator/SeanBean), who, at the end, adopted Tom, as well.]]
91* The ''Creator/JackieChan'' film, ''Film/TwinDragons'', where Chan plays the titular twins who got separated the day they are born. The two Chans have different lifestyles, one growing up into a musician while the other a street racer and fighter.
92* This trope was subverted in ''Film/Twins1988'' with Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger and Creator/DannyDeVito as the twins, who cannot be mistaken for each other.
93* Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme loves this trope.
94** In ''Film/DoubleImpact'', he played two separated twins in Hong Kong, but one of them grew up to be a martial arts master and the other a street thug.
95** In ''Film/MaximumRisk'', one of the twins dies before the start of the movie but not before finding out all about his long-lost brother, and forcing the brother to pose as him to uncover who killed him.
96** In ''Film/{{Replicant}}'' as well, but here the twin is actually the clone of a serial killer. Still the plot of the movie pretty much sets him up as a separated at birth, good, twin to the originals evil twin (complete with TwinTelepathy).
97[[/folder]]
98
99[[folder:Literature]]
100* ''Literature/AcornaSeries'': In ''Acorna's Children: Second Wave'', [[spoiler:Khorii's twin Arriin]] was telekinetically kidnapped from their mother's womb.
101* ''Literature/AllForTheGame'': Andrew and Aaron Minyard's mother initially put both of them up for adoption when they were babies, but decided to take one back after feeling guilty. She raised Aaron to not know he had a brother while Andrew grew up in foster care, until they learned of eachother's existence as teenagers.
102* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy'' has Cor (Shasta) and Corin.
103* {{Subverted|Trope}} in ''Literature/TheBigFour'', in which [[spoiler:Hercule Poirot pretends to have a twin brother called "Achille Poirot" and that they haven't seen each other in years, implying that they were separated at birth. This is later revealed a plan in order to fool the organization since he has no twin brother whatsoever and did this in order to pretend that he had died, while Achille Poirot, his twin brother, was alive.]]
104* In ''[[Literature/{{Duumvirate}} Billy and Howard]]'', one of the title characters is left to live among [[{{Muggles}} normals]] for a decade, to give perspective to his controlling twin when they are reunited. He is able to confront his creator in the second book about this. He is not pleased.
105* Amoret and Belphoebe in ''Literature/TheFaerieQueene''.
106* In Elise Title's ''The Face in the Mirror'' model Joanna Clark was taken from her birth mother by the obstetrician, whose own wife was childless and upset about it. Then she was drafted by the government to impersonate her research scientist twin, who'd mysteriously disappeared...
107* In ''Literature/AHoleInTheFence'', [[spoiler:Grisón and Prune]] turn out to be siblings. On the same night that she left baby Grisón in Flammèche's care, [[spoiler:Saura visited Marguerite Rousselot and asked her to take care of her baby daughter for some few years]].
108* In ''Literature/TheGirlFromTheMiraclesDistrict'', it eventually turns out that [[spoiler:Nikita and Ture]] are twins, whose parents separated them when they went opposite ways.
109* ''Literature/{{Gone}}'': Sam and Caine. Take a long look at [[NameOfCain Caine's name]], and you have [[CainAndAbel the nature of their relationship.]]
110* An example of this occurs with a pair of twins in the ''Literature/InDeath'' series. The two boys met in the army, went through everything together: spec ops, evil paramilitary organizations, serial killing... you know, brother stuff.
111* In the German novel ''Das doppelte Lottchen'' (translated as ''Literature/LottieAndLisa'') by Erich Kästner, the twins were separated when they were still very little and they don't remember each other.
112* Lisa Scottoline's Bennie and Alice in ''Mistaken Identity, Dead Ringer'' and ''Think Twice.''
113* The title character of the ''Literature/SabinaKane'' series was told by her vampire grandmother that her mage father's family wanted nothing to do with her. She discovers partway through the first book that not only is that not true, but that she has a twin sister who is the incumbent leader of the mages' ruling body, the Hekate Council.
114* ''Literature/{{Samaria}}'': In ''The Alleluia Files'', Tamar and Lucinda.
115* ''Literature/TheSchoolForGoodAndEvil'' has [[spoiler: Agatha and Sophie, separated at birth because the mother only wanted the one who looked just like the father, and abandoned the "ugly" Agatha to the midwife]]. This came as a bit of a surprise to readers who had previously [[spoiler: shipped the two]].
116* In ''Literature/{{Spectrum}}'', the main character believes it's the case when a girl he had only recently seen die a horrible death is discovered alive and well on another planet. However, he's wrong: these are copies of the same girl as a technical failure of the interplanetary transportation got her replicated seven times.
117* ''Literature/SplitHeirs'': Played for laughs. Not only are robust 14 year old shepherd boy Dunwin and brilliant young wizard Wulfrith impossible to tell apart despite the latter being sold off at age 2, but the royal-reared sister the two triplets were in fact separated from as newborns could pass for either of them with little effort when she wears male attire[[note]]which she does 24[=/=]7[[/note]].
118* The Creator/LoisDuncan book ''Stranger with My Face'' is based entirely on this trope. The main character was adopted at birth, but her parents decided not to take her twin sister because ''they could sense her evil''. The other twin grows up to come and ruin the heroine's life, using, of all things, astral projection. This becomes rather perplexing when the main character and her family are described. They're all blond, pale, and white, while she's half Native American.
119* Twin sisters Cam and Alex from ''Literature/TWitches'' were separated at birth and adopted by different families. They met each other when they were 14, and [[PubertySuperpower found out they were witches]].
120* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', Fireheart was born as a house cat, so he and his siblings were split up and all given to new owners when they were still kits. After living in the forest Clans for a few moons, he is patrolling the edge of his territory one day and spots his sister. She doesn't recognize him at first, but they quickly become friends again and he continues to visit her for the rest of the series.
121* In ''Literature/AWolfInTheSoul'', minor characters the Crowe twins were separated at birth, or so they claim.
122[[/folder]]
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124[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
125* An episode of ''Series/BeyondBeliefFactOrFiction'' had a segment titled "Positive [=I.D.=]," where a reporter is arrested for armed robbery after a surveillance tape showed him robbing a liquor store. When the guilty man is arrested, the reporter finds out that they are twins, and after their mother gave them up after birth, the reporter was adopted and raised in a happy, stable home, while his brother drifted from foster home to foster home, suffering abuse until he aged out of the system.
126* An episode of ''Series/{{Bones}}'' ("The Gunk in the Garage") saw the team investigate the murder of a man that was eventually determined to actually be an attempt to kill the man's identical twin, with the two separated at birth so that they never knew the other existed; at one point the team psychologist talks with the surviving twin to determine some ideas about how his dead brother might have lived his life.
127* In the Mexican children series ''Series/{{Complices al Rescate}}'' plot is this. Silvana and Mariana were separated from birth, but are reunited eleven years later.
128* ''Series/CriminalMinds'': "The Inspired" involves a pair of identical twins being reunited after one is mistaken for the other and was arrested for his crimes, though they were slightly older when their mother put one up for adoption. After Walter -- the twin she kept -- developed psychological problems, she decided she made a mistake; when Jessie -- the twin she gave up -- unsealed his adoption and made contact, she masterminded a plan to get Jessie to kill Walter so that she'd get to be the mother of a successful lawyer, not an insane cook. Then Walter turned into a serial killer and Jessie took it as inspiration, and the family dynamic continued breaking down from there.
129* A tragic example is the episode [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happenstance_(CSI) "Happenstance"]] on ''Series/{{CSI}}'', where the victims were identical twins murdered on the same night who were separated at birth and had no knowledge of each other's existence - though examing their effects reveals they would have met a week later when one attended a photography class being taught by the other [[spoiler:Both were killed by the same person; the first to die was killed because the killer thought she was her sister and they used the same laundromat; the second died when she arrived home to find the killer searching for her laptop at home and he, panicking, killed her "again".]]
130* The twinned X5 SuperSoldiers in ''Series/DarkAngel'' were separated even before birth; cooked up as embryos in the same test tubes, they were implanted in different surrogate mothers and then raised in different units at Project Manticore. [[BackupTwin Alec]] never meets his brother Ben, who dies in Season 1 before Alec becomes a recurring character in Season 2. Both are Creator/JensenAckles. Max meets her sister Sam in the episode "She Aint' Heavy" (as in "she ain't heavy, she's my sister"). Both are Creator/JessicaAlba.
131* In the re-imagined ''Series/{{Flash Gordon|2007}}'' series, [[spoiler:Aura and Terek]] are twins, but [[spoiler:Terek]] was supposed to have been killed for being a Deviant (a mutant). They almost have a {{Twincest}} moment, but Flash manages to stop them, revealing the truth. Later, it is revealed that the Deviant [=DNA=] came from the father, a Deviant-hater.
132* After ''Series/{{Neighbours}}'' brought Dee Bliss BackFromTheDead (for real this time), it was retconned that Andrea Somers, the IdenticalStranger con-artist who impersonated her two years ago, had been her actual sister all along: Heather Schilling had given birth to twins, but one had been illegally adopted out and named Dione.
133* This is Prince Charming's backstory in ''Series/OnceUponATime'': [[spoiler: he was one of twins born to a poor shepherding family, but his brother James was taken by the king and raised as his heir. James turns out to be a PrinceCharmless, and when he gets himself killed, the king turns to the BackupTwin, who agrees to protect his family. They don't actually meet until Season 5, when the main cast visit the underworld.]]
134* This trope served as a plot on the soap opera ''Series/OneLifeToLive'' in the mid-90s. Maggie Carpenter and her long-lost twin brother Ian were separated by their parents, who were each married to someone else; the twins had been the result of their adulterous affair. The father raised the daughter and the mother raised the son. The twins met as adults, but fortunately did not develop an attraction to each other.
135* On ''Series/OrphanBlack'', Sarah and Helena were separated to protect them from the people who designed their line of clones. Sarah was given to the government foster system, Helena to the church.
136* ''Series/PrincessSilver'': [[spoiler: Wu You and Fu Chou]] are fraternal twin brothers. They discover their relation years later, after they've become enemies.
137* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'':
138** Parodied when Sabrina's magic typewriter brings her characters to life. Including one that was based on Mrs. Quick (played by the same actress). When the real Mrs. Quick sees her with Sabrina, she remarks "The psychic was right! I was separated at birth."
139** This is actually the case for all the Spellman witches. Each Spellman witch is born with an identical twin, but they don't get to meet said twin until they qualify for their Witch's License. They must then take a test to determine which is the EvilTwin and therefore can't live in the Mortal Realm.
140%% ZCE * ''Series/SisterSister'' (with the Mowrys)
141* Australian TV classic ''Series/SonsAndDaughters'' was based on this very idea. Born twins -- separated at birth -- beginning a story of intrigue, romance and adventure! Twenty years after their secret birth, John and Angela meet. Fiery romantic emotions develop between them which finally unlock the secret of their birth. This starts a chain of events that shakes both the families to their foundations and dramatically changes the lives of everyone involved. It lasted for five and a half years on the Seven Network and inspired six international adaptations.
142* The series ''Series/{{Two}}'', where the main character's evil twin, separated at birth and non-existent in official documents, sets out to destroy the main character's life, at first killing his family, making him flee the authorities. A common element in this show was that the bad guy deliberately got caught on tape to frame his brother. Of course, neither of them appear at once in the same scene.
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144
145[[folder:Music]]
146* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOJCpEBPV2I Looking For You In The Sky]] and its sequel, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTdce6ix_go Paradise of Light and Shadow]], by the twin Music/{{vocaloid}} Len and Rin Kagamine.
147[[/folder]]
148
149[[folder:Sequential Art]]
150* One Creator/CharlesAddams [[https://thewonderoftwins.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/mallifert-twins.jpg cartoon]] has two men sitting side by side in the waiting room of a patent office, identical in appearance and dress, and bearing exact duplicates of the same complex-looking device. The caption reads "The Mallifert twins, separated at birth, meet accidentally."
151[[/folder]]
152
153[[folder:Theatre]]
154* The plot of ''Theatre/BloodBrothers''. The boys meet as children and become friends into adulthood... it doesn't end well.
155* This trope forms the basis for ''Theatre/TheComedyOfErrors'', which was itself cribbed from Creator/{{Plautus}}'s ''Menaechmi'', making it OlderThanFeudalism. In the ''Comedy'', two sets of twins are split in twain during a storm at sea. One twin from each set is saved by fishermen from Ephesus along with Emilia, while another is left to return to Syracuse with Aegon. Everyone from Syracuse is aware of this situation, but since the fishermen separated Emilia and the kids with her, the characters from Ephesus have no idea about their respective twins.
156* ''Theatre/TheImportanceOfBeingEarnest'' deals with a man who was lost by his governess a few weeks after birth. He eventually meets up with his younger brother while pretending to be a fictional version of said brother, and they both end up getting married. Oh, and the name 'Earnest' comes into play more than once, used by both brothers....
157[[/folder]]
158
159[[folder:Video Games]]
160* In ''Videogame/ArcTheLadTwilightOfTheSpirits'', the fraternal twin sons of a human woman and a Deimos man were separated when they were being pursued by Deimos who were revolted by the mixed marriage and wanted to kill them. The mother was holding one son while the father was holding another. Then the mother and the child she was holding were blasted off a cliff to their apparent doom. Miraculously, they both survived. She never had a chance to reunite with her husband and was left raising one of their sons while he (believing his wife and son were dead) struggled to raise their other son. [[spoiler:The boys are of course Kharg and Darc the DuelingPlayerCharacters. They are only reunited after both of their parents have already died, and in a time of terrible human-Deimos relations. It takes nearly the entire game for them to accept each other.]]
161* In the Creator/PopCapGames title ''VideoGame/AstroPop'', [[spoiler:Vector and Sprocket]] turn out to be fraternal twins.
162* ''VideoGame/DotsHome'': If Dot takes out a photo of her basketball team, she remembers her {{Old Friend}}s Tia and Tamera, who were identical twins separated at birth.
163* {{Ninja}} Jago and FairCop Black Orchid aren't necessarily twins, but find out they're long siblings orphaned and separated shortly after Jago's birth at the end of the first ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct'' game.
164* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'': Vi's background states that she has a sister she was separated from when young. It is ''very'' heavily implied to be Jinx. ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'' would later confirm it.
165* The Magical Girl Stories of Tsukuyo and Tsukasa Amane in ''VideoGame/MagiaRecordPuellaMagiMadokaMagicaSideStory'' show them meeting one another and learning that they are twins who were separated when their parents divorced shortly after their birth.
166* In ''VideoGame/{{Valis}} II'', Queen Valia reveals on her deathbed that Yuko and Valna were her twin daughters, with Yuko sent to Reality to avoid a SuccessionCrisis.
167[[/folder]]
168
169[[folder:Visual Novels]]
170* In ''VisualNovel/TheElementalists'': Eli and their twin Atlas were separated when they were still babies. Eli was sent to a reality where (apparently) there is no magic while Atlas remained in their home reality. The reason they were separated is so they weren't murdered by [[SerialKiller Raife Highmore]] who only targeted twins who were born the same day.
171* In ''VisualNovel/{{Ever 17}}'' fraternal twins [[spoiler:Kid and Sara]] were anonymously placed in an orphanage by their mother, who was on the run from an [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Evil Corporation]] and hoped to keep them safe. Unfortunately the corporation managed to track them down and kidnap them both, ending up separating the two twins to really [[KickTheDog put the boot in.]]
172* In ''VisualNovel/ZeroTimeDilemma'', it's revealed that [[spoiler: Phi]] from the previous game, VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward, is this with [[spoiler: Delta]], also known as [[BigBad Zero II]]. Specifically, they were separated when their parents sent them [[spoiler:back in time to 1904, and the German scientists researching the time machine at that point then sent Phi ahead by herself to 2008 as part of their experiments. However, since the time machine only transmits data and makes a copy at the other end, a Phi still remained in 1904, so at least one Phi got to grow up with her brother (and eventually became the adoptive mother of the 2008 Phi)]].
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175[[folder:Webcomics]]
176* ''Webcomic/AddictiveScience'': Celia, manic transformation trigger-happy mad scientist; and Catherine, timid demon. Though they are a little hard to tell apart in [[http://addictivescience.katbox.net/comic/game-show/ dragon form]].
177* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' heavily implies that [[spoiler:Susan and Diane]] are identical twins separated at birth, since they're physically identical aside from hair color (and one dyes her hair) and were born 20 minutes apart on the same day. This trope is also used as the cover story for Elliot's OppositeSexClone Ellen when she suddenly appears, claiming that the two are fraternal twins but Ellen was raised by a foster family until they were teenagers.
178* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', [[spoiler:Gil and Zeetha are unknowing fraternal twins]] according to WordOfGod. A lot of the interactions between the two take on a whole new subtext you never notice before once you learn of this. It was all but explicitly stated to be such after the Foglios released a sketch of what [[spoiler: [[http://haus-of-klaus.livejournal.com/25974.html Chump]], Zeetha's]] unseen father, looked like, and he bore an uncanny resemblance to someone we had already seen...
179* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': [[spoiler: John and Jade are the twin ectobiological children of Nanna Egbert and Grandpa Harley, while Dave and Rose are the twin ectobiological children of Dave's Bro and Ms. Lalonde. All eight of these people were born at the same time.]] [[MindScrew God bless]] TimeTravel.
180* ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob:'' Although artificial creature Molly and her identical "sister" Golly were born in different places a few months apart, most aspects of this trope still apply. They had radically different upbringings giving them very different personalities, they only met after they were both fully-grown, Golly was initially mistaken for Molly, and each regards the other as an object lesson in what they might have become under other circumstances (the story title is "There But For the Grace," as in, ''"There but for the grace of God go I."'')
181* Walky and Sal, in ''Webcomic/ItsWalky'', though it's hard to see why they didn't [[HalfIdenticalTwins figure it out sooner]]. In this case, Sal was switched with another child (Beef) to generate the impression she was more important and needed hiding when the more important one was actually Walky. Sal herself, and for a long time the reader, is fooled too. Tragically, their reunion ultimately triggers Beef's FaceHeelTurn.
182* Elan of ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' and his EvilTwin, Nale.
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184
185[[folder:Western Animation]]
186* PlayedForLaughs in a ShowWithinAShow for ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'', where the local Superman and Batman expies Bionic Bunny and Dark Bunny are revealed to be brothers, both abducted separately at birth. One was abducted by a witch and the other by a robot.
187* ''WesternAnimation/{{Chaotic}}'': The episode "Worlds Apart" features the story Aivenna and Nivenna, a pair of twin [[ActionGirl Action Girls]] who were seperated at birth (no one knows how or who they're original parents were) with Aivenna being adopted into the Overworld Tribe and Nivenna being adopted by the Underworlders. Given how much those two tribes hate one another, the two don't get along (though ironically, their cards actually get stronger when they're on the same side).
188* The cartoon version of ''WesternAnimation/DoubleDragon1993'' pulled this with Billy and Jimmy Lee, with Billy being raised by the benevolent "Eldest Dragon" to become the Dragon Master, while Jimmy was raised by the evil Shadow Master to become his second-in-command, the Shadow Boss. Eventually Jimmy does a HeelFaceTurn when the Shadow Master betrays him and teams up with his brother for the rest of the series.
189* Prince Adam and Princess Adora, the secret identities of He-Man and She-Ra in ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'' and its SpinOff ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower'', were separated at birth, unintentionally. Hordak, the BigBad of the She-Ra series, intended to abduct ''both'' of the infant twins but had only managed to pick up Adora before he was interrupted by the palace guards, taking the little girl away and raising her as a TykeBomb. Sorceress had to give everyone in the kingdom (except the royal family, of course) LaserGuidedAmnesia to cover the incident up, and Adam/He-Man himself had to help Adora/She-Ra recover her identity in the She-Ra pilot.
190* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Mysticons}}'', Arkayna’s twin sister, [[spoiler: Zarya]], was kidnapped soon after her birth in order to prevent a dangerous prophecy from being fulfilled.
191* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessTwinsOfLegendale'', Princess Eve is separated from her twin sister, Dawn, by Queen Dume, who keeps her as a slave for several years. The twins are later reunited once Dume captures Dawn and throws them into the same prison cell.
192* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'',
193** This trope was given a passing mention with "Bleeding Gums" Murphy; when asked about his family, he mentions a little brother who became a doctor and "used to laugh at the most inappropriate times". Dr. Hibbert, meanwhile, makes reference to an older brother who's "a jazz musician or some such". The director of the Shelbyville orphanage also mentions he has a long lost brother -- he is identical in looks to Dr Hibbert, but Homer is too interested in his own long lost brother Herb to point that out. In neither case are the siblings implied to be twins, however.
194** There was a Treehouse of Horror segment where Bart had an identical twin named Hugo who lived in the attic. They were separated because one of them was evil. Bart was revealed to be the evil one and switched places with Hugo. Bart and Hugo were also [[strike: Siamese]] ConjoinedTwins (separated by Doctor Hibbert.)
195* This happened to Sonic, Sonia, and Manic in ''WesternAnimation/SonicUnderground''. Their mother, Queen Aleena, had to give them up to separate foster homes shortly after their birth in order to keep them safe from Robotnik. Fifteen years later, the Hedgehog triplets reunite to look for their long-lost Mother, become the Council of Four, and overthrow Robotnik. [[spoiler:Sadly, [[Main/CutShort they never find their Mother]].]]
196* [[spoiler: Savage Opress and Darth Maul]] from ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars''.
197* Mischa and Jessa in ''Westernanimation/SupernaturalAcademy'': Jessa was raised in the Supernatural world, confident and popular. Mischa was raised in the human world, an offbeat outsider. Now they're about to be reunited at the Supernatural Academy, and neither one of them is thrilled about it. Learning you've got a secret sister is hard enough, but then they find out the true reason their parents separated them at birth: they're Dragon Marked, cursed to serve the evil Dragon King.
198* In ''WesternAnimation/WatsPig'', Wat and his brother are separated as babies due to a botched kidnapping attempt. Wat is [[RaisedByWolves raised by a pig]] and becomes a peasant, while his brother grows up a [[SpoiledBrat spoiled prince]]. They don't meet again until Wat goes to rescue his pig from the dungeon after the first battle.
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201[[folder:Real Life]]
202* Twins which are separated are often sought out for statistics based studies, as they have the advantage of having identical DNA but being raised in different environments (which makes it easier to study the genetic factors involved in various illnesses that they may have). These studies tend to be limited in scope and produce unreliable data, however, because of the small sample size and the fact that the twins would still have shared the same environment as they developed in the womb.
203* Happened in England in 2008. The twins had been adopted separately, met up, fell in love... [[SurpriseIncest Got married, found out because of this, and separated.]]
204* Happened in Poland. One of twins was accidentally exchanged for another girl in a hospital. It came out no sooner than about twenty years later, after a friend of one twin mistook the second for her. The whole trio has severe identity problems because of this.
205* On ''Oprah'', there were 6 year old twins from China who had been separated in the orphanage and given to different parents.
206** Both twins were unknowingly given the same name (Mia).
207** This seems to be more common in China than in other countries; a recent National Geographic expose on identical twins told the story of two couples who sought to adopt children from China. The couples went together, and discovered that the children they wanted to adopt were twins. For some odd reason, the orphanage would not allow the girls to be adopted into the same family; the couples were told that either the girls were separated by them or they would find two other couples to do it. The couples feared that if the girls were adopted by others, they could be separated for life. So, each couple adopted one of the girls and since they live rather close to each other, the girls visit regularly.
208* [[http://www.facebookstories.com/stories/53771/twinsters Anais Bordier And Samantha Futerman]], twins born in South Korea and given to foster families on different continents. They discovered each other through social media in 2013, at the age of 25.
209* The story of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Sisters_(2013_film) Chinese twin sisters]], Mia and Alexandra, adopted by two different couples, one from California and another from Norway. It was only by chance that they met one another at the orphanage and a subsequent DNA test would confirm the parents' suspicions. In contrast, Mia became a CityMouse while Alexandra became a CountryMouse.
210* The 2018 film [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Identical_Strangers Three Identical Strangers]] explores the story of Bobby Shafran, Eddy Galland, and David Kellman -- identical triplets separated at birth. Overlaps with [[AngstySurvivingTwin angsty surviving triplets]], as Eddy committed suicide in 1995.
211** Also overlaps with RichSiblingPoorSibling: the triplets, as well as three sets of twins, were deliberately placed with families of differing socioeconomic classes although matched on some other characteristics (for example, each of the triplets was placed in a family in which he would have an older sister).
212* In one particularly interesting case, two sets of identical twins in Bogota had one twin switched at birth essentially meaning both sets grew up believing they were fraternal twins, only to later find out they were a jumbled set of identical twins.
213* In a non-twin example, Olympic gymnast Dominique Moceanu's parents gave up their second daughter for adoption at birth because she had a disability. They were so secretive about the process that Dominique, who was six when the child in question was born, was 26 and pregnant with her own first child before she learned that she had a sibling she had never met.
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