History Main / TokenRomance

** ''ADanceWithRogues'' mostly averts this, though it has five romances, because the player's quest to find somewhere she belongs is a major part of the story and the romance partners help out.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'': Flash Sentry is extremely tangential to the plot and has only a few interactions with Twilight, at most building a tentative friendship. [[spoiler:She leaves him behind in the end, and although there's a pony counterpart of him in Equestria, they have even less of a connection.]] Also, he does not appear in season 4 of WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic, which follows the events of the movie. This has not stopped fans from vilifying him even before seeing the movie.

* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', you can choose a spouse from a wide range of people (race and gender are irrelevant), and all it amounts to is them moving into your house and providing a few services. None are relevant to the main plot, and none come across as particularly romantic - it's just another feature for your home.
* George and Nico get this by the back end of the first ''BrokenSword''. Up until the train to Scotland, the two spend their sparse moments of time together sniping at each other and Nico even shoots down George's attempts to probe into her relationship status by reminding him they were working together in a strictly business capacity. It's a little jarring to have George suddenly refer to Nico as "the woman I love" and even go so far as to kiss her while she's tied up (she's offended, but not by much). Roughly a day later, they're embracing and otherwise acting like a couple.

* ''Film/TheMatrix'': Neo and Trinity is a plot point. The Oracle said that Trinity's true love would be The One.

** Galadriel's husband,Celeborn, makes a minor appearence, yet the romance of this married couple is never addressed.

* Parodied in the ''CiaphasCain'' novel ''Death or Glory,''. A footnote describes a popular holodrama called 'Cain's Heroes' that was made out of Cain's adventures and explains that Cain himself [[note]] THE HERO OF THE IMPERIUM [[/note]] loathed the production largely because of a "wholly invented subplot in which one of the militia recruits has a clandestine love affair with him".

* The most contrived BackStory in ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' history[[note]]The majority of Storm's blood family in Africa didn't let her know they existed because they were afraid of the patriarch -- a dictator Storm could've gotten rid of in all of two seconds without even calling in the rest of the X-Men[[/note]] was created so that Storm could leave the X-Men, go to Wakanda, and marry the Black Panther. This was a case of ExecutiveMeddling, as the ComicBook/BlackPanther title was written by the owner of BET, and it was his opinion that the two most powerful and high profile black characters in MarvelComics should become [[TokenMinorityCouple the Flagship Pairing for black characters]]. The fans did not receive it terribly well, so Marvel had their marriage annulled during ''Comicbook/{{Avengers Vs X-Men}}''.

[[folder:Film]]

* Most ''Film/JamesBond''films. There's a reason the term "Bond Girl" was termed. In every movie there's a new woman that Bond falls in love with but has little bearing on the plot and won't be seen again.

* ''Film/{{Dragonheart}}'' has this between Bowen and Kara who HookedUpAfterwards. It's biggest contribution to hte plot is [[VillainousCrush to make Einon creepier]].

* There is some of this in ''WindyTales'' with the relationship between Miki and Jun. They are declared a couple out of the blue, even though they don't do anything which indicates that they are (Miki sure isn't always that nice toward Jun, for instance). Sure, there is Miki's contrived fit of jealousy in one episode which is solved by [[spoiler:one make-up kiss]], but that's about it.

* Colin and Lisa from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie.'' Many fans liked it, admittedly, but Colin exists only for the movie, and he doesn't have any major influence on the plot; it seems that the writers just decided for some reason that Lisa should have a LoveInterest (perhaps [[OutOfFocus just so she had some sort of subplot at all]]), and they scrapped the idea of using [[DoggedNiceGuy Milhouse]] because they felt it would interfere with the main show. Colin also disappears for much of the second half. * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'': Flash Sentry is extremely tangential to the plot and has only a few interactions with Twilight, at most building a tentative friendship. [[spoiler:She leaves him behind in the end, and although there's a pony counterpart of him in Equestria, they have even less of a connection.]] Also, he does not appear in season 4 of WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic, which follows the events of the movie. This has not stopped fans from vilifying him even before seeing the movie.

* ''VideoGame/LufiaIIRiseOfTheSinistrals'' has a bit of an example with this with Maxim and Selan. It's a bit of a ForegoneConclusion, given how the game is a prequel and they were a couple in the original Lufia, but it's handled with all the grace of a falling cement truck, making the two go from meeting to marriage in what seems to be a matter of ''days'' in-game, and less than two hours of gameplay.
** Their relation is better handled in the remake ''LufiaCurseOfTheSinistrals''. The newly paired up Tia and Dekar, however...

* In [[VideoGame/ShiningForce Shining Force 2]] the main character receives the StandardHeroReward, While [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend Sarah]] gets paired with Kazin.

* Tony and Bridget's romance in ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'' was a kind of sudden, forced, LoveAtFirstSight one, not that it distracted from the overall plot. They do make a cute couple and most fans aren't annoyed by the token romance; many are however, annoyed by Bridget's [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome sudden disappearance in the later sequels]].
* Colin and Lisa from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie.'' Many fans liked it, admittedly, but Colin pretty much exists only for the movie, and he doesn't really have any major influence on the plot; it seems that the writers just decided for some reason that Lisa should have a LoveInterest (perhaps [[OutOfFocus just so she had some sort of subplot at all]]), and they scrapped the idea of using [[DoggedNiceGuy Milhouse]] because they felt it would interfere with the main show. Colin also disappears for practically the entire second half of the movie (even more than most of the recurring characters), though he gets a quick scene with Lisa at the end.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'': Flash Sentry is extremely tangential to the plot and has only a few interactions with Twilight, at most building a tentative friendship. [[spoiler:She leaves him behind in the end, and although there's a pony counterpart of him in Equestria, they have even less of a connection.]] Also, he does not appear in season 4 of WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic, which follows the events of the movie. This has not stopped fans from vilifying him even before seeing the movie.
* The most romance seemed to have done in TheLegendOfKorra is introduce Asami, who was linked to [[spoiler:her Equalist father]]. The romances outside of that seem to be contained in their own little scenes and has virtually no meaningful impact as far as the main plot is concerned (which is most likely a result of having only a dozen or so episodes a season).

* Many a movie based on an action-adventure book with few or no female characters has a Token Romance tacked onto it:
** ''War of the Worlds'' (1953)
** ''Literature/KingSolomonsMines'' (all movie versions)
** ''JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth'' (1959)
** ''The Lost World'' (more than one version)

** [[SubvertedTrope But without Becky to help Dave, Morgana would have succeeded in her plan.]]
* The romance between Sam and Mikaela in the first two Film/{{Transformers}} movies is one of the main attractions of the movies that doesn't involve Giant Robots and Explosions. So when Mikaela is PutOnABus in the third movie it's surprising that it has little impact on Sam as a character or the plot. Needless to say the replacement romance between Sam and Carly is pretty much this.

* In ''Film/ScoobyDoo,'' every human gets a LoveInterest. [[TedBaxter Fred]] and [[BadassDamsel Daphne]] hook up at the end, and while fans sort of expect them to, it's not actually hinted beforehand. [[LovableCoward Shaggy]] gets a LoveInterest named [[PunnyName Mary Jane]]; their romance is unnecessary, but she at least takes some part of the plot. [[TheSmartGuy Velma]] is the strangest: she has a short conversation with a random guy halfway through the movie, mostly for exposition, and winds up with him at the end.

-->I go out there and I sweat blood to make an ideal picture. And then the critics say "If this picture had love interest, it would gross twice as much."
* Taken to an extreme in ''TheRaid'', where the heroic Officer Rama has a pregnant wife who appears briefly at the beginning and then is gone from the rest of the movie. Of course, knowing this makes us care more about what happens to him, and a later scene has him drawing the strength he needs to keep fighting from his love for her.

* Parodied in the ''CiaphasCain'' novel ''Death or Glory,'' where a footnote describing a popular holodrama called 'Cain's Heroes' made out of Cain's adventures in this book explains that Cain himself particularly loathed the production largely because of a "wholly invented subplot in which one of the militia recruits has a clandestine love affair with him".
* Similarly, the Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures novel ''Lucifer Rising'' describes a holodrama based on the events of the TV story "The Seeds of Death". This has grafted on a romance between Professor Eldred (who has apparently become thirty years younger) and Gia (TheSpock).
* The romance between Jonathan and Shannon in ''A Skeleton in God's Closet''.

* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' was pretty bad about this with regards to Phoebe. Starting in season 7 she would have three different boyfriends, each lasting five or six episodes, [[OutOfFocus just to give her character something to do]]. An episode of season 8 rectified this.
* Kennedy and Willow's relationship in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' season 7 which many fans took a disliking to and only seems to exist to appease the gay fans who got pissed off when [[spoiler: Tara died]]. Oh, and it was the only relationship to survive the TV series.
** Well, Principal Wood and Faith made it, too, even if that was more of a LastMinuteHookUp in order to PairTheSpares. It should be noted that both relationships were broken up by the end of the Season 8 comic ([[FanonDiscontinuity though whether or not that should be counted]] [[BrokenBase is up to you]]).
* Arguably Stephen and Helen's little fling in season 2 of ''{{Primeval}}''. Well Stephen did have to do something other than [[DullSurprise looking badass with his shirt off]].
* The romance that develops between Mick and Roe in "Series/TheLastTrain" is completely unnecessary and if removed would not affect the plot in any way.
* ''Series/DancingOnTheEdge'' involves a love affair between band leader Louie and photographer Sarah. It doesn't really add much to the storyline, and Sarah herself is rather superfluous.

* Happens a lot in video games, too, particularly when the player is given [[ButThouMust little or no choice]] in the matter, and/or TheChick has received very little screen time or is TheDitz. Examples include too many [=RPGs=] to mention, where you get to marry the princess in the end in spite of wanting to stay with your plucky healer sidekick. When they're not the [[RebelliousPrincess same person]], of course.
* Mild subversion in ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheFateOfAtlantis'', in that rescuing TheChick is an optional sidequest. And, well, she's the only female role in the entire game, and in an action movie (game), of ''course'' you're going to end up with the girl.
* Done awfully in underwater ''MetroidVania'' game ''Aquaria'', where the female protagonist gets hooked up with a mute and shallow love interest halfway through the game, with a few lines of cliched monologue. He will annoyingly follow you around, despite having not anywhere near the heroine's speed or firepower, and his presence is mandatory to proceed in the game.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' fanbase generally considers Aggra to be this for Thrall, considering the character was created from whole cloth specifically to be Thrall's love interest.

* All of the romances in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' could have been developed much further than they were, but Aribeth/player in the main campaign does not count as a TokenRomance because it is extremely plot-relevant. Aarin/player and the three possible pairings in Hordes of the Underdark qualify, though.
** Then there's the option of hitting on some of your teammates after you complete their third "find [item]" quest, which have no significance at all beyond one pickup line and are never brought up again.

* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' has two of the original four, due to cut content. Which is a shame, because [[FanPreferredCouple Neeshka]] is a ''much'' better character than Elanee.
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces'', [[BaseBreaker Cheria]] is completely irrelevant to the plot other than for being Asbel's love interest. That the couple is StrangledByTheRedString doesn't help.

** Leliana's romance might have some relevance if [[spoiler: her surprise appearance in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' means anything and will lead up to any sort of reveal.]] However Zevran seems very superfluous comparatively to the others. Not to say his subplot isn't well done, it just doesn't have quite the same impact.

* Neo and Trinity's romance in ''Film/TheMatrix''.
** Very much [[AvertedTrope averted]] in the sequels.

* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''; while Arwen and Aragorn are originally in the book, the spotlight was highly tweaked to feature more Arwen than the narrative could support just because she was the only significant female in the book. Well, apart from Éowyn and Galadriel... but Éowyn is ''supposed'' to be paired with someone else. Unfortunately, the films don't lay the foundation for Éowyn/Faramir either. Galadriel's husband,Celeborn, makes a minor appearence. Yet the romance of this married couple is never addressed.

* Possibly lampshaded in ''BallsOfFury'': "Oh, just kiss already!"
* Subverted in ''{{Titanic}}'', where many audience members went in expecting the DisasterMovie treatment with a tacked-on love story. Instead, the love story is the core of the film and the disaster frames and completes it instead of distracting from it. One of the most successful romance films of all time.
** One could argue that ''{{Titanic}}'' is a rare complete inversion of the trope: Being a Romance Movie with a Token Disaster.
*** Dr. Zhivago (1965) is similar. It's about a man's love for a woman and all the war and starvation are just there to keep them apart.
* There's a wonderful example in Disney's ''{{Newsies}}''.
* Willie Scott in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom''. Not only do she and Indy (along with the audience) seem to actively loathe each other, there is absolutely no plot reason for her to even ''exist'' in the movie.
* Most ''Film/JamesBond'' films. ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'', ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'', ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'', ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'', ''Film/GoldenEye'', ''Film/CasinoRoyale'', and ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' avert this. The first one and the last two especially, as ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'' and ''Film/CasinoRoyale'' dedicate great amounts of time to develop their story's romances, while ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' averts it entirely as Bond doesn't get together with the girl in the end.
* Likewise, the by-the-numbers romance between AustinPowers and Foxxy Cleopatra compared with the main plot about Austin and Nigel in ''Goldmember''.
** Add [[PunnyName Felicity Shagwell]] in ''The Spy Who Shagged Me''.

** Oddly enough, the only romance in the book series (other than ''A Horse and His Boy'') involves Caspian later, in ''The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'', where he falls in love with and marries [[spoiler:the daughter of a star]].
* TheMovie of ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. We do not see much of Arthur and Trillian together; we do not see much chemistry between them. She [[{{Weenalized}} wasn't even supposed to be his love interest anyway]]. But in the end, he is supposed to love her enough that he would give up his place on Earth for her. Despite the negative reaction a lot of fans had, it's worth noting that DouglasAdams actually penned their romance himself before he died; he was one of the writers for the script and it was his idea to include it. Adams was also fond of changing the details of the story for each adaptation, so it was only a matter of time before he decided to make them love interests.
* Parodied ruthlessly in ''Film/WaynesWorld''. At the end of the first movie, as the [[spoiler:whole cast gets their happy ending in absurdly Hollywood fashion]], Garth wins the love of his dream girl. She was an earlier throw-away joke... in fact, the audience was not sure whether she really existed or was just a dream.
* In ''Film/{{Tombstone}}'', Wyatt's thing with the actress serves little more than to illustrate his inner conflict [[spoiler:and to provide a happy ending]]. And in this case [[TruthInTelevision it actually happened.]]
* ''Film/RomeoMustDie'' with Jet Li and Aaliyah felt more like a generic kung fu flick than an adaptation of ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet''. The two leads had no intimate scenes (not even kissing), and felt more like PlatonicLifePartners. In fact, Aaliyah herself added nothing to the story besides being [[SassyBlackWoman sassy]] and helping Jet Li [[WouldntHitAGirl take out a female goon]] in an admittedly-cool fight scene. However, Jet Li's films generally lack romance, which he says is because of his marriage. A strange excuse for an ''actor''.

* The mostly-forgotten 2000 film ''Film/VerticalLimit'' is about an expedition to rescue stranded climbers on K2, the second highest mountain in the world. It ends with a kiss between the male lead and a female nurse after a movie whose only hints of sexual or romantic tension were between [[BrotherSisterIncest the lead and his sister]] and [[HoYay a pair of brothers]].
* ''Film/NationalTreasure'''s "romance" seems even more forced than a lot of the other elements of the movie.
* The Brian De Palma adaptation of ''Film/{{Carrie|1976}}''. It adds a scene not in the book where Tommy dances with Carrie at the prom and kisses her, implying he has fallen for her. Right, except he has a girlfriend (that he is deeply in love with) and only took Carrie to the prom as a favour to her. The remake averts this by having the same scene but then revealing Carrie had just gone into an elaborate day dream. In a bit of irony, the remake shows that Carrie does have a crush on Tommy while the original just had the kiss come out of the blue.
* ''Film/{{Dragonheart}}'' has this between Bowen and Kara, who apparently HookedUpAfterwards. (Or for that matter, [[VillainousCrush between her and Einon]], though it ''does'' help to make him seem creepier.)

* Subverted in ''{{Oldboy}}'': Dae-su's relationship with Mi-do initially appears to be an essentially irrelevant sub-plot, [[spoiler: but instead turns out to be the whole point of the villain's revenge scheme]].
* ''Film/MorningGlory''. The relationship we're interested in is between the hot young producer and the ancient, grumpy newsman. The tacked-on love affair she has with some stiff from Yale feels, well, somewhat tacked-on.

* On the flip side, the RomanticPlotTumor in the ''StarWars'' prequels is ''meant'' to be the core of the story (and indeed is ''necessary'' [[ForegoneConclusion for the wider series plot arc]],) but comes off as so [[{{Narm}} painfully forced]] that it ''feels'' like a TokenRomance.

* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', you can choose a spouse from a wide range of people (race and gender are irrelevant), and all it amounts to is them moving into your house and providing a few services. None are relevant to the main plot, and none come across as particularily romantic - it's just another feature for your home.

* TheMovie of ''TheChroniclesOfNarnia: Prince Caspian'': Suddenly we get a lot of desperate glances between our Prince and the otherwise forgettable Susan. In the original book, there is no romance. Period. Oddly enough, the only romance in the series (other than ''A Horse and His Boy'') involves Caspian later, in ''The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'', where he falls in love with and marries [[spoiler:the daughter of a star]].
* TheMovie of ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. We do not see much of Arthur and Trillian together; we do not see much chemistry between them. She [[{{Weenalized}} wasn't even supposed to be his love interest anyway]]. But in the end, he is supposed to love her enough that he would give up his place on Earth for her. This is the sort of mess that AuthorExistenceFailure can lead to.
** Actually, DouglasAdams penned their romance himself before he died; he was one of the writers for the script and it was his idea to include it. While it could have been rewritten to be better, it would be wrong to say it only existed because he wasn't there to say no. Adams was also fond of changing the details of the story for each adaptation, so it was only a matter of time before he decided to make them love interests.

* The most contrived BackStory in ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' history[[note]]The majority of Storm's blood family in Africa didn't let her know they existed because they were afraid of the patriarch -- a dictator Storm could've gotten rid of in all of two seconds without even calling in the rest of the X-Men[[/note]] was created so that Storm could leave the X-Men, go to Wakanda, and marry the Black Panther. This was a case of ExecutiveMeddling, as the BlackPanther title was written by the owner of BET, and it was his opinion that the two most powerful and high profile black characters in MarvelComics should become [[TokenMinorityCouple the Flagship Pairing for black characters]]. The fans did not receive it terribly well, so Marvel had their marriage annulled during ''Comicbook/{{Avengers Vs X-Men}}''.

* The most romance seemed to have done in TheLegendOfKorra is introduce Asami, who was linked to [[spoiler:her Equalist father.]] The romances outside of that seem to be contained in their own little scenes and has virtually no meaningful impact as far as the main plot is concerned (which is most likely a result of having only a dozen or so episodes a season).

->"Hey, the movie's called ''Back in Action'', not ''Back in Love''!"
-->--'''DaffyDuck''' commenting on some deleted scenes from ''LooneyTunesBackInAction''

* Parodied ruthlessly in ''WaynesWorld''. At the end of the first movie, as the [[spoiler:whole cast gets their happy ending in absurdly Hollywood fashion]], Garth wins the love of his dream girl. She was an earlier throw-away joke... in fact, the audience was not sure whether she really existed or was just a dream.
* In ''{{Tombstone}}'', Wyatt's thing with the actress serves little more than to illustrate his inner conflict [[spoiler:and to provide a happy ending]]. And in this case [[TruthInTelevision it actually happened.]]

* ''PumaMan'' has the romance between Tony the Puma Man and Jane Dobson. Its bearing on the plot was minimal at best.
* The mostly-forgotten 2000 film ''Film/{{Vertical Limit}}'' is about an expedition to rescue stranded climbers on K2, the second highest mountain in the world. It ends with a kiss between the male lead and a female nurse after a movie whose only hints of sexual or romantic tension were between [[BrotherSisterIncest the lead and his sister]] and [[HoYay a pair of brothers]].

* The Brian De Palma adaptation of ''Carrie''. It adds a scene not in the book where Tommy dances with Carrie at the prom and kisses her, implying he has fallen for her. Right, except he has a girlfriend (that he is deeply in love with) and only took Carrie to the prom as a favour to her. The remake averts this by having the same scene but then revealing Carrie had just gone into an elaborate day dream. In a bit of irony, the remake shows that Carrie does have a crush on Tommy while the original just had the kiss come out of the blue.

* Kelly and Jason in ''MysteryTeam''. Granted, Kelly was essential to Jason's character development, but it's still a fine line.

* ''MorningGlory''. The relationship we're interested in is between the hot young producer and the ancient, grumpy newsman. The tacked-on love affair she has with some stiff from Yale feels, well, somewhat tacked-on.

* In ''{{Film/ScoobyDoo}},'' every human gets a LoveInterest. [[TedBaxter Fred]] and [[BadassDamsel Daphne]] hook up at the end, and while fans sort of expect them to, it's not actually hinted beforehand. [[LovableCoward Shaggy]] gets a LoveInterest named [[PunnyName Mary Jane]]; their romance is unnecessary, but she at least takes some part of the plot. [[TheSmartGuy Velma]] is the strangest: she has a short conversation with a random guy halfway through the movie, mostly for exposition, and winds up with him at the end.

** Actually, DouglasAddams penned their romance himself before he died; he was one of the writers for the script and it was his idea to include it. While it could have been rewritten to be better, it would be wrong to say it only existed because he wasn't there to say no. Addams was also fond of changing the details of the story for each adaptation, so it was only a matter of time before he decided to make them love interests.

* TheMovie of ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. We do not see much of Arthur and Trillian together; we do not see much chemistry between them. She [[{{Weenalized}} wasn't even supposed to be his love interest anyway]]. But in the end, he is supposed to love her enough that he would give up his place on Earth for her. This is the sort of mess that AuthorExistenceFailure can lead to.

* ''EquestriaGirls'': Flash Sentry is extremely tangential to the plot and has only a few interactions with Twilight, at most building a tentative friendship. [[spoiler:She leaves him behind in the end, and although there's a pony counterpart of him in Equestria, they have even less of a connection.]] Also, the movie is non-canon. This has not stopped fans from vilifying him even before seeing the movie.

* The plot of ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' would have played out exactly the same without Hiccup's crush on Astrid and their implied LastMinuteHookUp. That is, Astrid could have still discovered his secret, been won over by his idealism and rallied the other kids ''without'' being his LoveInterest.

** The Bastard of Kosigan has an extremely large number of [[OptionalSexualEncounter possibilities]]. However, all of the [=NPCs=] involved will either die a senseless death, disappear and never be encountered again, or never mention your encounter after they join up with you.

* In the [[ContinuityReboot rebooted]]'' Film/StarTrek'' film, Spock and Uhura's romance could be removed and it's loss wouldn't affect the plot at all.

* The mostly-forgotten 2000 film ''Vertical Limit'' is about an expedition to rescue stranded climbers on K2, the second highest mountain in the world. It ends with a kiss between the male lead and a female nurse after a movie whose only hints of sexual or romantic tension where between [[BrotherSisterIncest the lead and his sister]] and [[HoYay a pair of brothers]].