History Main / TwinDesynch

** Cersei and Jaime. Together, they form an unstoppable scheming machine enough to rival their father. But they really start to change once they are separated for a long time and endure horrible traumas to which they respond in entirely different ways -- Jaime pulling a HeelFaceTurn and Cersei a VillainousBreakdown. When reunited, they each start to loathe the person they see their twin is becoming. Ironically, though, even as they are growing apart, it's in oddly parallel ways. Each is nursing a profound loss: Jaime's loss of a hand, and Cersei's loss of a son. Each wants their twin to see and acknowledge this loss more than they are. Each has the same proposed remedy for their twin's loss: a replacement. Cersei has a prosthetic hand made for Jaime, and Jaime proposes he and Cersei have another son. While a prosthetic and a new baby can both be great things in their own right, neither can ever replace what was lost--something each is acutely aware of in their own case, but is blind to when it concerns the other.

* Captain Picard and Praetor Shinzon in ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' are like this. As a clone created more recently, and suffering from an illness that causes (awesome-looking) GlamourFailure, ''and'' having been injured and improperly healed several times, Shinzon looks very little like Picard does, and ''probably'' wouldn't be an exact match for Picard at 20[[note]]In one specific aspect we know he doesn't -- Shinzon is established as being naturally bald, which Picard had already been established in the series as not being until later in life (though apparently he shaved his head for a while at the Academy, since in the movie he shows a picture of a bald Cadet Picard).[[/note]]. The idea of impersonation, etc. never comes up. A villain who wasn't a clone of Picard could've worked ''nearly'' as well - except for the part where he needs Picard alive in order to cure himself, and what he represents - had his life gone differently, Picard could perhaps have been just as evil ForWantOfANail. Picard tells him that the reverse is true, and that Shinzon has equal potential for good. (Shinzon stays a bad guy anyway, though.)

If this occurs with a pair of opposite-sex HalfIdenticalTwins, it's likely to occur around puberty, where the development of secondary sexual characteristics makes it a natural time for the two to begin looking different. Same-sex twins will exhibit this trope as they approach their teen years and grow out of the cute dressing-alike stage, and will go to any lengths to not look exactly alike. Changing their hairstyle/color is popular for this, and if they're men, one may grow out a beard while his brother stays clean-shaven. Also don't be surprised if one twin develops a punk, goth, genderqueer, or some other "wild" look while the other one stays relatively conservative in appearance.

** Cersei and Jaime. Together, they form an unstoppable scheming machine enough to rival their father. But they really start to change once they are separated for a long time and endure horrible traumas to which they respond in entirely different ways -- Jaime pulling a HeelFaceTurn and Cersei a VillainousBreakdown. And even when reunited, they each start to loathe the person they see their twin is becoming. Ironically, though, even as they are as growing apart, it is in an oddly parallel way. Each is nursing a profound loss: Jaime's loss of a hand, and Cersei's loss of a son. Each wants their twin to see and acknowledge this loss more than they are. Each has the same proposed remedy for their twin's loss: a replacement. Cersei has a prosthetic hand made for Jaime, and Jaime proposes he and Cersei have another son. While prosthetic and a new baby can both be great things in its own right, neither can ever replace was what lost--something each is acutely aware of in their own case, but is blind to when it concerns the other.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has the twins Alphinaud and Alisaie Leveilleur whilst [[HalfIdenticalTwins one is a teenage boy, the other a teenage girl]] they still look similar enough to be confused for one another, at least when they are introduced. They both have [[IdiotHair prominent cowlicks]] in their hair but Alphinaud's points left and Alisaie's points right. This ''was'' the [[IdenticalTwinIDTag main way to tell them apart]] as they were both Arcanists who wore blue, until the ''Stormblood'' expansion when [[TwinDesynch Alisaie gets a job switch and starts wearing a light tan outfit]] and then later in ''Shadowbringers'' expasion she starts favouring red, whereas throughout Alphinaud sticks with blue as his signature colour.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has the twins Alphinaud and Alisaie Leveilleur whilst [[HalfIdenticalTwins one is a teenage boy, the other a teenage girl]] they still look similar enough to be confused for one another, at least when they are introduced. They both have [[IdiotHair prominent cowlicks]] in their hair but Alphinaud's points left and Alisaie's points right. This ''was'' the [[IdenticalTwinIDTag main way to tell them apart]] as they were both Arcanists who wore blue, until the ''Stormblood'' expansion when [[TwinDesynch Alisaie gets a job switch and starts wearing a light tan outfit]] and then later in ''Shadowbringers'' expasion she starts favouring red, whereas throughout Alphinaud sticks with blue as his signature colour.

Compare DivergentCharacterEvolution, DuplicateDivergence, OneTwinMustDie, ImportantHaircut and EvilCostumeSwitch.

* In ''[[Manga/{{DGrayMan}} D.Gray-Man]]'', [[spoiler: Mana and Nea were nearly identical as kids, the only thing setting them apart being that Mana has slightly longer hair. More than a decade later, Mana is a very tall man while Nea is of average height. Mana has very long hair while Nea has short hair. Oh And they are going full Cain and Abel on each other with the position of Millennium Earl at stake.]]
* In ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'', Vash and Knives began this process, doubling as {{Foreshadowing}} of Knives' eventual FaceHeelTurn ([[ObviouslyEvil like we needed it]]) was when he [[ImportantHaircut cut his hair]] in a different style from Vash's when they were [[YoungerThanTheyLook about a year old]], in a dramatic scene in a dark room. And said, "if we stay the same we'll [[SingleMindedTwins have no individuality]]."
* The cause and the consequence are switched around in ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'', were Shion started to resent Mion when she received the tattoo that branded her as the leader of the Sonozaki house. Especially painful seeing how [[spoiler:it was meant for her, but they had performed a TwinSwitch before the ceremony]].

* Jean-Paul and Jeanne-Marie Baubier--aka Northstar and Aurora of ComicBook/AlphaFlight--started off as HalfIdenticalTwins with complimentary outfits and powers, but after the two had a falling out, Jeanne-Marie changed her costume to be different and altered her powers using her boyfriend Sasquatch, a geneticist, so they weren't [[WonderTwinPowers reliant on touching each other]]. The twins have since made up, but maintain their separate costumes.
* Perhaps the most drastic twin desynch in comics goes to Brian and Betsy Braddock, aka ComicBook/CaptainBritain and ComicBook/{{Psylocke}}. In the original ''Captain Britain'' series, they were HalfIdenticalTwins with matching blonde hair, until Betsy dyed her hair purple and stuck with it. Then she joined the ComicBook/XMen as Psylocke and came to be better known through her association with them than with Captain Britain, and that was ''before'' she became stuck with an Asian body for 30 years real-time. Nowadays, she has her original European appearance back, but her hair is still purple and she has long since surpassed her brother in popularity, to the point that he's now more known through his association with her and X-Men spin-off teams than as a standalone superhero.

* ''Film/HouseOfWax2005'' has twins Nick and Carly as the protagonists. Nick was often in trouble as a child, and their parents would often compare him unfavorably to his sister. This resulted in a ThenLetMeBeEvil situation - as he went out of his way to be a delinquent while Carly was the responsible twin.

* In the Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/TimeForTheStars'', after the more easygoing twin discovers his more dominant brother manipulated him into going on the interstellar voyage in his place. (Relativity plays a hand in it as well.)
* Caramon and Raistlin Majere from the ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' books. To be honest, they were pretty different when the story started, but not so much before a certain traumatic event. Caramon has always been bigger and stronger, though. Also, during the story, their differences grow even more.
** Occasionally, though, they happened to have a very similar facial expression. In those cases, there was always a third party character pointing out how much they look like and how foolish he/she was, not having seen that earlier.

* ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'' has Mark Pierre Vorkosigan. His was created to mimic Miles Vorkosigan by a Barrayaran enemy, but since Miles' deformities are a result of cell damage in the womb Mark develops normally, and requires surgeries (including forces bone replacement) to mimic his clone. When he gets out from under his handler's thumb his first reaction is to gain an enormous amount of weight to help distinguish himself, as well as counseling to help define his identity.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** Cersei and Jaime. Together, they form an unstoppable scheming machine enough to rival their father. But they really start to change once they are separated for a long time and endure horrible traumas to which they respond in entirely different ways -- Jaime pulling a HeelFaceTurn and Cersei a VillainousBreakdown. And even when reunited, they each start to loathe the person they see their twin is becoming. Ironically, though, even as they are as growing apart, it is in an oddly parallel way. Each is nursing a profound loss: Jaime's loss of a hand, and Cersei's loss of a son. Each wants their twin to see and acknowledge this loss more than they are. Each has the same proposed remedy for their twin's loss: a replacement. Cersei has a prosthetic hand made for Jaime, and Jaime proposes he and Cersei have another son. While prosthetic and a new baby can both be great things in its own right, neither can ever replace was what lost--something each is acutely aware of in their own case, but is blind to when it concerns the other.
** In the backstory, it is said that Baela and Rhaena Targaryen, half-sisters of King Aegon III, were originally impossible to tell apart but by the age of sixteen no longer looked alike, as Baela grew into a tomboy with short-cropped hair while Rhaena was a ProperLady. Despite this, they always remained close friends.

* Justified in ''Literature/TheVampireChronicles'', where the red-headed, green-eyed twins Maharet and Mekare have been separated for ''thousands of years'', having been placed in coffins and dropped in different oceans. Maharet had her [[EyeScream eyes poked out]], and Mekare's [[TongueTrauma tongue was cut off]] for leading a rebellion against the vampire Queen Akasha and her King Enkil. Maharet spent the millennia caring for the progeny of her human daughter. Mekare eventually shows up at the end of the 20th century as a crazy savage incapable of communication. After Mekare kills Akasha and eats her brain and heart, she absorbs the spirit of the blood spirit Amel into her body and becomes the new Queen of the Damned. Despite this, she never regains her sanity, and Maharet keeps her secluded from the world.
* A short-term version was used in one of Creator/IsaacAsimov's Union Club mysteries. A thief with an accomplice who closely resembled him (providing hard-to-crack alibis) had a job go sour to the point where he shot the store owner and fled. The best plan he could come up with on the fly was to quickly rendezvous with his "twin" so that it would be difficult to conclusively prove which of them was the culprit. [[spoiler:They were both wearing glasses with built-in antiglare -- the thief had been outdoors in the sun, so his glasses were dark; the accomplice had been indoors, so his were clear.]]
* ''Literature/ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath'': When they were children (birth to age 7) Jame and Tori were very close. They were almost indistinguishable as prepubescent HalfIdenticalTwins. They crossed easily and comfortably in each other's dreams. And then they were separated when they were 7. By the time of the books, they're a ''world'' apart--they've lived incredibly different lives, are 10 years apart in age, and torn apart by a ''huge'' amount of emotional baggage. But now, the trope is being {{Inverted|Trope}}: After being reunited, they're slowly starting to synch up again.

* Porom in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'' now has a {{Stripperific}} outfit and pink hair, while her brother Palom who, despite an age up from a child to a teenager, doesn't look much different from how he looked in [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV the original game]]. They had a very heated discussion after Palom decided to move from their village and become a sage like Tellah.
* Edgar and Sabin from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' used to look exactly the same when younger. Then, the faithful coin toss happened and Sabin left the castle while Edgar stayed behind and became king, bringing them to grow up in two completely different environment. Ten years later, after living separate and opposite lives apart from each other, Edgar is now a young man with elaborate clothes fitting a king, waist-length hair tied by two ribbons and an average build, while Sabin is taller than his brother and way more muscular, wears a plain monk outfit, has shoulder-length hair in a simple and practical ponytail and a beard.
* Basch and Gabranth from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' have this going on '''now''', but Gabranth actually did impersonate Basch years ago to frame him as a traitor. They can easily be told apart as Basch has long hair and beard while wearing simple clothes, plus a nasty scar courtesy of Gabranth during the impersonation scheme. Gabranth or [[spoiler: Noah]] technically has short hair, a small goatee and is clad in armour as a judge.
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefrontEliteSquadron'' features two Force-sensitive clone troopers, X1 and X2. [[spoiler:X1 goes bald when he turns to the Dark Side.]]

* The webcomic ''Webcomic/{{Melonpool}}'' has both Ralph Zinobop and his ''nice'' clone Ralphie as main characters. Though physically identical, Steve Troop draws them with such different expressions and body language that it's almost always easy to tell who's who.
* ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' has Molly the Peanut Butter Monster and her clone Galatea, or "Golly." Though physically identical, their facial expressions, body language, and speech patterns have always been radically different, such that the only people who ever confuse one sister for the other are those who don't know there are two of them. These days it's even easier because Golly has taken to wearing ''clothing,'' while Molly still revels in furry nudity.

* ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'': Jerry's brother, [[ThemeTwinNaming Terry]], went through plastic surgery to make himself absolutely incomparable to Jerry. This is all for placing the blame on him for cheating and making him repeat the Second grade

* In ''WesternAnimation/KongKingOfTheApes,'' the show's [[AMinorKidroduction Minor Kidroduction]] had [[CainAndAbel Lukas and Richard]] looking pretty much identical, except for clothes; the [[IdenticalTwinIDTag other signs]] were minor, like Lukas having freckles in close-up shots. The flashback ends with Richard [[{{Cyborg}} getting a bionic eye]] after an accident, which ties into his StartOfDarkness.
-->"I'm glad I look different. I hated being a twin."

%% Image removed per Imgae Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16785908970.62554200

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[[caption-width-right:350:Cole and Dylan Sprouse. Only technically identical at this point.]]