History Main / FakeTwinGambit

See also TwinSwitch, where a character ''does'' have a twin and impersonates them. Subtrope of InventedIndividual.

See also TwinSwitch, BackupTwin. Subtrope of InventedIndividual.

* In ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'', Mion does this in the Watanagashi-hen, when she claims to be her twin sister, Shion, a twin who never made an appearance in the previous arc, and who Rena and Satoko, some of Mion's best friends, don't know anything about. [[spoiler:The aforementioned is what Keiichi and the audience are led to believe, until shortly before the Watanagashi, Shion tricks him into buying a doll that Mion had wanted him to give her from the toy store ''where Mion was working.'' Seeing the two twins side-by-side shows Keiichi - and by extension the audience - [[SubvertedTrope that Mion really does have an identical twin sister named Shion]], but it’s later shown [[DoubleSubversion that Mion really did pretend to be Shion]], [[TwinSwitch she just happens to be a real person]].]]

* Siegrain and Jellal from ''Manga/FairyTail'' really do appear to be completely separate people at first, since one is a member of the Magic Council, and the other schemes in his lair, the Tower of Heaven. In reality, Siegrain is an AstralProjection of Jellal who serves as TheMole on the council, making them the same person. While the "twin brother" explanation was only relevant in the manga for why they supposedly look alike, it's much more pronounced in the anime adaptation.

* Siegrain and Jellal from ''Manga/FairyTail'' really do appear to be completely separate people at first, since one is a member of the Magic Council, and the other schemes in his lair, the Tower of Heaven. In reality, Siegrain is an AstralProjection of Jellal who serves as TheMole on the council, making them the same person. While the "twin brother" aspect is only delivered in the manga as a HandWave for why there are two of them, it's much more pronounced in the anime adaptation.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya''. Kyon and Mikuru pretend that Mikuru is "Michiru" - because [[spoiler:the "real" Mikuru is still around [[TimeyWimeyBall (blame time travel)]] and "Michiru" needs to [[NeverTheSelvesShallMeet hide from herself]].]]

* Used in reverse in ''Series/MyHero''; when a rare Ultronian heart condition causes George to 'die' in public and be cremated, they get around it by having George simply walk into the health center and pretend that the person who died was his identical twin brother, Seamus, who was pretending to be George for a week as a joke.

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}'', Matt Murdock pretended to be his own non-existent twin brother Mike Murdock to trick Karen and Foggy into believing that "Mike" was Daredevil when they began to suspect Matt's double life. This was back in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age of comic|books}}s when even Daredevil wasn't a very realistic series. [[spoiler:That said, the events of Creator/CharlesSoule [[ComicBook/DaredevilCharlesSoule and]] Creator/ChipZdarsky's runs saw a CosmicRetcon that caused Mike to become a separate (and living, given Matt chose to end the gambit by faking "Mike's" death) person with his own life and history.]]

* In ''Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}'', Matt Murdock pretended to be his own non-existent twin brother Mike Murdock to trick Karen and Foggy into believing that "Mike" was Daredevil when they began to suspect Matt's double life. This was back in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age of comic|books}}s when even Daredevil wasn't a very realistic series. [[spoiler:That said, the events of Creator/CharlesSoule [[ComicBook/CharlesSoluesDaredevil and]] Creator/ChipZdarsky's runs saw a CosmicRetcon that caused Mike to become a separate (and living, given Matt chose to end the gambit by faking "Mike's" death) person with his own life and history.]]

* In a minor plotline of an episode of ''Series/FullHouse'', Stephanie poses at her own "twin", Bethany (aided by minor clothing changes), to impress a pair of cute twin boys. Her charade quickly falls apart, but when the boys start to argue over who saw her first, she claims there's enough of her to go around, and walks off with [[ALadyOnEachArm a boy on each arm]]

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

* ''FanFic/BtvsSeasonsRewrite'': Jenny Calendar is forced to do this by necessity after being brought BackFromTheDead. Since she's still LegallyDead, Willow and Oz hack into government files and give her a fake identity as her own identical twin sister, allowing her to take back her old job at Sunnydale High.

** Poirot creates an imaginary twin brother that's smarter than him named "Achille" in ''The Big Four'' - a parody of [[Literature/SherlockHolmes Mycroft Holmes]], in fact. He had to sacrifice his mustache to do it, but it was worth it to take out a group of exceedinly powerful criminals.

* In ''Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}'', Matt Murdock pretended to be his own non-existent twin brother Mike Murdock to trick Karen and Foggy into believing that "Mike" was Daredevil when they began to suspect Matt's double life. This was back in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age of comic|books}}s when even Daredevil wasn't a very realistic series.

* Happens in the ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'' story "Split Personality". A conman fools a pair of reclusive and wealthy identical twin sisters into falling for him and his invented twin brother so he can collect on their fortune. When he accidentally reveals the ruse via his own carelessness, the sisters are ''very'' upset and decide to ensure that each gets her fair share for once -- [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe with the help of a chainsaw]].

* The ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'' episode "Split Personality" involves Vic, who, after finding out that a pair of twin sisters are the owners of a mansion he stumbles upon, decides to marry said twin sisters separately [[GoldDigger in the hope of inheriting all of the estate]] by inventing the identity of his nonexistent twin brother "Jack", whom he claims cannot be seen with him at any given moment. This being part of the horror-style GenreAnthology series, [[GoneHorriblyRight it backfires on him]] when it turns out that each of the twin sisters in question is a ClingyJealousGirl who would rather keep [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe one half of a person they share]] than fight her twin over the entirety of the man.

* The ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'' episode "Split Personality" involves Vic, who, after finding out that a pair of twin sisters are the owners of a mansion he stumbles upon, decides to marry said twin sisters separately [[GoldDigger in the hope of inheriting all of the estate]] by inventing the identity of his nonexistent twin brother "Jack", whom he claims cannot be seen with him at any given moment. This being part of the horror-style GenreAnthology series, [[GoneHorriblyRight it backfire on him]] when it turns out that each of the twin sisters in question is ClingyJealousGirl who would rather keep [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe one half of a person they share]] than fight her twin over the entirety of the man.

* The ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'' episode "Split Personality" involves Vic, who, after finding out that a pair of twin sisters are the owners of a mansion he stumbles upon, decides to marry separately [[GoldDigger in the hope of inheriting all of the estate]] by inventing the identity of his nonexistent twin brother "Jack", whom he claims cannot be seen with him at any given moment. This being part of the horror-style GenreAnthology series, [[GoneHorriblyRight it backfire on him]] when it turns out that each of the twin sisters in question is ClingyJealousGirl who would rather keep [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe one half of a person they share]] than fight her twin over the entirety of the man.

* Used in reverse in ''Series/MyHero''; when a rare Ultronian heart condition causes George to 'die' in public and be cremated, they get around it by having George simply walk into the health centre and pretend that the person who died was his identical twin brother, Seamus, who was pretending to be George for a week as a joke.
* ''Series/UpstartCrow'': In "Go On, and I Will Follow", Kit Marlowe (who has faked his death) poses as his 'twin brother' Kurt so he can attend the London Theatre Awards and collect his posthumous award.

** Poirot creates an imaginary twin brother named "Achille" in ''The Big Four'' - a parody of [[Literature/SherlockHolmes Mycroft Holmes]], in fact.

* In the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', Carlos "Los Hermanos" Verdecia is a superhero with the power to duplicate himself into thousands and thousands of copies. He's often used one of his "dupes", as he calls them, as a Fake Twin when the occasion calls for it. In one story, he turned himself into fake triplets so he could date three women at the same time.

* Maruko wants to do this by moving a mole in ''Manga/ChibiMarukoChan''.
%%* Jelal does this in ''Manga/FairyTail''.

* In the ''Creator/ECComics'' story Split Personality (Vault of Horror #30) a man scams a pair of rich twins into each marrying him, telling them that he has a twin himself and that they need to manage holdings in another country such that one is always away. [[spoiler: When they eventually realize the truth, the twins split him in half with an axe so each can have him.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', [[spoiler:Stan]] did this twice, while having a real twin. They both worked.