that creepy twin thing

[thanate]

Has anyone else come across fiction where the final resolution involves a pair of [identical] twins who magically become one person? I've run into this twice, in a couple fantasy sub-genres so divergent that I'd be extremely surprised if the later author had read the other work. But I'm wondering, is this coincidence, or an actual thing that there are more of? And if the latter, how do people not find this weird and creepy? (I mean, maybe if you've never met a pair of identical twins, and are working solely from reputation? I'm pretty sure all the twins I've known would be pretty disturbed by the idea of having to morph into one person, even to save the world or whatever.)

In other news, it is apparently getting a bit too humid in the house now that it's cooled down enough not to bother with the a/c. I know this because I looked over at the bookshelf by the couch and noticed that the Book of Mormon had started molding a bright bluey-green around the edges. (Turns out it's just the cover, and most everything else is still fine, but we have bought a new dehumidifier to replace the one that choked on too much construction dust.)

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I tend to avoid books that promise that premise!

[thanate.livejournal.com]

I don't know that either of the two I've read actually started off promising anything; both were more along the lines of "twins separated at birth by a culture that thinks twins are evil," where the author then broke one or the other so badly that combining was theoretically the best option. (And I didn't mention titles, as in both cases this is kind of the major plot resolution.)

So there are more of these? That state up front that's where they're going?

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

No, it's more word of mouth or reviews that tip me off. However, when a blurb mentions twins, I do get suspicious and delve a bit, as there have been some "twin" tropes that I found ill-thought out.

[aamcnamara.livejournal.com]

Related fantasy trope: a person splitting/cloning themselves, each of the selves/clones going around doing stuff, and then later recombining.

I am not sure I've ever seen actual twins combining as a plot point, though. Huh.

[stealthmuffin.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure all the twins I've known would be pretty disturbed by the idea of having to morph into one person, even to save the world or whatever.

Dear Lord, yes. Ewww.

I think it's part of the "twins are really one person" idea that has stuck around for whatever reason. Which irks me and my sister to no end. Granted, I do like stories that involve characters separated from their shadow selves and reuniting, but that's different because they're not two different people. Besides, if we had to morph into one to save the universe, what happens with our stuff? Half of it has my name on it (and when we were young, that was so it would be clearly not hers and vice versa). Not to mention the whole issue of husbands and families.

Would it be too spoilery to ask for titles, so that I don't run into these stories? I'd end up throwing them against a wall.

[thanate.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly. Even the shadow-self thing gets kind of creepy if you've diverged too far.

They're both set up where this is the final resolution plot point, and honestly I don't remember the title/author of the first one-- it was something from the 80s with a big possibly-winged horse on the cover, and set up so that the families thing actually worked out better with the combining part at the end. The other one is very not mainstream, and in two volumes with something about "the two must become one" as a tagline on the second book, so not as hard to spot on the off-chance that you do run into it.

[cheshiretiffy.livejournal.com]

I havn't seen it in literature, but Venus the Chimera cat has been popping up on facebook a bit lately.