Jade: [annoyed] Is Uncle everyone's uncle?
Jade's Dad: He is actually our cousin. [to Uncle] Aren't you?
[Jackie and Uncle share a confused look]
Jade's Dad: He is actually our cousin. [to Uncle] Aren't you?
[Jackie and Uncle share a confused look]
Two characters can look alike, share a last name, and behave in a familial way, but that doesn't mean they necessarily are related. This trope covers characters who are and act in ways consistent with them being relatives, but whose status as such is never directly confirmed. Alternatively, it is confirmed, but in so hard-to-spot a fashion that casual viewers still misunderstand. Or perhaps it is confirmed that they're related, but the fiction is quiet on which way they are related.
To keep this trope objective as opposed to Wild Mass Guessing, non in-universe examples should have one or more of the following:
- They often appear together, especially when it would signify something.
- They have strong similarities in appearance and background.
- They refer to each other or act as relations that may or may not be metaphorical or credible.
- In-universe claims or suggestions of relation are vague, incomplete, or questionably credible.
- Official out of universe sources refer to or hint at a relationship.
- They have established relations in other continuities, adaptations, or works they draw influence from.
Compare Inexplicably Identical Individuals, which often goes hand-in-hand with this trope, and Viewer Gender Confusion for another aspect of characters' identities that a show doesn't make as clear as it thinks it does. Also compare Luke, I Might Be Your Father and Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe. Contrast Long-Lost Relative for when the relationship is confirmed. Not to be confused with Mistaken for Related, when the audience knows for a fact that the characters are not related despite in-universe confusion.
Example subpages:
Other examples:
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Advertising
- Computer Critters: Harriet and Harold are the parents, Tabby and Hacker are the (adopted?) kids. So how do Foxworthy, Della and Stanley fit in?
- In the Dolmio puppet shorts, which promote a line of Italian sauces, we are introduced to a family, including an elderly couple, simply called Mama and Papa, with two young adults, Carlo and Sophia, and two children, Nico and Nina. Sophia and Carlo seem to be a couple in some ads, but both also refer to Mama and Papa as their parents, which would make them brother and sister, although they could just be close to their in-laws. Carlo is outright said to be Mama's biological son, yet Sophia looks more like the rest of the family and appears with Mama during a Mother's Day special.
- Likewise, it's a little unclear if Nico and Nina are meant to be Sophia and Carlo's children or their younger siblings, since Mama and Papa are never addressed as grandparents (i.e. one ad has them give Mama a birthday card addressed to "Mama.")
- Some ads feature a random woman at the dinner table
sitting with the kids. It's possible she's Carlo's wife and mother of the children, another daughter of the family, or just a family friend.
- Lampshaded by this website, which suggests Sophia and Carlo are committing incest.
Anime & Manga
- Anpanman:
- SL-Man and Poppo-chan are the only sentient trains in the series by the time the latter appeared in the show in 2006, but there's no indication or questioning that they're related prior to the two meeting each other in 1089a. It mostly implies that they're just separate from other blood relations.
- Bookman and Book-Sensei resemble each other as they're both guys with books for heads and wear similar clothing with the exception of the glasses, nose, height, and voice. It's never stated if they're related as the former hasn't appeared since his debut story in the early 1990s.
- Tekka no Maki-chan and her pupil Tekka no Komaki-chan have many similar features such as their facial features and clothing. Komaki could pass as a sibling, daughter, or niece to Maki, unlike Kappamaki-kun (who doesn't have any features similar to that of her older sister), but it's never stated that Komaki and Maki are related.
- Bunny Drop: The anime and Live-Action Adaptation didn't adapt the latter half of the story that reveals Rin isn't Daikichi's aunt. This makes it ambiguous whether the adaptations keep the same twist or whether they're Related in the Adaptation.
- Charlotte (1977): Mareux believes that Charlotte is his long-lost daughter because he was forced to give one of his daughters up for adoption, and she was around Charlotte's age. Unfortunately for him, it turns out to be a red herring, and she isn't. His real daughter is actually Marie Moreau.
- Chainsaw Man:
- It's heavily implied that the corpse the Violence Fiend took over is Hirokazu Arai, effectively becoming him in the process. They have similar builds, hairstyles, and faces, are both attached to Kobeni, and Violence is first seen after the latter's death, where it's implied he joined Public Safety recently. Violence's mask would also conceal his face from anyone who might recognize it. The first opening of the anime depicts Division 4 in a movie theatre; the only member missing is Violence, implicitly already present as Arai. Furthermore, the ending for the 11th episode depicts Violence alongside the likes of Kobeni and Himeno, when it would have made far more sense to show Arai instead.
- A handful of devils refer to each other through familial terms, but it is unclear how these relationships actually work between metaphysical beings, if they're more like adoption, if they just think of each other as family, or if one actually generates the other. For example, the Four Horsemen devils refer to each other as sisters, but it's unclear if they actually have the same mother, and some of them rebuke being called sister by another; similarly, Part II shows that the War Devil considers herself the mother of the Gun and Tank devils.
- Daimos: Nana is said to be Shin'ichirō Izumi's granddaughter, but not only does she look nothing like himnote , Shin'ichirō never mentions having children. It's not far off to assume that like Izumi's other child Kazuya, she's adopted.
- In DARLING in the FRANXX, Zorome meets a kindly old lady who helps him after he got lost in the city. Their dialogue and interactions seem to point to the fact she might be his mother. Later on, this is disproven, as Parasites are heavily implied to be vat-grown and even if they aren't, adults have been immortal and sterile for too long for this to line up.
- Dragon Ball:
- Dragon Ball Super: One of Universe 11's fighters in the Tournament of Power, Dyspo from the Pride Troopers, bears an uncanny resemblance to the Gods of Destruction Beerus and Champa, with the difference of being a bunny instead of a cat. Champa notices this and say both Dyspo and Beerus have narrow faces, but nothing is ever classified why they look alike. It's a common theory that Dyspo is part of their race from before they became Gods of Destruction.
- In Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, Big Bad Magenta is the son of Commander Red of the Red Ribbon Army, continuing on the Colourful Theme Naming of Red and the other members. On his office desk are pictures of both his father and Colonel Violet. Given that Violet is both the only known female officer in the organization and the only officer known to have definitely survived the group's run-in with Goku, along with how magenta is a purple-red color (with some color wheels/gradients putting magenta exactly halfway between red and violet), many took this to mean that Violet is Magenta's mother or otherwise related to him in some fashion. However, there's been no official statement on the relationship between Magenta and Violet nor any indication in the original series that Red and Violet were intimate, not helped by Violet's loyalties to the Red Ribbon Army varying greatly between the manga and anime (in the former, she's indicated to be loyal to Red in her brief screentime, whereas the latter characterizes her as a materialistic Hired Gun who loots the army's vault and makes her escape the moment Goku storms their headquarters, much to Red's displeasure).
- Idol Densetsu Eriko: Rei Asagiri was abandoned at birth by her narcissistic mother. Said mother also refuses to tell her who her estranged father is and wants nothing to do with her. Her Arch-Enemy Eriko Tamura's Evil Uncle Kosuke suggests a few times that she may have the same father as said Arch-Enemy, and that he abandoned her. Later, it's discovered that Kosuke himself is her father — meaning that Rei and Eriko are cousins.
- Kengan Ashura has Byo Mikazuchi, the former master of the Raishin Style, and Rei's predecessor. While their shared surname and hairstyle implies that they are family, their exact relationship is never specified.
- Little Witch Academia (2017): It is subtly implied that Andrew Hanbridge and Diana Cavendish are related in some form, as Andrew Hanbridge has stated that the two families have been intertwined for ages in Episode 10 and when asked by Akko if he and Diana are relatives during a car ride in Episode 19, he replies with a vague "sort of." It is unclear though if they're actually related though and if they are, what their exact relation is.
- Variation in Lyrical Nanoha regarding Nanoha and her older brother and sister. The series spun off from Triangle Heart 3: Sweet Songs Forever, where Kyouya was her half-brother, and Miyuki was her first cousin. It's never made clear if this still applies, or if they're all full-blooded siblings. Complicating matters is the fact that Miyuki calls Kyouya "Kyou-chan," unlike Nanoha, who uses "Onii-chan," and Nanoha uses this to suggest that Fate doesn't have to address her adoptive older brother Chrono as an older sibling. At the very least, Exceeds would eventually confirm the half-sibling/cousin dynamic applies in the movie continuity.
- Mahou Sensei Negima!: Princesses Arika and Asuna are referred to as sisters by a third party. However, Arika doesn't want to talk about her "little sister", whose stated age should be at least quadruple her own. We know the latter is part of the same family tree, but not how closely their true relation is. This also raises questions in the present: Are Asuna and Negi Kissing Cousins (well, aunts and nephews) or is their relationship significantly more distant? A possibly important question given that their relationship doesn't always seem quite like siblings...
- The Millionaire Detective - Balance: UNLIMITED: Daisuke Kambe lives together with his grandmother and Suzue Kambe, whom Kato initially mistook as his wife. Daisuke corrects him, saying that Suzue is a relative, but doesn't describe how exactly they are related. Given that she calls him "Master Daisuke", it's unlikely they are siblings.
- In the Mobile Suit Gundam Wing side manga Episode Zero, there is a girl named Midii Une who betrays Trowa. She does not mention having any female relatives (and the reason she betrays Trowa and his mercenaries is that she needed money to care for her sick father and her younger brothers, which suggests that her mother may be out of the picture.) She isn't Lady Une, but some fans believe that they may be related in some way.
- My Hero Academia: Dabi has an uncanny relation to the Todoroki family. While genetic evidence extends only to his Fire Quirk and his eyes being the same color as the family patriarch, Endeavor, the circumstantial evidence is extensive; having an abusive father who is also a pro hero falls perfectly in line with his motivations, he is covered in mysterious burn scars, he deliberately avoids revealing his real name to people, even saying that it will be revealed "at the right time" as if it's somehow significant, and has been kept away from any situation where it might forcibly be revealed such as when the hideout got raided. Tying his appearance into the family is difficult as he is very disfigured, but flashbacks show that Endeavor's hair was virtually identical to Dabi's at his age.◊ During the Camp Raid Arc, he gave Shoto a lengthened look and commented "Shoto Todoroki, how sad...", and a similarly significant-feeling encounter happened between him and Endeavor sometime later, ending with a promise that they'd meet again. Chapter 290 reveals he indeed is Toya Todoroki.
- Naruto:
- The series has always been intentionally vague on whether Hinata and Hanabi's Missing Mom was a Hyuga before marriage. She's only shown in one anime-only photograph where she has her eyes shut, making it impossible to know whether she had Byakugan or not. Her hair is unusually blue (which Hinata inherited), with most Hyuga characters having black or brown hair, which might hint she's from outside the clan. Muddling this more, Boruto reveals that not all Hyuga have Byakugan and that some people with Byakugan don't have the standard milky eyes.
- Sasuke and Itachi's parents also suffer from a vagueness on whether they're related or not. They both have the dark hair and eyes associated with Uchiha (and Itachi dated an Uchiha named Izumi, showing that romance between distant relatives isn't too frowned upon in the Uchiha clan), but it is never specified. An anime-only filler has their parents going away to visit their maternal grandparents, implying they live outside the Uchiha compound.
- Nuko Duke: Both Kei and Kana (who are explicitly stated to be Half-Identical Twins) demonstrate Big Brother Instinct towards Sasame, although it's not exactly clear if Sasame is actually their biological sister of if they are simply Like Brother and Sister.
- Pokémon the Series:
- Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew: Sir Aaron resembles Ash Ketchum in appearance and aura such that Lucario initially mistook Ash for Aaron. That they both have the rare ability of Aura only deepens the possibility of Aaron being a distant relation. The main anime would later feature Riley, another Aura user who's training to be a Aura Guardian like Aaron and has an even stronger resemblance in appearance and wardrobe. More coincidentally, there was another Aura Guardian in ancient times with a Pikachu that Ash was mistaken for whose feat Ash duplicated in sealing a Spiritomb.
- Marian, the emcee of the Pokémon Contests in the Sinnoh region, looks like (and has a similar name to) Vivian and Lilian Meridian, the Pokémon Contest emcees in Hoenn and Kanto, respectively. However, unlike Lilian, who was stated to be related to Vivian in her debut episode, it is only implied that Marian is related to the two of them.
- Episode 59 of the Diamond and Pearl series ("Luxray Vision!") features a young Officer Jenny-in-training named Marble. While it can be assumed she's related to that episode's Jenny due to her appearance and that her name is therefore "Marble Jenny"*, all that's officially stated is Marble's status as "Jenny Trainee #1."
- Texhnolyze: Both Kano and Ran have yellow eyes, while other characters have realistic eyes colours. Kano refers to Ran as his sister, but he may speak metaphorical. Also Kano is completely insane.
- Yu-Gi-Oh! GO RUSH!! has managed to do this with the entire setting and most of the human cast, which are all named after characters and places from the previous series, Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS. Much of the human cast resembles characters from SEVENS and retain the same voice actors, and even some of the aliens resemble SEVENS characters, including Venus Ganiko, who for bonus points is this trope to six Identical Strangers who were already this trope. When the first cases of these characters were revealed, the advertising material made it a point to wonder if they'd been seen before, though at least one of those characters has been confirmed as different by the series. Eventually it is revealed that GO RUSH!! is a distant prequel, with Yuga from the previous series having time traveled back as a result of the finale of the previous series and being responsible for the various temporal discrepancies, implying that the various cast members are the ancestors of their counterparts in Yuga's time, though this has not been officially confirmed.
- Yuureitou: Satoko's mother slept around a lot, meaning that it's impossible to know whether Marube is her biological father or not. Satoko is deeply upset when she learns this and it's the final straw that gets her to run away from her abusive father.
Comic Books
- DC Comics:
- Aquaman: The Marine Marauder never had his true identity revealed. His successor, Marlene Simmons, makes a reference to her late brother in her first appearance, and Who's Who in the DC Universe speculates that this brother might have been the original Marauder, but doesn't know for certain.
- Batman and Batwoman split the difference between this and Depending on the Writer. Her last name is his mother's maiden name and they both come from rich Gotham families. Usually they're just vaguely related but some writers have made them as close as first cousins. The Batwoman (2019) TV series made a greater point of the relationship, which was then Ret-Canoned into the comics.
- "Two of a Kind (1996)": Marilyn and Madeline carry the surname "Crane", a name well-associated with Johnathan Crane, the Scarecrow. There's nothing more to a possible connection than the surname, but it's something that stands out.
- Disney Ducks Comic Universe:
- Moby Duck may or may not be Donald Duck's uncle. In his first appearance, Donald didn't seem to know him at all, but numerous later stories had him employing miscellaneous cousins of Donald as ship-mates, and considering how incompetent they all are, the only plausible reason he'd hire them would be that they are family. And indeed, Moby has been included on some Duck family trees, but only some (and never in the same place, either).
- Likewise, Ludwig von Drake is referred to as Donald's uncle since his introduction in Wonderful World of Color, but different authors contradict each other as to how he is related to the other Ducks. According to Walt Disney himself, he's the brother of Donald's father, while in Tony Strobl's stories he's depicted as Grandma Duck's cousin, and Don Rosa claims he is/was married to Scrooge's sister Matilda, making him Donald's uncle by marriage. In the 2017 reboot it seems von Drake isn't blood related to the Ducks/McDucks and has his own children instead.
- Daisy Duck is Donald's fiancée, but also shares the same last name as him. She's also always called "Aunt Daisy" by his nephews and Scrooge and Grandma also act as she is blood family. Some writers — including Carl Barks in some early stories — seem to imply that Donald and Daisy are in fact distant cousins.
- Grandma Duck and Scrooge are an interesting case. Grandma is introduced as Donald's grandmother as early as the Donald Duck comic strips. However, in Italy she is usually depicted as Scrooge's sister (which would make her Donald's aunt or even mother). According to Rosa's Scrooge-biography, The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Scrooge and Grandma aren't even blood related.
- The Sandman (1989): Chantal and Zelda are two odd women who live in Hal's boardinghouse. They dress alike, are always together, and are both avid spider collectors. Rose writes that nobody in the house knows if they're related, lovers, or just really close friends.
- Tintin: Thomson and Thompson are so alike that one would assume they are twins, but their different last names make this unlikely. Although could they be cousins? Half-brothers? Maybe "Thomson" and "Thompson" are actually unusual first names, and they share an unknown surname?
Comic Strips
- Life in Hell: Akbar and Jeff are an inseparable pair with an identical appearance, but it's left unclear whether they're brothers, lovers, or both.
Fan Works
- Abraxas: Patres Revolutionis — Kong (MonsterVerse): The Scarred King's tribe had a previous king before he took over, but it's unclear if he was the Scarred King's father or if the Scarred Ones have a non-hereditary line of succession.
- A Different Kind of Truth presents an odd case of Related in the Adaptation. As it turns out, the Female Protagonist of ''Persona 3'' is named Megumi Kujo in this fic. Kujo is the surname of several members of the Joestar family in both the pre Made in Heaven universe and the post Made in Heaven universe. While she was already hinted to have some form of connection to Johnny due to appearing when Johnny first awakened to Tusk Act 1, and whenever Tusk evolves, the fact that she has the same last name as known members of the Joestar family heavily implies that the reason that connection exists is because Megumi herself is in fact a Joestar.
- Fidget, You Are a Mystery (Gadget and the Gadgetinis): Gadget, Penny and the Gadgetinis travel back in time to the middle ages and meet a knight named Josef Tol and his younger brother Milo. While Josef resembles a younger and taller Gadget, and has a habit of crafting mini weapons, it's never established whether or not he and Milo are related to the Gadget family.
- Haigha (My Hero Academia): plays with this. Since Izuku has rabbit-like features, unscrupulous members of the press latch onto the idea that he might be related to Miruko. She responds to their harassment by messing with the media, offering up a variety of off-the-cuff, wildly conflicting and increasingly ridiculous answers. Later, she gets Izuku in on the fun, ratcheting up the confusion and speculation surrounding the pair.
- Mass Effect: The Equestrian Equation is a case where they become Ambiguously Related. It's revealed Equestria was simulation à la The Matrix that regularly tampered with their memories and many ponies, including Rarity and Twilight Sparkle's parents, were only programs. Rarity wonders who their actual parents are and gets tested to determine her relationship with her "sister" Sweetie Belle. Complicating this is that the Equestrians' small population means that all of them are to some degree related. The test results are kept confidential even from readers, but Rarity doesn't let them change her relationship with Sweetie Belle.
- Naruto's Waifu Marriage! (multi-crossover):
- Esdeath is possibly related to the late Haku, given her ice powers and maiden name of Yuki.
- Since Yor can seemingly use Wood Release naturally, at full power, it's implied that she could be a descendant of Hashirama, and therefore a cousin to Tsunade.
- Once Upon a Time in Canterlot is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Fan Animation. In it, Derpy Hooves goes Mama Bear on changelings that try to hurt Dinky and Amethyst. Dinky is undeniably supposed to be Derpy's daughter, however Amethyst's relationship to Derpy is the one in question. Despite their lack of resemblance, it's not uncommon to see Amethyst and Derpy written as mother and daughter (either adopted or biological) because one episode depicted Amethyst and Dinky going to the Sisterhood Social. Then again, their relationship isn't clarified in the short, so many in the comments believe that Amethyst is Dinky's babysitter, not her sister.
- Pokémon Legends Neo: Ghetsis (Pokémon):
- Several characters have appearances suggesting they're descendants of preexisting characters, but a few of them are never outright confirmed to have a familial connection.
- Taida's orange hair and ponytail evoke Cerulean Gym Leader Misty. He also works with Water-type Pokémon as part of his job as a Magikarp fishery manager.
- Pike has a similar hairstyle and manner of dress to Indigo League champion Lance, and is also named after a type of spear.
- RWBY: Scars (RWBY): In early chapters, it was ambiguous whether Roman and his similar-dressing ally Neo were related or not. Roman claimed that Neo was his daughter, but he also could have been lying. A flashback chapter reveals that Roman is indeed Neo's biological father.
- Shadow of Another Hero (Zelda II: The Adventure of Link): Link looks near identical to Zelda's Link, though whether he's an Identical Grandson or it's a quirk of reincarnation is left unsaid.
- Temporal Visitor (My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic): Celestia and Luna come from two different clans despite being sisters. Whether this means they're half-sisters, adopted sisters, or just full sisters who live in different clans isn't specified.
- To the New World:
- Gwyndolin notes that the Profaned Flame’s whispers are similar to the Formless Mother’s, suggesting it might be the Formless Mother under a different name or an outer god in its own right.
- Millicent is confirmed to be related to Malenia, but not in what way. Miquella calls her his “sister’s kin”, which doesn't narrow it down at all. The Prequel finally establishes they're mother and daughter.
- Downplayed with Melina; while she's known to be Marika's daughter, the identity of her father isn't stated, making it unclear which, if any, of Marika's other children are/were her full-blooded siblings.
- Quite common in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 fics. Due to the heavy use of Ambiguously Related in canon, Related in the Adaptation is used a lot in fics. However, the ambiguity often at least gets referenced. Sena gets the brunt of this, since she shares a visual connection to a character from a previous game, but the implication that she's a full Blade should make that impossible.
- A Destroyer's Remorse: Sena is the first of a new type of Blade: Two Blades work together to put their data in a blank core crystal, which a human then awakens, and the new Blade manifests as a baby who grows normally instead of a Born as an Adult immortal. The problem is society hasn't quite decided what all that means. Sena's mother is Brighid and her father Aegeon, but they aren't in a romantic relationship. Sena's Driver is Morag, who is possibly in a relationship with Brighid, but Sena calls her "Auntie." Sena is often called "Sena Ardanach" (as Morag is part of the royal family), but one time someone called her "Sena Ladair" (Morag's family, a reference to how she was supposed to be empress), and it caused a very long legislative session with the Imperial Court. The whole mess was one of the reasons Sena entered Aionios so unsure of her own identity.
- Campfire Conversations: Linka explicitly mentions Sena as one of her cousins, the daughter of Brighid and Morag, before realizing she doesn't actually know how two women produced a child (she was young when Intersection happened, and no one explained it to her). She assumes a donor was used.
Films — Animation
- Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper: Preminger's henchmen, Nick and Nack, look very alike (different hair colors aside) and have similar names that form a pun together on the term "knick-knack", implying they're twin brothers, but it's never actually said.
- The Lion King II: Simba's Pride:
- Vitani and Nuka. Kovu was adopted by Scar and possibly Zira as well. Vitani and Nuka are most likely Zira's biological children, however their parentage is otherwise unclear. Nuka resembles Scar (but then again so does Kovu) and complains that Scar wasn't even Kovu's father in a manner that suggests he should have been Scar's heir instead. Nuka calls Scar by his name instead of "Father" or "Dad", which makes it more ambiguous. One writer for the film has stated that Nuka is Scar's son, but a different writer has stated that Zira and Scar were never mates. According to the film's director, Darrel Rooney, Zira was originally Scar's lover but this was changed due to worries that Kovu and Kiara would be Kissing Cousins. Zira was still made into "just a follower", but there are implications in both the film, deleted scenes, and The Lion Guard that imply she had an intimate relationship with Scar.
- Whether Zira is Kovu's biological mother or not isn't obvious. It's stated in the film that that Scar "took him in", which might support the idea that he's adopted, and at least one source calls Kovu an orphan. He was originally imagined as both Scar and Zira's biological son, but his relation to Scar was cut to avoid making him Kissing Cousins with Kiara. No one ever questions whether Zira is Kovu's biological mother and they only mention that Scar isn't his father, which implies that Kovu is Zira's birth son.
- The Outsiders may or may not be related to the Pridelanders. They were all one pride before the Outsiders were banished, and in Real Life, all the lionesses in a pride are usually related. At the end of the film, Kiara has a speech about how the Outsiders and Pridelanders are "one" and aren't that different from one another.
- The Little Mermaid: Ursula was originally intended to be Triton's sister and Ariel's Evil Aunt. In the final film, Ursula does know Triton and wants his crown, but it's never explained how they know each other. The sequel gives Ursula a sister who likewise is never indicated to be related to Triton. Various Disney derivatives, including Disney Villains: The Top Secret Files, A Tale of..., the theatrical adaptation, and the live action remake, either heavily imply or explicitly make Ursula into Triton's sister.
- Played for Laughs in Meet the Robinsons, as Lewis deciphers Wilbur's family tree:
Lewis: Spike and Dimitri are twins, and I don't know who they're related to.
Wilbur: Neither do we. Go on. - The Dazzlings (Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk) from My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks. Them being the only known sirens and always being together despite constant feuding left many assuming there was more to their relationship than just being a team. Adagio refers to them as sisters in the Legends of Magic comic book, but whether it is literal, metaphorical, or honest (as she's trying to manipulate someone at the time) remains ambiguous.
- Toy Story 2: Woody and Jessie are two toys based off of characters from the same Show Within a Show Woody's Roundup. While the toys are just good friends, the relationship between the show's Jessie and Woody is never discussed. They dress similarly, are close to one another, and co-star together, which might imply they're either love interests or family, although they could be Platonic Life-Partners like their toy versions too. Ancillary materials reveal that Jessie's full name, Jessica Jane Pride, shares its surname with Woody's full name, Woody Pride, implying they're related in some way, although it's not clear exactly how.
- The Triplets of Belleville: It isn't entirely clear if the eponymous Triplets are actually sisters (they do have physical differences, so they're not identical triplets) or if this is just a stage name they picked ages ago. They certainly are inseparable anyway.
- The Year Without a Santa Claus: Heat Miser and Snow Miser both treat Mother Nature like she's their literal mother, with no mention of who their father(s) might be; meanwhile, they refer to each other alternately as being half-brothers or stepbrothers. In A Miser Brothers Christmas, they seem to be twins. Possibly they just like to pretend that they're not fully related due to their Sibling Rivalry.
Films — Live-Action
- 28 Years Later: The six blonde-haired kids — one boy and five girls — watching Teletubbies in the movie's Distant Prologue. It's unclear if they're all siblings, cousins, unrelated or some combination thereof. While all six of the kids share a common hair color, there were at least two blonde-haired adult women including the boy's mother in their survivor group, and the kids all look too close in age barring a year or two to all be siblings unless they're the products of more than one multiple-birth.
- Back to the Future: Near the end of Back to the Future Part III, Needles' gang in 1985 is made up of people played by the same actors as one member from each of the Tannen gangs from 1885, 1955/1985-A, and 2015. It’s unknown as to whether or not the characters are related, given the franchise’s proclivity for Identical Grandson, or if it’s just a case of You Look Familiar.
- Bullet Train has the Twins, the two assassins Lemon and Tangerine. While "twins" is obviously a nickname (protagonist Ladybug points it out early in the movie) as they are from different races and all, they do refer each other as brothers and share a very deep connection. Later in the movie a flashback reveals that they actually did grow up together, letting it upon for speculation if they are adoptive brothers, foster brothers, half-brothers, or even biological brothers (as it is possible for biological brothers to look like they're from different races).
- In Double, Double, Toil and Trouble, both the kindly Sofia and her Evil Twin Agatha are said to be aunts of Lynn and Kelly's mother Christine, but the discussions of their Sibling Rivalry backstory and the flashback shown of their childhood never feature or even mention a third sibling, making it unclear if they actually had another sibling who was one of Christine's parents that just isn't shown or referred to, or if they're technically cousins once removed who are called aunts, or what. They can't just be non-blood-related Honorary Aunts because no one would ever make Agatha an honorary aunt (nor would she accept being one), and then her line that "family are just strangers that happen to be related" wouldn't make sense.
- Halloween Ends: Perhaps an unintentional example, Ronald Prevo acts as a father figure to Corey, and he also lives in the same house as him with his mother Joan. However, because his relationship with Joan is given so little focus, it's not clear if he's her husband or her brother, and thus whether he's Corey's stepfather or his uncle. Most viewers assume the former but nothing within the movie outright proves it.
- It's a Wonderful Life: It's never clarified how Eustace and Tilly Bailey are related to George Bailley beyond their being referred to as Cousin Eustace and Cousin Tilly in the credits. They might be Uncle Billy's kids since we know he was married and Eustace does resemble him. It's difficult to tell how old they are since they're played by the same actors from one Time Skip to another.
- Joker:
- It's left ambiguous whether Arthur is adopted or not. He finds adoption papers, but it's also possible that they were fabricated by Thomas Wayne (who may be Arthur's father).
- It's ambiguous whether Arthur and Bruce Wayne are half-brothers. There's evidence both against and for Arthur's father being Thomas Wayne.
- Transformers (Film Series):
- In Transformers (2007), Optimus and Megatron are referred to as brothers before their falling out over the war. Whether this is literal or metaphorical was a point of debate among fans for years because of how ambiguous the nature of reproduction is among Cybertronians, but it's heavily implied to be the latter (Revenge of the Fallen makes a big deal of Optimus being the last descendant of the Primes but makes no mention of Megatron being one as well, and The Last Knight has Megatron refer to them having been brothers "once"). Likewise, Skids and Mudflap and the three Arcee sisters are exclusively referred to as relations but in all cases are Combining Mecha who don't really have individual bodies (at first, in the twins' cases).
- Transformers: The Last Knight introduces the Order of the Witwiccans who date back to the 5th century when Merlin founded the order to protect the secrets of Cybertronians on earth. Sam Witwicky is implied to be a member and their name clearly resembles his, and in the first film it's shown that Captain Archibald Witwicky discovered Megatron in the ice after his crash, but to what extent the Witwickys are related to the Order and how many have been members is left completely unclear. If Sam is related to Merlin, then that would have significant implications on the plot of the film series. For what that's worth.
- A Wedding (1978): It is unclear if Russell Bean is a Brenner relative (possibly a son from one of Marge's marriages or a cousin) or just a friend or employee, as Snooks tells him to gather "our people" for a meeting which mostly just has family after learning Buffy is pregnant and Russell also attends the family-only wedding ceremony (his wife Rosie is a bridesmaid, but it is unclear if that is why he got an invitation or if she got to be a bridesmaid through his ties to the Brenners).
Literature
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Tom lives with his Aunt Polly, who is his dead mother's sister. Tom also has a younger half-brother named Sid; it's never stated which parent they share, but they have the same surname, implying that a.) they have the same father, but Polly took Sid in despite not being related to him; b.) they have the same mother, but Tom was legally adopted by Sid's father; or c.) they both have their mother's maiden name, implying that they're illegitimate. Their cousin Mary also lives with them, but it's never stated if she's Polly's daughter or another case of Nephewism.
- Animorphs: Estrid is referred to as Arbat's niece when they're still undercover. After the truth comes out, it's unclear if this was a lie or not. This is especially important because Arbat is the brother of Alloran, host of Visser Three and most infamous war criminal in the galaxy. Estrid mentions a famous mother and older brother, and Alloran mentions a beloved wife and two children, so it is possible that Estrid is his daughter. Or even that Alloran and Arbat have another sibling and Estrid is their daughter.
- Dracula: Dracula has three female minions: a blonde, who seems to be the leader and romantically involved with Dracula, while the others are described as having Dracula's dark hair and facial features. The protagonists refer to the three as "the Sisters," but there's no firm proof that that's accurate, nor whether it's meant to indicate that they're Dracula's sisters or just related to each other. Some suggest that the two dark-haired vampires are Dracula's daughters, whether or not the blonde is the mother.
- In the Goosebumps tale "An Old Story," the witch villain is supposedly the protagonists' great-aunt. At the end it's revealed that each of the parents just assumed that she was related to the other.
- The The Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes heavily implies that Katniss is related on her father’s side to the group of nomadic musicians known as The Covey who were trapped in District 12 during the war. Katniss and her father inherited their olive complexion and dark hair, musical talent, they know about their favorite lake in the woods, and Katniss actually knows some of their songs. However, to whom exactly she is related and in what way are never explicitly confirmed. Deuteragonist Lucy Gray Baird isn’t the strongest candidate of the bunch. She is framed for murder by the end of the book and runs off into woods, never to be heard from again and it’s unlikely she would have been able to go back to live in District 12 under an assumed name as a Hunger Games victor. Her cousin, Maude Ivory, is the more likely one to be her grandmother. Lucy Gray says she only has to listen to a song once to memorize it, she’s the one who sings “The Hanging Tree” which is only sung once, Katniss almost word for word says the same thing about herself in one of the books, and she knows the aforementioned song with the implication it was passed from mother to son to daughter. Lucy Gray’s siblings are said to be dead and their other cousin is a lesbian.
- In the Land of Oz books, Dorothy is an orphan who lives with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. It's never explained which one she's biologically related to, assuming that she's related to either. The most we get is one line that Henry did know Dorothy's mother. Adaptations provide different implications, with The Wizard of Oz (1939) giving them Dorothy's surname (Gale) but Return to Oz giving another (Blue).
- "Lukundoo": Hamed Burghash is Zanzabari and pointedly named after two of its sultans: Barghash bin Said and Hamid bin Thuwayni, who were uncle and nephew to each other. He is also said to have "in him the making of a sultan." All of this implies that Hamed is a member of the Zanzabari royal family, likely a son of the late Barghash bin Said, but that connection is not confirmed.
- The Please Don't Tell My Parents series has one across a few books. Marcia and her father, The Original, share a surname with Palooka Joe, another wealthy superhero from I Did NOT Give That Spider Superhuman Intelligence!, but no exact relationship is confirmed. The ambiguity is downplayed but not completely cleared up in Please Don't Tell My Parents You Believe Her, where she refers to her grandfather being a superhero and to Jake Bradley aka Palooka Joe.
- Princesses of the Pizza Parlor: From Episode 2, two people that look related, but are highly emphasized that they're not, even using Anaphora of "the same [physical quality]" to emphasize their similarity:
Some people could be forgiven for thinking Katelyn and Cynthia were sisters, or at least cousins. They were about the same build, the same age, and had similar galaxies of freckles spread across their faces. Those people would still be completely mistaken, but it was understandable.
- The Rise of Kyoshi: Mok greets Xu Ping An by calling him "big brother." Kyoshi seems to assume that this is literal, though she later muses that, given daofei custom, it's possible that they were "sworn brothers" instead. Lek is also referred to as having a dead brother, though he later clarifies that they weren't actually related.
- A Series of Unfortunate Events: Count Olaf becomes the guardian of the Baudelaire children through claiming he's a close relative of theirs. There is never any evidence to support this claim, but it's mentioned that his hoodwinking of the law on this issue relied on convincing Mr. Poe that "closest-living relative" means "the relative who lives closest", which suggests that he genuinely is a distant cousin. Given the fact that the VFD seem to heavily involve entire family trees, including the Baudelaires, the Snickets, and Olaf and his father, they may very well be related.
- A Song of Ice and Fire: House Targaryen is possibly related to the God Emperors of the ancient and long-gone Great Empire of the Dawn that once ruled in the Further East for thousands of years, their realm destroyed in the Long Night after the Amethyst Empress was usurped by her brother, the Bloodstone Emperor. Very little is truly known about the dynasty given how long ago it was destroyed and the fantastical, supernatural claims baked into its mythos. Meanwhile, all known information about the Targaryens simply classifies them as Valyrians, and the historical record is that Valyrians were originally sheepherders who figured out how to ride dragons thousands of years ago — and the Targaryens are noted to have been a family of lesser dragonlords, at that — and even they make no claims as being anything other than Valyrian. Before hatching her dragons in A Game of Thrones however, Daenerys has a vision that (in hindsight, with information from The World Of Ice and Fire) seems to suggest some kind of link between her and the God-Emperors of the Great Empire of the Dawn as the features of those she sees are a mix of traditional Targaryen hair colors and their eye colors curiously match several specific gemstones used in the titles for the God-Emperors.
Dany's narration: Ghosts lined the hallway, dressed in the faded raiment of kings. In their hands were swords of pale fire. They had hair of silver and hair of gold and hair of platinum white, and their eyes were opal and amethyst, tourmaline and jade.note
- It may be worth noting that according to legends of the Further East, it was the Blood Betrayal by the Bloodstone Emperor killing the Amethyst Empress that triggered the Long Night in the first place with the Bloodstone Emperor's sins causing the wrathful Lion of Night to punish the world of man and attacking with "demons", and the hero called Azor Ahai was the one in some cultures credited as ending the Long Night (and is said to have wielded a Flaming Sword like the ones being held by the ghosts in Dany's vision). Dany is believed by the red priest Benerro to be Azor Ahai reborn, Maester Aemon believes she is the prince that was promised said to come specifically from the Targaryen line (and believed to be the same figure as the prophecy of Azor Ahai reborn), and she is prophesized by Benerro to defeat "darkness", presumably another Long Night, and bring immense change to the world. It is said in both AGOT and TWOIAF that the Asshai'i claim that dragons came from the Shadow Lands — around where the Great Empire of the Dawn would have ruled — and TWOIAF has the Asshai'i claim the Valyrians were taught the magic for taming dragons by a lost people (though Septon Barth believed the Valyrians created dragons and he is usually right), and estimates on historical dates allow for the Valyrians possibly learning to tame dragons right around the time the Long Night ended with the Great Empire of the Dawn destroyed. If not connected by blood and birth, then an alternate reading of Daenerys' vision could be reaffirming that she has a part to play in the ongoing fight of ice and fire and the battles against the Long Night started long ago by the God-Emperors of the Dawn that is their legacy.
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Big Game: One of the dodgy characters arriving on the station for Quark's poker tournament is a woman named Cynthia Jones with a pet tribble. While "Jones" is a very common Earth surname, the combination of the tribble and her first name starting "Cy-" presumably indicates that she's a decendant of Cyrano Jones. But it might just be a coincidence.
- The Stormlight Archive: Lopen names so many different people his cousins that he would appear to be related to most of the Herdazian nationals in the warcamp. However, over time, it comes out that his definition of "cousin" includes distant relatives, people dating his family, and anyone he feels kinship towards, leaving the nature of their relation unclear.
- Throne of Glass: Elide is said to look eerily similar to Kaltain. Both being noble, it's possible they are related by blood, but this is never confirmed or further hinted at. Manon also seems to think she's related to the Ironteeth witches.
- The Vampire Chronicles: Jesse herself isn't sure how "Aunt Maharet" is actually related to her or whether she's just an odd family friend. It's ultimately revealed that Maharet is a Time Abyss vampire and her great-grandmother by roughly 6000 years worth of "great"s.
- The Wicked Years:
- Melena and her husband Frexspar both fell for a quadling glass blower named Turtle Heart. It's left ambiguous throughout Wicked whether Elphaba's sister Nessarose is Turtle Heart or Frex's daughter. The family tree in A Lion Among Men reveals that Nessarose is Frexspar's daughter.
- Throughout Wicked and Son of a Witch it's a question whether Liir is Elphaba's son. Elphaba fell into an Angst Coma after Fiyero's death and wasn't sure if she birthed Liir or not. Liir is later revealed to be Elphaba and Fiyero's son.
Live-Action TV
- Dark Matter: In Episode 10, the Raza crew is forced to work with another band of mercenaries that includes a blonde woman named Tash and blond man named Vons who are obviously very close. When Three inquires, the pair are deliberately ambiguous about whether they're twins, lovers, or both those things. Although, when the crew encounters an Alternate Universe in the following season, AU Tash is a crew member of the AU Raza but Vons isn't present or even mentioned.
- In Gotham, villains Theo Galavan and Tabitha Galavan only ever refer to each other as brother and sister, but since Theo is Caucasian and Tabitha is Black or mixed race (and they sometimes allude to Brother–Sister Incest, either seriously or jokingly) it's unclear if they're actually half-siblings, or if one of them is adopted.
- In Merlin, Morgause is stated to be Morgana's half-sister, but it's not totally clear through which parent they're related. Morgana is later revealed to be Uther's bastard daughter, but Morgause isn't, so if their shared parent is Gorlois, then the sisters are actually not related by blood. Morgause knew that she and Morgana were half-sisters from the start but not that Uther was Morgana's biological father, and Morgause possessed an item of the House of Gorlois that identified her as Morgana's relation, suggesting that either they were meant to be related through their father or that Vivienne had Morgause through yet another affair, unless Morgause was her child from a previous marriage adopted by Gorlois. The one option that's least likely is Morgause being the biological daughter of Gorlois and Vivienne, because then she would have believed Morgana was her full sister before learning Uther fathered the latter. Unless she knew that Vivienne had an affair that resulted in Morgana, but not whom with.
- Power Rangers Ninja Storm: It is ambiguous how exactly junior villainesses Marah and Kapri are the nieces of Big Bad Lothor since it's never clarified who their parents are. Lothor (real name Kiya Watanabe) is a human originally from Earth, and the sisters are Human Aliens who grew up in space. It is said the girls are related to Lothor by marriage and that their parents left them in his care (so apparently they were evil, too), but by all appearances Lothor is currently single. They also refer to Cameron Watanabe (the Green Samurai Ranger), who is the son of Lothor's twin brother Sensei Kanoi Watanabe (the Rangers' Mentor), as their cousin. This leaves it unclear if Lothor was once married to someone who was Marah and Kapri's aunt/uncle, or if there was a third Watanabe sibling, or what.
- In The Sopranos, Tony and Christopher are actually cousins. Tony frequently says that Christopher is not only his nephew, but his blood, which could be inaccurate. Dickie Moltisanti, Christopher's father, is the first cousin of Carmela Soprano (nèe DeAngelis). So, Christopher is really Carmela's first cousin once-removed, and only a cousin through marriage to Tony. It's all addressed in Season 5 as "an Italian thing."
- Supernatural: The Monster Progenitor variety. Season 6 introduced Eve, the Mother of All Monsters (explicitly not the same person as the Biblical Eve, who's also mentioned later on), as the originator of every monster species that inhabits the Earth, and while that's basically confirmed to be true for most of them (including vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters and dragons), other seasons and episodes imply that not all monster races on Earth are her creations: for example, the Amazons are explicitly stated by lore research and their own religion in their episode to have been created by a pair of Greek gods, and wendigos were stated in Season 1 to be humans who've been cursed into becoming abominations due to committing cannibalism one time too many. Leaving it unclear which monster species are her children and which were created by something else.
- Whoniverse:
- Doctor Who: UNIT scientist Petronella Osgood in the new series is presumably related to UNIT scientist Tom Osgood from "The Daemons"; however, this is never stated onscreen. Steven Moffat intended her to be his daughter, but Big Finish Doctor Who names her father Frank, and vaguely implies Tom might be her uncle. And this doesn't even get into the parts with Petronella's Zygon duplicate...
- The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Trickster is heavily implied to be one of the godlike beings called the Eternals that appeared decades earlier in Doctor Who, although it's not certain. The Doctor briefly calls the Trickster "an eternal exile", but it's ambiguous whether he means that as in "an exile of the Eternals" or "an exile from eternity as we understand it". Notably, the Trickster in his debut briefly refers to mortals as Ephemerals, which is the same term that the Eternals used for mortals.
Music
- Vocaloid: Len and Rin Kagamine are frequently marketed as a package and have similar gendered designs. They have been called twins and mirror images of each other at different points by Crypton Future Media, who has since retracted both positions and considered their relationship up to fan interpretation.
Mythology & Religion
- The Bible has many examples:
- Near the beginning of the Book of Genesis, Cain is exiled for murder, but has children with his previously unmentioned wife. Presumably, this would have to be his sister, though the text doesn't specify.
- At one point, Abraham describes his wife Sarah as being his half-sister, a fact which was never hinted before and is generally Squicky. One Jewish tradition says that she was actually his niece Iscah (still weird to modern standards, but not those of the setting), noting that at one time he refers to his nephew Lot as a "brother."
- Joseph is Made a Slave to a man named Potiphar. Later, after gaining his freedom, he is married to a woman named Asenath, "the daughter of Potipherah." The names are so similar to many assume that they're the same person.
- When listing the grandchildren of Jacob, we hear about the sons of Asher, "and Serach their sister." Aside from Serach being the only granddaughter listed, the odd phrasing led to a Jewish tradition that she wasn't Asher's biological daughter, but a stepdaughter whom he adopted.
- In the New Testament, Jesus was, famously, conceived via miracle from a virgin mother. Many Christians also hold to Mary's perpetual virginity — i.e., she never had sex after Jesus' birth, either. So what to do about the verses that describe Jesus as having four brothers and an unknown number of sisters? According to Catholics, these were extended family, and the words "brothers" and "sisters" shouldn't be taken literally. The Greek word "adelphoi" is used throughout scripture to refer to other relationships and this would explain why Jesus left Mary with St. John after his death. In Orthodox tradition, they're stepsiblings, St. Joseph having been a widower when he married Mary. Many Protestants, meanwhile, don't hold to Mary's perpetual virginity, so take the verse at face value, that she and Joseph had kids together after Jesus' birth.
Theatre
- Cats: Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer are two calico housecats who commit thievery and mischief together. It's never concrete if they're Look-Alike Lovers or Half-Identical Twins, though at least some sources call them siblings.
- Played for laughs in the Characters Welcome sketch "The Song in the Musical That No One Likes" — the singer admits that he doesn't know how he's related to the leading lady, describing himself as either her husband, father or mayor.
- In Twelfth Night, Sir Andrew at one point refers to Olivia as his cousin, another time as his niece. These terms didn't have clear-cut definitions at the time, so we only know that they're somehow related.
Visual Novels
- Class of '09: Downplayed with Nicole and her brother, as while they do share the same mother, said mother has been married multiple times and her children are a decade apart in age, meaning that it's possible that they don't share the same father.
- In GENBA no Kizuna, a prequel to Shinrai: Broken Beyond Despair with a different set of characters, some characters share the same last names as Shinrai characters, which probably isn't a coincidence. While Nobuhiko Shinpuku from Genba is the paternal uncle of Raiko Shinpuku, the protagonist of Shinrai, and Shinketsu Kikai is the father of Taiko Kikai, a notable secondary character from Shinrai, it is unclear how Akira Ginmaku, a film director in Genba, is related to Misaki Ginmaku from Shinrai, a girl who threw a party on the same night as Rie's party.
- A Little Lily Princess: The game's version of Sara's French maid Mariette is given the surname Dumas, which quickly requires Mariette to specify that she isn't aware of having Alexandre Dumas among her close relatives, without denying the possibility when in comes to more distant ones. Another thing the game gave Mariette is skin dark enough to have African ancestry somewhere in her bloodline.
Web Animation
- Battle for Dream Island: While the series has its own original cast by the creators themselves, we the audience is able to recommend characters to appear in episodes, which really can be anything. Some of these recommended characters are named either "[name] Junior" or "[name]'s [family member]", suggesting their relations to the original cast. But it is uncertain if these should be taken at face value.
- In Homestar Runner, The elder Brothers Strong, Strong Mad and Strong Bad both have natural skin tones and look like wrestlers, whilst their younger brother Strong Sad has a white face, gray body, and elephant feet. In "caffiene" and "DNA Evidence", Strong Bad says he believes Strong Sad is his adopted brother. Not like Bad and Mad are too similar, either; Strong Bad is the most Ambiguously Human character in the series, and what/if he has something under his mask and boxing gloves being a mystery, while Strong Mad is a huge, musclebound humanoid without a head, instead having his face in his chest like a Blemmyae.
- In Volume 6 of RWBY, Jaune finds a memorial dedicated to his dead partner Pyrrha in her hometown and ends up talking with a woman who bears a very strong resemblance to her (with the two even sharing a voice actress). It's implied by her dialogue that she's Pyrrha's mother, but she disappears before Jaune or the audience get any confirmation as to what (if any) familial connection they had.
Webcomics
- Ennui GO!: "Thugbrats" features an unnamed girl alongside the children of Part 1's main cast. While her identity isn't specified, her overall appearance suggests that she is the daughter of Hashim's twin brother Xoltan and his girlfriend Sybil.
- Flaky Pastry: Nitrine isn't really sure how she's related to her "cousins" Griplen, Graplen, and Groplen. The four of them don't look at all alike, and none of them are siblings with each other. All she knows is that her grandfather used to sneak into the king's royal harem.
- MoringMark - TOH Comics:
- Milan was the only one of the Fan-Created Offspring to not have her parentage confirmed initially, though it was heavily implied that she's the daughter of Skara and Viney. She has the former's skin tone, hair colors, and magic specialty, and the latter's eye color, spiked hairband, and is even specified to have a mother that specializes in healing magic. The only thing about her that doesn't immediately tag her as being related to them is the fact that her hair is incredibly frizzy, while they both have much straighter hair. This is no longer the case, however, as chapter 24 of the "Grom Factor" series of comics would finally be confirm that Milan is indeed Skara and Viney's daughter.
- Milan's girlfriend Ayzee and Pandora are obviously not biologically related given that we know who their parents are (Luz/Amity and Hunter/Willow respectively), but certain details in comics sent during the timeframe of the show's epilogue imply that they might be step cousins as Hunter is all but stated to have been adopted by Darius, who in turn is dating Amity's father Alador.
- NEXT!!! Sound of the Future: Discussed in the afterword of Chapter 4 in regards to counterpart Kagamine Rins and Lens, androids created in pairs who have the same last names, are designed to be the same age, and look very similar. However, the official description given by their production company is that they are “two halves of the same soul” rather than being twins. Because they end up spending a lot of time together during their mandatory idol training, many of them do end up seeing each other as siblings.
Len: Well, we're not really related? We're androids, after all.
Rin: But since Kagamines are produced and train together, it's no surprise that most pairs end up seeing each other as family!
Web Videos
- Half-Life 2 but the AI is Self-Aware: There are certain things about Stain that suggest he is related to Benrey from the first HLVRAI somehow, such as the Alien Geometries Body Horror that affects him (much like Benrey's form in the final boss fight on Xen), having Barney Calhoun's face, and sharing a voice actor. However, in Act 1 their relationship (if they are related at all) is not elaborated.
- Mermaid Memories: Since Villia is actually a Fusion and one of her components is Opal's sister, her child Kiara could arguably be Opal's niece. Their biological relationship is never acknowledged.
Western Animation
- All Grown Up!: The original Rugrats "All Growed Up" features Angelica's friend Samantha Shane, who in the series seems to have been reworked into Savannah Shane. Later, a different character named Samantha showed up. Whether this was a deliberate case of Decomposite Character, it inspired a lot of Fanon about them being related, though nothing in the show indicates this, and they appear to be Caucasian and African-American, respectively.
- Batman: The Animated Series features a downplayed example in the case of Arkady Duvall. We know he is Ra's al Ghul's son, we just don't know if he and Talia share a mother.
- In Beetlejuice (1989), Lydia refers to Delia as "Mom," leading a lot of fans to think that they're Related in the Adaptation. The tie-in comic makes it clearer that she's her stepmom, as in the movie.
- Ben 10: Ultimate Alien: Probably the main reason why Eunice didn't work out as a Love Interest for Ben is the ongoing debate on exactly how related they are. For context, Eunice is an Omnitrix prototype that gained a human form by sampling Gwen's DNA. The DNA sample was randomized, explaining why Eunice is blonde and has a different voice, but her origins are enough for most of the fanbase to consider her romantic interest in Ben an example of Kissing Cousins. The writers of Omniverse seem to agree, as Eunice's only appearance is to be abducted by Charles Zenith along with every woman Ben knows to fight for his hand in marriage, only to get banished when Ben protests that some of his relatives are in the crowd.
- Debate rages on as to the nature of Chip 'n Dale's relationship. Are they (possibly twin) brothers, friends, or even something more? Official media can't seem to make up their minds either.
- The DuckTales (2017) episode "Let's Get Dangerous!" ends with Drake taking in Gosalyn, but unlike in the original Darkwing Duck it's never made clear if he officially adopts her (in part because here her grandfather is missing but presumed alive rather than explicitly dead). The Grand Finale even lampshades this, with Webby's String Theory board connecting all the cast having a question mark between them.
- FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman: Ruff and his Evil Twin Scruff have a nephew, Glenn, but it is not revealed whether Glenn's mother is Roxy or an unrevealed sibling in Ruff's generation.
- Firebuds: Iris has a niece named Ingrid but it's not clear to the viewers if Iris' brother Ivan is Ingrid's father or not.
- Gravity Falls:
- Supplementary material for The Book of Bill calls into question whether Pacifica is biologically related to her father Preston. Bill Cipher (who simultaneously knows LOTS OF THINGS but is also a Consummate Liar) calls her an "incoming paternity test," and the narration mentions her dad throwing "grown up masquerade parties."
- Also this dialogue between Xyler and Craz, who are fictional in-universe:
Xyler: Totally righteous, bro!Craz: Are we brothers?Xyler: I don't know!"
- Hazbin Hotel: So far, the exact relationship between Sera and Emily is unclear. They look like they're related, but whether they're sisters, mother and daughter, or something else hasn't been stated yet.
- Hercules: The Animated Series cuts out most of the Tangled Family Tree that is Classical Mythology without outright disputing it. For example, Ares and Athena are referred to as "siblings," as are Apollo and Artemis, but Hercules is the only character explicitly stated to be Zeus' child. There's even a reference to the gods "[giving] birth through their heads," but nobody ever says that Athena is Zeus' daughter or Hercules' sister. The show does canonize Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades as brothers, unlike the movie, but understandably avoids the issues that would come from calling Hera their sister.
- Invader Zim:
- Irkens are born in Uterine Replicators and don't seem to have parents or families of any sort. That said, the co-rulers of the Empire, Almighty Tallest Red and Almighty Tallest Purple, are identical save for their titular eye color, and based on "The Trial," seem to have hung out together since their youth. Are they some kind of twins or clones?
- Dib and Gaz are presented as Professor Membrane's children, though Word of Saint Paul says that the show might have done a story revealing that Dib was an Artificial Human. Many fan works take this as canon, usually making Dib a clone of Membrane due to their Strong Family Resemblance. How Gaz fits into this is tricky, though making her a clone of Membrane's Ambiguously Absent Wife is popular.
- Uncle in Jackie Chan Adventures may be Jackie and Jade's biological relative or their Honorary Uncle. Jackie calls him uncle, but so does Jade and everyone else. One episode involving time travel reveals that he went by "Uncle" even before Jackie came to live with him. The episode "Mirror, Mirror" downplays the ambiguity, when he, Jackie, Jade and Tohru all return to the location of Uncle's childhood home, which he refers to as "the original birthplace of the Chan family", indicating that he is a Chan by birth, but it never clears up his exact relation to Jackie, Jade and the rest of the Chans.
- The Jellystone! episode "The Floodgates of Love" reveals that Jabberjaw's sister is Scooby the seal, though it's never elaborated whether they're biologically related, related through adoption or just sisters in spirit.
- The short A Kitty Bobo Show stars a cat whose parents are two dogs. It's unclear if dogs can have cats in this universe, if he's adopted, or if one of them is a stepparent. According to Kitty's voice actor, the show would have revealed him to be Happily Adopted.
- In The Looney Tunes Show, it's never made clear whether Gossamer is Witch Lezah's adopted or biological son. The fact that Gossamer's father is never seen or mentioned doesn't help.
- Milo Murphy's Law: Mort and Chad look similar and often hang out together. Them being brothers or cousins was common Fanon before being Jossed by Word of God.
- Muppet Babies (2018): "Grandpa Camp": Baby Gonzo draws a picture of himself with his grandparents, who are apparently a photorealistic human couple. This is not elaborated upon in any way.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
- The background ponies who participate in "Sisterhooves Social", "Brotherhooves Social", and "The Cart Before the Ponies" are paired with foals of varying degrees of resemblance. The main characters participating have done so with established biological siblings (Rarity and Sweetie Belle, Applejack/Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom) and honorary (Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo), leaving the nature of those pairings open to interpretation.
- Cloud Chaser and Flitter often appear together, have the same blue pelts, similar eye colors, and similar mane colors. It's not clarified if they're fraternal twins, of another relation, or just similar-looking friends.
- In "Pinkie Apple Pie", some genealogical records appear to reveal that Pinkie Pie is a distant cousin of Applejack's, but one of the names is smudged on the relevant page. Pinkie goes with AJ's family on a journey to the Apple family historian to clear the issue up — but those family records are smudged as well. At the episode's end, Pinkie and AJ still don't know if they're related, but decide Pinkie can be a member of the Apple family if she wants.
- In "Grannies Gone Wild", the stage magician Jack Pot looks and acts a lot like a male version of Trixie, and he's old enough to be Trixie's father. For what it's worth, the Loose Canon book My Little Pony: Ultimate Guide does specify that they're father and daughter, and it came out a year before the episode aired. According to the writers is that the implications were intentional but "Hasbro may decide to change their minds down the line somewhere."
- The Owl House:
- In "Hunting Palismen", The Golden Guard whose real name is Hunter, is revealed to be the nephew of Emperor Belos, but it isn't clear if Hunter is adopted or biologically related to him. It's hinted and eventually confirmed over the course of the season that Hunter is actually something called a "Grimwalker", and is the latest in a long line of clones created from Philip's older brother.
- "Them's the Breaks, Kid" features a pair of Potion Track students who look like Boscha split apart; one of them sporting her facial features and third eye, while the other shares her eye and hair color. However, we don't know if one or even both of them happen to be her mothers.
- In "O Titan, Where Art Thou", Steve is shown to look very similar to Mattholomule when he reveals his face for the first time, leading to the possibility that the two are related. Word of God revealed that they're half-brothers.
- Pixie, Dixie and Mr. Jinks has the titular mice duo. They are designed very similar but voiced by different actors and nothing is confirmed if they're supposed to be identical twins.
- Roland and Rattfink: "The Foul Kin" portrays Roland and Rattfink as Rotten Rattfink's nephews but doesn't make it clear if they're brothers or cousins.note
- The Simpsons:
- Cletus and his wife Brandine are stereotypical hillbillies. The show has implied they're related, including being cousins, siblings, parent and child, and combinations of the three. It's unknown how much is true and how much is for gags due to the series' Negative Continuity.
- Kirk and Luann Van Houten, Milhouse's parents, share an unncanny resemblance to each other, which made Homer question if they were siblings. Given that Luann came originally from Shelbyville, where marriage between cousins is allowed, he might be onto something here.
- While in Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) Uncle Chuck was Sonic's biological uncle, in Sonic Underground it's not clear if they're related, as while Chuck does still bear a resemblance to Sonic he doesn't show any signs of being related to the royal family.
- South Park:
- Michael of the Goth kids is designed like most white characters, but one episode shows an Asian woman whom he refers to as "Mom." Is he mixed-raced and the limited art style just doesn't reflect this, or is she his stepmother? Adding to the confusion is an earlier episode where he seems to imply that his parents broke up, but then, the Goths are known to be Unreliable Narrators when it comes to angsty backstories, and it's not like South Park kept an airtight continuity in its early seasons.
- Fanon assumes that Kevin Stoley and Esther are Half-Identical Twins due to their similar designs, though nothing else indicates this.
- Thomas Tucker (Craig's father) and Skeeter are both tall redheads who are sometimes treated as Straw Rednecks, leading fans to assume that they're brothers. "Good Times With Weapons" also indicates that Skeeter is Red McArthur's father, so many fanfics present her and Craig as cousins.
- Jimbo Kern is Stan Marsh's uncle. Originally fans assumed that he was related to his mom, Sharon, due to the surname, until "My Future Self 'n' Me" gave her maiden name as Kimball. Word of God said that he was actually Randy's half-brother from a different father ("That's the only way that works, right?"), but "The Pandemic Special" finally canonizes him as Sharon's (half?)-brother.
- SpongeBob SquarePants:
- Mr. Krabs is a crab; however, his daughter Pearl is a whale, and her mother goes unmentioned. It's never specified in-series if she is adopted or his biological daughter through Interspecies Romance or Random Species Offspring. A book written by one of the writers implies that Mr. Krabs was married to a whale and that Pearl takes after her Missing Mom.
- While the Primitive Sponge from "SB-129" and SpongeGar from "Ugh" are known to be distant relatives of SpongeBob, it is unknown whether or not Spongy Spongy from "Cave Dwelling Sponge" is related to him. Nonetheless, he closely resembles SpongeBob (save for his sloping forehead and larger cheeks), to the point that he is constantly confused for him (getting SpongeBob into trouble as a result). Also, only SpongeBob can communicate with him.
- A throwaway line in "SpongeGuard on Duty" hints that Larry the Lobster may have been raised by a now-elderly fish couple, but whether or not this is the case is unclear.
- Gems in Steven Universe, thanks to Bizarre Alien Reproduction, don't have biological relatives the way humans do, the only exception being Rose Quartz and Steven. Thus, the series often plays loose with how "familial" relationships between gems are:
- While Garnet, Pearl, and Rose Quartz live(d) together, they first met as peers, whereas Amethyst was implied to have been raised by them — they were the first people she ever met, and Amethyst was born a Blank Slate instead of being fully Born as an Adult like most Gems. She has been variously treated by the others like an adopted child, younger sibling, or friend (with some viewers seeing her and Pearl as having romantic chemistry).
- Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst helped raised Steven, and though he assessed how "mom-like" each was, he never uses any term more specific than "family." In-series, people in town seem confused about how Steven is "related" to the Gems: Mayor Dewey assumes that they're his sisters, Andy referred to them as aunts (and initially assumed Garnet is Steven's mother because Greg likes tall women), and Sadie at one point just refers to them as "Steven's... family?"
- The Diamonds are extremely close, and there's hints that White Diamond created the other three. Fans debate on how to define the dynamics. Are the four like sisters, or is White Diamond sort of the mother of the others, or were all three older Diamonds co-mothers to Pink? The latter is the most conducive to those who see Yellow and Blue's relationship as more romantic than familial.
- Among the Off Colors are Conjoined Twins that resulted from a single rutile gemstone branching out in multiple directions. They're referred to by other Gems as the "Rutile Twins", but siblings are explicitly a foreign concept to Gems, so they likely mean "twins" in a geological sense. It is debatable if they can literally be considered siblings.
- A few times Gems familiar with the concept of family have referred to Gems made together as if they were relatives: Amethyst once called Jasper "sis" and a group of other quartz-type gems her "Famethyst" because they were all made on Earth. Steven told some Rose Quartzes that being made by Pink Diamond makes them and he himself like siblings, though the comparison is kind of lost on them.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
- The various versions of TMNT don't generally clarify if the turtles are related biologically or just through adoption. As they were non-sapient before their mutation, they may not even know themselves. The exceptions are Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: In the former, the turtles are explicitly not blood relatives. In the latter, they were unrelated (and of different species) back when they were regular turtles, but were infused with DNA from a single human, thus making them genetic relatives as well.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003): In the sixth season of the show, we're introduced to Cody Jones, a great-grandson to April and Casey. And in that season, his relationship with his Evil Uncle Darius Dun is one of the main storylines. However, in all that time, we never find out if Darius himself is an actual grandson to Casey and April or if he's an outsider who simply married or had a sibling who married into the family to become Cody's uncle. Given that Darius has the same dark hair and a similar skin tone to Casey, a blood relationship is certainly possible but the audience isn't given any confirmation one way or another.
- Transformers: Animated featured Continuity Cameos by the Witwicky family, the Autobots' human allies in the Generation 1 cartoon. Spike and Carly are clearly shown to be husband and wife with Daniel still being their son, but the character resembling Spike's father Sparkplug is never seen with the rest of the Witwicky family and is never confirmed to be a Witwicky, which makes it unclear whether he's still related to the Witwickys in this continuity or if he is intended to be an unrelated character who just happens to be based on Spike's father from the Generation 1 cartoon.
- The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald: Both the Fry Kids and the McNuggets are a trio of very similar-looking beings who are rarely seen apart, but it isn't made clear whether either group is family or simply likes being together.
