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Identical Stranger: Difference between revisions
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* Lord Vetinari gets one in the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld/The Truth|The Truth]]''.
** Another ''[[Discworld]]'' example is in ''[[Discworld/Wyrd Sisters|Wyrd Sisters]]'', where the hidden heir to the throne looks almost exactly like the Fool. Seemingly subverted {{spoiler|when we find out that the Fool is the bastard son of the former King and a peasant woman}}. Then re-subverted in a different way {{spoiler|when we find out that it's the other way round: the Fool's parents were correct, but the supposed heir is actually the son of the former Queen and the former Fool, meaning they still share the same father.}}
* The Flashman novel ''Royal Flash'' relies on this trope, as the title character's uncanny resemblance to a Danish prince is the reason he gets dragged into his adventures in said story in the first place.
* The actor in [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[Double Star]]'' isn't perfectly identical to the politician he is assigned to impersonate, but he is close enough to fake it.
* Spoofed in the [[Daniel Pinkwater]] novel ''Slaves of Spiegel''. The three (supposed) greatest chefs in the universe are Identical Strangers of each other...except for the minor aspect that they're from three entirely different species that don't resemble each other at all. Their names are also [[Significant Anagram]]s.
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{{quote|''"But there are the scum of the low country in the army these days, who would do anything for money, and it is these that the king must guard against. I could not help but note that mein Herr spoke too perfect German for a foreigner. Were I in mein Herr's place, I should speak mostly the English, and, too, I should shave off the 'full, reddish-brown beard.'"
Whereupon the storekeeper turned hastily back into his shop, leaving Barney Custer of Beatrice, Nebraska, U.S.A., to wonder if all the inhabitants of Lutha were afflicted with a mental disorder similar to that of the unfortunate ruler. '' }}
** It becomes a bit less improbable when you know that Barney's mother was a runaway princess of Lutha -- it was why Barney came specifically to that country on his vacation -- so, as in ''The Prisoner of Zenda'', the king and Barney were cousins in some degree.
* In ''[[Gaunt's Ghosts]]'' novel ''Only in Death'', an allied regiment's Major Berenson bears a startling resemblance to {{spoiler|the now-dead}} Caffran.
* In ''[[Wise Blood]]'', when a huckster turns Hazel Motes' Church Without Christ into a moneymaking scheme, Hazel cuts off ties with it. Said huckster then goes and finds a guy who looks a lot like Hazel—and even drives a similar car—to continue serving as the church's prophet.
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