To be twins...... or not to be twins?

Sorry, cliche pun, but how can I help myself?

Anywho, I need some help with my novel. When I first developed the concept, my two main protagonists were twins, but as I was thinking about it, it started to feel cliche.

The characters, brothers, are the sons of the king, therefore princes. If they’re twins, this could lead to some inheritance problems that I don’t want in my book, or some “lesser brother” kinda stuff where the younger one feels inferior, which I’m using a little bit.

Besides this, I want them to look very similar, so identical twins would be a good way for that, though a lot of siblings look like eachother without being twins.

With these things in mind, and maybe some other stuff you can think of and that I didn’t mention, do you think they should be twins, or would that be too cliche?

In a story I'm making, there are two twin characters who are royalty. The male twin leaves his country to spread peace and the female twin gets to rule it. (They were born at the exact same moment, by the way, because they both honestly seem like the older/younger twin to me lol) So maybe that is a good idea?

Maybe, I don’t know. My story is exploring a lot of the idea of loyalty and the lengths one might go to to protect your loved ones. Most of the books is actually the brothers trying to find eavjyher again after being separated in a shipwreck. Their universe hasn’t really had an age of exploration or anything like that, so they have to traverse unknown terrain and struggle through the conflicts between other people groups.

Also, the younger brother struggles with a sense of inferiority because he has been told that he is basically just there to protect his brother, the heir.

Maybe the younger brother becomes king

For that to happen, the elder would have to come down from his throne or die, neither of which would fit into the feel of the story. The younger doesn’t want to be king, he just struggles with inferiority and a sense of disatisfavtion with his current predicament. He would given his life for his brother, and more, if necessary, but he wonders if maybe there could be another future for him . Plus I’m trying not to put too much or any politics (they are applesauce, besides) into the story.

The focus is on the themes of loyalty and meaning in life. And if something doesn’t support those themes, it’s not necessary for my novel. If the elder brother stepping down showed his willingness to sacrifice for his browther, than maybe. But he would know that the younger brother didn’t want to be king, therefore making the elder’s stepping down futile.

Your suggestions are really helping me hash out some vague areas of my story that I hadn’t really touched on (see the above comments), so keep it coming!

I don't get how the younger twin would feel inferior if he doesn't even want to be king anyway?

He feels inferior because he has been raised in this mindset that he isn’t worth as much as his brother, that the only reason he is alive is to protect his twin, even if that means dying in his brother’s place. He doesn’t want to be king, but he subconsciously knows that there is more out there for him than to be the king’s protector. By the end of the book, the younger brother comes to understand his spiritual purpose which allows him to fulfill his purpose as his brother’s protector beyond the physical realm.

Cool, I get it now. I think that it'll work either way, if you make them twins or just regular brothers. If you feel like there's no plot reason to make them twins, then I agree that they should probably just be regular brothers.