Ralston

From Pushing Daisies Wiki

Ralston is one of Ned's two half-brothers, who first appeared unnamed with his brother Maurice and their father in "Girth". They would later return in "Dim Sum, Lose Some" and "Oh Oh Oh...It's Magic". Given his age, Ralston was clearly born before Ned's mother had died and he was abandoned by his father.

Their father showed off basic magic tricks to the twins, the same as he had once done for Ned. While Ned developed an actual magic ability, Ralston and Maurice refined their skills at stage magic. This love for magic led them to a show at the Conjurer's Castle, where their father would volunteer for a disappearing act with The Great Herrmann. Although he tells his boys "I'll be right back", he would never reappear.

Herrmann would take the two boys under his wing, and began training them. However, he was always cautious to keep them a bit at a distance, fearing they wanted him to be their surrogate father figure. One day, while working on a disappearing act of their own involving two chests, the boys were visited at their home by Olive Snook and Charlotte Charles. They would later bring their friend, the twins' half-brother Ned to visit. The twins immediately embraced their sibling with love, still desperate for a family.

Ralston and Maurice would invite Ned and his friends to see a show at the Conjurer's Castle, where their mentor, the Great Herrmann, would be killed in his own escape act. The twins would help investigate the murder along with the Pie Holers. Together they discovered it was another magician who murdered Herrmann, wanting to replace him as headliner, instead of his favored protégés, Ralston and his brother. Herrmann left the brothers his book of magic tricks, saying it should stay in the family and thus acknowledging his paternal feelings for Ralston and his brother.