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Doppelgänger

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A doppelgänger is the ghostly double of a living person. The word doppelgänger is a loanword from German, written there (as any noun) with an initial capital letter Doppelgänger, composed from doppel, meaning "double", and gänger, literally as "goer" (though in this context, the meaning is closer to "walker"). In English, the word is conventionally not capitalized, and it is also common to drop the German diacritic umlaut on the letter "a" and write "doppelganger".

The term has, in the vernacular, come to refer to any double or look-alike of a person, most commonly in reference to a so-called evil twin, or to bilocation. Alternatively, the word is used to describe a phenomenon where you catch your own image out of the corner of your eye. In some mythologies, seeing one's own doppelgänger is an omen of death. A doppelgänger seen by friends or relatives of a person may sometimes bring bad luck, or indicate an approaching illness or health problem.


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[edit] In folklore

The doppelgängers of folklore cast no shadow, and have no reflection in a mirror or in water. They are supposed to provide advice to the person they shadow, but this advice can be misleading or malicious. They can also, in rare instances, plant ideas in their victim's mind or appear before friends and relatives, causing confusion. In many cases once someone has viewed their own doppelganger they are doomed to be haunted by images of their ghostly counter part.


[edit] Famous reports of the doppelgänger phenomenon

  • Emilie Sagée was a schoolteacher in the nineteenth century whose doppelgänger's public appearances were recorded by Robert Dale Owen after being reported to him by Julie von Güldenstubbe.[citations needed] 



met his wife's doppelgänger in Paris, foreboding the death of his yet unborn daughter.[citations needed]


  • Abraham Lincoln told his wife that he saw two faces of himself in a mirror soon after being elected president, one deathly pale. His wife believed this to mean he would be elected to a second term but would not survive (Sandburg, 195).
  • Rosalyn Greene claims that the doppelgänger phenomenon, via bilocation, is responsible for reports of werewolves and other shapeshifters (Greene, 87).


[edit] Emilie Sagée

Robert Dale Owen was responsible for writing down the singular case of Emilie Sagée. He was told this anecdote by Julie von Güldenstubbe, a Latvian aristocrat. Von Güldenstubbe reported that in the year 1845–46, at the age of 13, she witnessed, along with audiences of between 13 and 42 children, her 32-year-old French teacher Sagée bilocate, in broad daylight, inside her school (Pensionat von Neuwelcke). The actions of Sagée's doppelgänger included:

  • Mimicking writing and eating, but with nothing in its hands.
  • Moving independently of Sagée, and remaining motionless while she moved.
  • Appearing to be in full health while Sagée was badly ill.

Apparently also, the doppelgänger exerted resistance to the touch, but was non-physical (two girls passed through the doppelgänger's body).


[edit] Doppelgänger phenomenon in popular culture

Image:Doppelganger.JPG
The doppelgänger concept is popular in fiction, such as the androgynous Doppelgänger of the Dungeons & Dragons setting.

Doppelgängers appear in a variety of science fiction and fantasy works, in which they are a type of shapeshifter that mimics a particular person or species for some typically nefarious reason.

A temporal doppelgänger is any version of oneself one may meet during time travel. It is an exact likeness of one at a specific time in your history (or future). Meetings with oneself may occur when one version of oneself travels backwards through the timestream and encounters a younger version of oneself, or when two or more of the same person from different timestreams travel to the same moment in their futures.

Nigel Watson writes about the doppelgänger phenomenon in flying saucer tales, which have a long history of lookalikes. In the February 2006 edition of Fortean Times (pp50-53) he does a double-take on ufologists, fairies and their links to modern science fiction.

[edit] Literature

[edit] Film

[edit] Television

[edit] Video games

  • In the game Bloodrayne, the Doppelganger Twins, Sigmund and Simon Kreiger, were a pair of narcissistic twins. Conjoined at birth, they were later separated (with the result that each of them has only one arm). When one of them was hit, he would be unharmed, but the other twin would suffer damage. When one of them was killed by Rayne, the other died as well.
  • In level 5 of Prince of Persia, a classic videogame by Jordan Mechner released in 1989 by Brøderbund, the hero's reflection escapes from an enchanted mirror. Throughout the rest of the game, this doppelgänger acts as the evil double jeopardizing the player's mission.
  • In the computer game Guild Wars, the player must defeat their doppelgänger.
  • Heather, the protagonist of Silent Hill 3, fights a dark and bloody version of herself on a merry-go-round at the Lakeside Amusement Park.
  • In the Nintendo game Pokémon, the Pokémon Ditto can replicate its opponents and their abilities by copying portions of their DNA. Also in Pokemon Colosseum, at the end you battle an evil version of the antagonist who has been framing you for attacking local people at the Outskirt Stand.
  • Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog has multiple doppelgängers. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 contained one robotic version. Metal Sonic is another, sleeker robot appearing in many games, beginning with Sonic CD. Shadow the Hedgehog, first appearing in Sonic Adventure 2, is Sonic's darker moral and visual counterpoint. The Sonic the Hedgehog Comics published by Archie, contain a doppelgänger named Evil Sonic a.k.a. Dark Sonic. Sonic also has an upcoming doppelgänger, Silver the Hedgehog. Knuckles the Echidna and Miles "Tails" Prower also have doppelgängers, Metal Knuckles and Tails Doll, respectively. One could also say that Eggrobo is Eggman's doppelgänger.
  • The Super Mario Series contains numerous doppelgängers. Wario and Waluigi are evil conterparts of Mario and Luigi, the Mario Brothers. Shadow Mario is a dark, transluscent imitation of Mario with glowing red eyes, but he is only Bowser Jr. in disguise. In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Doopliss transforms into a different, eyeless Shadow Mario, before stealing Mario's identity, effectively making Mario the doppelgänger. Also, in Super Mario Sunshine, Baby Bowser takes on the identity of Mario, who until later is seen as a sort of doppelgänger.
  • In Magic: The Gathering's first set, the Vesuvan Doppelganger was a well-known blue creature that allowed a player to copy another creature, with the option of changing the creature the doppelgänger copied.
  • In the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video game for the NES, level boss "MechaTurtle" appears first as a doppelgänger of the character the player is currently using.
  • Certain modes of the NES game Super Dodge Ball require that "Team USA" defeat doppelgängers after toppling the final opponent, Team USSR.
  • In the video game series Metroid, two doppelgängers of Samus Aran exist: Dark Samus (Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes) and the SA-X (Metroid Fusion). In Metroid Prime: Hunters -First Hunt, Samus trains in her own simulator versus a green doppelgänger.
  • In Suikoden II it's revealed that the vampire Neclord that you vanquished in the first Suikoden was nothing more than a doppelgänger of the real Neclord.
  • In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, and even Super Smash Brothers: Melee, Link must battle his doppelgänger Dark Link (also referred to as "Link's shadow") in the Water Temple, Great Palace, and other areas.
  • In Metal Gear Solid, Foxhound member Decoy Octopus is a master impersonator, who impersonates the DARPA Chief. Solid Snake, Liquid Snake and Solidus Snake are all clones of Big Boss and all share similar facial expressions.
  • In Metal Gear Acid, Hans Davis is portrayed as Solid Snake's second personality that separated from his body and became his doppelgänger.
  • One of Dante's combat styles in Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening is called Doppelganger, which allows him to utilize a shadow to double attacks. Doppelganger is also the boss in mission 17. It looks like a shadowy version of Dante's Devil form, and uses attacks similar moves for Rebellion and Beowulf.
  • In Onimusha, Samanosuke fights Stylado, a Genma clone, but he does not possess an Oni Gauntlet.
  • In the MMORPG Ragnarok Online, Doppelganger is a MVP (a boss), and is actually a sort of "shadowy" clone of the swordsman class. In the same game, the newest-added dungeon, BioLaboratory of the city of Lighthalzen, "includes Dopplegangeresque" versions of all the first-class jobs (Swordsman, Acolyte, Magician, Merchant, Thief, Archer) and versions of the first 6 trascendent class jobs (Lord Knight, High Priest, High Wizard, Whitesmith, Assassin Cross, Sniper). These monsters are meant to drop the strongest weapon for each class, depending on which one you kill.
  • In the Xbox game Prince Of Persia:The Two Thrones, you fight against yourself in the very last level.
  • In the Gamecube game Lost Kingdoms, you can acquire a Doppleganger card by either transforming either a Great Turtle, White Tiger, Blue Dragon, Golden Phoenix, God of Destruction, or collecting all 100 red fairies. The card looks just like the main character, Princess Katia, and it walks around on the battlefield when summoned. When either friend or foe touches the Doppleganger, they are automatically killed, and the card is discarded.
  • In the game Chrono Cross, the character Sprigg has a level 3 tech called Doppelgang, which allows her to transform into certain monsters once they have been defeated by anyone carrying the Forget-Me-Not Pot.
  • In the game Grandia, Rapp learns a knife skill named Doppelganger where he splits into four copies of himself and attacks an enemy.
  • In the PlayStation game Saga Frontier, while acquiring shadow magic, the main party must defeat their shadows.
  • In the game Arc the Lad, the main protagonists must fight dark versions of themselves (the evil in their souls) during the final boss battle.
  • In Kingdom Hearts, you fight Anti-Sora, who is the Heartless form of Sora. In Kingdom Hearts II, Roxas has to fight his own reflection in a waterfall.
  • In many of the Castlevania games, like Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, there is a doppelgänger that copies most of your abilities and attacks.
  • In Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, The Doppelgaenger is a soul that allows Soma to switch his weapons and equipment and a monster that took the form of Mina Hakuba used and killed by Celia to make Soma's hate grow in order for him to become a dark lord (Dracula).
  • In Final Fantasy IV, Cecil must fight his doppelgänger that was him as a Dark Knight while you use him as a Paladin.
  • In Zombies Ate My Neighbors, a horror-themed video game for the SNES and Sega Genesis consoles, there is an extra-terrestrial enemy known as Doppelgangers. They appear identical to the player's character and generally mimic his or her movements.
  • In Disciples 2, a unit called Doppleganger is a unit for the Legions of the Damned. It can transform to any unit on the field.
  • In the game Sudeki, the main characters meet their alternate versions when heading to the Aklorian Stronghold.
  • In Final Fantasy IX, when you go to Oeilvert, you can encounter an enemy called the Epitaph. If you attack it, it will send out a copy of one of the playable characters. If you have that copied character in your party, it will be killed.
  • In Secret of Mana, the three main characters must fight their doppelgängers inside the mountain where Sage Joch lives.
  • In Final Fantasy X-2, a character (generally Yuna, who is best suited for it), can be given the Blue Bullet Job, which can be used to transform into a doppelgänger of any enemies previously killed, so long as you copied their DNA.
  • In the Soul Calibur series, some characters, like Zasalamel and Nightmare may fight their dopplegänger in certain stages of Story Mode.
  • In Timesplitters: Future Perfect, Jo-Beth Casey appears in 2 levels. 1 of these levels features zombie versions of her character.

[edit] Other media

  • Freud's essay The Uncanny
  • Spider-Man's evil Doppelganger from the pages of Marvel Comics
  • In the flash animation "Krentz and the Hand of Shame Hepisode II" by David Homfray, the bounty hunter D-Mak plans to implicate the protagonists in crimes using "evil doppelganger(s)" puppets.
  • The Doppelganger from the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, and adaptations thereof, such as the Baldur's Gate series
  • In the comic Bob and George, the characters are constantly meeting past, future, and alternate reality versions of themselves.
  • Doppelgänger is the title of the sophomore album from the band The Fall of Troy.
  • Doppelgänger is the title of a song by American singer/songwriter Dory Previn which deals with paranoia and the latent savagery of humanity.
  • Doppelganger is the title of a song by Asian American singer/songwriter Cynthia Lin with a more jovial view of the "evil twin" phenomenon
  • In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Creature is often thought of as Victor Frankenstein's doppelganger.
  • Doppelgänger is the name of the debut album by the British band, Curve, comprised of Toni Halliday and Dean Garcia
  • In the RPG published by Palladium Books, Nightbane, there exists 'Dopplegangers': Super-strong strong and tougher copies of humans that live in the Nightlands, the darker version of earth reached through mirrors. They live their lives in a haze unless something awakens them. They are playthings of the powerful Nightlords, the rulers of the realm, if actual humans are not available. They have lower PPE, minor psychic abilities (but a low incidence of master psionics). They are usually the opposite of their human counterparts on earth.
  • The Shonen Jump adaptation of the Naruto manga translates the ninjutsu 'Kage buushin no jutsu'(lit. "Skill of the Shadow Copy") as "Art of the Doppleganger".
  • Karl Pilkington, Producer of the Ricky Gervais show is fascinated by the idea of the Doppelgänger, the topic is talked in a few of the radio shows, The Ricky Gervais Show

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Greene, R. (2000) The Magic of Shapeshifting. York Beach, ME: Weiser. ISBN 1578631718
  • Sandburg, C. (2002) Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and The War Years. Harvest Books. ISBN 0156027526
  • Thompson, Craig J., Aric Rindfleisch, and Zeynep Arsel (2006), “Emotional Branding and the Strategic Value of the Doppelganger Brand Image,” Journal of Marketing, 70

[edit] External links

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