Alternate Self: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''TG: and hey you might even be able to help your past dream self wake up sooner without all that fuss you went through''

''TT: I think the true purpose of this game is to see how many qualifiers we can get to precede the word "self" and still understand what we're talking about. ''|'''Dave Strider and Rose Lalonde''', ''[[Homestuck]]''}}

The [[Alternate Self]] is the same person as the character, but living a separate life. The "straightest" cause of this split is that the two alternate selves live in separate timelines that diverged reasonably recently and was the same or very similar during the persons formative years.

However, in some [[Speculative Fiction]], a [['''Alternate Self]]''' can also be created by a [[Teleporter Accident]], or even a extreme case of [[Cloning Blues]], where the clone somehow keep the personality, skills and memories of the original.

* [['''Alternate Self]]''' = Same person, but different life.

* Marvel's ''[[What If...?]]'' rarely showed [[Alternate Self|alternate selves]] meeting, but its [[Spiritual Successor]], ''[[Exiles]],'' often had such meetings.

* The ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' fainfic ''[[The World Without the War]]'' has an [[Omake]] in which the cast meet their canon-counterparts. Usually causing freak-outs on both sides. Until [[Memetic Badass|Toph meets Toph]].

** Two different Ranmas meet and talk in ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1041573/18/ Girl Talk]'', part of ''[[The Return (fanfic)|The Return]]'' fan-verse.

** Richard Lawson's '' [http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.anime.creative/browse_thread/thread/b0f1788f083f32bb/37089aeeb6bf6b4f?lnk=gst&q=Lawson#37089aeeb6bf6b4f Definitions Of hell]'' has two Ranma'sRanmas from previously existing fics swap places before briefly meeting up to compare notes -- and defeat a [[Big Bad]].

** Deb Goldsmith's ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20111024111002/http://homepage.mac.com/dgoldsmith/eh/equal.html Equal Halves]'' has a female version of Ranma from a fanfic end up in the same universe with canon Ranma due to a wish by Kuno.

* ''[[On A Cross And Arrow]]'' is about the main characters of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' finding themselves in a [[Gender Flip|Gender Flipped]]ped alternate universe and running into their counterparts (Dusk Shine, Berry Bubble, [[Name's the Same|Applejack]], Rainbow Blitz, Elusive, and Butterscotch).

* The ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' fanfic ''[[Nobody Dies (Fanfic)|Nobody Dies]]'' has an entire story arc devoted to this.

* The ''[[Pony POV Series]]'' reveals the main timeline is simply one in a ''very'' large multiverse, the [[Gender Flip]] univserseuniverse from ''[[On A Cross And Arrow]]'' is one of them. {{spoiler|This leads to a pretty [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|awesome moment]] when Applejack teams up with Orangejack, her alternate self from a world were she didn't see the Sonic Rainboom, to fight Nightmare Mirror, ''another'' alternate version of her who'd not only gone [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Nightmare]], but become a [[Multiversal Conquerer]]. To defeat her, [[Gondor Calls for Aid|Applejack summons four other alternate versions of herself]] that represent the other Elements.}}

* In the ''[[Labyrinths of Echo]]'' by Max Frei, Murakoks are people with a life-long (but variable in strength) [[Psychic Link]] to lots of Alternate Selves [[The Multiverse|in other worlds]]. The downside is having to keep one's place in the net--anet—a travel to another world leads to insanity. The only one appearing was Koba,<ref>not the only hint that among his alternates was one [[History of the USSR|Joseph Dzhugashvili]].</ref>, the Dean of Beggars in the capitol. He has more than enough of skills magical and social, but turned down an offer to join Secret Investigations, arguing he must be a beggar for the balance between the alternates. He's a ''very'' rich "beggar", though.

* The premise of the short story "The Wheels of If" by [[L. Sprague de Camp|L Sprague De Camp]] is that, as part of a ploy to discredit a political rival, someone in an [[Alternate Universe]] comes up with a way to cycle the consciousnesses/souls of seven people in seven universes who happen to be similar enough to count as Alternate Selves. The rival is one of these, ending up with the mind of a man from our timeline. Unfortunately for the villain, the man from our timeline is himself a capable political operator and knows tricks that haven't yet been thought of in the alternate universe.

* A few examples from ''[[Discworld]]'': in ''[[Discworld/Thief of Time|Thief of Time]]'' {{spoiler|the characters Jeremy Clockson and Lobsang Ludd turn out to be the same person, but duplicated due to the unusual circumstances of their birth, being the son(s) of the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of Time}}; in ''[[Discworld/Jingo|Jingo]]'' Vimes makes an important choice as he goes to pick up his "Dis-organiser", which normally tracks what appointments he is due to have in the day-- — he picks it up as his two selves diverge, and each of them get the wrong one, meaning Vimes gets to find out [[Bad Future|what would have happened]] if he had made the other choice.

* allAll the [[Alternate Universe]] counterparts of the cast of ''[[Fringe]]''

* William Thomas Riker in ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' was split in a Transporter Malfunction. The two alternate selves was the same person at the time of the split, but one of them lived on Enterprise while the other was shipwrecked on a deserted planet for a few years. This other Riker later called himself Thomas Riker and built a separate life for himself.

* The ''[[Stargate Verse]]'' really likes this trope, though they tend to invert it (having the alternate-universe counterparts show up in the main universe).

** There's also Dr. [[McNinja]]'s clone who had lived a peaceful life as a farmer. His name is [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Old McNinja]].

* In ''[[Homestuck]]'' there's many alternate versions of characters who come from Doomed Timelines, including {{spoiler|Davesprite}}, who's Dave from an alternate future who came to the past and {{spoiler|prototyped himself}}. Also, {{spoiler|in the post-scratch session}} there are alternate versions of the kids, as well as their ectobiological parents.