Alternate Self: Difference between revisions
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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
The character and the alternate self (or the two alternate selves, if the plot treats them equally as characters) might have been more or less changed by different circumstances, but they are still the same person at the core. They may or may not be the same age, but they do NOT have a linear relationship of one being the younger self that will become the other - the older self.
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An Alternate Self is the opposite of a [[Mirror Self]], and yet they often overlap in a fluid pondering of [[Not So Different|identity]].
*
* [[Mirror Self]] = The opposite person, but in some ways still the same.
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* [[City of Dreams]]: the protagonist is quite different in her dreams compared to her waking world self.
* [[DC Comics]] again: ''[[Final Crisis]]: Superman Beyond 3D'' was essentially a team of Superman counterparts from the 52 Universes. Not all of them were alternate versions of Clark himself (there was a [[Captain Atom]] and a [[Shazam|Captain Marvel]]), but most of them were.
* Marvel's [[What If]] rarely showed
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** 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's swap places before meeting up to compare notes.
** Deb Goldsmith's ''[http://homepage.mac.com/dgoldsmith/eh/equal.html Equal Halves]'' has a female version of Ranma from a fanfic end up 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
* The ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' 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]] univserse 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.}}
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* In ''[[wikipedia:Rogue Moon|Rogue Moon]]'', teleportation is done the ''[[Star Trek]]'' way of decomposition and reconstitution. The book is more interested in the implications: two copies of the same person genuinely are the same person, giving them telepathy until they diverge enough. This is useful in investigating an alien machine that kills its occupants. The decomposition is lethal, no ifs, ands, or buts. The scan can then be reconstituted any number of times, but this is a separate process. ''Rogue Moon'' is messed up.
* 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
* Well presented in the third book in the [[Rogue Agent]] series, [[Wizard Squared]], where the reader is presented with an [[Alternate Timeline|alternate take]] on the climax of the first book, and the [[Butterfly of Doom|domino effect]] shows how terribly poorly that universe went when the characters crossover. Interestingly, the point of divergence was a possibility that the character in the original timeline discounted as too dangerous. Cue [[Evil Overlord]].
* In ''[[The Talisman]]'' people in our world tend to have a twinner in the Territories. Fundamentally the two people will be at least similar.
* 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
== Live Action TV ==
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== Web Comics ==
* ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' got several full arcs of these in continuity and about as much outside of it. Tedd exists and has self-esteem issues in ''[[In Spite of a Nail|every]]'' [[Alternate Universe]]
* ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'' has the Mayor who traveled from the future to save the world from ninja zombies. {{spoiler|Then, he discovered that alternate versions of himself had also traveled into the past to save their timelines from various things like Rogue Super Vacuums. Usually, they finish their mission and live a peaceful life away from the city.}}
** There's also Dr. [[McNinja]]'s clone who had lived a peaceful life as a farmer. His name is [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Old McNinja]].
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