Literal Split Personality: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:literal-split-personality 148.jpg|link=Xiaolin Showdown|frame|Not multiplication, division.]]

 

{{quote|'''Slipstream''': Each of us clones represents one aspect of your personality. [[Dirty Coward|He's a coward]], [[Small Name, Big Ego|he's an egomaniac]], [[Professional Butt-Kisser|he's a suck-up]], [[Bad Liar|he's a liar]].

'''Slipstream''': ''[[You Do NOT Want to Know|Don't ask]].''

|''[[Transformers Animated]]''}}

 

Not to be confused with [[Half the Man He Used To Be]].

{{examples}}

* Nana Suzuki from ''[[Seven of Seven]]'', who was split into seven by a [[Freak Lab Accident]] involving a secret experiment of her scientist grandfather.

** And by extension, [[Kanon|Ayu Tsukimiya]], as Fuuko is an [[Expy]] of her.

* In ''[[Ah! My Goddess]]'', Urd gets split into her Goddess and Demon halves, with the former acting much more like [[Yamato Nadeshiko|Belldandy]] and the latter more like her [[Jerkass|mother]] (not to mention Demon-Urd taking the [[Stripperiffic]] outfits of regular-Urd to extremes). They eventually realize that neither Urd is the true Urd and recombine.

* ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'' has a few examples.

** In the Keroro episode "Giroro: The Man with Seven Faces ([[Verbal Tic|De Arimasu]])", Giroro is accidentally split into his 7 selves: evil American soldier Giroppe, shy child Girorin, housewife Girocchi, poetic girl Giroko, suave romantic Giropon, normal Giroro, and cool-looking Girosama, the one with the nice laugh.

* In ''[[Rosario + Vampire]] Capu2'', the Lilith Mirror splits Moka into her Outer and [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Inner]] forms. Both of them are unstable apart, and since the Lilith Mirror's magic needed to be reversed, they rejoin shortly after they split, much to Kokoa's disappointment.

** They can literally split in one of game's endings.

** Also, {{spoiler|Lycoris}} can take over {{spoiler|Nerine}} at times, as shown in anime and ''[[Updated Rerelease|Essence+]]'' bonus scene.

* {{spoiler|Father}}, the [[Big Bad]] of [[Fullmetal Alchemist]], can do this at will. He expels aspects of his own personality that he doesn't like, and these discarded traits form separate individuals who typically become his minions. To a certain extent, he regards them as his children, but that's mostly because he has family issues.

* In ''[[Bleach]]'', {{spoiler|Starrk and Lilynette are both the primera Espada}}, who split into two in order not to feel lonely, as all his/her "friends" were too weak to survive long.

* A popular theory behind the connection to the two [[When They Cry]] series is that {{spoiler|[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni|Bernkastel]] is a collection of [[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni|Rika]]'s memories of all the failed Fragments, and then separated herself from Rika.}}

* In ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokemon]]'', Sabrina's shunning of her emotions in favour of focusing solely on training her psychic powers eventually caused her emotional side to split off into a [[Creepy Doll]]-like body. When a Haunter Ash had befriended got her to laugh she underwent a [[Split Personality Merge]] and learned to embrace her emotions.

 

== Comic Books ==

* Appears to be happening to the Enchantress in the first issue of ''[[Justice League Dark]]''. Her original self lies withered in an isolated cabin, surrounded by baleful spells. Meanwhile a [[The Ingenue|wide-eyed]] June Moone wanders the streets surveying the weirdness.

* Happens to Negaduck at the end of "[[Darkwing Duck (comics)|Crisis On Infinite Darkwings]]". {{spoiler|[[Grey Goo|To the n-th degree, it turns out.]]}}

 

* In ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/860445/1/Prism Prism]'', [[Rurouni Kenshin|Kenshin]] is split into a thirty year old version of himself, a teenage self, and a child self. Some different aspects of his personality end up split among them as well, such as the teenage version having a short temper and little self-control, most of which went to the adult version.

* A variation occurs in ''[[Hogyoku Ex Machina]]'' when [[Bleach|Ichigo]] figures out how to manifest [[Empathic Weapon|Zangetsu]] and his [[Super-Powered Evil Side|hollow self]] in the real world. The latter and [[Blood Knight|Zaraki]] end up getting along swimmingly.

 

== Films ==

* The Skeksis and the UrRu (Mystics) of ''[[The Dark Crystal]]'' are the evil and good halves of the UrSkeks.

* A bizarre variation of this happens to Jack Sparrow in ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]: At World's End''. Naturally, considering the character, this is taken to extremes with an entire ''crew'' of dozens of Jack Sparrows, each one supposedly reflecting one aspect of his character.

* In ''[[Final Fantasy VII]] Advent Children'' Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo are "remnants" of Sephiroth, who, having died but still existing in [[The Lifestream]], was unable to create a complete avatar of himself. Instead he created these puppets, who were separate persons (and nowhere near as cool) but each embodied some part of his personality. [[All There in the Manual|Apparently]], Kadaj represents his anger and rage, Loz his speed, [[Dumb Muscle|strength]] and attachment to Jenova, and Yazoo his charisma and aloof demeanor.

* In ''[[Transformers]]: [[Transformers Film Series|Revenge of the Fallen]]'', Arcee is composed of three motorcycles. Each body has the same personality, though. In the comics, all speak at once, similar to ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' character Reflector.

* In ''[[Spy Kids]] 3: Game Over'', [[Big Bad|the Toymaker]] was advised by three holographic characters with his face: a [[Sociopathic Soldier]], a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] and a [[New Age Retro Hippie]].

{{quote|'''The Toymaker''': "I don't mind talking to 'myself', but when you guys start to cut me out of the conversation, that's when it gets a little strange."}}

 

== Literature ==

* A story by [[Robert Sheckley]] involves a man who got a schizophrenia cure in his childhood by getting the other personalities siphoned into artificial bodies. He spends the story searching for them around the galaxy.

* Happens near the end of ''[[Ender's Game|Xenocide]]''. {{spoiler|Jane, Ender, and company make the first journey outside of spacetime and back in, in which the travelers keep or alter themselves and their possessions by imagining them so. The purpose of the trip succeeds: Ela creates a safe replacement for the descolada with her mind. The trip also brings surprises. Ender's fractured psyche forms two extra persons: Peter and Valentine as he remembers them from his adolescence. They all share Ender's soul.}}

 

== Live-Action TV ==

{{quote|"Can half a man live?"}}

* In the ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' episode "Faces," B'Elanna Torres is split into her Klingon and human halves by the Vidiians: the Klingon is a barely contained rage factory, the human is a simpering wimp.

* ''[[Smallville]]'':

** The opening episode of Season Four introduces black kryptonite. Martha uses it on Clark in order to try and deprogram him (long story) and it causes him to split into his good and evil sides, "Clark" and "Kal-El" (all of this most likely a [[Mythology Gag]] to ''Superman III''). {{spoiler|Unfortunately, the "fight" is very, very brief, with Kal starting to choke Clark only for Martha to toss the kryptonite to Clark, who smashes it into Kal's chest and fuses them back together.}} ''Lex'' got the black kryptonite treatment (here, it's created from ''heating'' regular kryptonite) in a later episode, with the good version being sweet (but not the crybaby many "good twins" are when this trope is used) and the evil version being... ''[[Superman|Lex Luthor]]''.

* Darrin of ''[[Bewitched]]'' gets split into his fun loving side and his workaholic side by his mother-in-law.

* ''[[Dollhouse]]'' has several interesting takes on this; the person is never "split" in any way, but they're in a room with a copy of their mind in someone else's body talking to them. The first one has a rebellious younger girl's brainscan tweaked to have the copy become "well-adjusted" and mentor the real girl into possibly getting over her traumas. In the second, [[Hilarity Ensues|hilarious]] instance, [[Insufferable Genius|Topher]] puts an exact copy of his brain into Victor. They get along great until they're actually in the same room as each other.

* In the season 6 finale of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', Sam is stuck in a [[Mental World]] where his identity has split into three personalities: Sam, Soulless Sam, and the Sam who's been tortured in the Cage.

 

== Machinima ==

** Which isn't surprising considering {{spoiler|Church is the Alpha A.I.}}

* Near the end of ''[[The Strangerhood]]'' it's revealed that an accident occurred when Tovar was transported to the Strangerhood, which split him into two different people, one that was pure evil and one that was pure moron.

 

== Mythology ==

* [[Hindu Mythology|Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu]]

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* In ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]],'' Calvin successfully clones only the ''good'' aspects of his personality with his trademark cardboard box technology. This leads to a lot of people cracking "you'd be a lot smaller if that were true," remarks. This is eventually subverted: {{spoiler|since even Calvin's best qualities are still inherently his own, the "good" clone threatens to clobber his creator, vanishing in a [[Puff of Logic]] for having done something evil.}}

{{quote|[[Techno Babble|My ethicator machine must've had a built-in moral compromise spectral release phantasmatron!]] I'm a genius!}}

 

== Tabletop Games ==

 

== Toys ==

* In ''[[Bionicle]]'', Vezok got hit with a fusion ray set in reverse, causing his strategic cunning side to be split off. Notably, this was not an equal split, the double (named Vezon, the Matoran word for "double") had ''only'' Vezok's head for tactics; not his powers, not much of his appearance, not even his sanity. And unfortunately for Vezok, the split was permanent (even after getting a hold of the fusion device again, his teammates wrecked it out of annoyance and because him being smart again would make him harder to [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|backstab]]).

 

* In ''[[Mega Man Star Force]]'', {{spoiler|Pat}} has a split personality, {{spoiler|Rey}}. Gemini becomes his EM wave partner. When he EM Wave Changes and becomes Gemini Spark, Gemini splits into two, and the two personalities split. Gemini Spark White merges with {{spoiler|Pat}}. The dominant one (the one you hit to damage), Gemini Spark Black, merges with {{spoiler|Rey}}.

** Thank Capcom for small blessings; in ''Star Force 2'', both of them are damageable separately.

* [[Tsukihime|Len]] had part of personality split into [[Melty Blood|White Len]] and then bolstered with magic (or something) giving her an evil twin of sorts. The most notable thing besides being, you know, evil, is that White Len speaks a great deal while Len has [[Cute Mute|only spoken two or three times in total.]]

* In the penultimate scene of ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'', the Nameless protagonist meets some of his earlier incarnations in person - the [[Redemption Equals Death|good incarnation]], the [[Chessmaster|practical incarnation]], and the [[Crazy Survivalist|paranoid]] incarnation.

* {{spoiler|Chinatsu and Ojou}} in [[Suika]]. The former is the love and memories of the latter.

* Legends in ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'' say that there was a great dragon that two brothers used to protect Unova. But when the brothers began arguing with each other, the dragon split its yin into Zekrom and its yang into Reshiram, who would fight endlessly. It's also theorized that a third Pokémon, Kyurem, is ''what's left of the original dragon''. Which is probably why it looks so "incomplete".

* In ''[[Mugen Souls]]'', the protagonist, Chou-Chou, is capable of splitting up her personality ''and'' how the personality looks like into ''eight'' different types which are [[A God Am I|Egocentric (default personality)]], [[The Ditz|Natural]], [[Genki Girl|Vigour]], [[Jerkass|Sadist]], [[Yamato Nadeshiko|Beauty]], [[Tsundere]], [[Too Kinky to Torture|Masochist]], and [[Elegant Gothic Lolita|Cool]]. Unusual for this trope, this is also a ''game mechanic'' in which to convince enemies to become your slaves, you must be at an appropriate personality to [[Made of Temptation|get them to join you]] so that they can power up your [[Energy Ball]] and your ship, the Gcastle.

 

== Visual Novels ==

* {{spoiler|M and Baron}} in ''[[Shikkoku no Sharnoth]]'', as part of Moriarty's experiment. Also, only one of them is ever treated like the character that was originally split.

 

* Spoofed with a duplication ray (the "Dupe-O-Matic") in the webcomic [[Melonpool]] in which Ralph is first split to form his good twin Ralphie, then Ralph was split again to form his even eviler twin Fauntleroy so in essence Ralph was being distilled. Interestingly, Melonpool instead gets split into his usual moron self and a twin who is a genius.

** The Dupe-O-Matic is also used in a cross-over with ''[[Its Walky|It's Walky!]]'' to duplicate Joyce, who already had a [[Split Personality]], creating an [[Evil Twin]] who continued to have effects far down the plot.

** Heroes of Heart rule over an Aspect governing the self and identity. Their myth arc often involve "a journey of splintered self." {{spoiler|Dirk has this in spades between himself and his auto-responder. Ironically, he doesn't have it with his dream self, since he runs both bodies at once with the same mind.}}

* In ''[[At Arm's Length (webcomic)|At Arms Length]]'', Ally spent most of the "Splitting Hares" arc divided into two versions of herself, one loyally staying by her husband Peter's side while they other half commits to her friends Sheila and Reece. Both claimed to be the "true" Ally and fought it out, each accusing the other of being inferior and making irresponsible choices. {{spoiler|It took the threat of being erased from existence due to the instability of the split to get them to put aside their differences and come together again}}.

* While rendered incomprehensible for a good stretch of the series, Haley from ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' often got into arguments within herself, with mental versions of herself that represented fragments of her psyche. Her self-loathing was usually the one she spoke with, but she sometimes met with other parts of her, such as her optimism, her vanity, her mistrust, her latent bisexuality, and [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|the new side of her that's sick of the emo stuff and wants to get back to comedy.]]

* ''[[Chasing the Sunset]]'' had Feiht split from herself, after her conflicting desires gave her a nightmare and she began talking to herself about how she may start talking to herself. Of course, she's still a [[The Ditz|pixie]], so once she gets in a [[Cat Fight]] with herself, eventually both fail to keep track which of her is the [[Evil Twin]].

 

== Web Originals ==

* Chad/Chaddy/Merry/Mai/Paige/Petra of the [[Whateley Universe]]. Currently in three parts: Paige, Petra, and Chaddy. Paige is at Whateley, Petra is in Italy, and Chaddy is running around in Sara's head.

* In the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'', Prezma ("Prism" in Russian) is a superheroine with diagnosed [[Split Personality|Multiple Personality Disorder]]. Normally, she has no actual super powers until she splits into seven individual bodies (one for each of her known personalities, and each matching a color in the visible spectrum). After she splits, each of her bodies has a different set of super powers based on the color they represent.

* In ''[[Luke Mochrie and The Inners|Film Conscience]]'', Luke Mochrie uses Phillip, his [[The Cynic|Inner Pessimist]], and Ringo, his [[The Idealist|Inner Optimist]], to point out the good and the bad qualities of a film being reviewed. Sometimes, he'll even have other Inners pop in every once in a while to show their perspective along with Phillip and Ringo.

 

== Western Animation ==

* In the ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'' episode "Negaduck", the eponymous crimefighter is split into good and evil sides, which are later enhanced into super-good and super-evil sides. (Bizarrely, this is ''not'' the origin of the villain called [[Mirror Universe|Negaduck]].)

** Later something similar would happen to Gosalyn in "The Frequency Fiends," leaving the original unaffected but creating three superpowered duplicates with single personality traits.

** [[Expanded Universe]] clones include Dirge (greed), Thrust (envy), and "Clone Black" (his lack of originality?).

* An even better example from Transformers is the G1 Combiners, like the Constructicons' Devastator, the Combaticons' Bruticus, and the Predacons' Predaking—inverted because the separated parts are the originals, but then they combine into one giant robot that has the combined mind of the five/six/seven components. With the bad guys, this tends to mean they destroy everything; the good guys protect everything. Usually. The Technobots' Computron has a problem with thinking things out too much and sometimes gets beaten by the primal-instinct Decepticons. The questionably-canonical explanation is that the combined form only has the traits all five have in common, hence urge to smash other side being about all there is to them. Predaking is the sole exception to the hulk-smashiness of combiners because the Predacons work together just that well.

* In ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'', Candace gets split into her two strongest emotions: Her desire to bust her brothers, and her crush on Jeremy.

* In one episode of the ''[[Beetlejuice (animation)|Beetlejuice]]'' cartoon, BJ gets so mad about being stiffed on a reward for breaking up a [[Wild Teen Party]] on Halloween night, he [[Visual Pun|literally becomes "beside himself"]], splitting into a good side (an easy-going [[Lovable Coward]] with a fondness for bad puns) and an evil side (a crude, slovenly prankster).

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Foil]]

[[Category:Split Personality Tropes]]

[[Category:Literal Split Personality]]