Mirror Mook

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When you become your own worst enemy in a way you couldn't imagine...

The Mirror Mook is a type of Mook that mimics the player in some manner - ranging from something as simple as copying or mirroring their movements, all the way to copying the player themselves. Being generated or mass-produced by an actual Magic Mirror is a common implementation, but not a strict requirement. Particularly tough enemies of this kind are usually Mirror Bosses.

Compare Evil Knockoffs, a common form of Mirror Mook, and Superpowered Mooks, some of whom may have the same powers as the hero. Sister Tropes include Shadow Archetype, Evil Twin and Evil Counterpart, as well as their many subtropes. May or may not be the product of a special Doppleganger Attack.

Contrast Mirror Match, which can occur in games with playable Mirror Mooks, and Mega Manning, which lets you copy mooks and bosses' powers.

Examples of Mirror Mook include:

Anime and Manga

• In Naruto, Pain has the ability to make doppelgangers of other Akatsuki members out of living people, which are essentially perfect copies of the targets aside from the percentage of chakra put into them.

Video Games

• The Bomberman series tends to have Mecha Bombers appearing as a common foe, alongside some other examples:
  • Bomberman Quest has Shelterine, an enemy hidden in a well within the Forest Zone. It only moves when Bomberman moves, but in the opposite direction and at the same speed as Bomberman would normally, stopping occasionally to attack with waves in a short '+' or 'x' pattern.
  • Bomberman World has Hologra-Boms that appear on Planet Black and look like translucent Bomberman clones with yellow eyes. They move slowly and can throw bombs similar to Bomberman.
  • Super Bomberman marks the debut of the Mecha Bombers, with one sent by Carat Diamond and Dr. Mook to attack White Bomberman, as detailed by the manual and the accompanying prologue comic. The villainous Black Bomberman manages to intercept it, but is defeated and retreats to warn White Bomber, teaming up with him to defeat the villains.
    • Several Mecha Bombers appear as enemies on the fifth stage, which is a replica of the basic stage most Bomberman PVP fights take place on - Bomberman must fight the Mecha Bombers one by one (or two by two if playing in co-op mode). They use bombs and obey similar rules to Bomberman, e.g. they are only stunned by punched bombs, are unharmed by kicked bombs, and can collect and use the items that periodically appear. And the first pair are even modeled after White and Black Bomberman!
    • The first four are One-Hit-Point Wonders, while the next three go down in two hits. The yellow Mecha Bomber that previously defeated Black is then fought as the fifth stage's boss, with 5 HP, the ability to kick bombs, and a set-limit of four bombs that boast an impressive Fire rating of 9!
  • In Stage 4-7 of Neo Bomberman, Mecha Bombers appear in a similar capacity - they are even called "Fake Bombers" (not to be confused with the disguise-savvy Fake Bomber rescued earlier in 4-2).
  • In Bomberman for the PSP, four Mecha Bombers are fought as the first bosses of the game in Bomber World.
• Kirby:
  • The first Kirby's Dream Land has "imposter" Kirbies in Mt. Dedede's Boss Rush, where Kirby must complete short levels each representing one of the four bosses fought; each level's boss door boss is blocked by a Gordo, which is destroyed (along with every on-screen enemy) by running into the "imposter".
  • Kirby's Dream Land 3 has the rare Batamon enemy, which heavily resembles Kirby and is usually found in inaccessible areas with the exception of one in Cloudy Park.
  • Kirby Super Star introduces a sort of inversion in Tac, a cat-like enemy dressed in ninja garb who attempts to steal Kirby's Copy Ability; inhaling one grants the Copy power, which lets take on the appearance of any enemy he scans. This is actually quite useful for snagging boss powers more easily, and Tac can also do the same as a helper.
  • In Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, Shadow Kirby appears once in each of the mirror world's areas to attack Kirby using a random Copy Ability, and defeating him earns Kirby a random power-up, such as an Invincibility Candy or a 1UP. Near the end, it's revealed that Shadow Kirby was simply trying to protect his home world, and he teams up with Kirby to defeat the true Big Bad, Dark Mind.
• The Legend of Zelda franchise has among its many examples Dark Link and Shadow Link, two distinct recurring Evil Counterparts that frequently appear as enemies; Dark Link is more likely of the two to serve as a Duel Mirror Boss.
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past has Green and Red Goriyas that mirror Link's movements in opposite directions; the red ones shoot fireballs if they make eye contact with Link, and can only be killed with arrows, making them tricky to dispatch. Koppis also appear in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
    • The Game Boy Advance port-exclusive Bonus Dungeon has a set of Dark Links formed from the cursed components of the Four Sword as its final bosses, each with their own copies of the primary endgame items. All four will attempt to run at Link and slash at him, and each of them adds an additional attack to their strategy; the first one uses the Pegasus Boots, the second also uses a Hurricane Spin, the third adds a jumping down-thrust, and the fourth has twice as much health and can additionally fire sword beams.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and its remake for the Nintendo Switch has Arm-Mimics, haniwa-like enemies that mirror Link's movements and require a sword stronger than the normal one to defeat them. Shy Guys from the Mario franchise (called Mask-Mimics in the original game) also appear as similar enemies, with their mask protecting them from frontal sword attacks.
  • Arm-Mimics make a return in The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages. Veran also summons four Arm-Mimic-like Dark Links during the final boss battle.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures has Shadow Link serve as a recurring enemy and Mirror Boss in Hyrulean Adventure. "Lesser" Shadow Links will either attempt to evade the player or else make trouble by using items, and one hit will defeat them and produce a large green Force Gem. "Boss" Shadow Links will attempt to fight the player using the same skills as them, and later fights will have him create up to three other duplicates; when the main Shadow Link has taken enough damage, he will jump away and begin to cycle through different colors, only taking damage from that specific color Link.
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds also features Shadow Link in the StreetPass-linked Shadow Link Battle mode; after talking to Gramps to unlock the mode, receiving a StreetPass hit causes a Shadow Link representing that player's Link to appear in one of various locations around Hyrule or Lorule. The Shadow Link is computer-controlled and will have whatever items and gear were on hand at the time the profile was set up (done by talking to Gramps); its battle theme is based on that of Link's Shadow from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Shadow Links can also be generated at random, with the alias of the "sending player" given as Shade.
• The Super Mario franchise has various types of enemies that copy Mario or one of his friends.
  • In Super Mario RPG, Belome's second fight has him as a Flunky Boss that can eat the party and spit them out to create clones of them.
  • Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga has Tanoombas (tanuki-like Goombas) who can attack the bros by transforming into one of the pair and jumping onto them; the attack always targets the opposite brother (i.e. a Tanoomba turning into Luigi will always attack Mario), who must counter with their hammer.
  • Mario & Luigi: Dream Team has Antasma create a clone of Mario called "Dreamy Mario", a Doppleganger Attacking Mirror Boss that spawns several clones of himself to avoid direct hits and attack Mario in turn.
  • Paper Mario has Duplighosts, Bedsheet Ghost-like enemies who can transform into one of Mario's partners. The sequel, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, introduces a named Duplighost as the boss of Chapter 3 that can also turn into Mario, and even manages to steal his body in the process and fool his partners into thinking he's Mario.
  • Super Mario Galaxy 2 introduces Cosmic Clones, who appear in certain sections of the various galaxies as well as any galaxy where a Clone Comet is orbiting. They mimic the appearance of Mario or Luigi and start spawning and following behind them as soon as they appear; Cosmic Clones disappear and damage Mario/Luigi if they make contact, and flawlessly copy their movements even if the terrain changes (e.g. copying jumps off platforms that disappeared by the time the Clones reach them).
  • Cosmic Clones return in Super Mario 3D Land, which also introduces Big variants. Only one appears at a time, and they are found exclusively in the Special worlds.
  • In the Nintendo 3DS version of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Bowser and Dr. Eggman use the Phantasmal Fog urn to create copies of the cast called Fog Imposters, who aid the villains in their plot to stop the Olympics from happening.
  • The Bowser's Tower mode of Mario Party: Island Tour has the player face off against several "bubble" clones of the playable cast in minigames. They were created by Bowser, who was jealous of not being invited to the Party Islands and created the tower to have his own "party".
  • Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker has the Mummy-Me, which resembles a mummified Toad and acts similarly to the previously mentioned Cosmic Clones.
  • Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury has Fury Shadows, who act similarly to Shadow Mario in Super Mario Sunshine. They form from a sphere of black paint and take the shape of Luigi, running away from Mario, and he must hit them three times with a jump or a magic paintbrush to defeat it and recover one of the Cat Shines.
• In NetHack and its many variants, you can encounter "player monsters" that represent NPC adventurers; there is one corresponding to each of the playable roles, and the game even refers to them with the rank title appropriate for their experience level. Player monsters have armor, weapons and other items similar to what a player would usually have, as well as cheap plastic copies of the Amulet of Yendor. Naturally, almost all of them can only be encountered on the Astral Plane, the very final level of the game; the cheap plastic imitation Amulet is probably why they're stuck there.
  • Doppelgangers and other shapeshifters can imitate player monsters, with dopplegangers being the most likely culprits; the mass majority of player monsters encountered in the dungeon prior to the Astral Plane will usually be a doppleganger in disguise.
  • EvilHack has player monsters appear far more often far earlier in the main dungeon, which you can encounter starting around experience level 10. They are technically a class of monster distinct from how the player is defined in the game's files, and are kitted out in player-like gear that can reach up to "ascension kit" levels depending on how late they're encountered. Player monster hit dice and difficulty level roughly match that of the actual player, based on their experience level when the player monster spawns; they also have their role's abilities and traits (e.g. wizards and priests can cast spells, rogues can steal items from inventory, knights spawn riding either a horse or a warhorse, etc.) EvilHack player monsters covet the Amulet of Yendor and will attempt to steal it. If they steal it while on the Astral Plane, they'll attempt to sacrifice it to their own god, ending your game if they succeed.
    • In addition, wishing for an artifact not tied to a specific role has a chance to summon a player monster as its current "owner", forcing you to fight them for it.
• Dungeon Crawl:
  • Player ghosts are created upon the death of a non-undead player character, and can also appear inside randomly generated ghost vaults. Player ghosts have the max HP, AC and EV of the deceased character, as well as certain other traits: the base damage and brand of the weapon they had wielded, the bonuses from Fighting skill levels, their elemental resistances, and the ability to cast certain spells and see invisible. In very rare cases, if a ghost file isn't available, the vault ghost will instead be an actual "clone" of the player.
  • Mara, Lord of Illusions is a unique monster with the ability to make clones of any monster in the area - including himself and you. Said clone is essentially a player ghost with many of your character's spells, melee and defensive capacities, and any buffs you had active at the time.
• Caves of Qud has Arconauts and Graverobbers, mobs who are members of the Grazing Hedonists faction and tend to be mostly peaceful towards the player character. In addition, one of the random events that can occur is the appearance of a cryotube that contains an exact copy of yourself with your entire inventory inside.
• One arc in City of Heroes ends with the party fighting shadow versions of themselves in the lower level of Paragon City Hall. There are also story arcs in which you face off against clones or extradimensional counterparts of yourself, all of which (usually) possess the same powers and abilities as you.