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19 Jan 2018 02:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ghostblusterThe word doppelganger is a loanword from the German “doppelgänger”, consisting of the two substantives “doppel” (double) “gänger” (walker or goer). It was first used in 1796, though the concept dates back much, much farther.1
The muggle concept of a doppelganger is attributed to genetics. It is imperative for human social interaction that we be able to tell one another apart. As such, humans have developed phenotypic diversity and sufficient cognitive abilities to track such social relationships. Why, then, is it possible to find someone who looks “just” like you? Long story short, there are only so many possible genetic combinations.Though our features vary more than any other animal, our genes do not. Eventually, in a population of more than 7 billion, chances are someone else’s features will combine in a similar fashion to someone else’s.2
And that isn’t taking into account magical possibilities. Metamorphmagi, though rare, have the ability to take any human form they would like, regardless of sex, age, ethnicity, or other features. A polyjuice potion can change someone into the identical match of the person whose genetic material was added during brewing. There are other illusions that can be cast to make someone appear as someone else, though these are more easily dispelled.
Those are only taking into account humans appearing as other humans. When you take into account other magical beings, the possibilities are numerous. Leshy, Henge; Kitsune/Tanuki, Huli Jing, Kumiho, Cucuy, Nāga, Selkies, Ilimu, and Yuxa are all said to be able to take human form.3 Some are real, some are classified as “mythological”, but perhaps exist and are simply undiscovered. Many motives are attributed to these beings, from the desire to play pranks on unwitting humans to eating them. Luckily, it doesn’t seem like the mimics we have in our midst want to eat us, as they likely could have done so several times over.Unless, of course, they have eaten people, and now they’ve merely assumed their forms and taken up their lives for some as yet undetermined purpose.4 They bear similarities to the trickster figures in that, so far, the only perceivable patterns in their behavior seems to be to sew chaos and discord. The methods for stopping these shapeshifters is as varied as their mythology.
There is also the shadowy category of non-beings, such as the boggart, which of course take the form of one’s darkest fear. If that fear is human, then the boggart can ape it. Boggarts therefore seem to have some limited form of legilimency themselves. However, they seem to focus on the memories of the person they seek to cause fear rather than accuracy. If you have a fear of your sixth grade algebra teacher, you might remember him as taller than he was, for example. Though they may be terrifying, there are no recorded instances of them being able to cause physical harm. Their soul purpose seems to be to cause fear, though they are easily dispelled through humor directed with the riddikulus spell.
Compare these to Dementors, also non-beings to seek to cause fear in humans. While they cannot alter their physical form, they, too, seem to have some limited form of legilimency, as they force their prey to relive their darkest moments and feed off of the resulting negative emotions. Dementors, of course, can cause harm, but like the boggart, can be combated with positive emotion directed and amplified through the patronus spell.
1 First used by Jean Paul in the novel Flower, Fruit, and Thorn Pieces; or, the Married Life, Death, and Wedding of Siebenkäs, Poor Man's Lawyer
2 Morphological and population genomic evidence that human faces have evolved to signal individual identity
3 Shapeshifting Across the Globe; A History of Therianthropy
4 Needs further investigating, but don't want to cause a panic
The muggle concept of a doppelganger is attributed to genetics. It is imperative for human social interaction that we be able to tell one another apart. As such, humans have developed phenotypic diversity and sufficient cognitive abilities to track such social relationships. Why, then, is it possible to find someone who looks “just” like you? Long story short, there are only so many possible genetic combinations.Though our features vary more than any other animal, our genes do not. Eventually, in a population of more than 7 billion, chances are someone else’s features will combine in a similar fashion to someone else’s.2
And that isn’t taking into account magical possibilities. Metamorphmagi, though rare, have the ability to take any human form they would like, regardless of sex, age, ethnicity, or other features. A polyjuice potion can change someone into the identical match of the person whose genetic material was added during brewing. There are other illusions that can be cast to make someone appear as someone else, though these are more easily dispelled.
Those are only taking into account humans appearing as other humans. When you take into account other magical beings, the possibilities are numerous. Leshy, Henge; Kitsune/Tanuki, Huli Jing, Kumiho, Cucuy, Nāga, Selkies, Ilimu, and Yuxa are all said to be able to take human form.3 Some are real, some are classified as “mythological”, but perhaps exist and are simply undiscovered. Many motives are attributed to these beings, from the desire to play pranks on unwitting humans to eating them. Luckily, it doesn’t seem like the mimics we have in our midst want to eat us, as they likely could have done so several times over.
There is also the shadowy category of non-beings, such as the boggart, which of course take the form of one’s darkest fear. If that fear is human, then the boggart can ape it. Boggarts therefore seem to have some limited form of legilimency themselves. However, they seem to focus on the memories of the person they seek to cause fear rather than accuracy. If you have a fear of your sixth grade algebra teacher, you might remember him as taller than he was, for example. Though they may be terrifying, there are no recorded instances of them being able to cause physical harm. Their soul purpose seems to be to cause fear, though they are easily dispelled through humor directed with the riddikulus spell.
Compare these to Dementors, also non-beings to seek to cause fear in humans. While they cannot alter their physical form, they, too, seem to have some limited form of legilimency, as they force their prey to relive their darkest moments and feed off of the resulting negative emotions. Dementors, of course, can cause harm, but like the boggart, can be combated with positive emotion directed and amplified through the patronus spell.
1 First used by Jean Paul in the novel Flower, Fruit, and Thorn Pieces; or, the Married Life, Death, and Wedding of Siebenkäs, Poor Man's Lawyer
2 Morphological and population genomic evidence that human faces have evolved to signal individual identity
3 Shapeshifting Across the Globe; A History of Therianthropy
