A doppelgänger is a tangible double of a living person in fiction, folklore, and popular culture that typically represents evil. In the vernacular, the word has come to refer (as in German “doppelt(e)”) to any double or look-alike of a person.

The word also is used to describe the sensation of having glimpsed oneself in peripheral vision, in a position where there is no chance that it could have been a reflection. Doppelgängers often are perceived as a sinister form of bilocation and generally regarded as harbingers of bad luck. In some traditions, a doppelgänger seen by a person’s friends or relatives portends illness or danger, while seeing one’s own doppelgänger is an omen of death.

In Norse mythology, a vardøger is a ghostly double who precedes a living person and is seen performing their actions in advance. In Finnish mythology, this is called having an Etiäinen, i.e., “a firstcomer”. In Ancient Egyptian mythology, a “ka” was a tangible “spirit double” having the same memories and feeling as the original person. In one Egyptian myth titled “The Greek Princess,” an Egyptian view of the Trojan War, a ka of Helen was used to mislead Paris of Troy, helping to stop the war. In some myths, the doppelgänger is a version of the Ankou, a personification of death; in a tradition of the Talmud, to meet oneself means to meet God.

More Doppleganger links

If you enjoy celebrity gossip, check out Celebuzz and D-Listed.

If you are scared that you have a doppleganger and seeing them would make the world explode then learn more about Dopplegangers on Wiki.

Check out more Philosoraptor here: QuickMeme and Know Your Meme.