The Doppelganger

The Doppelganger was a monster who killed people and shapeshifted into their forms to stay alive. It was destroyed by Dromeo Cristian in an explosion. It appears in It Which Casts Two Shadows.

## Appearance and Characteristics

### Appearance

#### Regular Appearance and characteristics

The Doppelganger had a very distinct appearance. It had red eyes with slits for pupils, hairless, jackal-like ears, one arm like a snake and one very bulgy and muscular, having three long claws at the end. It's skin peeled off in some places, revealing eerie blackness beneath. It had no legs, instead the skin ripped off all the way, a black cloud taking the place of its legs. The doppelganger had a rip down the middle of its face.

It had two "shadows" behind it that looked exactly identical, except for the fact that they looked less real and more transparent. The shadows could go from looking almost real to being simple shadows, depending on the lighting.

The doppelganger's shadows were dangerous because, while they didn't look physical, they were, and could grab someone if they weren't wary. However, the shadows could be weakened by light, and could be destroyed with other shadows, although they would come back after a while.

#### True Form

The true form of the doppelganger was so terrifying that anyone who could remember it would die instantly from fright. Dromeo's brain processed it as a huge black cloud.

### Shapeshifting

The doppelganger had the ability to shapeshift into other people, although it had to do a few things first. First, it had to kill its victim, then impale them with a special spike that would link the corpse to the doppelganger itself. After that, the doppelganger would be able to shapeshift into the victim, now called a "skin", at will, unless the skin was destroyed. The skins rotted like any normal human body, and so the doppelganger had to create complex machinery to preserve them longer. The longest a skin could last was about 20 years, and so the doppelganger had to find a new skin every 20 years.

## Personality

Surprisingly, the doppelganger actually had a little bit of personality. It had a dry, dark sense of humor that it used very rarely, and was very good at mimicking its victims. It actually befriended Dromeo while disguised as Williet, and expressed regret in killing him.

## History

The doppelganger came into existence sometime around the 1800s. Its first victim was Osric Butler, and after that the doppelganger used Osric's house as its base of operations, where it kept its skins.

It went through many skins, until finally it made it to Williet. It was very hard for the doppelganger to make it appear like Williet was growing (the doppelganger killed him when he was only 7), and so for the most part the doppelganger purposefully made Williet look small, weak, and timid. The doppelganger would have gone back to its residence, but was caught up in an opportunity to have a pre-prepared skin after Williet, in the form of Dromeo Cristian. In the form of Williet, it befriended Dromeo and became very close to him, grooming the unsuspecting youth to be its next skin.

Eventually, it saw its chance. Dromeo and the doppelganger (in the guise of Williet) got lost in the middle of the woods, and seeing an opportunity, it prepared to kill Dromeo. However, it had genuinely befriended the young man, and waited for as long as possible, leading Dromeo into its residence so that it could kill him there.

The doppelganger met its end when Dromeo set off an explosion that killed both he and the doppelganger.

## Relationships

#### Dromeo

At first, the doppelganger befriended Dromeo so that it would have an already prepared skin to use after Williet rotted, but in the end the doppelganger actually became fond of him, and purposefully passed down all opportunities to take his skin.

## Trivia

The doppelganger is not like the doppelgangers featured in European folklore, rather it is its own, unique monster.