Doppelgänger

**Notice:** This **article** uses content directly taken from the Doppelgänger **article** at the Vampire Diaries Wiki, and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.

## Species Information

### Related species

* Human
* Immortal
* Vampire
* Witch

### Season(s)

**The Vampire Diaries**:* 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

**The Originals**:

* 2, 3, 5

### Distinction

* Mystical, naturally occurring humans born physically identical to the first two immortals.

**Doppelgängers**, also known as **Shadow Selves** or **Mortal Shadow Selves**, were a supernatural occurrence that were created by Nature. After Silas and Amara became true immortals by consuming Qetsiyah's immortality elixir, they violated the natural law that all living things must die. Nature found a balance by creating mortal shadow selves that could die. For this reason, doppelgängers have existed for as long as immortals, having been born and died in the place of Silas and Amara.

There are only two doppelgänger "lines" that rippled throughout history, colloquially known as the Salvatore and Petrova doppelgängers. Stefan Salvatore and Tom Avery are Silas' known doppelgängers while Tatia, Katerina Petrova, and Elena Gilbert are Amara's.

## Creation

**Qetsiyah**: "When they drank the immortality elixir, they violated the natural law that all living things must die, so Nature found a balance by creating mortal shadow selves."

**Stefan**: "Doppelgängers."

— — *Original Sin*

Qetsiyah, one of the most powerful witches of all time and member of very gifted people called the Travelers, created a spell for immortality with the intention that she and her true love, Silas, would drink it together at their wedding. However, Silas stole the immortality elixir and used it on himself and his true love, and Qetsiyah's handmaiden, Amara. When they drank the immortality elixir, they violated the natural law that all living things must die, so Nature found a balance by creating mortal shadow selves of Silas and Amara that could die in their place.

According to Qetsiyah, many identical versions of Silas and Amara have been born over the centuries, finding each other time and time again as though drawn together by destiny. However, it was later revealed by Markos that he had cast the spell on the two respective lines of doppelgängers to draw them together so they could eventually break the curse on their people by harvesting the blood of the sole remaining doppelgängers of each line.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Blood:** Doppelgängers, being mystical and recurrent, are sources of great magical power.
	+ The blood of a doppelgänger can be used to link supernatural beings with the help of magic conducted by any witch.
	+ Their blood can also be used to bind an extremely powerful curse or spell or to use as a power source in spells that require more magic than the witch in question possesses on their own.
	+ For some spells, the blood must come from a human doppelgänger. For other spells, the blood of a doppelgänger can still be used even if they've been turned into a vampire, as seen in *Death and the Maiden* when Qetsiyah used Elena's blood (along with Katherine and Amara's blood) to transfer the Anchor from Amara to Bonnie. There are certain spells and uses that require the doppelgänger to be "pure" and human, however, like the undoing of the Hybrid Curse and the siring of hybrids.
	+ The blood of the last two "living" doppelgängers can be used to reverse spells cast using non-traditional forms of magic, especially Spirit Magic (i.e. turning a vampire back into a (dead) human, undoing the spell that bound the Other Side, reversing the spells cast on daylight rings for vampires, removing a triggered gene in those cursed with lycanthropy, and more).

## Weaknesses

* **Magic:** Doppelgängers are still susceptible to the powers of witchcraft. Given the right spells, casting a spell on one doppelgänger will affect that of another.
* **Mortality:** Despite their mystical occurrence, doppelgängers share similar weaknesses as humans (i.e. age, decapitation, disease, heart-failure, suffocation, and more).

## Loopholes

Doppelgängers are for most intents and purposes humans; however, they are a supernatural occurrence. In some ways they are considered a supernatural species while in others they are human.

1. Death by a doppelgänger counts as a supernatural death. A person wearing a Gilbert Ring will come back to life if killed by a human doppelgänger. This was proven when Elena killed Alaric in *Bringing Out The Dead* and he resurrected.
2. The Gilbert rings do not protect supernatural creatures and is theorized to not to work on a doppelgänger. This has never been confirmed.
3. Human doppelgängers, however, can be compelled by vampires like any regular human. Elena was compelled multiple times prior to Stefan giving her a necklace that contained vervain.
4. Despite being "supernatural," or at the very least mystical, human doppelgängers cannot be siphoned. For example, Kai attempted to siphon magic from Stefan's vampirism, however unknown to him, he had already been cured. Despite being a doppelgänger, having potent blood used as binding agents in spells, at having the mystical cure within him, Kai was unable to siphon any magic from him.