Mirror Self - Television Tropes & Idioms

When you look into a mirror, you see a person who is in some ways identical to yourself, but who is also in some ways your opposite. If you are right-handed, your mirror will show a left-handed person, and vice versa.

This "same but opposite" is the cornerstone of a Mirror Universe. A character's "same but opposite" counterpart is the Mirror Self. However, a Mirror Self can sometimes also be created by misuse of Applied Phlebotinum.

Not to be confused with an Alternate Self, who is the same person without being an opposite. Might have gone through different experiences and been changed by them, but is not a polar opposite like the Mirror Self.

Examples

Anime and Manga

Subverted in Cardcaptor Sakura by the use of The Mirror card which creates an exact copy of Sakura that she can then control. Before her capture The Mirror appeared to be a michevious opposite version of Sakura but this is likely just the personality of the card itself and not because it's Sakura's reflection.

Comics

Played with in The Non-Adventures of Wonderella. Everybody in the mirror universe has the opposite moral alignment of their normal self — except for Wonderella and Dr. Shark. As the mirror-world's Wonderella explains it:
Anti-Wonderella: "The opposite of neutral is still neutral!"
In Calvin and Hobbes, or story arc features Calvin making a Mirror Self of himself. The real Calvin doesn't want to do his homework or clean his room, but his Mirror Self is a well adjusted polite little boy who gladly does these things... and proceeds to destroy his life by being way too nice.
In the Smurfs story "The Hundredth Smurf", a Smurf's mirror is struck by lightning, which brings his reflection to life. The reflection speaks backwards and does everything the original Smurf does, but in reverse (lifting the right arm when the other lifts the left, for instance). After he causes chaos in the village by his opposite nature, the reflection decides to return to the mirror, but he goes through it instead, and comes out a regular Smurf.
John Byrne retold Donna Troy's origin in Wonder Woman so that she was originally the mirror self of Princess Diana as a teenager, but given a separate personality by the sorceress who owned the mirror. Donna Troy was then captured by Queen Hippolyta's nemesis Dark Angel, who mistook her for Diana, and subjected her to live multiple lives that all ended in tragedy, ultimately leading to the one where Donna becomes Wonder Girl/Troia of the Teen Titans. This origin has recently been retconned out of her history since 2006.

Film

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World has "Nega-Scott".

Literature

The Callahan's Crosstime Saloon story ''Mirror/rorriM Off The Wall" has a Mirror Universe where everything is in reverse/backwards, including handedness and fingerprints. One of its inhabitants is a Mirror Self of someone in our universe: they're both named Robert Trebor.

Live-Action TV

In the Star Trek universe, there is a Mirror Universe where every character has a Mirror Self. Good characters generally have evil Mirror Selves, and vice versa (there are exceptions, like "Smiley" O'Brien). Ambigous characters often have their defining traits reversed.
The Doctor encouters mirror counterparts of the UNIT team in the Doctor Who serial "Inferno".
- It's Fan Wanked that the mirror universe Doctor himself is ~~Big Brother~~ Fearless Leader of the mirror world.
In Charmed, the Mirror World has a Mirror Self of every character, just like in Star Trek. The characters also have alignment-shifted powers, creating oxymorons like the Demon of Hope.
- It's not really an oxymoron, because demons are the good guys there.
- It's not impossible for hope to become figuratively demonic.

Video Games

Close to the end of the third Quest for Glory game. each hero was forced to fight a twisted mirror image if him- or herself.
The final boss of the Old Kingdom instance in World of Warcraft summon mirror versions of the heroes for them to fight.

Web Comics

In Dark Legacy Comics, it turns out that the characters have mirror selves on the other side. The protagonists are alliance characters in World Of Warcraft, so their mirror selves are horde. This make at least one character frustrated and at least one (*2) character(s) happy.