So, would a person from an alternate universe count as an alien?

Exactly What It Says on the Tin.

This is something I've been wondering about for a while. I suppose it depends on semantics. Basically, if you consider alien life to be life not originating on another world, then even a person from an alternate earth is an alien by that definition.

But if you go by the definition of life not originating specifically on Earth, than an alternate universe human doesn't count.

I've been ruminating on it for a potential story concept, so I wanted to get some other opinions.

Well, if anything, they would be an illegal alien, since they have zero documentation in the new world they are in despite coming from an alternative version of it...

Possibly, though it would largely be a distinction without a difference, impossible to discern by appearance or examination... unless there really is a difference, like for instance some anatomical quirk a la Monument Mythos where all the organs are mirrored.

Edited by Chortleous on Apr 24th 2022 at 11:24:37 AM

I think that this is going to depend on who one asks, and what their personal definition of "alien" is.

One point that may or may not be relevant to a given respondent is the point that, while the character is from Earth, they're not from the Earth in question; they're still a visitor from a planet other than the one on which they stand.

I suspect that most people wouldn't classify them as "aliens", however; I suspect that in general an "alien" is considered to be a being that crossed space to reach another planet.

(Just as I daresay that the Fair Folk aren't often considered to be "aliens" (even when they're described as seeming "alien").)

Conversely, I could see some taking the stance of such a person being an "alien" if it they wanted to "other" that person, whether socially or legally.

Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on Apr 24th 2022 at 7:24:07 PM

I always think it's a bit ironic that other planets in the same universe are likely to be portrayed as less Earth-like than a planet in a different universe entirely.

Edited by Noaqiyeum on Apr 29th 2022 at 7:25:23 PM