Replicas and identity
Spoilers for Tales of the Abyss and Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories ahead, read at your own risk!
I don't remember what ignited it in the first place or when it all started, but I'm quite fascinated by the concept of replicas or clones. People made in the image of someone else, usually sharing not only likeness but also temper. An entity so similar to their original that, at a surface look, you could mistake them.
Something I remember pretty clearly is that about fifteen years ago I had a roleplay OC whose archenemy was himself from another dimension, who had lived a completely different life and become an entirely new person. I was so proud of that storyline, even if it never went anywhere. You're still remembered Arthur.
This was before I played Tales of the Abyss. Abyss is what made me realize how much I love the concept. Luke and Asch are virtually the same person, but their life experience made them completely different individuals. It's pretty horrible when, in the end, they can't both survive. Asch was robbed of his life and loved ones and replaced with someone who just looks like him and he finds insufferable, of course he deserve to live. Luke, on the other hand, never asked to be born or to be someone's substitute and, most of all, why should he be symphatetic and sacrifice himself for someone who, from start to finish, treats him like absolute trash? There is no good answer to this dilemma, but I find it very compelling and I think this is also one of the reasons I have such high regards on this specific title in the series1.
From that realization, I noticed that, whenever I create stories, I really like to make characters who are virtually the same, but very different as well. Brothers, or specifically twins, have the power to be just that, but less sci-fi than a clone. I don't enjoy much when twins are depicted as "same character but it's two of them". I like to see their individuality. And I never really thought about it until now, but I really enjoy how Ouran High School Host Club does it. Hikaru and Kaoru are introduced just like a trope (they have to!), but slowly their facade crumbles down, showing their uniqueness.
Suffice to say that I also think it's pretty lame when clones are reduced to a mindless army the protagonist has to defeat (Devil May Cry Netflix Season 2 is the most recent example of that I can think of, but there were an awful lot before it). Good job stripping the concept of all interesting parts and make it plain boring.
I think every individual has experiences of their own, even if it starts from the same place. You cannot share the same space with anyone else, and I think even the smallest difference can make you your own person. In KHCOM there's an interesting spin on this, thanks to Riku Replica. Kingdom Hearts gets clowned a lot for dialogues like "I'm me, he says", but context is key here, the dialogue makes sense! When confronted with its "original", Repliku gets defensive: for a big part of his short life he believed he was someone else2 and the only way to be at peace with himself is stealing the spot his original had, so he can keep for himself stuff he believed he owned but was never his. He wants to become the original, but he will never be. What he doesn't understand is that... he doesn't need that. He's already his own person. Wouldn't it be nice of he had his own name and we wouldn't have to call him "replica"?
Ok, but why do I care? I don't have a twin and I don't plan on being cloned in the near future, so why? I think it's because it gives me some kind of consolation. I've always considered myself as a very uninteresting person, someone who has nothing unique. This was especially true in high school. Thinking that people who are copies of others can be their own people and find their own place in the world warms my heart and give me hope that... Maybe I'm not just a number and there's a place in the world for me as well. Right?