Tulpas vs. Doppelgangers

[Mr. Reindeer]

I know there is a tulpa thread, but thought it might also be worth having a thread dedicated to exploring the similarities and differences between tulpas and doppelgangers, since we now have two aspects of the mythology which are aesthetically and superficially very similar, but seem to function very differently both practically (in-universe) and thematically.

(And yes, I realize that "doppelgänger" is properly spelled with an umlaut, but I believe the DKL-approved Red Room subtitles have consistently spelled it without.)

Doppelgangers seem to be the concept that Hawk refers to as a "shadow self," or "the Dweller on the Threshold." They generally seem to be confined to the Lodge. Hawk claims that, in order to enter the White Lodge, one must first pass through the Black Lodge and confront one's shadow self with perfect courage, or else one's soul will be annihilated. Other than this "gatekeeper" function, it's unclear what bearing doppelgangers have on a person's existence. It seems like most people go their entire lives without even being aware of their doppel, except perhaps on some abstract/subconscious level we never really see depicted, and perhaps at death. Doppels generally seem to be sinister if not outright evil, sometimes primal (such as Laura's). Cooper's situation indicates that a doppelganger can only leave the Lodge by imprisoning the "real" person inside. Both entities are not supposed to exist on the outside at the same time, but there is a workaround/cheat involving tulpas. Consistent with Lodge logic (Lodge-ic?), they seem to be "opposite" to our realm in some respects (reversed fingerprint on the "spiritual" finger). Lodge spirits have doppels as well, or at least some do. The Arm's doppel appears in at least some circumstances to be even more powerful than the "real" Arm, causing the whole Red Room to go haywire and ejecting Cooper, to the Arm's seeming dismay/displeasure if not fear. Interestingly, Mr. C seems to indicate that doppels can die while the "real" person is still alive -- or perhaps Mr. C just goes back to the Lodge and resumes his old existence? Also of note: doppels can act as hosts for Lodge spirits, although, at least in the case of Mr. C and Bob, this seems much more of a partnership, even more symbiotic than the usual situation, perhaps because of the doppels' malevolent natures and strong ties to the Lodge. Doppels seem to share the memories of the original, indicating that they may function as some sort of id/subconscious while also living their own physically separate lives (e.g., Mr. C knows about the FWWM Jeffries drop-in). It's not quite clear if this works in reverse.

Doppels we've seen: Cooper, Laura, Maddy, Leland, Caroline, MfAP/the Arm, Bob (deleted scene).

Tulpas: As I understand the concept as explained in the comprehensive "tulpa" thread, the term as used in...whatever communities use it...refers to a dream-self created from the mind which takes on physical form and can explore dream-realms/other realities (but can also exist in our reality as a sort of "real imaginary friend"? Sorry if I'm oversimplifying or getting some of this wrong. I've skimmed that thread and think it's a terrific resource, but I've never been very interested in the "real-world supernatural" aspects of TP -- Dion Fortune, Thelema, what have you -- except as it relates directly to the on-screen TP story). I don't think this is ever spelled out in the show, but it certainly seems like a very deliberate word choice/connotation, given the show's allusions to living inside a dream and the increasing breakdown of the barrier between reality and dream logic toward the end. Unlike doppels, which presumably come into existence contemporaneously with the birth of the "real" person, tulpas are "manufactured" in rather literal fashion, by combining a gold orb (a blank soul ready to download a life onto it?) with a clipping of hair (or presumably, more generally, some physical piece of the "original" person). There also seems to be no issue with tulpas and "originals" coexisting in the "real" world at the same time. Doppels can create tulpas as well. It seems to me that when a tulpa is created, the original person gives up certain traits that are passed to the tulpa: both DoppelCoop and original recipe Coop seem notably devoid of their prior joy and zest for life after creating their respective Dougies.

Interestingly, tulpas also seem to correspond to a concept mentioned by Hawk in the original show: he mentions "a dream soul that wanders to faraway places. The land of the dead."

Tulpas we've seen: Diane, Dougie Jones (x2: Mr. C's and Dale's). Mentioned: Lois Duffy.

Mr. C seems to create his Dougie solely as a loophole to derail Coop's scheduled return to the world. Diane apparently creates hers as a method of dissociation after her rape, while the "real" Diane enters the Mauve realm as a faceless, oddly Asian-looking entity know as Naido. (Janey-E may or may not also be some form of tulpa, given her relationship to Diane and the similarity to the "Dian-O" anagram/naming scheme, as well as to DC Comics-style "Earth-2" nomenclature. See also Candie, Mandie, Sandie...still unsure what to make of this.) Dale creates his Dougie to give Janey-E and Sonny Jim the father/husband they deserve, and also perhaps to have his cake and eat it too by getting both lives he desires (quiet family man and adventuring lone wolf FBI agent).

So I guess tulpas ultimately represent a more conscious "escape mechanism" whereas doppels are the wild unbridled inner darkness always threatening to overtake us. Of course, how all of this interacts with the Lodge spirit parasitic/symbiotic inhabiting of people, and the larger mythology as a whole, is also an important part of the conversation which can certainly be addressed here as well. For instance, is Carrie Page a tulpa, a doppel (unlikely IMO), or something else entirely?

So. Where to begin?

[BloodyHeartland]

I don't have much to add, other than I don't think it was Diane's choice to make her own tulpa; I think Mr. C somehow trapped her in the mauve room, perhaps with the help of the arm's doppelgänger? Either way, to me it feels like he had some level of control over her tulpa, whether it was some type of magic or just Stockholm, to the point where he had her sort of planned as insurance if the FBI caught wind of his plans.

[Mr. Reindeer]

I don't have much to add, other than I don't think it was Diane's choice to make her own tulpa; I think Mr. C somehow trapped her in the mauve room, perhaps with the help of the arm's doppelgänger? Either way, to me it feels like he had some level of control over her tulpa, whether it was some type of magic or just Stockholm, to the point where he had her sort of planned as insurance if the FBI caught wind of his plans.

Definitely a fair interpretation. I took it as her separating out the "tough cookie" aspects of herself and hiding her more vulnerable self away, but I definitely see the value in your theory. There's a great dissertation to be written on what the Coop/Diane relationship in all its incarnations, from her role as thought receptacle/earplug provider in the original series to the complex events of Part 18, says about female agency and identity.

[BloodyHeartland]

I can agree with you there, on a more symbolic level. Just the logic behind both of their actions as far as the plot went, makes more sense to me that he would have had to use some force, but then again it's hard to say if she had been under the assumption that he was the normal Cooper and had no idea what happened to him. More to mull over than I initially thought.

I'm not one to get into gender or identity politics in entertainment, but it does seem more crucial here than in a lot of other works. I want to rewatch the original series to refresh my memory, but at the moment, working under the assumption that much of it is a sort of dream shared by Richard and others, that his recordings to Diane (or Linda) were his interpretations of the events in the day previous - and perhaps her silence here is indicative of her lack of agency, or his unwillingness to listen as he is buried in his job.

The Black Lodge, on the other hand, may be part of the more subconscious level, where the thought of Linda, being the most represssed, is the most blatant, but all around are deceivers, imagery of reversal and deflection and confusion. It culminates in him trying to save Annie, but whether this says something about infidelity (not so sure on this one) or a hero complex, it's difficult to say. Whatever happens, it leads to a split, and at this point the worst comes out and he rapes Linda, and whatever good was in him is locked away for 25 years. Similarly, as you said, the tulpa acts as a front for psychological scarring, covering her for that same length of time.

So perhaps the difference, on a deeper level, is similar to what you posit. While the tulpa acts as a mask, doppelgänger represent the carnal, or the id, and are an important part of the personality in that if they are not accepted, end up slowly corrupting.

[Novalis]

If Mr. Reindeer's premise that creating a tulpa partitions off faculties that get subtracted from the original, then it is significant that Naido is eyeless and cannot talk. This would suggest that whoever manufactured the Diane tulpa wanted her to be as fully functional as possible, perhaps to work as their eyes (in an intelligence-gathering sense) and voice (in terms of feeding disinformation to others).

After so long (25 years!) being undecided on whether or not Diane was some kind of introject on Cooper's part, I still find myself somewhat shaken by the fact that Diane exists at all, let alone her tulpa. As S3 unfolded and the Dian(e)-x nomenclature was flagged by fans, and as Dern's performances became ever more ambiguous, I became ever more suspicious. The Naido -> Dian-0 reveal still caught me off guard however.

Still I try to reconcile the past and the present, and it fits only if forced: the sound of an early 1990s model dictaphone microcassette being rewound/fast-forwarded sounds a lot like monkey noises. I still have my own Olympus voice-activated Pearlcorder from years ago (no doubt a purchase inspired more or less subconsciously by the character of Cooper) and dusted it off to prove this to myself. I think it's possible to still be unsure as to Diane's status even now. She may be a series of copies without an original (how Baudrillardian). The drunk in the cells who repeats everybody's words might be seen as an allusion to Naido/Diane's origin as a dictaphone -- and he does mysteriously evaporate with Diane's reveal. But several important things weigh against this way of framing things (particularly the backstory of Diane's rape, which is everywhere in the narrative treated as a poignant reality, and which certain scenes make it a matter of urgency to regard as factual). As I said, it does feel like a forced reading so I won't push it further.

Another, perhaps more natural association, is between Naido's monkey noises and the monkey we see twice in FWWM (once behind the Tremond grandson's mask, once at the final eating of the corn). Notably, this monkey has speech, as if certain faculties were switched out. Is this some kind of not-fully formed idea or prototype for what would become the Naido/Diane conceit? Who knows.

As regards the topic title: it's somewhat odd that we have both doppelgangers and tulpas together now. Drawn from two very different traditions -- German Romantic Literature (Jean Paul coined the word) and Tibetan Buddhist Mysticism (via early Western ethnography) -- they are both similar and different enough to make it somewhat difficult for a casual viewer to follow the line of where one ends and the other begins. Beyond the 'manufactured for a purpose' and 'shadow-self' in-world explanations there is not a huge amount of exposition; we're told more about names and dates and the investigation of a (artificial, non-natural) double in a historic case that led to the formation of the Blue Rose division, but little about the actual nature of the beast. There's a brief and probably highly allegorical scene in which Gerard/TOAM creates a tulpa using a golden seed, hair from Cooper's head and finger-sparks which is highly interesting and deserves some theorisation. A hybrid of poppet witchcraft, Peaksian electricity-lore and Lynchian orb-soul obsession (with, perhaps, a dose of Frostian interest in Cameron's art?) play fast-and-loose in this wholly original, synthetic creation scene and it is both frustratingly opaque and satisfyingly obscure.

[Rik Renault]

There's also the box in the gold-panning dish in Buenos Aires which seems somehow connected to the tulpa process via the little gold nugget/'seed'. I doubt we can draw too many firm conclusions from this as we get next to no context, but I'm sure we're led to make strong connections between the gold balls in the show and tulpas; especially viewed in light of the scene where Coop all but explains how to make them.

This for me brings in the question of whether tulpas have to necessarily be people, or bear some resemblance to them? Obviously with the Buenos Aires connection I'm drawn to the idea this box could be some kind of Jeffries tulpa, but I can't make anything fit for a reason why just yet.

Sticking with the gold orb symbology, what then are we to make of the scene in Part 8 with Senor Dido and the Fireman, Is this the creation of a tulpa of Laura?

Given that the 'seed' seems to be a requisite for creating a tulpa, how does one go about acquiring one? Is there a finite amount? I took the terminology of 'seed' to be more of a physical representation of the psychological phenomenon of creating this entity from an idea. However the show seems to suggest that you would need a 'seed' before the process of creating a tulpa can even begin, so this certainly seems to restrict who can make them.

[Saturn's child]

Doppelgangers seem to be the concept that Hawk refers to as a "shadow self," or "the Dweller on the Threshold." They generally seem to be confined to the Lodge.

Great post Reindeer, a lot to chew on! Although I shy away from forming a single explanation, I tend to agree with Hawk's framing of Doppelganger ('shadow selves'); I feel the Jungian shadow theory encompasses a lot of what we see: repressed & unrealised desires largely confined to an individual's unconscious (red room). That our meticulous Cooper would bury a dark doppel under his super-ego driven (let's switch to Freud) self rings true for me. Generally our shadows are buried in the unconscious & stay that way (except on cloudy days or at night, or if we read & follow the Dice Man's example).

Interestingly, Mr. C seems to indicate that doppels can die while the "real" person is still alive -- or perhaps Mr. C just goes back to the Lodge and resumes his old existence?

This is an interesting point, one that I hadn't really thought of. If I'm to run with the 'doppelganger = shadow self' idea -- which many, including yourself (?) seem to generally run with -- then I would imagine Mr. C heads on back to a healthy repression in Coop's unconscious (red room). But that's just me.

Interestingly, tulpas also seem to correspond to a concept mentioned by Hawk in the original show: he mentions "a dream soul that wanders to faraway places. The land of the dead."

I see Hawk's 'dream soul' less as a tulpa & more as (for example) the Coop we see in the red room / waiting room / black lodge: an ego experiencing a deep level of unconsciousness, perhaps the collective unconscious. In saying that, there's also a strong vibe of The Afterlife in the red room, which is another nice layer to add.

Janey-E may or may not also be some form of tulpa, given her relationship to Diane and the similarity to the "Dian-O" anagram/naming scheme, as well as to DC Comics-style "Earth-2" nomenclature. See also Candie, Mandie, Sandie...still unsure what to make of this.

'Caroline' & 'Annie' also anagrammatically contain 'iane', not that I think it was intentional or means anything. The 'andies' on the other hand...

[Saturn's child]

While we're here, is Pete Dayton a tulpa?

[Saturn's child]

(doppel post)