Doppelganger

Doppelganger (pronounced dop-uhl-gang-er or daw-puhl-geng-er (German))

(1) In legend, a ghostly apparition of a living person, especially one that haunts such a person.

(2) A counterpart of a living person, identical in appearance; a person remarkably similar in appearance to another.

(3) In the pop-culture fantasy genre, a monster that takes the forms of people, usually after killing them.

(4) An evil twin (often as alter ego)

1826 (1824 as a German word in English): From the German Doppelgänger, literally "double-goer" or “double walker” originally with a ghostly sense.  Although now less common, it was once sometimes the practice to use the half-English spelling doubleganger.  Doppel was from doppelt (double), from doppeln (double (made up of two matching or complementary elements)), from the Old French doble (to double), from the Latin dūplus, from the Proto-Italic dwiplos, the construct being duo (two) +‎ plus, from the Old Latin plous, from the Proto-Italic plous, from the primitive Indo-European pleh- & pelhu- (many) and cognate with the Ancient Greek πολύς (polús) (many) and the Old English feolo (much, many).  It was influenced by the Ancient Greek διπλόος (diplóos) (double), the construct being δι- (di-), from δύο (dúo) (two), + -πλόος (-plóos) (-fold) and the Proto-Germanic twīflaz (doubt). A doublet of Zweifel.  Gänger was from Middle High German genger (to go, to walk), the construct being Gang +‎ -er.  Gang was from the Middle High German ganc, from the Old High German gang, from the Proto-Germanic gangaz (pace, step, gait, walk) and cognate with the English gang.  The synonyms in the various senses include double, lookalike, dead-ringer & alter ego.

Kim Jong-un, 2019-2020.

Rumors that Kim Jong-un (b circa 1994, Supreme Leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea, the DPRK) since 2011) was incapacitated with (unspecified) health problems spiked in late 2021 when he appeared looking notably thinner than in his appearances only months earlier, the conspiracy theory hinging on the idea the part of the Supreme Leader was being played by a doppelganger.  Most speculation centered on Mr Kim’s apparently chronic obesity, chain smoking and legendarily enthusiastic intake of his favorite Swiss cheese, some suggesting the doppelganger would fulfill the role until a team of foreign doctors working in secret restored the Supreme Leader to good working order while others opined he may actually be dead and the elite of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (the WPA, a kind of cross between the a communist party and the Kim family’s holding company) was just buying time while they worked out what to do next.

Noted DPRK watchers, the National Intelligence Service (NIS), the Republic of Korea's (South Korea, the ROK) spy agency, dismissed the idea and said the new, sexy, slimmed-down Supreme Leader was real, their findings based on a comparison using facial recognition software, weight-tracking models and analysis of high-resolution video.  According to the NIS, Mr Kim’s weight which by 2019 had reached 142 kg (313 lb), less than a year later had further ballooned to around 146 kg (322 lb) while his appearances in late 2021 indicated a loss of between 20-25 kg (44-55 lb).  They added he appeared to be in rude good health.

Kim Jong-un, 2021.

If that’s true, the weight-loss could be accounted for either by Mr Kim’s desire to slim down for reasons of health or may be political, the DPRK facing one of its worst food shortages in many years and he may wish to convey the impression he’s sharing in the deprivations being suffered by his people.  Various seasonal factors would anyway have squeezed the food supply but the COVID-19 measures taken certainly exacerbated the problem, the closure of the borders inducing the sharpest economic contraction since the loss in the early 1990s of economic assistance from the Soviet Union.  The DPRK’s trade with its main trading partner, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), dropped by between 80-90% from pre-pandemic levels and the NIS noted it was the “mismanagement” of the economy which had caused inflation rates to surge beyond that afflicting all but a few other countries but, with a chronic shortage of ink and paper, the DPRK was unable to resort to the short-term expedient of printing money.  Still, things appear not actually on the point of collapse, ballistic missile tests continuing and the COVID-19 policy has, as stated by official DPRK propaganda, proved an outstanding success, Pyongyang confirming the country has suffered zero cases since the pandemic began.  It does seem to prove a “shoot to kill” border policy works, something a few Western politicians have long suspected and probably longed for.

Kim Jong-un looking at morning tea.

Targeted sanctions imposed in response to the regime’s nuclear weapons recalcitrance had already resulted in some humanitarian suffering but the closure of the PRC-DPRK border and has increased this by blocking shipments of grain, fertilizer and farming equipment.  Severe flooding caused by powerful typhoons in 2020 which so lowered that year’s harvest also had effects which lingered, crop yields again very low in 2021.  It had become so bad that in a rare public admission, Mr Kim in 2021 told a Worker’s Party meeting that the “people’s food situation is now getting tense” and his immediate policy switch was to order all citizens to devote all their effort to farming, making sure to secure “every grain” of rice.  With apparently all NGO and UN staff having left the country, most sources of foreign aid have evaporated and the DPRK is more dependent on its own resources than at any time since the end of the Korean War (1950-1953).  All this might explain Mr Kim’s weight-loss, although not yet obviously malnourished, he’s at least setting an example.

Manchu Tuan, Shenyang, PRC (left) and the Supreme Leader (right).

In general circulation, Kim Jong-un doppelgangers are not actually rare, at least two known to be available for hire from talent agencies.  Regardless of what happens in the DPRK, it may be a good gig because in 2012, satirical site The Onion named Kim Jong-un the world’s sexiest man, either because he was, in their words, “devastatingly handsome” or a nod to Henry Kissinger’s (b 1923; US secretary of state 1973-1977) claim (actually probably a boast) that “power is the ultimate aphrodisiac”.  The Onion’s winner in 2011 had been Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad (b 1965; president of Syria 2000-) so the editors may have found Dr Kissinger persuasive.  Manchu Tuan sells kebabs in the north-eastern Chinese city of Shenyang and says business has boomed since this resemblance to Mr Kim appeared on social media and he has hired another cook to prepare the kebabs, much of his time now absorbed with customers taking selfies with him.

Donald Trump doppelganger: Dolores Leis Antelo, a farmer from Nanton, La Coruna, Spain.  The two are reportedly not related and have never met.

Shao Jianhua Changsha, Hunan, PRC and his queue of selfie-requesting customers.

Shao Jianhua, who five years ago moved from his native Zhejiang to Changsha, makes and sells meat pies with dried and pickled vegetables, a dish associated with costal Zhejiang.  His shop operates from a cluster near the university halls of residence and the students, although very fond of his highly-regarded pies, also request selfies, business having expanded since word spread of his resemblance to PRC president Xi Jinping (b 1953; PRC president 2013-).  Mr Shao, whose pies sell for 3.5 yuan (US$0.55) has increased production to 1,600 a day during peak season and the queues are frequently long.

The conspiracy theorists do apply some science to their subjects.  Of particular interest are ears, cosmetic surgeons noting that ears are so difficult to modify to match those of another person and that latex versions attached with surgical glue are the best solution for these purposes although even with these there are limitations.  It’s not the first time a head of government’s ears have attracted interest.  In 1939, Adolf Hitler (1889–1945; Führer of Germany 1933-1945) sent his court photographer Heinrich Hoffmann (1885–1957) with the party which in 1939 went to Moscow to execute the Nazi-Soviet Pact, his task, inter alia, to get a good shot of Comrade Stalin’s (1878-1953; Soviet leader 1924-1953) ear-lobes, the Führer wishing to be reassured his new (and temporary) ally’s lobes were “separate and Ayran” and not “attached and Jewish”.  He was satisfied with Hoffman’s evidence but that didn’t stop him later double-crossing Stalin.

Front and back of blood sample of prisoner #7 (Hess), “Spandau #7 Pathology SVC Heidelberg MEDDAC 1139.

The flight to England by Rudolf Hess (1894–1987; Deputy Führer 1933-1941) in 1941, an attempt to persuade the British to conclude the war on the eve of the invasion of Russia, was one of the strangest episodes of the war and whether or not his flight was approved by Hitler remained a matter of conjecture for decades although the available evidence does suggest the Führer was as shocked as everyone else.  Another conspiracy theory ran for years, that of whether the Hess the British produced for trial in Nuremberg (1945-1946) and who was subsequently imprisoned in Spandau until his suicide (other conspiracy theories explore this) in 1987 was actually a doppelganger.  Books with various explanations about why the British might have done this were written, including one by a doctor who examined Hess while a prisoner and couldn’t reconcile his physiology with the injuries he’s suffered while serving in the Imperial Army in the First World War.  Eventually even the suspicious authors conceded the incarcerated Hess was the real one and in 2019, after one of Hess’s hermetically sealed blood samples was discovered and subjected to a DNA analysis which found a 99.99% likelihood of a match with one of Hess’s living relatives.

Lindsay Lohan and body double Aoife Bailey during filming of Irish Wish (Netflix, 2024).

The most obvious doppelgangers are "body doubles", actors used when filming scenes when, for whatever reason, the lead actor can't be used.  Such are the tricks and techniques of film production, the body doubles don't have to be even close to exact doppelgangers, they need only be vaguely similar though they often share some distinctive characteristic (such a long red hair).  Generally, body doubles are used for three reasons:

(1) Dangerous stunts: Body doubles with specific expertise are often hired to perform dangerous scenes, such as car chases, fight scenes, or jumps from great heights.

(2) Time constraints: In some cases, the lead actor or actress may not be available to film certain scenes due to scheduling conflicts.  In these situations, a body double can be used to film the scene in their place, allowing production to continue without delay.

(3) Privacy: In some instances, actors may not wish to appear in certain scenes, typically those involving nudity.  Sometimes contractual clauses include these stipulations.

What stunt doubles do, Lindsay Lohan and body double Aoife Bailey during filming of Irish Wish (Netflix, 2024).  The car is a 1965 Triumph TR4A.