Doppelganger (novel)
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| Author | Marie Brennan |
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| Cover artist | Don Puckey and Steve Stone |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Warner Books |
| Released | 2006 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 422 pp (paperback edition) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-446-61698-2 (paperback edition) |
| Followed by | Warrior and Witch |
Doppelganger is a high fantasy novel written by Marie Brennan. It chronicles adventures by Miryo, a witch and Mirage, Miryo's doppelgänger on their world and how they plan to overcome a tradition practiced for so many centuries and which our protagonists are trying to find another way.
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[edit] Plot introduction
Mirage is a bounty hunter who always gets her mark, who is witty and lethal. But her new mission might be her downfall, for it involves working with witches, the group of people she always tries to distance herself from and where her strength might be no match against magic.
Miryo is a witch who just barely passed her initiation test. To however control her powers and become a full witch, she must find her doppelganger, Mirage and kill her. But is it really possible to for her, a witch who can't use her powers and only two Cousins for help, beat a trained Hunter, one of the best?
[edit] Plot summary
The book opens on a scene where Mirage, a Hunter (individuals who specialize as assassins, bodyguards and spies), is hiding and preparing to strike three men who mistaken for a witch at first then to a Cousin (witch's assistant). Mirage, being a great Hunter trained from Silverfire, got her mark and almost killed the three men.
The scene cuts to Eclipse, Mirage's schoolmate at Silverfire, one of the numerous Hunter schools, walking through Chervie's streets amidst a festival. He goes to a bar and meets Mirage, whom he calls Seniade. Mirage recognizes him and calls him Kerestel. Eclipse teases Mirage and talks and catches up with each other until Ice arrives, a Hunter from Thornblood, a school Silverfire is not friendly with.
Ice flirts briefly with Eclipse but is stopped by Mirage. A hostile conversation takes place and only stop when Mirage learns she was chosen for a commission.
Mirage pays for a private room, which is hard to find and expensive since the festival is taking place. She and Eclipse search the room for any possible places where eavesdroppers might hide and finding none, start talking.
Mirage is quite taken aback and started having second thoughts when she learns it concerns the assassination of a witch and generally the witch community, which she avoids concerning herself with since she is always being mistaken for a witch for her red hair. Reluctantly, Mirage accepts the commission for her popularity, having been on a commission two times now in a short period of time.
They travel to Corbeth to meet their employer. Upon arriving there, they learn they need to take a blood oath, which means they either do the job or die. They are prepped upon by a witch and after discussing, decides to go to Starfall to investigate Tari-nakana's house
Meanwhile, Miryo is introduced in the story sitting on a roof and thinking over her future as a witch and what ifs if she fails the test she needs to pass to become a witch. Soon, Eikyo, her friend, comes along and comforts her and reminds her of her homework and also reassures her she will pass and that many women have passed this stage. Miryo gets nervous about failing, remembering a schoolmate Hinosuka who died as a result of the test.
Eikyo helps Miryo decide on what Path she will be in and without much conclusive results, Miryo goes back to her room to start a homework.
The next scene is featured in the library, where Miryo talks with an Air Head, Narika-kai. Narika-kai notices that Miryo is jumpy that day and correctly assumes Miryo is studying and also says every witch studies herself exhausted when her trials approaches.
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[edit] Major themes
In the novel, witches get their powers from the five elements. However, they could only do Fire, Earth, Air and Water magic. But when Mirage and Miryo combined and became Mirei, Mirei became the first witch to do Void magic, which is mainly translocation and cancellation of magic, magic thought to be impossible before.
Who and what the witches serve and do varies according to their Ray. They are listed in the following.
Air
Air witches serve anyone, the only Ray to be itinerant, and don't ask for donations and so live in less glamour than their counterparts.
Earth
Earth witches serve the land, working to keep natural disasters at bay and controlling wild animals.
Fire
Fire witches serve the Lords and the Ladies, being political advisors to them.
Void
Void witches serve the witches themselves, handling the internal affairs of the witches. However, in the sequel Warrior and Witch, the Void Ray changed its responsibilities from the witches to the Cousins, who gained more respect and power in the sequel.
Water
Water witches serve the common people, living in villages and healing people and handling social problems.
[edit] Rays and divisions of the Rays
The Ray is divided into three Paths, each having a different purpose
Hand
Witches of the Hand carry out the work of the Path, usually in other domains.
Head
Witches of the Head conduct the research and recordkeeping of their Ray.
Heart
Witches of the Heart serve as the administration of their Ray and often live in Starfall.
[edit] Ranks in the witch administration
The lowest rank in the administration of the witches are the common people, the witches who works in their respective Paths, and witch students.
The next rank are called Keys, leaders of their own Path. They rule over the witches of their Paths and sometimes, in an initiation test, when a Prime is not available, they are disguised as the Primes and act as substitutes.
The final rank is the Prime, the leader of all Paths in her Ray. She handles over problems off her Ray and more. When a Prime is removed from power, the new Prime is selected from the three Keys. To suspend or remove a Prime, all the other 4 Primes must agree and do a ritual. To reinstate a Prime, 3 Primes might agree in doing so.
[edit] Honorifics used for witches
Honorifics towards witches vary according to their Ray. They are listed in the following.
Air
- Kai- Used for an unranked witch of the Air Ray.
- Kasora- Used for the Key of the Air Ray.
- Kane- Honorific used for the Prime of the Air Ray.
Earth
- Chai- The name used to address an unranked witch of the Earth Ray.
- Chakoa- Used for the Key of the Earth Ray
- Chasi- The honorific used for the Prime of the Earth Ray.
Fire
- Nai- Used for an unranked witch of the Fire Ray.
- Nakana- Used for the Key of the Fire Ray.
- Nayo- Used for the Prime of the Fire Ray.
Void
- Ai- Used to honorably address an unranked witch of the Void Ray.
- Akara- The honorific used for a Key of the Void Ray.
- Aken- The honorific used for the Prime of the Void Ray.
Water
- Mai- Honorific used for an unranked witch of the Water Ray.
- Makiza- Used for the Key of the Water Ray.
- Mari- Used for the Prime of Water Ray.
Miscellaneous
- Katsu- Used for a witch of undecided affiliation.
[edit] Cousins
Cousins are the bodyguards, helpers and slaves of the witches. They protect the witches who are on an envoy or those with business. They tend to farms, they guard witches, they are usually messengers and they do more jobs.
Cousins are usually silent, shy, submissive to the witches. In the novel, Cousins also guard the prisoners of the witches.
Cousins descend from the failed witches. Most of the Cousins are female although there are a rare scattering of sons, although only one male Cousin was mentioned in the course of the two novels.
Cousins go through training every morning to get fit and to learn how to bodyguard.
Cousins are usually the characters who get hurt on the two novels, often being portrayed as unconscious or being subjected to attacks.
In the sequel, we learn more about the Cousins.
Cousins forget their memories once they failed and they blabber in the normal language but in an order undecipherable. Later, this is explained that they are 'touched' by the Goddess and the words they blabber are messages.
Also, we learn there is a hierarchy in the Cousins. And Cousins also supported sides in the war.
Cousins became more independent on the second novel, wanting more from the witches and which was granted to them. In the second novel, Cousins wanted the witches to teach 5 Cousins magic. Also, the Void Ray took responsibility of the Cousins in the second novel.
[edit] Hunter schools and its students
- Cloudhawk- Trains bonded spies.
- Tangle- Served Lord Cano of Razi. Murdered by Wraith.
- Silverfire- Trains freelancers. Has a rivalry with Thornblood.
- Avalanche- Formerly hired by Tari.
- Briar- Stablemaster
- Eclipse- Called Kerestel by Mirage.
- Jaguar- Headmaster of Silverfire.
- Marrell- An Silverfire agent. Stationed in Cheiro.
- Mirage- One of the protagonists of the book, called Seniade by Eclipse.
- Nasha- Silver fire agent stationed in Handom.
- Slip- Retired and the twin of Wisp. Jaguar's secretary.
- Talon- Retired and teaches unarmed combat at the school.
- Viper
- Willow- Year mate of Mirage and Eclipse.
- Wisp- Twin of Slip. Retired but stationed as an agent in Angrim.
- Stoneshadow- Trains bonded spies.
- Thornblood- Also trains freelancers. Has an old rivalry with Silverfire.
- Ice. Lover of Lion.
- Lion. Lover of Ice.
- Windblade- Trains freelance bodyguards.
- Wolfstar- Trains freelance assassins.
- Wraith- Assassinated Lady Anade of Razi.
[edit] Miscellaneous Hunter trivia
- In terms of the length of jobs, there are two types of Hunters.
One is the freelance Hunter, who is not bound to one employer and does short-term jobs.
The other is the bonded Hunter, one who serves only one employer until his or her services are terminated or until the employer dies.
- Training takes ten years for a Hunter.
- Training starts around 10 years old.
[edit] Politics
Politics in the Doppelganger world is only briefly shown, limiting our knowledge.
The Dopelganger world is divided into Domains, which is furthermore divided into regions. Regions are ruled over by the Governors and Domains are ruled over by the Lords or the Ladies. Governors answer to the Lords and the Ladies, the highest political rank there is. Also, Fire witches serve as the political advisers of the Lords and the Ladies.
As seen in Warrior and Witch, the Lords and the Ladies personal interests may have a large part in choosing sides in a war.
[edit] Religion
In the novel, the characters worship an entity simply called 'the Goddess'.
The Goddess has five Aspects, the five faces of the Goddess that represents the life stages of humans. The Aspects are the Maiden, the Bride, the Mother, the Crone and the Warrior. Three of the life stages here, in Wicca, represent the three faces of the Goddess, symbolized by a triquetra, which is used as a design in the book jacket.
Each Aspect has associations with it, and are listed in the following.
- Maiden- The youngest Aspect of the Goddess is associated with youth and the Element of Fire.
- Bride- The second Aspect is associated with marriage and the Element of Air.
- Mother- The third Aspect is correlated to family and the Element of Water.
- Crone- The eldest but Fourth Aspect of the Goddess is associated with wisdom and the Element of Earth.
- Warrior- The last Aspect is associated with warfare, death and the element of the Void. This is the only Aspect which does not represent a life stage, but signifies the end of life.
Only one religious sect is mentioned in the book, which is the Avannans, which honors the Dance, an art practised in some temples to honor the Goddess, as the highest form of worship and adoration to the Goddess. One more religious sect is mentioned in the sequel, however.
There has been disputes and bias against witches and the Avannans, with Avannans calling witches unbalanced, with their inability to do Void magic and their ignorance towards the Warrior.
[edit] Time System
The clock used in Doppelganger's world is divided into 8 chimes, each chimes lasting 3 hours. By order, they are
- Low- The first chime of the clock, corresponds to midnight
- Dark- The second chime of the clock, corresponding to 3 a.m.
- First- The third chime of the clock, corresponding to 6 a.m.
- Mid- Fourth chime of the clock corresponds to 9 a.m.
- High- Fifth chime of the clock, corresponding to noon.
- Light- The sixth chime of the clock, corresponding to 3 p.m.
- Late- The seventh chime of the clock, corresponding to 6 p.m.
- Last- The eight and last chime of the clock, corresponding to 9 p.m.
[edit] Domains and their Regions in the Doppelganger world
- Abern
- Angrim
- Enden
- Leswile
- Askavya
- Currel
- Samalan
- Eriot
- Talbech
- Haira
- Deoni
- Olpri
- Insebrar
- Breiano
- Vilardi
- Kalistyi
- Liak
- Chervie
- Miest
- Dravya
- Razi
- Seach
- Ansing
- Corbeth
- Starfall- The base of the witches and where all witches are taught.
- Teria
- Chiero
- Trine
- Verdosa
- Ravelle
[edit] Sequel
Doppelganger's sequel, Warrior and Witch, is already released and there are no planned sequels.
