The fascination with alter egos

[cryptwarmer]

While I was musing over some ship threads it occurred to me that basically all major characters on BTVS and AtS have massively opposing alter egos.

Many of them doing nearly a complete 180 from where they started, or at least having that vastly different alter ego burble up with some regularity.

Characters at some level at war with themselves, part of their arc being coming to term with their alter ego.

Not sure where I'm going with this, other than thinking it's something interesting to discuss.

 

[nightshade]

I think in Spin the Bottle we see this the most, how the characters have changed to where they were before especially the ones that were originally on Buffy

 

[bespangeled]

They also have reflecting mirrors - Angel and Buffy, Spike and Faith. The interesting thing is that by the time the mirrors join at the end of the series you can see an almost circular path.

Buffy was the good slayer, and Faith was the bad one. Faith took a redemption path, and Buffy cut loose. In season 7, they end up standing side by side to fight against evil.

Angel was the souled vamp who fought evil, and Spike was evil. Angel sold himself and his friends to the devil's attorneys while Spike fought for a soul - and at the end of NFA they are standing side by side to fight against evil.

It's the twists and turns on the path that make for an interesting journey.