a doppelgänger or a doppelganger is a german word used in english to talk about any double or someone who looks exactly like another person — most commonly an "evil twin". in some folklore, seeing another family or friend's doppelganger means they will have an illness, or that they are in danger. seeing your own doppelganger means you will most likely die. some myths offer explanations that focus on magic, where the doppelganger is created by some kind of curse or through magic. these doppelgängers are usually, but not always, bad in some way. doppelgängers can sometimes be seen in books, movies, and other fiction as part of their stories.