Canonically Plural

[canonicallyplural]

Welcome to canonically plural. 

This is a blog that is dedicated to your favorite characters who are canonically plural in some way. 

Defining plurality 

When I say canonically plural, what I mean is that the characters are depicted with multiple self-conscious agents of some kind sharing a single body.

It should also be long-term rather than characters who just share a body for a few moments. This time limit is relative. If a character is plural for all of their existence, but only exists for a couple hours, they've been plural their whole life. For characters with normal lifespans, I would say their plurality needs to be demonstrated to exist at least over a period of multiple days. But discretion is allowed.

This can take many forms. Venom from Spider-Man has a form of biological plurality where the alien symbiote fuses with a host. Blue Beetle is technological plurality. Moon Knight is both psychological and spiritual.

The Checklist

By my criteria, a character is canonically plural if...

The character has multiple agents in their mind/body. ✅

These agents share a body for a decent length of time. ✅

These other agents possess at least some rudimentary level of self-awareness and memory, and could reflect on past events. ✅

You used your best judgement and the submission is in good faith. ✅

If the above criteria are met in canon, the character is canonically plural!

The Good Faith Rule: On the last criterion, note that I won't be researching a lot of these before posting. So please be reasonable and remember the goal of the blog is introducing people to plural characters in different media. I realize that maybe something like the Power Rangers spending a few days in a Megazord can technically fulfill the criteria of multiple people sharing a body if you stretch it enough. So please don't go on a mission to find loopholes to the criteria.

Nothing is metaphorical 

Assume for the sake of this that unless something is explicitly stated to be metaphor in the work, it is literally happening within the context of the narrative. 

Perhaps the writers of Inside Out wrote the emotions as a metaphor for the emotions of singlets. But within the Inside Out universe, the emotions are actual distinct characters with their own distinct personalities. They have their own memories, their own wants and desires, their own agency. Within the fiction of the Inside Out universe, people are just naturally plural through these self-conscious emotions in their head.

All the characters in Inside Out are canonically plural. 

Canonically plural character guidelines

When submitting a character that is canonically plural, please include a description of why you think that they are plural. There's no maximum length but at least a few sentences would be ideal. It doesn't need to be a huge essay. But it at least needs to convey what is plural about the characters.

Please state both the name of the character or characters who are plural, as well as the piece of media they originate from.

Ideally, submissions should use the following template:

[Character Name(s)] from [media name] is canonically plural. [Description of their plurality.]

For example...

Pearl from Steven Universe is canonically plural. In one episode, Steven enters into Pearl's mind through her gem. Inside, she has a layered inner world, each with its own compartmentalized version of her. Each Pearl has its own memories and there are even dissociative barriers between the inner Pearls, where some are just not aware of what other Pearls are doing. There's the main Pearl with control of the body on the outside. There's a Pearl on the surface level of her mind responsible for organizing thing and keeping them neat. And then each layer beneath that holds a different trauma Pearl suffered from her past. One Pearl holds onto the death of the person she loved. And another from her trauma over the deaths of her friends in the war. And another holds onto a trauma from losing who she used to be.

Fanfiction Contributions Guidelines

For those looking to share fanfics, formatting is slightly different!

[Character Name] from [fanfiction name], a(n) [original media name] fanfiction is canonically plural. [Description of their plurality.] [Link to the fanfiction]

The link and the media name help make it easier to locate the fanfic and share fan works about plurality with others. It also helps me what tags to use for the post. Additionally, you can optionally post links to FREE original fiction such as free webcomics or stories that involve plurality.

Self Promotion

If you've written any plural works, you're welcome to share those here too! But please mention if you're the author in the description! Thank you!

And thank you all for your contributions!

[canonicallyplural]

I was going to submit all the avatars from avatar the last airbender before i went on your blog and realized that thats literally your profile picture 🥲

It is!

But like, it also hasn't been submitted yet so you're welcome to send in a post about it! 👍

[canonicallyplural]

Has Kronk (Emperors New Groove) been submitted? Canonical median system. Shoulder Angel & Shoulder Devil that are angel/devil themed versions of him & they have arguments and conversations & stuff

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[canonicallyplural]

Elvis is canonically plural

https://www.tumblr.com/elvis-official/807498505951363072/opinion-on-plural-people?source=share

Awesome! Nice on the syscovery! 👍

[canonicallyplural]

Yuji Itadori/Sukuna from Jujutsu Kaisen!!

After eating one of Sukuna's fingers, Yuji ends up with Sukuna's consciousness in his head. he says that he can hear Sukuna speaking, and it's shown that Sukuna can take control of Yuji's body completely, however can also appear as a mouth and eye in part of his body (usually his hand or face) to talk to people, which I see as kinda like a form of cofronting. they also speak to each other in Sukuna's domain in Yuji's head, which could act as a kind of headspace.

there's probably more evidence, but that's all i can think of rn ^^

(By Treerockperson on DeviantArt)

[canonicallyplural]

the core from amphibia is canonically plural!

theyre a bunch of newts that uploaded their consciousnesses to a robot body in order to live forever. throughout their screen time they have different inflections when they talk but only one specific member fully has a different voice. they also act slightly different from episode to episode and there was a scene where they had to pause for a second and “reach a consensus” before continuing to act. also they refer to themselves in the plural mostly and they have a mindscape type thing that gets a little bit of screen time.

sorry if this is poorly explained i just wanted to talk about my friends from my head (they are literally The Worst) (but not because theyre plural)

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[canonicallyplural]

im a little nervous to submit this, but this was technically our first exposure to pluralty and helped with our syscovery! sorry if this was submitted before

Jackson from the book Crenshaw.

It's never stated that its about DID (at least not what i could find) but it resonates a lot with DID. The book is about Jackson's family struggles in a economic crisis, which is very stressful and is what causes the first alter(?) Crenshaw to appear as a way to distract or help him. Crenshaw is an "imaginary" cat that keeps appearing with Jackson even though he says he's "too old for imaginary friends". At some point of the book I believe theres a scene where something at Jackson's room has been moved from where it should. Jackson isn't the one who moved it, but Crenshaw. From what I remember, theres a couple of more scenes in the book where Crenshaw has interacted with the real world which leaves Jackson confused since he still thinks its just an imaginary friend.

I've tried researching to see if its ever stated to be a book about pluralty but I can't seem to find any articles that mention it, but its very DID rep to me.

[canonicallyplural]

This unfortunately is in the evil headmate domain, but...

The Visionary From Sentinels of The Multiverse is canonically plural!

Sentinels lore is complicated and hard to keep track since a lot is in podcasts. But the very basics are that Visionary is a psychic superhero with a bunch of mental powers. While traveling through time, she ends up picking up a dark passenger who turns out to be an evil version of herself from another dimension. The two share a body for years, each vying for control, until Dark Visionary finally wins out and imprisons the real Visionary in her own mind.

After many more years of Dark Visionary being in control and living Visionary's life, the other heroes eventually discover the truth and expel Dark Visionary.

One fun thing is that in the new edition of the card game, they have a Dark side deck to represent Dark Visionary's influence. Cards from that deck can be powerful, but most hurt yourself or your teammates in some way too. And normal Visionary can't just draw cards from the Dark deck and play them when she wants. She plays them from the top of the Dark deck without looking, symbolizing her loss of control. She never knows if tapping into that power will hurt herself or the enemy most

Meanwhile, the Dark Visionary variant on the right has her Total Control ability, letting her just draw 3 cards from the Dark deck, and then choose to play 1 of her choice.

So as Visionary, the Dark deck represents this other in your mind with its own agency and will, doing things you may not want it to. But as Dark Visionary, that power is your power. It's not another entity in your head. You are now the entity that was within Visionary, having taken over. You can draw those Dark cards straight to your hand and play them how and when you want!

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[canonicallyplural]

https://youtu.be/wfYbgdo8e-8?si=wGPFEPsYoE2pptx5

does this cgpgrey video count?

Honestly? I don't know!

Split brain is one of those things I'm fascinated by, but it's hard to figure out to what extent the separate sides are truly separate conscious agents, and have their own senses of self.

On one hand, each side has its own perception separate from the other and can act without the other being aware. On the other, each side still functions as the same person. Each side still seemingly identifies as the same person, despite this divide in knowledge.

I suppose I'm of two mind on this.

[canonicallyplural]

Kaneki Ken from tokyo ghoul

My guy talks to his past selves in headspace literally all the time

He has littles too :3

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[canonicallyplural]

Raph from ROTTMNT is canonically plural.

In the episode “Man vs Sewer” his is shown to have a trigger related to being alone. When he is left alone in the episode he becomes “Savage”. He cannot recognize his brothers until the main Raph is triggered into front.

In another episode he speaks to “Mind Raph”. They are shown to have different personalities and constantly argue over how to help their brothers.

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[bagels-and-cream-cheese333]

he has DID and nobody can argue with me

[fandsart]

GASP another opportunity to talk about system Raph?? Don't mind if I do

So I'd have to rewatch a bunch of episodes and the wiki doesn't list Mind Raph's episodes fsr, but from what I remember Mind Raph doesn't really disagree with Raph all that often. He's mostly a giver of advice and Raph generally listens to him. I assume this anon is attributing the alter from the Pizza Puffs episode to Mind Ralph but I'm pretty sure this is a separate one entirely. I also don't think that this is the only time we see him.

I'm going to be referring to these two as Raph A and Raph B for the sake of simplicity, with Raph A being the one to display his protective nature through nurturing and with Raph B displaying it in a sort of tough love approach in hoping he can help his brothers be prepared for something in the case the system can't be present.

This ties in really interestingly both with savage Raph and with Mind Raph grasping the mind melding ability before it's something that's even presented as something that they can do, being able to slide under the radar as "this is the advice you already know Raph would give you, it's just manifesting in your mind." Not only is it common for alters to be more skilled in some areas than other alters, it's totally expected, especially when a skill is necessary for safety reasons. In this case, his ability to help his brothers from a distance. Interesting how Mind Ralph is more present and kind of stretched thin in the Hidden City episode than usual, when Raph goes on a solo adventure. Interesting his Red Angel of Preventing Harm persona is one that we only ever see him put on during a solo stake out. I imagine he's co-con in those moments

You know, situations where he's not "alone" and/or "lost" entirely, but is without his family and could use someone to lean on a little bit

Ok, back to Raph A and B. I think Raph A probably fronts more often, but I do think we get a decent of screen time for both of them. It's debatable whether they can be considered co-hosts? I've heard co-hosting be explained as alters who host exactly the same amount, but I have to imagine that's an exaggeration. Idk, I have autism

I don't think these are the same Raphs

And to be clear, I don't believe one to be "The angry one" and the other to be "The sweet one." They're both angry in these scenes, and justifiably. I'm using these scenes in particular to address the way they've both dealt with similar conflicts. One of them is just more afraid to hurt the subject of his anger. It's important to note that the subject of his anger is different between these scenes and that's going to change some things. Leo's often intentionally annoying and isn't as sensitive as Donnie, but also, he's not consistent about this with Donnie either.

"if you don't cut it out with your middle child nonsense-"

I had my system friend proof read this and they felt it was important to insert this here: A lot of people these days are aware that alters develop for specific purposes, their role, and it might immediately strike someone as hypocritical if "Raph B" is afraid of the others not being able to defend themselves and that's where his anger stems from, for him to get angry at them in circumstances unrelated. Where his anger does not stem from something related to their safety.

A lot of media has gotten better at portraying DID, but a common thing I see them do is present the roles that the alters play out as incredibly conscious. Living exclusively for the sake of their role, while really, part of DID being a covert disorder is that they will develop a personality that makes that role possible. The personality might have been built off a certain need, but it will be more encompassing.

If his goal is to help prepare his brothers to be able to protect themselves, which would be motivated by fear, if that leaves him expressing his anger more often, that will simply be a pattern of behavior, and will impact the rest of his personality. He may fear holding back, that they might not be prepared for someone bigger than they are to not hold back in the future. Wants them to know how to handle that if the time comes. That isn't going to present consciously any more than it would a singlet with the same fears. The same way he's easily read in the movie.

Also I really don't want people to think that just because he may be afraid of coddling them does not mean you can expect to narrow his scenes down based on whether he is visibly angry or not. You pointed out he was angry in the scene where he called Donnie, but I do think it's important to stress that if he's not expressing anger at them, it doesn't necessarily indicate that this isn't Raph B, if we're operating under these distinctions.

I think that while I refer to them as cohosting, Raph B is probably fronting close to a third of the time at the start of the show, and by the end of the show is around close to half the time.

Then Leo becomes leader and by the time of the movie, Raph B is hosting often enough to fully be considered "the host" and not "one of the hosts." I heard someone say that it didn't make sense for Raph to suddenly break free from the Kraang when he did, but that it works narratively so they weren't going to critique it or something like that. But under this understanding, Leo may have drawn forward Raph A, the Raph that is afraid of them getting hurt, of his own anger hurting them. As opposed to the Raph who had been afraid they would never learn to protect themselves. The one who wanted to push them to be better, who I'm sure wasn't exactly thrilled to be attacking them, but who might not have been as equipped to fight these impulses the kraang were feeding him, since he never learned to fight his own, since his role was to embrace that.

Now I do want to say that I'm not going to say anyone is wrong for not adopting my interpretation that there are two (as Mind Raph once put it) "Real Raphs" (don't actually think about alters like this ftr) I understand that can be hard to contend with and while I have provided a level of evidence, there's a strong wall of plausible deniability that keeps me from claiming that it's basically canon (though I will argue that his plurality is basically canon). But I think that plausible deniability adds to this as a headcanon. I mean, talking to my system friend about it and how easily dismissive people are of obvious symptoms, how prone people are to falling on plausible deniability, to the point of not even stopping to think about it

It's possible that after the incident with Shredder, Raph became less coddling, since the second instance I've scrounged up of him being mad at Donnie happened significantly later in the series than either of the first two, and it's possible that he allowed himself to be more mad at Leo because he was being intentionally annoying. And that's all the plausible deniability for if we're actively thinking about it. Sometimes people are just kind of contradictory or hypocritical, we don't tend to linger on it too much. He just has a lot of inner conflict, he just has a bad memory (as stated by Donnie in Clothes Don't Make the Turtle), he's just indecisive (as established in Down with the Sickness), he just talks in third person sometimes, he just occasionally goes into past tense narration in his head. It's very easy to not think about these things, because individually, they aren't that notable. Just character quirks. That's part of DID being what's referred to as a "covert disorder"

[londubhh]

Dissociative disorders like DID and OSDD thrive off of being undetected, and I think Raph is a great example of that. It’s there if you look—if you know what to look for—but it’s easily overlooked at the same time. It’s a coping mechanism developed to protect you, you’re not supposed to realize it.

I think portrayals of dissociative disorders like this are soso important because media often portrays alters as dramatically different from each other, which is true in some cases and that also deserves rep of course, but this isn’t always the case, especially when it comes to OSDD. The plausible deniability you mentioned is actually what makes me love this portrayal so much, because it’s exactly how the disorder works.

Also, as you mentioned, media tends to make alters very one dimensional, sticking to their role, as your friend worded it, “incredibly conscious”, etc. It’s important to remember that they’re separate people—sometimes to the degree this varies, yes, but still—as nuanced as every other person with their own emotions and conflicts and wants and fears. I feel like sometimes people..forget that?? Boil them down to one thing and one thing only? Does that make sense?

Idk it just makes me really emotional seeing rep like this (though I believe unintentionally?). Covert and undetected and unnoticed if you don’t look. Dissociative disorders are so misunderstood in general, and here we have a character who:

1, isn’t just “the system guy”, Raph is a character who has a dissociative disorder but that’s not the core of his character and exists outside of that, like real people with dissociative disorders do. Mental disorders have an impact on us, how we function, but it isn’t our entire makeup. I feel like Raph represents that well (same goes for Leo and Mikey’s potential ADHD, Donnie’s confirmed Autism, but that’s a separate conversation)

2, is shown affected both positively (again, it’s a coping mechanism) and negatively (bad memory, inner conflict, etc) by his disorder in a way that just. is? And he’s not expected to fix anything, just to navigate the world with how his brain functions; this also fits into how unconditionally the characters in the show are allowed to be themselves. Raph gets to exist how he is, navigating good and bad and inbetween because he’s a person living and experiencing life

3, is unaware of this. A lot of media, that I’ve seen at least, focused on DID often has the characters aware and navigating the disorder. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with this kind of rep and it’s equally as important! But I think it’s great to see representation for how it might impact someone who doesn’t know they have it, before they know how to navigate it. Especially with the nature of DID, which is meant to be undetected.

I feel like I’m not articulating myself great. I just really love system Raph. I see a lot of myself in the subtleties in how he’s portrayed, that our understanding of our own brains isn’t always clear. Dissociative disorders are hard to navigate and pick apart when you realize you might have one, I’ve struggled with that a lot, and I think the way Raph is represented shows how unclear those lines can be and that’s okay. Things blur and mix and that’s okay. It’s okay not to have a grasp on everything. Maybe that’s just my own emotional stuff, I stressed myself out trying to pick apart my own psyche and figure out whos who and how distinct my alters were, and idk I just think Raph really shows well that those lines are blurry as hell for some people, which isn’t something media depicts a lot.

As someone who isn’t completely sure what exactly is going on with their brain but knows somethings wrong, it’s just neat to see rep without a character’s awareness because me too bud, me too. If that makes sense I think I’m just rambling

ANYWAY, this was a fantastic analysis thank you for sharing 💕

[canonicallyplural]

Raven from Teen Titans (DC)

Raven is cannonically half demon, and when the demon half of her comes out she loses control over herself and her appearance changes.

One episode a few team members end up trapped in Raven's mind, where her emotions have personifications. The team has to work together to harness the abilities of all personifications to defeat the internalized personification of Raven's father.

Her cloak changes color depending on her mood in a few episodes, indicating each emotion is itself a different person.

Her powers are largely based on these same emotions and if her emotions are not strictly controlled, her powers can become erratic and uncontrollable (again indicating she isn't the one in control)

In an episode of Teen Titans Go! Beast boy breaks her mirror, forcing some of inner emotions into the external world.

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[canonicallyplural]

cyrus finch/"cy-fi" from unwind is canonically plural!

he had got in an accident and severely damaged his right temporal lobe. in his world, this means the damaged part will be replaced with that of someone else's- usually a bunch of bits and pieces mushed together but cyrus recieved a full right temporal lobe from someone else named tyler.

what was soon learned was that that part of tyler's brain still held his consciousness, including memories, emotions, and urges, including the overwhelming compulsion to steal things. cyrus has had to communicate with and combat against this part similar to plurality in real life.

he refers to themselves as cy-ti at one point and considers himself as 7/8 cyrus and 1/8 tyler- two consciousnesses sharing one body

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[virus-leo]

*Slams fists on table*

CY-TI IS PLURAL

No wonder they're our favorite character(s) in the book,,,, also Levi but like :P

Us liking Cy-Ti really should've been a sign-

[canonicallyplural]

Sakura Haruno from Naruto.

She is the only character in the entire show that has an "inner Sakura" who is way more outgoing and boisterous, and pushes Sakura to take chances and risks that she wouldn't ordinarily take on her own, including some key character development moments.

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[canonicallyplural]

cyrus finch/"cy-fi" from unwind is canonically plural!

he had got in an accident and severely damaged his right temporal lobe. in his world, this means the damaged part will be replaced with that of someone else's- usually a bunch of bits and pieces mushed together but cyrus recieved a full right temporal lobe from someone else named tyler.

what was soon learned was that that part of tyler's brain still held his consciousness, including memories, emotions, and urges, including the overwhelming compulsion to steal things. cyrus has had to communicate with and combat against this part similar to plurality in real life.

he refers to themselves as cy-ti at one point and considers himself as 7/8 cyrus and 1/8 tyler- two consciousnesses sharing one body

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[canonicallyplural]

Robin from Subnautica Below Zero is canonically plural!

In Below Zero, she encounters the consciousness of an alien sentient supercomputer named Al-An. The facility where he is stored is running out of power, so to preserve him and his consciousness, Robin offers her PDA to him to live in. Instead, he downloads himself to her brain, where he speaks with her and guides her through the game! Alan eventually leaves her head and gains a new body of his own, but for the majority of the game, they share a body!

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[canonicallyplural]

artemis fowl from artemis fowl is canonically plural. LITERALLY. he has an alter named orion and a fictional disorder that functions similarly to DID and OCD. ! the representation wasnt great but it was good for the 2010s

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