Sometimes a person is more than one person

Submit plural characters, canon or headcanon, and discuss plurality in fiction!

[pluralcharacters2026]

Even from people who'd consider themselves singular write stories about people who are sort of more than one person all the time, because it strikes people very strongly. They are a fascinating peak into the more subjective nature of singularity in personal identity, my opinion. I would like to discuss that here, alongside system headcanons :)

I'm using the term very loosely here, but more specific headcanons and discussion are welcome and encouraged! I am interested in plurality as it is in fiction and how that comments on reality.

We encourage: sharing of headcanons (of varying basis), OCs, characters canonically portrayed as having DID/OSDD/experiencing realistic systemhood, characters canonically portrayed as plural in the loosey goosey sense of the word, discussions of fictional plurality/systemhood in general. This is a discussion blog!! You are more than welcome to reblog with additions or talk in the comments/tags!!!!!

This blog is now run by two separate systems, mod🍄‍🟫and Toys/mod🧸, we both use he/him collectively. Presently, we're attempting to post once a day, with the exception of reblogs : )

[pluralcharacters2026]

Hello :3

My friend invited me help moderate this blog

I really love discussing and analyzing media so I’m very pleased help! I’m also a system who loves doing learning about people’s experiences and plurality.

You can call my system Toys for a name and our emoji will be this 🧸

[pluralcharacters2026]

The Outside trilogy (The Outside, The Fallen, and The Infinite) has a canonically plural character to the point of actually using the word "plural" for them.

(spoilers ahead sorry)

Yasira Shien (the main protagonist) becomes plural at the end of the first book by having her mind fragmented by contact with cosmic horror-type energies, and the next books are basically how she deals with it. It's one of my personal favorite depictions of canon plurality in a book and I think it somewhat helped me come to terms with my own? Also I flat out don't know of any other books that use the word "plural" explicitly. Also she gets a plural coming-out scene to her girlfriend. Yeah. It's great.

Side note, Yasira is also one of several autistic characters and the author is autistic. Most of the main cast/secondary protagonists are neurodivergent or mentally ill in some way. It's a sci-fi/cosmic horror series, but it takes the cosmic horror trope of "super-powerful thing outside of space-time and human perception that will drive you insane if you interact with it" and decides to be all "okay, but what exactly defines sanity? and why is living as someone who lacks it lesser?" Which is really nice.

I'm sorry, I just love gushing about The Outside.

This si fuckinggggg awesome. I am getting so many reading recommendations reading this blog. This one sounds like it could've been written with real non-fictional plurality/systemhood in mind which is sick as helll.... more of this please I am tired as all hell if anyone wants to add anything as always you're encouraged 👍👍👍👍👍

[pluralcharacters2026]

I don't know too much about her but I know Layla from Genshin Impact has what is essentially canonical DID. She perceives it as a weird form of sleepwalking where she basically turns into her "alter-ego" referred to as nighttime Layla. This version of Layla has a distinctly different way of behaving and perceiving the world compared to her daytime alternate. She has blackouts when switching, and switches are brought upon by time and also buildups of stress. 'Nighttime Layla' tends to complete the work that overwhelms 'Day Layla' when she finds herself unable to.

It seems like her disorder is a result of extreme stress but theres also some elements of her having a blessing (?) or it being something that can be attributed to her having a strong connection to the stars? I'm not really sure about all that I just know a little bit about the characterization and thought it would be interesting.

I did have a little peak at her wiki and on the note of having a blessing, it seems as though her alter believes her to mistaken and to simply have a secret second her. It also says in the trivia portion, "when she is awake, she uses 私 watashi, while during her sleep she uses あたし atashi."

I'm not very familiar with Japanese, but my understanding is that watashi is a formal, mildly feminine pronoun depending on context, whereas atashi is a more cutesy, casual pronoun (more overtly feminine too, I believe?).

So! Very interesting!!! I am always excited by fictional plurality that is portrayed as generally positive and/or brought on by stress, as it does more closely resemble disordered systemhood, haha.

[pluralcharacters2026]

MK from Lego Monkie Kid.

It is a large part of the show later on that he has multiple forms that kind of speak to each other and interact with each other (and implied that they behave the way they do because of trauma). It's implied he was homeless and wandering the streets as a child and the whole show is basically a trauma fest. He also has very literal switches in the sense of switching to a different form and behaving significantly differently. He has awful memory which is part of his incredibly implied ADHD but also could be attributed to dissociative amnesia of sorts. This monkey is multiple monkeys ‼️

It can be really difficult to differentiate dissociative amnesia and unrelated forgetfulness lmao. It's not like dissociative systems are often intentionally portrayed in media, so sometimes we gotta take what we can get!

[pluralcharacters2026]

SORA KINGDOM HEARTS IS PLURAL AS HELL.

The Heart Hotel is a fan title given to Sora and the number of guys that live inside of him! Esencially, through the kingdom hearts brand of convoluted series of events, sora canonically has multiple hearts (meant simmilarly to souls) hidden inside his own heart, taking refuge inside of him, without him even realising for the most part. The heart hotel most often involves Sora himself, Roxas, Xion, Ventus and Vanitas. (Though technically briefly he did have other hearts in him, but that doesnt get discussed often cause its pretty brief, and the 5 are there the longest)

One of those hearts is Roxas, who extra reads as an alter, due to the fact that Roxas did actually kind of. Basically? Split off of Sora. Like, basically, sora dies in the first game but power of friendship brings him back... but the original body, for xyz kingdom hearts reasons, remained alive and transformed into a nobody with no memory - basically his body became a new guy that develops his own identity and has his own adventures. Plot then thickens, he fights for his right to be his own person, but he's defeated, his memories messed with once more, and is forced to go back to Sora. Sora wakes up without knowing any of this and goes about his adventures, clueless... except, he occasionally gets waves of emotions (sandness, longing, rage) and pain he can't explain when looking at things and people Roxas was attached to, and some people even calling Sora Roxas, much to his confusion.

I dont remember clearly the events of kh2 after but basically, eventually Sora discovers Roxas, they have a fight 'cause the latter does not want to be forced to fade... Sora is convinced that Roxas is real, he is a real person that lives inside of him, who has as much of a right to live as anyone else. He wants to save Roxas.

Later on, when dwelling into his dreams, Sora discovers that he doesn't just have Roxas hiding in him, but also Xion and Ventus, other two souls that are taking a refuge in him, having their own pains and traumas. There's a few scenes he gets to talk to Roxas, briefly sees Xion and tears up without knowing why (Xion is Roxas's friend and has been through a lot), and briefly even turns into Ventus.

He wants to save them, but the way to do so involves being able to feel their struggles and the pain they carry with them...

(Sadly KH 3 they all get their own bodies, so the plurality thing isn't as prominent, but you know, good for them they badly needed that!)

As for Vanitas uhhh. That would require getting into Ventus and we dont have time for that rn but those two also can be read quite pluraly (ignoring the phone games for reasons, Ven and Van where one guy, but then an evil science dude decided to split Ven into two, one a normal boy and the other evil darkness boy that he then got to abuse for his evil schemes. Vanitas is extremely suuuper traumatised and edgy and lashes out, acting as a villain while beeing a misguided teen. Ventus is a goody two shoes normal guy who also happens to be an amnesiac. Even though they both have their own bodies, you can see the plurality parallels.)

So basically Sora is technically actually 5 guys at the same time (or more accurately, 4 guys and 1 girl. Maybe 3 guys if you count Vanitas as nonhuman being like he sees himself as), who dont share the memories between one another but feelings and small flashes can bleed through sometimes between them. They all have their own names and personalities. One is akin to an anger holder protector/persecutor, one is a traumatised girl that's barely clinging on, one is a friend he didn't know he had since he was like 5, and the other is a traumatised edgelord teen that might remember some shit none of the others do. Sora is a kindhearted goof of a host that wasn't fully aware that all this was happening for basically years, but wants to help, push through the pain and connect to them, let them have a chance to live.

Funnily enough we did not realise our plurality back when we first got obsessed with the Heart Hotel concept. And read fics about it. And drew fanart of it. And started making our own au of it. Nope. Nuh uh. Just a singlet being a good ally here haha :) <- clueless

Anyway i hope you enjoyed my disorganised ramblings about kingie hearts 💕

Wow yeah that's just a very straightforward system huh? Amnesia and emotional bleeding and all . Very neat!!!

[pluralcharacters2026]

I really do love when plural characters get system names.... very fun. More of this pleaseee

[pluralcharacters2026]

SORA KINGDOM HEARTS IS PLURAL AS HELL.

The Heart Hotel is a fan title given to Sora and the number of guys that live inside of him! Esencially, through the kingdom hearts brand of convoluted series of events, sora canonically has multiple hearts (meant simmilarly to souls) hidden inside his own heart, taking refuge inside of him, without him even realising for the most part. The heart hotel most often involves Sora himself, Roxas, Xion, Ventus and Vanitas. (Though technically briefly he did have other hearts in him, but that doesnt get discussed often cause its pretty brief, and the 5 are there the longest)

One of those hearts is Roxas, who extra reads as an alter, due to the fact that Roxas did actually kind of. Basically? Split off of Sora. Like, basically, sora dies in the first game but power of friendship brings him back... but the original body, for xyz kingdom hearts reasons, remained alive and transformed into a nobody with no memory - basically his body became a new guy that develops his own identity and has his own adventures. Plot then thickens, he fights for his right to be his own person, but he's defeated, his memories messed with once more, and is forced to go back to Sora. Sora wakes up without knowing any of this and goes about his adventures, clueless... except, he occasionally gets waves of emotions (sandness, longing, rage) and pain he can't explain when looking at things and people Roxas was attached to, and some people even calling Sora Roxas, much to his confusion.

I dont remember clearly the events of kh2 after but basically, eventually Sora discovers Roxas, they have a fight 'cause the latter does not want to be forced to fade... Sora is convinced that Roxas is real, he is a real person that lives inside of him, who has as much of a right to live as anyone else. He wants to save Roxas.

Later on, when dwelling into his dreams, Sora discovers that he doesn't just have Roxas hiding in him, but also Xion and Ventus, other two souls that are taking a refuge in him, having their own pains and traumas. There's a few scenes he gets to talk to Roxas, briefly sees Xion and tears up without knowing why (Xion is Roxas's friend and has been through a lot), and briefly even turns into Ventus.

He wants to save them, but the way to do so involves being able to feel their struggles and the pain they carry with them...

(Sadly KH 3 they all get their own bodies, so the plurality thing isn't as prominent, but you know, good for them they badly needed that!)

As for Vanitas uhhh. That would require getting into Ventus and we dont have time for that rn but those two also can be read quite pluraly (ignoring the phone games for reasons, Ven and Van where one guy, but then an evil science dude decided to split Ven into two, one a normal boy and the other evil darkness boy that he then got to abuse for his evil schemes. Vanitas is extremely suuuper traumatised and edgy and lashes out, acting as a villain while beeing a misguided teen. Ventus is a goody two shoes normal guy who also happens to be an amnesiac. Even though they both have their own bodies, you can see the plurality parallels.)

So basically Sora is technically actually 5 guys at the same time (or more accurately, 4 guys and 1 girl. Maybe 3 guys if you count Vanitas as nonhuman being like he sees himself as), who dont share the memories between one another but feelings and small flashes can bleed through sometimes between them. They all have their own names and personalities. One is akin to an anger holder protector/persecutor, one is a traumatised girl that's barely clinging on, one is a friend he didn't know he had since he was like 5, and the other is a traumatised edgelord teen that might remember some shit none of the others do. Sora is a kindhearted goof of a host that wasn't fully aware that all this was happening for basically years, but wants to help, push through the pain and connect to them, let them have a chance to live.

Funnily enough we did not realise our plurality back when we first got obsessed with the Heart Hotel concept. And read fics about it. And drew fanart of it. And started making our own au of it. Nope. Nuh uh. Just a singlet being a good ally here haha :) <- clueless

Anyway i hope you enjoyed my disorganised ramblings about kingie hearts 💕

Wow yeah that's just a very straightforward system huh? Amnesia and emotional bleeding and all . Very neat!!!

[pluralcharacters2026]

I just started reading What’s Left Of Me (the first book of The Hybrid Chronicles) and… holy shit.

“Okay, so imagine… completely hypothetically, if there was a world in which some children were born as more than one person. But being more than one is a threat and makes that person scary. In fiction, of course. So what if the government and society decided it was acceptable to abuse children to try to force them to choose and stick with one identity? And then would lock them up for “treatment” if they reach adulthood still being more than one person? Wouldn’t this be wild? This is my fictional universe, of course.”

I don’t like to speculate about the plurality of real people, but… come on. How do you as a singlet come up with and write this premise this well? Not saying for sure that the author’s plural. Just saying… I don’t know what I’m saying.

Anyway, I already love Addie and Eva.

Well shit I have to read this now

I do think it's fascinating how often plural themes work their way into art made by (assumed) singlets. It could absolutely lend credibility to the idea the author may be plural in some form, but I do think this pattern in art by people who don't identify as plural implies that perhaps .... crazy idea . Singularity is not as concrete and objective as people like to think? And lots of people have vague plural-adjacent experiences internally that is often drawn from and exaggerated in media to create more obviously plural subtext. It's interesting!

That said I do totally see where the suspicion comes from, this reads as something a system would write (though I will also refrain from directly speculating).

[pluralcharacters2026]

Moonpaw, a newish character in Warrior Cats, is plural in canon. Her experiences are largely relatable to fans with DID and other forms of systemhood, though quite a few also see her as an allegory for intrusive thoughts and/or suicidal ideation.

Moonpaw is haunted by the ghost of her twin sister, who died only days old and seemingly latched onto Moonpaw to live vicariously through her. They exchange dialogue in Moonpaw's head, and as she gets older she finds herself struggling to make decisions and focus due to Morningkit's interference with her life. Morningkit even displays the ability to take Moonpaw's body while she's sleeping, which Moonpaw won't remember. She also has the ability to physically harm Moonpaw, and does so when Moonpaw tries to send her to the afterlife. Morningkit also holds deep resentment for Moonpaw's friends, and tries repeatedly to drive them away. She wants Moonpaw to die so they can be together without anyone in their way.

Personally, I believe Moonpaw and Morningkit to be two parts of a fantasy system. Morningkit is intended to be a spooky evil ghost baby, but if anything she reads as a little alter struggling to adjust to change and lashing out. In no world would I want the Erins intentionally writing a system, Moonpaw is almost the ideal here. Even without intent, she feels representative of real system experiences and I'm very fond of her personally, even considering her flaws.

[pluralcharacters2026]

The player from slay the princess

Woawww I wonder who sent this

Anyway . I've only watched bits and pieces of gameplays but they do strike me as very systemful lol