Auriol (EntityTopic, 14)

From Compile Worlds

Doppelganger Arle is the evil red clone of Arle Nadja, and the very first Puyo character to be example of the trope, thus she is exactly what it says on the tin. Aside from their color schemes, the only thing that differentiates the two appearance wise is Doppel's more noticeable bust and mature features, as opposed to the real Arle's slightly underwhelming figure. She is a major antagonist in both Puyo Puyo~n and Compile Worlds, despite having more humble origins as a minor boss enemy from Madou Monogatari.

Biography

Doppelganger Arle's origins, according to Madou Mongatari I, go all the way back to Arle's Kindergarten magic test, where she was pitted against her evil red clone for the first time. It is even possible that she was created by a magic mirror of sorts, further cementing the cliche. In Compile Worlds, however, she is simply created from a bug-ridden portal that accidentally put Arle in "two places at once". Regardless of her origins, her nature has always been darker, but she may have lead a different life if she was not influenced by Satan and her future self. During the final confrontation in Above the Abyss, she fell desperately in love with Satan, and married him on the spot, allowing herself to be carried away to Satan's Palace. Later, she, along with Nanako, Strange Klug, and possibly even Ekoro, conceived the Tournament, as a means of studying the mysterious metalevels. Eventually however, she betrayed Nanako and sided with Strange Klug to fufil her own, unknown wishes. This backfired, and she was reduced to a soul, sealed inside a box, and put in Satan's Castle to set the stage for YON.

Doppel, is in some respects, similar to Arle in personality as well as appearance. At times her sharp tongue taunts others, while she is sweeter than candy to those she wants to associate with. She is also rather manipulative and a seductress, sweet talking her husband Satan into doing whatever she desires. She takes a smooth, condescending tone towards the lower metalevels, taunting them for being weak and useless. For some reason, she also enjoys partaking in Satan's silly antics, willing to cosplay in a giant Balrog costume with him and pose for him in a bikini at the Huge fucking crater™. Despite being goofy and witty sometimes, Doppel means business, being one of Puyo's very few serious antagonist characters, and cuts right to the chase when it's time to pick fights. She has a strange habit of laughing to herself in response to almost everything, even when being attacked. Overall, there is a mysterious air about her; she is hard to read, thus making her the perfect co-conspirator for SHAME.

In YON, she spends most of the game disguised as a clown named Pierrot. After being unsealed by a clumsy Satan (who drops the damn box containing her soul on the floor), she brainwashes him and commands him to run a Puyo Circus. She then ringmasters several other characters into being her acts, and entices Arle to join the fun in order to steal Carbuncle away from her. After doing so, she retreats back to Satan's Castle to lure Arle there while she uses Carbuncle's power to open a gateway to another dimension. When Arle gets there like, finally, Doppel engages in combat with her to see who is more worthy of existing. (Sound familiar?) She loses, fading away from existence for good and closing the alternate dimension.

Etymology

Doppelganger Arle is named after the trope in fiction she originates from. Pierrot, the name of her clown disguise, is a French name for clown.

Quotes

• Oh... I got a little bored of blue. But don't worry. This is my special occasion outfit. The normal one's still blue~ — Episode 24
• OOC: After getting another 8 planks, I upgraded my Chest to a Large Chest! — Episode 24
• You really wonder why you can't have a place in the tournament? — Episode 36
• Goodness knows what she's doing, but it's safe to say she doesn't really care about any of you guys. — Episode 36
• Nope! Unless you have some kind of antigravity, does it sound like landing to you? — Episode 40
• You know, we really should have picked better words for that. Calling them Ones is just confusing. — Episode 40
• And I hope you didn't want that Fake Arle, because it's going to be a bitch to locate her if you did... — Episode 40
• As you can see, I'm red. Fake Arle is blue. — Episode 43
• ...I wasn't really made to fight, believe it or not. — Episode 43

Triva

• It should be noted that all evil clones in the Puyo series to come are modeled after Doppelganger to an extent; Doppelganger Schezo, Dark Witch, and Strange Klug being the most direct descendants. Black Kikimora, Dark Arle and Ekoro's clones can also be seen as representing the trope.
  • Furthermore, with her purple color scheme, Zeta even bears a physical resemblance to Doppelganger Arle.
    • A doppelganger of a doppelganger is a kind of ironic thought though, wouldn't you think?
• In the final cutscene of YON, before she dies, Doppel's tone of voice changes dramatically, and she sounds even more high-pitched than the real Arle. Since YON was never translated by the unmotivated folks at Puyo Nexus, no one is quite sure why that is.
• She is the last character to be designated as an antagonist in the Puyo games before the Fever-era.
  • She is also one of only 4 Madou antagonists to be in a game with the word "Puyo" in the title.
    • Which means she's the only one besides Satan to be a villain of the puzzle games; Angol Mois and Doppelganger Schezo are both villains of RPGs.
• On this very site and in most of the fandom, her name is usually shortened to Doppel or D. Arle.
  • Dark Arle's introduction in Puyo Puyo 7 kind of made this controversial due to the fact that Dark Arle could also be abbreviated to "D. Arle".
• Speaking of Dark Arle, her theme in Puyo Puyo 7 makes references to Doppelganger's boss theme in YON.
• In the GBC version of YON, it is possible to fight and play as Pierrot and even pit Doppel against herself in this manner.
• As quoted above in Episode 24, Doppel noted that her red-tinted outfit is apparently her "special occasion outfit".