Mirrors that reflect your heart

[o.pwuaioc]

In FFI, Cecil enters a cave to fight a reflection of himself. In the Street Fighter II anime, Ken and Ryu, when they meet Dhalsim, they are forced into a cave that "reflects their hearts".

What's the origin of this trope? Empire Strikes Back is the obvious choice (Luke in the Cave of Evils), but just how early can we go in seeing this trope, where the heroes are faced with their true/evil/mirror/alternate selves, and have to defeat them to grow?

[marurun]

Well, not exactly that, but there's the magic mirror in Snow White that can speak only truth. It doesn't really confront the wicked stepmother/queen with her own inner evil and jealousy, but it does admit to her she is no longer the fairest of them all, thus creating the trouble for Snow White. Early mirrors were highly flawed, so when people saw there reflection it would mostly have been distorted. It wasn't until recent times that mirrors became truly clear and accurate in their reflections. But also people probably noticed even early on that things were reversed in mirrors. So while I don't know where the trope started in fiction, there are a lot of ways to reason through how they came into existence.

[o.pwuaioc]

Well, not exactly that, but there's the magic mirror in Snow White that can speak only truth. It doesn't really confront the wicked stepmother/queen with her own inner evil and jealousy, but it does admit to her she is no longer the fairest of them all, thus creating the trouble for Snow White. Early mirrors were highly flawed, so when people saw there reflection it would mostly have been distorted. It wasn't until recent times that mirrors became truly clear and accurate in their reflections. But also people probably noticed even early on that things were reversed in mirrors. So while I don't know where the trope started in fiction, there are a lot of ways to reason through how they came into existence.

Didn't necessarily mean the physical object that mirrors your reflection, but any environment that acts as a reflection of oneself, no matter how distorted.

Other game examples would certainly be welcome, too.

[marurun]

Well, not exactly that, but there's the magic mirror in Snow White that can speak only truth. It doesn't really confront the wicked stepmother/queen with her own inner evil and jealousy, but it does admit to her she is no longer the fairest of them all, thus creating the trouble for Snow White. Early mirrors were highly flawed, so when people saw there reflection it would mostly have been distorted. It wasn't until recent times that mirrors became truly clear and accurate in their reflections. But also people probably noticed even early on that things were reversed in mirrors. So while I don't know where the trope started in fiction, there are a lot of ways to reason through how they came into existence.

Didn't necessarily mean the physical object that mirrors your reflection, but any environment that acts as a reflection of oneself, no matter how distorted.

Other game examples would certainly be welcome, too.

I mean, water and mirrors would be the primary places people would encounter their own reflections. As for game examples, Prince of Persia has a rather literal take on it.

[ZRofel]

I would imagine this is the type of thing that's existed in human mythology and storytelling since early civilization. I read a lot of myths, fables, and Joseph Campbell as part of my undergraduate degree, and I know I've encountered that story beat before. I'm just struggling to remember concrete examples at the moment. Back in the eras of the heroic romances, there was the idea of the king (or whatever name the ruler had) being the embodiment of his kingdom, so when the king was sick or wounded, that was often reflected by withering crops, plagues amongst the populace, and so forth. As an example, you had the Dolorous Stroke in Le Morte D'Arthur, where Balin stabs the king and immediately the castle collapses and everyone in it dies.