Editing 555: Two Mirrors

{{comic
| number    = 555
| date      = March 13, 2009
| title     = Two Mirrors
| image     = two_mirrors.png
| titletext = If you actually do this, what really happens is Douglas Hofstadter appears and talks to you for eight hours about strange loops.
}}

==Explanation==
In folklore, {{w|Bloody Mary (folklore)|Bloody Mary}} is a legendary ghost or spirit conjured to reveal the future. She is said to appear in a mirror when her name is called multiple times (mainly 3). The Bloody Mary apparition may be benign or malevolent, depending on historic variations of the legend. The Bloody Mary appearances are mostly "witnessed" in teenage group participation games, often as part of a game of truth or dare. This is Bloody Mary's first appearance in xkcd, the second being [[2364: Parity Conservation]]

In this comic, Megan sets up two mirrors facing each other, in which she can see herself receding ad infinitum. She then says "Bloody Mary" three times (as in the folklore) before ducking, conjuring an infinite number of spirits who jump from the mirror towards each other. It's not clear if they simply collide, or pass into the opposing mirror. Megan may be attempting an experiment either in particle physics upon {{w|LHC|colliding}} {{w|mirror matter}} or bridging {{w|Mirror Universe}}s by enabling Bloody Mary’s opposing characterizations to interact with each other, or both.

Megan is under several threats of bad luck, this escapade taking place (published) on a {{w|Friday the 13th}}, or [https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/breaking-a-mirror/ breaking a mirror] and according to myth, harm to body and soul for 7 years, and the risks of blasphemy and angering or losing control during the {{w|evocation}} of spirits, especially considering the quantity and consequent duration of such an invocation.

{{w|Douglas Hofstadter}} (also referenced in [[917: Hofstadter]]) is the author of ''{{w|Gödel, Escher, Bach}}'' and ''{{w|I Am a Strange Loop}}''. In the former book, among many other discussions of infinite loops, he points a television camera at the screen on which its image is projected, forming an endless series of screens similar to panel 2 of this comic. In the latter book he focuses on the idea of minds being self-referential. "In the end, we are self-perceiving, self-inventing, locked-in mirages that are little miracles of self-reference". This blends with the idea of the images of the person looking in the mirror being reflected endlessly.

==Transcript==
:[Megan sets up a full mirror facing a bathroom-counter mirror.]

:[Megan looks through the bathroom counter mirror to see the infinite reflections.]

:Megan: Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary.

:[Megan ducks as the infinite Bloody Marys pop out between the two mirrors above her head.]
:''RAAGHHHHH''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]