A Tulpa's History

[Bambi]

I've heard, in passing, that tulpas have their own histories and backgrounds, but I can't seem to find exactly what that means. I realize that it would be easy to plan out James' past and force it to him (and he'd then probably deviate from it a bit, but you know), but does this kind of thing happen naturally? And if any of you happen to have a tulpa who has a "history" then do you mind sharing what that might be?

[Chupi]

Typically it's just their memories going back to the first thing they remember after you created them. Some people try to force a backstory, which basically amounts to false memories. This is generally not recommended -- think about what might happen when they inevitably eventually discover that what they thought they were is a lie.

 

On occasion the mind generates a backstory without you forcing one. Also sometimes a host makes a tulpa and finds partway in that this being has been there but not recognized for a long time -- see multiplicity. They could have been only somewhat separate from the host's thoughts, or as separate as a full-fledged tulpa. In these cases forcing is more a question of making contact then creating.

[Kaga and Company]

Ex has the sort of forced backstory that Chupi's referring to, but only because he was originally intended to be a character for a story, and then he became a tulpa accidentally. He really didn't go into any sort of identity crisis like that, though. I mean, he sort of acted like he had the backstory he was written with, but I think on some level he still knew that it was made up. That's especially true now that he's deviated from his original self quite a bit. Again, he'll still sort of play the role he was given, but only because that's what he seems to be comfortable with and has fun doing -- not because he's actually in any sort of delusion.

[Guest amber5885]

You can make you're tulpa a backstory if you want, sometimes they decide on one on there own but it's really individual to the tulpa.

 

Toby likes to say we've known each other since we were kids (kind of actually true) but other than that he doesn't really have one.

 

For a fun experiment you could always ask your tulpa to come up with one and see what they say, see if the suprise you.

[glitchthe3rd]

In my experience the backstory thing isn't too harmful, as long as you don't retcon it too much (I rewrote Saria's backstory about 10 times, it was really confusing for her until she decided to just disregard it). She's not around anymore though so I can't really ask for her thoughts on the matter.

[Linkzelda]

I've heard, in passing, that tulpas have their own histories and backgrounds, but I can't seem to find exactly what that means. I realize that it would be easy to plan out James' past and force it to him (and he'd then probably deviate from it a bit, but you know), but does this kind of thing happen naturally? And if any of you happen to have a tulpa who has a "history" then do you mind sharing what that might be?

 

OP, I’m pretty sure it’s not something that’s inherent, and I say that in context of potentially being an inherent attribute that’s been occurring before the host decided to even partake in creating a tulpa. Of course, this is absolving circumstances where people generally ask “was this a tulpa?/are they a tulpa that I’ve been with for –x amount of time-?”; that’s another story.

 

At best, it would be everyone euphemistically declaring that the mind, brain, or whatever you want to use is creating, or for a more cynical connotation, fabricating that history to make it seem as if they had experiential cases before to help the whole development process be a little bit easier on both ends. For some people, it works out okay because they can casually blend in and out with metaphysical implications, and down-to-earth types of mindsets because they probably know their tulpa’s existence isn’t contingent wholly on a past; especially a past where those experiential cases may very well just be fabricated unless both the host and tulpa experienced certain things together (based on their own private and subjective experience, mind you); that's probably a very obvious distinction, though people seem to be caught at a dead-end because they try to make things so compatible that doesn't really resonate with them.

 

Then there’s people that are too restrictive of themselves and their tulpas because they’re probably afraid of their tulpa feeling they’re something they’re really not. And should there be a case where a tulpa questions if this history they had was real that wasn’t contingent on their host experiencing things with them to some extent, it’s probably not going to be a cakewalk in telling your tulpa that things were fabricated to give them some foundation to build upon.

 

But even if those memories aren’t real, or don’t really have inherent attributes to that akin to how a host would develop an experiential foundation throughout their lives, it’s still them (the tulpa); they still have potential to lay in a groundwork of history by simply existing with their host to share experiences with. The origins may be fabricated, but their means to assess themselves for the future doesn’t have to be shunned down. In other words, what’s really more important for the host and tulpa, and how do they come to terms with that?

 

 

TL;DR:

 

Here’s an analogue that hopefully gets my point across:

 

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/5096418

[Yakumo]

Kinda like with the Replicants in Blade Runner, isn't it?