Changelings?

I don't really know what those are. I don't read much fantasy fiction. If adding changelings would add 200 books to the list, let's skip them and keep it narrower.

A changeling is a fairy (or troll or elf) offspring that they will swap for a human baby. The changeling is identical in appearance to the stolen child.

Maybe if you only add books where the changeling and the child s/he is exchanged for both have a role, or are connected in some way? That would cut it down.

Miriam wrote: "Maybe if you only add books where the changeling and the child s/he is exchanged for both have a role, or are connected in some way? That would cut it down."

Yes, I agree. With doppelganger stories, plot twists often hinge on some interaction between the two, or at least they are equally present in the story somehow.

I had no idea there were so many books about doppelgangers. Isn't there a myth if you see your twin then you will die? (old legend)

I cannot think of a single book about changelings altho I have known what they are since forever. I believe the fairy folk switch out a human baby for a fairy baby.

Is "The Picture of Dorian Gray" too far off? (The picture takes the human's place in aging, after all; then again, it IS a picutre ...)

Yes, that's the doppelganger legend; seeing yourself is a sign that you will die soon. There's a funny short story about this called "doppelgangster" with wise guys getting rubbed out.

I can think of several books, mostly YA, with changelings, but usually the focus is a teen brought up by a normal family finding out they are really fey. I think Tithe A Modern Faerie Tale and The Blue Girl both have changelings, although you aren't supposed to know at the beginning.

Great idea for a list!

Miriam wrote: "Maybe if you only add books where the changeling and the child s/he is exchanged for both have a role, or are connected in some way? That would cut it down."

I can do that.

The exact associations of the caul vary from place to place, but the general superstition is that a baby born with it will have second sight, see the future, special good luck, magical powers -- basically be special in some way. My best guess for the origins of this is that babies born with the caul are less likely to die as infants because if the amniotic membrane is unbroken then the infant is protected from any germs or infections that might be transmitted from the mother during delivery, so those babies do in fact have better "luck". Also, until it is removed the baby is still receiving oxygen from the mother and doesn't take a breath; maybe the not-crying seemed like an omen or something?

I see things on here that are technically not exactly doppelgangers, so there's no reason to exclude changelings at this point.

Miriam wrote: "The exact associations of the caul vary from place to place, but the general superstition is that a baby born with it will have second sight, see the future, special good luck, magical powers -- ba..."

Thanks for this explanation. I sure didn't know all this. Maybe I should google it too. I have not been lucky.