raised in an academic world ??
ah, yes...education...spelling, grammar 'n the like...hmmmm...i can now see that this is true, my erudite friend...so sorry to have erred, if but only on the side of caution...
but i was amiss...you posed some querries back in good ol' #13...so, if i may...
"why do they have to be so different...doesn't make sense...give the character another name...it is a totally different character"
well...not so quick...maybe in some cases, yes...but not necessarily in all...
in this case, this is a world that belongs to a particular writer and he gets to make the rules up, being fiction, as he sees fit...
there are no laws on this sort of thing, just as there are no laws on exactly what, say, a werewolf looks like...king himself has had several different variation of just that critter...so, who knows...
i'm not entirely sure that ever character we've ever come across in the different parrallel worlds have always had the exact same characteristics...
besides...it keeps coming back to that ultimate caveat: this is fiction...the rules can be, and quite often are, made up as we go along...so, relax and enjoy the ride !
"you have to be able to recognize something..."
ah...sort of, but no, not really...
have you ever watched star trek ? they've had quite a few parrallel stories...sometimes, there is but a shade of a semblance to the charcteristsics of the character we know and love...and that sort of thing appears throughout each of these two books, even if it is something as simple as a name...
but just like in those classic ST episodes, it then veers wherever the authors mind decides to twist and turn...see, that is the fun of it
look at it this way: if every roller coaster followed 'the rules' they'd all be the same...and, well...kinda boring: it's the unexpected twist that brings new joy
again, enjoy the ride as it is...not the expecation you've created
and lastly...you have not, if i may so boldly offer, gone bananas...strawberries, maybe...but certainly not bananas
trust me...i know bananas...i'm intimate with bananas..............wait, that didn't sound right...is there an edit key...