What is an alter ego in mythology?

• aspect of religious and folkloric traditions (inhttp://wiki.answers.com/EBchecked/topic/400920/myth/23626/The-alter-ego-or-life-index?anchor=ref387158)

Other religious and folkloric traditions view the life of man as bound up with that of a plant or animal: if one is destroyed the other dies as well. In some traditions, this is confined to the familiar or guardian of a witch or shaman; in others, it is an individual relationship possible for any man. An example of the latter relationship...