Mary Sue

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This article or section contains opinions shared by all and/or vast quantities of Derp. It is liable to cause Rage. Take things with a grain of salt and a peck of Troll.
How it works.

Originally a Mary Sue is a character that is a shameless self-insert, poorly developed, without flaws and stupidly overpowered. /tg/ hates Mary Sues.

Unfortunately, after so much rage and so many troll threads, /tg/'s definition of Mary Sue has become blurred; no one can agree on what the phrase means, to the point where the mere mention of Mary Sue is enough to set off shitstorms across the board.

Some accept nothing less than the above description, and will sooner gut you then look twice if you say it's anything else. Others prefer a more generalized definition, which refers to an overly-idealized character who exerts an unjust amount of influence upon their respective setting or story. Others still carry this meaning out to extremes, and use the term to describe anyone who isn't a homeless junkie or a brooding sociopath with an alignment of chaotic neutral.

The term is commonly used by trolls, and can most easily be spotted by a blanket accusation of a character being a Sue without attempting to justify actual reasons behind it. More clever trolls will attempt to offer some explanation that is deliberately intended to get under the offended party's skin.

Never Ending List of Mary Sues

(Note: please post Mary Sues in alphabetical order, so they don't fight about who's the better Mary-Sue.)

  • Captain Matthias Ward, I am the better Mary-Sue.
  • Alice from the in the name only Resident Evil movies (character added into the movies, has superpowers and is presented as ENTIRELY invincible. Manages to becomes an even bigger sue when she loses said superpowers yet continuing to obliterate armies unscathed. The film refuses to even let other characters do anything but get rescued by her, she's worse than characters written by Mathew Ward. The bitch is played by the director's wife; she's his perfect mary-sue waifu insert and she's literally sleeping with him to get the job.) - Don't forget that she dual-wields katana. And shotguns. And probably desert eagles, too.
  • All Na'vi
  • Alucard from Hellsing Ultimate (Not that prissy shit of an anime series).
  • Bella
  • C'tan
  • Cordell Walker from Walker Texas Ranger (the source of all the Chuck-Norris jokes), but he's actually eh pretty cool guy.
  • Kaldor Draigo. two simple words: Matt fucking Ward.
  • Drizzt (Deep down inside, you know it's true)
  • Edward
  • Elves, especially their heroes.
  • Elminster Aumar (Forgotten Realms)
  • Eldrad, and what's worse: he knows he is, and is a complete dick about it.
  • Ember Storm
  • Golden Aquilas.
  • Green Lantern, especially Hal Jordan.
  • Harry Potter. Just.... Harry Potter.
  • Jacob.
  • James Bond varies, but the Roger Moore version is closest; he's unbeatable at just about everything, implausibly intelligent, a crack shot, and basically unkillable.
  • Kenshiro, nothing can kill him and he's morally flawless, superior to everyone-fucking-else. In the anime until the end of Shin Saga at least, where he starts fucking up often even with his super kung-fu laser ninja powers, and most battles are curb-stomps until later on because it's a fucking show from the 80s.
  • Marneus Calgar, Marneus, Mar-n-eus, (e and s swap places) Mar-n-sue, (turn the n upsidedown), Mar-u-sue, (give the u a tail): Mary sue
  • Med'an from World of Warcrack. Part-Human, part-Orc and part-Draenei, inheritor of the top-spot in Azeroth mages, even beyond (-)any(-) High Elf mage. Also related to several lore characters in one way or another.
  • Mordenkainen (Gary Gygax's personal avatar in the Greyhawk setting and a level 30 wizard who never fucking ages past 50 despite being a hundred fucking years old without turning into a lich, he became bald for some reason, which makes him look evil, but he remains stupid neutral).
  • Rhonin, archmage of the Kirin-Tor, World of Warcrap.
  • Most 13 year-olds' RPG characters.
  • Richard, from the Sword of Truth series (he's not as b.s. in the t.v. series)
  • Space Marine smurfs.
  • Thrall, Orc raised in a humie internment camp, became Azeroth's premiere shaman and leader of half the world. World of Warcramps.
  • The Unholy, half-crow cowgirl in Vampire: The Requiem
  • Wesley Crusher
  • Any White Wolf employee that shows up at a Vampire LARP session is automatically playing a millennia-old demigod vamp. (I wish I was exaggerating; they've waded into living-city LARP games as antediluvians and permanently killed people's Camarilla characters.)
  • Young main characters in crappy Japanese animes and manga.


(More to be added later (sounds of crying editors))

How Can I Tell If My Character Is A Mary Sue?

  • Does their personal morality always perfectly match objective reality? To put it another way, would there be any difference between describing their opinion and simply narrating what was actually going on in a scene?
  • Does they start the story at the pinnacle of achievement?
  • Is there any way for the character to grow or improve during the story?
  • Is it a fan character that is better than the canon characters?
  • Do all the canon characters suddenly start talking about a fan character, with their presence in the story largely relegated to providing opportunities for the new character to show how pure, powerful, good-hearted, etc they are?
  • Are they someone's self-proclaimed fursona? (If so, stop reading this list and burn them for heresy).
  • Do they ever make bad decisions? That don't end up being surprise correct choices later?
  • Do you use absolutes like "always," "everybody," or "never" when describing their abilities?
  • Do they feature an entirely contrived "weakness" that doesn't affect them any time it would harm them (such as being clumsy unless they are required to perform a great feat of athleticism) or isn't really a weakness (such as being too kind or righteous "for their own good") which was clearly added solely so the author could point to it when accused of writing a Sue?
  • Do you find that, rather than figuring out how the characters can work together to solve a problem, your primary concern as a writer is usually explaining why this one character can't do it on their own?
  • Did Matt Ward write this character?

Gallery

External Links

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