Mary Sues: The root of all evil

[akahana jade]

Mary-Sues[/size]
---------------------------------------------------------
The so-called perfect girl in original fiction, fanfiction, Roleplays or (occasionally) real life. Most people have Sues they keep to themselves, but some people (usually preteen girls) will let their Sues run rampant on the internet, thus becoming Suethors.

Telltale signs of a Mary Sue include:

Also Known As:[/size]
---------------------------------------------------------
Mary Sue has many faces, and also many names. Mary-Sue and Sue are both used, and all three are acceptable. Using “Mary” as a name for Mary Sue is uncommon, and may confuse some readers.

Mary Sue’s brother is a bit more complicated. The male version of a Sue is called Marty Sue, Marty Stu, Sephiroth, Mary Stu, Gary Stu, and several other male-ish variations on Mary Sue. Also, some people may refer to a Male Sue as a John Doe.

Some Mary Sues are also author insertions, characters the author uses to put themselves into the story. Not all Mary Sues are author insertions, though, and by some definitions not all author insertions are Sues. Although most are. If not all.

[akahana jade]

Definitions[/size]
---------------------------------------------------------
Different fan fiction writers define Mary Sue in different ways. The unreasonable readers instantly label all other female characters as Mary Sues, but most people disregard that particular definition.

A Mary Sue is, in general, without realistic flaws. Not being able to play the banjo isn’t a flaw (unless your Star Wars fanfic somehow involves a space banjo duel); being honest-to-goodness shy (that is, not being coy, which is faking shyness) can be a flaw; brooding over your Dark!Traumatic!Past is an annoyance, not a flaw. Crowbarring references to one's favorite bands into an already-awful story is also apparently not a flaw.

Some generally agreed upon facets: she is always stunningly beautiful (Which, for the love of all things good, is not a flaw either), even to the point of being physically impossible (except maybe through surgery) and often completely unaware of the fact that all the boys are falling at her feet. She is generally created for the purpose of getting with/being the True Love of the suethor's favorite canon character. In slashfic or Yaoi, she tends to matchmake the suethor's two favorite canon boys.

A more objective definition of Mary Sue places the it as being any character that involves the author playing blatant favorites, bringing in a large amount of authorial intrusion in order to force the story to favor the character. This is the best definition because it allows everything to be a Mary Sue with enough convincing. As such, this is the favored definition for trolls who are most often Mary Sues themselves.

Luckily you don't need to memorize all of these characteristics in order to spot the Mary Sue. Just keep in mind that a Mary Sue is what the author wishes she was. The terribly written fics are simply written out fantasies of what the author had XXX rated thoughts abou the night before. The sad thing is that the author has such little self-esteem that she created this Mary Sue so that she can fantasize about Mary having sex with Sasuke, as opposed to her unattractive, boring and mentally unstable self.

Basically, Mary Sue is supposed to be unbelievably sweet and innocent, but super sexy, and her only flaw involves woving puppies a widdle too much. Or being the author's favorite character with their "god" bending the world around them. Or both.

[akahana jade]

The many faces of Mary-Sue[/size]
---------------------------------------------------------
Because so many self-enamoured gits write Mary Sues, there are many different kinds of Sues in the world. Trying to list them all would be impossible, but here are a few of the general categories into which a Sue can fall, to help you identify a canon-obsessed fan fiction nerd by his rants about them.

Helpful!Sue
This Sue is everybody's friend, and a natural savior of the day. She heals the hero's broken leg with her expert medical prowess (because at only seventeen she already has her MD), gently coaxes the token kid's cat out of a tree with her sweet singing voice, rescues innocent goats from cruel cashmere salesmen, and gives the canon gals a friendly shoulder to cry on - before, of course, eventually stealing away their boyfriends and pets with her bubbly personality and compassionate nature. But it's not her fault that everybody loves her! She's just written that way. Our pal Helpful!Sue is usually the antithesis of Angry! or Evil!Sue. Oftentimes writers will throw in one of those too, just to give her a nemesis, who she will either a) come out looking better than, or b) change for the better with her contrived fairy godmother ways.

Angry!Sue
Sometimes referred to as a Bitchiwitch in the Harry Potter fandom, these Sues are typically rebellious, with some sort of angsty past, and known for wearing more black than should be humanly possible, especially Gawth! and PunkRawk! Sues. Often they are Warrior!Sues, capable of killing everything in their way in order to get revenge, or just because they can. (One of the best-known examples is The Bride, in the Kill Bill films by well-known Suethor Quentin Tarantino.) Only their "true love" can ease their angry, angsty angst, although this type typically plays hard to get, generally fangirling a rebellious or angsty male.

Depressed!Sue
Depressed!Sue is filled with angst. Generally, this angst derives from some tragedy in her past (with the far-and-away winner being dead parents). She evokes the sympathy of at least one of the main characters (generally of the opposite sex) and develops a relationship based on crying about how hard it is to be an orphan. If her parents aren't dead, she's usually crying about how much they abuse her and won't buy her an iPod. She is also fond of trivialized rape and or suicide attempts as means of provoking sympathy. Depressed!Sue will generally manifest some great power once she believes in herself.

Evil!Sue
An Evil!Sue is typically involved in some way with the existing villain of the fandom, whether it be as a relative, boyfriend/girlfriend, or any other relationship, but can sometimes exist by themselves or replace the canon villain. This Sue type is characterized by the stereotypical villain behavior such as sadism, long bouts of insane cackling, and attempting to kill canon characters, usually punctuated by angst-ridden soliloquies. Another common element of the Evil!Sue is some sort of mysterious and/or abusive past, but this is often shared by the other categories of Sue. The only reason it's worth mentioning is that the sordid past is often pointed to in explaining and excusing/justifying the Evil!Sue's behavior, where as with most other Sues a tragic past explains it all.

Canon!Sue
Canon!Sue is a corruption of a legitimate canon character within the fandom to the point that they resemble the fanfic author itself. They may acquire new powers, undergo a makeover (including the dreaded Hot Topic punk variety), become good friends with canon characters the author loves, usurp the positions of-- or become enemies with-- canon characters the author hates, or just act completely out of character in a way that makes those familiar with the canon scream in horror. The Canon!Sue can be used as a self-insert in and of itself or in combination with an author's original character Sue

Babies 'r' us!Sue
This is a common Sue. They simply hook up with one of the main character of the opposite sex and have 34 ugly kids. Often times, this type of Sue may have more than one father or more than one boyfriend. They often get into messes where that figure out who the father is.

Anti-Sue
The most standable out of all of them (or at least they would be if fanfiction writers knew how to write them correctly.) Anti-Sues are supposed to be the complete opposite of Mary-Sues, meaning that every character usually hates them, they don't hook up with anybody, hardly ever get the spotlight in the fanfic (this is rare), they're usually very ugly and weak, and have no desire to fight the bad guy, save the world, or sleep with every character. Usually Anti-Sues are created to piss off the creators of Mary-Sues. Either that or the author finally has realized that writing a Mary Sue is annoying as nails on a chalkboard. Most of the time, however, Anti-Sues are just as horrendous as their Mary Sue counterparts, made especially grating when all the other characters still love them to death.

Clone!Sue
A common Sue that is almost an exact replica of a canon character, except that the gender is switched. Yet somehow the canon character completely overlooks this creepy coincidence and falls irrevocably in love with the Sue.

Senna Marie Sue
The Senna Marie resides in the writer's most carnal, self-serving mindset, with an addiction to sex, excessive luxury and power over others. This power-lust goes hand in hand with excessive censual lust, she uses one to get the other, Senna Marie is all hormones.

Her writer is often obsessed with snogging canon characters and berates other writers for the same thing.

Senna Marie gets away with terrible behavior that every other character would face consequences for, especially when it comes to romance or sex.

Senna can tear out a character's heart and eat it, and discard him like a tissue, but he forgives her and continues pandering to her. Angst and temper tantrums are a favorite way for the Senna Marie to get the other canon characters to forget about their own lives and make it their sole mission to cater to her desires, whatever they are.

She utterly bombs at being the heroine or the martyr, because she's so shallow, manipulative, and unlikable the rest of the time that making her a protagonist, the star of the story, the plot is always lamely contrived and just doesn't cut the mustard.

She is said to be drop-dead gorgeous but her mission is to gain power and wealth. Senna is a home-wrecker if the established character already has a romance in a book or movie. If he doesn't, Senna marie seduces him anyway, along with any number of other characters. Hopping into the sack with one or more characters, even all at the same time is what Senna Marie is all about.

Her life consists of self gratification, self-worship, and getting what she can out of those around her. She bewitches the other characters into catering to her every whim and thinking she rocks their world. She is quick to use characters' vulnerabilities against them for her own gain. Those she can't bewitch, she browbeats or guilt-trips until they give in to her. All the other characters may become jealous of one another over Senna Marie. They all kill themselves trying to win or keep her affections; or rescue her from danger.

Everybody excuses her mistreatment of them because she looks so beautiful and/or has any combination of traits described in the above paragraphs.

Senna Marie may save the universe with one sweep of her hand and a few magic words, and all other characters never get tired of telling her how wonderful they think she is, and how grateful they are.

But any good deed she performs is always motivated by self interest. Senna Marie does not have a molecule of altruism or humility in her. She is without conscience and principles, she is perverted, twisted, sadistic, angsty when it suits her, bitchy, and extremely egocentric.

Lavender Sue
It is even possible to take sex somewhat out of the equation and have a child Senna Marie Mary Sue. This is the Lavender Sue

She is the angsty one who is most likely an orphan in search for her parents, who she insists are not dead. She may be said to have a disability in order to get the other characters feeling sorry enough for her to let her get away with atrocious behavior.

She is supposed to out-talk any grownup, making them appear bumbling and stupid next to her, or, at least, that is her goal. Honestly, it just comes off annoying as heck instead.

Sometimes the writers of these types of characters get all up in arms when other characters written by fellow writers didn't react as planned, having the nerve to stand up to the Senna Marie/Lavender Sue. They are more likely to respond to any attempts at reasoning with them by lashing out at the other characters' writers with stupid personal attacks.

Suggestion!: If you don't want your characters getting put in their place by other writers' characters, don't make them so irresponsible and bratty! Otherwise, expect your many-talented, good looking, or pitiful angsty disabled little demon to get flack from other characters.

Tell-tale signs that Senna marie is in the building are: the seduction or attempt to seduce a character, and the distortion of main characters, weakening them, dumbing them down to make them give in to Senna Marie or just to give her the most action and dialog.

Senna Marie, in child or adult form, is the summation of all the negative aspects of Mary Sue-ism. She only sounds like music to her writer's ears. She hits a sour note with just about anyone else.

Where sparkling jewel-eyed, porcelain-faced, golden, flaming or raven locked/tressed Mary Sue is too common and can be annoying as a result, Senna Marie is as charming as a laxative, she is nothing short of hair tearing, tooth gnashing, stomach turning, nauseating. She is only welcome in parody writing, but all too often, she is stuck into what is supposed to be a serious effort, marring it beyond redemption.

[akahana jade]

Famous Mary Sues[/size]
---------------------------------------------------------