Mary-Sue Guide
A Mary-Sue (or a Gary-Stu, in the case of male characters, although it has to be said that most of these types of characters are female) is generally considered to be a 'perfect' character. But the 'perfect' Mary-Sue isn't the only type of Mary-Sue. Here I will try to provide a guide for what a Mary-Sue is, so we can all avoid making one (most of us can admit to making a character with Sue-like tenancies at least once!) Firstly though I'd like to stress that not all characters that display one or more of these traits are Mary-Sues, and not all Mary-Sues have these traits.
Name and Appearance :: A lot of the time Mary-Sues have very exotic, interesting names. Their names can be foreign (without any reason why they would be) or completely made up. A lot of Mary-Sues have names with a word in them such as 'Angel' or 'Dragon' (etcetera etcetera). Quite frequently a Mary-Sue will have a name that is similar (if not the same as) the writers own name or nickname. This is usually because the writer is using the character as a sort of wish fulfilment, where they put themselves (or a version of themselves) into the story.
Mary-Sues often have an exotic appearance, and are pretty much always stunningly beautiful. The writer usually alludes to the Mary-Sues beauty a lot. Mary- Sue has violet/vibrant green/other unusual colour eyes, unusually coloured hair, is disproportionately curvy, and so on. Sometimes the Mary-Sue is just so beautiful it becomes a curse, people just can't see past her beauty (hard knock life, right?) or maybe she just can't see it at all, but everyone else can and falls over themselves to get her (think Bella in Twilight. And on a side note, Mary-Sues are so predictable that without having read a page I was able to guess that the character in Fifty Shades of Grey was one of those 'beautiful but doesn't know it, but everyone else does' types. No one likes a predictable character).
Now for the types of Mary-Sue. These aren't all types, just the ones that come to mind, but you should get the idea.
Victim Mary-Sue :: I want to start off by saying that this character almost
always commits the worst RPG crime of all; pointless rape. And we do not tolerate this on ATW. At best it is dismissive of people who have been through being raped, and at worst it could be very distressing to a rape victim who happens to read your post.
The victim Mary-Sue is an orphan, or has horrible, abusive parents whom they hate. Everyone puts them down, all the time. They have been abused in the past, sexually or physically. Everyone pities them, or admires them because they are just
so strong. This character is basically a persecution complex brought to life. And worst of all she comes through all this abuse without any real consequences.
Omnipotent Mary-Sue :: This Mary-Sue is all powerful, without any explanation why. Often she comes along and blows all the canon (and other) characters out of the water, saving the day single handedly. No one has ever seen power like this before, and everyone is in awe of this Mary-Sue. She has skills way beyond her years, and no explanation of how she attained them. She never messes up; when it comes to magic and her powers, she is infallible.
Warrior Mary-Sue :: The warrior Mary-Sue trained for battle. She goes in fighting and blows everyone away. She comes out un-scarred, or else gets hurt but keeps on going. Often she is some sort of trained warrior, or someone's 'secret weapon'. In personality, she is angsty and misunderstood. Which brings us to our next type....
Angsty Mary-Sue :: This Mary-Sue is tragically misunderstood. All she does is complain. Nobody can ever have it worse than this Mary-Sue; if something bad happens to your character, you'd better believe that this Mary-Sue will reveal that as a child she was tortured by narwhals (or something equally unlikely). Every personality flaw this Sue has (the main one usually being pushing everyone away because they just don't understand her) can be explained by her tragic past.
and finally...
Standard Mary Sue :: This is your basic Mary-Sue. Stunningly pretty, perfect body, everyone loves her. She is perfect at everything. Every character within a 100 mile radius falls helplessly in love with Mary-Sue. Or, if they don't love her, they admire her deeply. All the girls are jealous of Mary-Sue. Even the bad guys can't resist Mary-Sue's charms. She usually either sleeps with everyone (because she can) or is painfully virginal (but it is made clear she
could sleep with everyone, if she wanted to). Thankfully, this Sue is becoming more and more rare, as RPG evolves and people become more aware of what makes a good character and what makes a Sue. The other Sues listed above are much more common. But every now and then you find a character who is just a little too perfect.
A good rule of thumb for steering well clear of making a Mary-Sue is to look at your characters flaws. Are they
really flaws? Or are they something you actually think is a good thing? For example, your character is just
too strong and tough for her own good? Or she's a perfectionist? Is she just too darn beautiful? Too independent and strong willed? Too intelligent? If you secretly think that these 'flaws' are kind of a good thing (dig deep and admit it!) then they aren't really flaws at all.
I hope you found this guide useful, or at least entertaining! Happy character creating! Beware of the Sue!
