From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (October 2007)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2007)

To comply with Wikipedia's quality standards, this article may need to be rewritten. Please help improve this article. The discussion page may contain suggestions.

Mary Sue, sometimes shortened simply to Sue, is a pejorative term used to describe a fictional character, either male or female (male characters are often dubbed "Gary Stu", "Marty Stu", or similar names), that exhibits some or most of the clichés common to much fan fiction. Such characters were originally labeled "Mary Sues" because they were portrayed in overly idealized ways, lacked noteworthy or realistic flaws, and primarily functioned as wish-fullfillment fantasies for their authors, often very young and unsophisticated. While characters labeled "Mary Sues" by readers are not generally intentionally written as such, some authors deliberately create "Mary Sues" (often described as just that by their own authors) as a form of parody.

While the term is generally limited to fan-created characters, and its most common usage today occurs within the fan fiction community or in reference to fan fiction, canon and original fiction characters are also sometimes criticized as being "Mary Sues." Wesley Crusher^[1] is probably the best-known example. In play-by-post role-playing games, many original characters are also criticized as being "Mary Sues" if they dominate the spotlight or can miraculously escape a near-impossible predicament, usually with an unlikely and previously unrevealed skill.

Identifying a character as a "Mary Sue" is naturally a subjective matter. Not all characters seemingly exhibiting "Mary Sue" traits would necessarily qualify by everyone's criteria. Indeed, well-known characters like Michael Moorcock's Elric, who is a fairly obvious idealized author surrogate,^[2] are loved in spite of, or perhaps even because of, their relative "Sueness".

Contents 1 Etymology 2 Connotations 3 Sub-concepts of or relating to "Mary Sue" 3.1 "Angsty" Sue 3.2 Anti-Sue 3.3 Canon-Sue (in fan fiction) 3.4 Canon Sue (in original source) 3.5 Gary Stu/Marty Stu/Larry Stu 3.6 Parody Sue 3.7 Self-insertion 3.8 Villain-Sue 4 Litmus tests 5 Parodies of "Mary Sue" in the media 6 See also 7 External links 7.1 Origins/history 7.2 Additional essays 7.3 Mary Sue "Litmus Tests" online 8 References

The term "Mary Sue" is taken from a character created by Paula Smith in 1973 for her parody story "A Trekkie's Tale,"^[3] published in her fanzine Menagerie #2.^[4] The character in question was Lieutenant Mary Sue ("the youngest Lieutenant in the fleet — only fifteen and a half years old"). Smith's story poked fun at what she considered to be the unrealistic and adolescent wish-fantasy characters appearing in Star Trek fan fiction of the period. Such characters were, in general, original (non-canon) and female adolescents who had romantic liaisons with established canon adult characters. They also possessed unrealistic, unlikely, and often exotic skills and traits above and beyond those that would have been expected of any character in that particular series or of a conventional author surrogate.

Later, however, the Mary Sue concept was expanded to include almost any author surrogate or highly-idealized character who plays a major role in a plot, especially those who upstage the canon characters and monopolize the spotlight via their special talents, beauty, erotic attraction, and so forth.

The term gained wider use outside of the Star Trek fandom in the late 1990s and the 2000s (primarily on the Internet) and has appeared in reference to fiction in the mainstream media. David Orr, in a review of online fan fiction websites FanFiction.net and Godawful Fan Fiction for The New York Times Book Review, wrote^[5]:

When you've had your fill of slash, gen, and 'ship fiction (fanfic [sic] terms for various character entanglements), when you groan at the arrival of each new "Mary Sue" (a ludicrously empowered author proxy)...

Today, the term can also be applied to original (non-fan) fiction characters who are seen as being cliched, over-the-top, overly idealized and/or continuous upstagers of the other characters in the story. Again, Wesley Crusher and Anita Blake are the oft-cited examples.

As is evident from the definitions given above, the term "Mary Sue" carries the strong connotation of wish-fulfillment. For this reason, it is commonly associated with self-insertion, the literal writing of oneself into a fictional story. However, a true self-insertion is a literal and generally undisguised representation of the author; many -- perhaps most -- characters described as "Mary Sues" are not literal self-insertions, though they are frequently said to be "proxies"^[6] or stand-ins of some sort for the author. The negative connotation of the term comes from this very "wish-fulfillment" implication: the "Mary Sue" is regarded as being a poorly-developed character, one who is too perfect, too beautiful/handsome, too lacking in three-dimensionality to be accepted as realistic or interesting. Such proxy characters, critics claim, exist only because the author wishes to see himself or herself as the "special" character in question.

The term is also associated with over-the-top character features, such as exotic hair and eye colors, mystical or superhuman powers greater than those of the other characters, exotic pets, possessions or origins, or an unusually tragic past. These features are commonplace in examples of wish-fulfillment "Mary Sues", though even a character who lacks them may be labeled a "Sue" by some critics.

The term is more broadly associated with characters who are exceptionally and improbably lucky. The good luck may involve romance ("Mary Sue" always gets her man); adventure ("Mary Sue" always wins a fight or knows how to solve the puzzle); and popularity (the "right people" seem to gravitate towards the character). These characters confront very few significant problems while attempting to achieve their goals. "Everything goes her way" is a common criticism regarding "Mary Sues", the implication being that the character is not sufficiently humanized or challenged to be genuinely interesting and sympathetic.

This article does not cite any references or sources. (December 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Frequent subtypes or sub-subtypes of perceived "Mary Sues" will be named on the fly using certain patterns. Two of the most common methods of doing this are listed below:

• The ! convention. Generally this is a one-word description of the character as portrayed in a particular story, set against the word "Sue" with a ! symbol, e.g. rebel!Sue (to denote a rebellious character seen as a "Mary Sue"). For "canon-Sues" the symbol is usually preceded by the canon character's name. It may also be used to ascribe traits to non-Sues. This convention is limited to online use.

• The - convention. Used less frequently (in part due to less freedom, as the ! convention allows for multiple descriptors; for example, goth!alien!rebel!Sue), but still used nonetheless in some areas of fandom.

This subconcept of the larger "Mary Sue" concept comes in two common variations. The first is a character who is constantly depressed and has an excessively tragic past, frequently involving such things as child abuse, rape, or abandonment of some sort. She often feels guilt for something that happened in the past, even though it is usually not her fault, which gives her the ability to feel bad about something without having done anything wrong. Generally, if she doesn't commit romanticized suicide, then only the love or close friendship of one or more canon characters can convince her that she is not responsible for a tragic or horrific childhood or event that was obviously not of her making. The idea is that such backgrounds, if poorly handled, constitute an ill-advised attempt to gain sympathy from the reader. Examples of this are the character Jaenelle Angelline from the Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop and, to a lesser extent, the character of Honor Harrington.

The other version of the "Angsty Sue" subconcept involves a character who has a similarly tragic past, but rather than angsting about it, she seeks revenge for what's been done to her family/home village/civilization, etc. She is thrust into the spotlight of the story while doing so. The writer is seen as using her past not merely as a device to gain sympathy, but also to claim moral superiority and justification for her actions - often poorly. As such, this type of "Angsty Sue" rarely has any guilt at all - after all, she hasn't done anything 'wrong'.

Some authors make an extreme effort to avoid making their character into a "Mary Sue". The attempts or results of such attempts are sometimes referred to as "Anti-Sues". Given that the key difference between a well-developed, sympathetic character and a "Mary Sue" is often considered to be a lack of realistic faults, this generally involves making such characters extremely flawed. Some such attempts are seen as generally working - creating interesting, three-dimensional characters - though others are seen as being similarly over-the-top as the more stereotypical "Mary Sue".

"Anti-Sue" traits include physical unattractiveness, poorly handled mental illness (including sociopathy and psychopathy), noticeably lacking in power or competency relative to other characters, being generally disliked by others or never interacting with them, cowardice, and other unflattering characteristics. While characters who can arguably be described as "Anti-Sues" have proved popular in some fiction, especially in modern times (see anti-hero), at other times they may be poorly-received, perceived to be as bad or even worse than "Mary Sues" for their cliché nature or lack of sympathetic traits. A poorly-regarded "Anti-Sue" is viewed as merely another cliché stock character, or even simply an anti-hero variation of the "Sue" - especially if he or she still manages to take the spotlight away from the canon heroes.

The term "canon-Sue" (also written as canon!Sue) or "Possession Sue" is used to describe canon characters who are changed significantly from their original canon characterization and sometimes even divorced from their original context completely. Such characters are seen as having been heavily idealized to the point of being more of a stand-in for the author's wish fulfillment than being the original canon character.

Characters most frequently labeled "canon-Sues" often develop the typical associated over-the-top traits of a "Mary Sue" with little precedent or explanation, a process sometimes called "sueification." Some examples are the discoveries of tragic pasts and abilities superior to other canon characters, the elimination or romanticization of flaws, and being antagonized by characters disliked by the fan-author while befriended by canon characters liked by the author or by an original character created by the author.

If the "canon-Sue" deviates enough from the original, it may be referred to jocularly as an act of "canon rape" - a term often used when a significant (and disliked) change has been made to the canon world or characters, such as when a former hero is vilified or a usually-chaste canon character is easily seduced by a fan-created "Mary Sue" character. Even in alternate universe stories where the premise ostensibly might involve examining how the story might play out differently if characters behaved differently, many readers criticize such changes as being too extreme.

A "canon Sue" may also refer to a character whose canon portrayal itself is seen as a "Mary Sue", rather than a character who has been altered in fan fiction. Typically, this refers to a character accused of being overly idealized or having other traits traditionally associated with fan fiction "Mary Sues", such as being "special" by having a gratuitously tragic past, unrealistic skills, a lack of personality, or a seeming inability for the character to do wrong. Characters such as Wesley Crusher^[1] and Amanda Rogers^[1] in Star Trek: The Next Generation have been criticized as being "Mary Sues."

A male "Mary Sue" may be referred to as a "Gary Stu" [1], "Larry Stu" [2], or a "Marty Stu" [3]. References to male characters being a "Gary Stu" (or similar masculinized term) are less common than those to female "Mary Sues." They are generally identified as being much cooler, tougher, and sexier than the canon characters. At the very least everything goes their way.

This "Mary Sue" is intentionally created for a parody. A Parody Sue tends to be more popular among the readers, especially if said readers hate Sues. Her vast repertoire of skills and lack of personality are emphasized in a humorous way and generally, one of two things happens in the story:

• She succeeds and everyone in the canon universe falls under her buxom charms.
• She fails, either because there are too many other "Mary Sues" fighting her, because an original character (whom she has failed to instantly befriend or defeat) interferes, or because the canon characters see how uninteresting she really is.

Self-insertion is used to describe clear (and usually seen as indisputable) cases where the author has directly inserted a version of him- or herself into the story in lieu of a wholly or even partly original character, generally going so far as to use the same name or pseudonym for character and author. Though some author surrogates are common in fiction - such as Stephen King in his Dark Tower series, Philip Roth in several of his novels, or Lin Carter in his work - "self-inserts" in fan fiction are frequently seen as the most blatant of "Mary Sues", especially when heavily idealized. Some online fan fiction archives have an outright ban on any story which involves self-insertion - though notably some of these also disallow any fan fiction involving a nonfictional person at all, including FanFiction.net.

"Villain-Sue" usually replaces, befriends or is romantically involved with a major canon villain. Other traits include defeating canon characters with ease, secretly having redeeming qualities, having a tragic past that somehow excuses and justifies all her heinous deeds and letting the canon characters live when she could kill them — not out of bad qualities such as wanting to see them suffer, a desire to have all of them as prisoners at once, or wanting to gloat, but because she really isn´t so evil others might think. In fact, she may even secretly be a hero, or have hidden heroic tendencies. Good authors may be able to do this well and convincingly, but when written badly, this can be seen as a variant of the "Angsty Sue" seen above.

This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (September 2007)

Various tests, commonly known as "Mary Sue litmus tests" have been written ostensibly to help writers (especially inexperienced ones) gauge whether or not their character is a Mary Sue, as well as bring the "Mary Sue" concept to writers' attention. These tests list common fiction cliches and character traits that are also commonly associated with stereotypical "Mary Sues", ranging from questions on hair and eye color ("Is it a color [biologically] found in nature?") to the author's relationship to the character (including questions on whether or not they share a name, nickname, age, gender or religion with the character). Matching more traits results in a higher score for a character. Once the score is high enough, the character is said to be a likely "Mary Sue", to varying degrees of apparent severity including "Uber-Sue". The original "Mary Sue Litmus Test" was meant for those writing in the Gargoyles fandom, though it has since been almost endlessly adapted for other fandoms, becoming somewhat of a minor meme online.

Most such tests include a disclaimer noting that even characters with extremely high scores can be executed well enough not to be considered a "Mary Sue", and that the test is primarily meant as a guide for better characterization. Nevertheless, many writers believe that many of the litmus tests are too strict, finding that they make not only popular fictional characters out to be "Mary Sues", but also some real people as well (notably, the original test and a good number of its adaptations explicitly mention Bono as an example of a non-fictional person who actually tests as a "Mary Sue" by the test's criteria). Additionally, in determining the "Mary Sue" status of speculative fiction characters, the test introduces difficulties in that it will score a character higher if they have magical powers, abilities beyond standard humans, or "unusual" names and appearances or strange pets - all of which are far more common and somewhat more accepted in SF and fantasy settings; even if such powers or appearances and such are common in the setting, many of the questions on older "Litmus Tests" will still rate a character higher for having them in the first place.

Litmus tests have also been criticised for increasing a character's rating for trivial attributes, such as having the same gender as the author. It has been mentioned that this is an unfair attribute to add points for, owing to the fact that there are in most fandoms only two genders to choose from anyway. In addition, certain fandoms (such as Transformers) have characters that have regular noun-based names, such as Bumblebee. To fit in, the fan-characters must also have noun-based names.

As the concept (and term) has increased in usage over time, it has started to become referenced parody in the mainstream media:

• The writers of the television cartoon series Duckman make the occasional reference to Mary Sue. In the 4th season episode "Aged Heat 2: Women in Heat" a cute, sweet blonde character named "Suzie" is introduced who takes over Duckman's fame, fortune and attention.

• In the "Superstar" episode of the fourth season of TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the wimpy character Jonathan casts a powerful spell in order to "recreate" the Buffyverse so that he becomes its ultimate media star, sex symbol and superhero. The episode's credits were even altered to feature Jonathan (actor Danny Strong) as the show's focal point and star.

• In the British horror spoof Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, the character 'Rick Dagless' that the eponymous (and equally fictitious) star plays on the self-penned show-within-a-show is clearly the person that Marenghi wishes to be, or believes himself to be already. Examples include other characters stating their wish to be "more attractive, like Dagless" and Dagless being told by a priest that "you are the most sensitive man I know. And I know God."

• Author character
• Author surrogate
• Fan fiction
• Fanzine

• The Affirmation Some fans believe this to be the story that Paula Smith was thinking of when she wrote "Trekkie's Tale".
• A Historical Perspective on Mary Sue: Issues and Trends A chronological description of how the concept has been approached in fan fiction communities, particularly Star Trek, since its inception.
• "Too Good to be True: 150 Years of Mary Sue" Essay
• "Whatever Happened to Mary Sue?" An article that discusses how the concept of the Mary Sue has evolved over time.
• The Mary Sue Society Site contains a detailed explanation of Mary Sue, as well as essays and links, including examples of how Mary Sues appear in specific fandoms.

• Mary Sue, Who Are You? a humorous essay on Mary Sues
• Self-Insertion and Mary-Sueism examines the difference between a Mary Sue and a character based on the author - and why there often is none.
• The Original ANTI Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test examines the difficulty in creating a Mary Sue test.

• The (Original) Mary Sue Litmus Test (for Gargoyles fan fiction) The first Mary Sue Litmus Test published on the Internet.
• The Universal Mary-Sue Litmus Test A non-fandom-specific Mary Sue Litmus Test.
• The Original-Fiction Mary Sue Litmus Test A test for characters in original fiction.
• The Writer's Mary Sue Test a simplified Mary Sue test.

• Verba, Joan Marie. Boldly Writing: A Trekker Fan and Zine History, 1967–1987. Mankato, MN: FTL Publications, 1996.