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Common Mary Sue Traits: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:marysue_5657.jpg|frame|<small>[[Stripperiffic|Revealing outfit?]] Check. [[Graceful Ladies Like Purple|Purple?]] Check. [[Magical Girl|Ethereal traits?]] Check. [[Plot Hole|Contradictory backstory?]] Check. [[Copy Cat Sue|Stealing the hero's job?]] Check. [[
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* Is either [[Genki Girl|brave and cheerful]] ([[The Pollyanna|despite her past]]), or [[Wangst|unnecessarily mopey and depressed]].
* [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness|Incorruptible]]. In fact, unaware of the possibility of temptation.
* Occasionally a [[Jerk Sue|complete asshole]], especially when she's ''supposed'' to be all of the above. Nobody will [[What the Hell, Hero?|call her out]] on her abrasive, casually abusive behavior. Plus, strong badass characters who would normally rip someone's spleen out for looking at them cross-eyed are instantly cowed and become meek, spineless [[Wangst]] factories as soon as she "puts them in their place."
* Her [[Good Flaws, Bad Flaws|"major flaws"]] will be stubbornness and a bad temper. These will only ever help her, never hurt her -- because she's always right, so whatever cause she dedicates herself to with such stubbornness will be a good cause, and whoever she loses her temper with will deserve it.
** Sometimes they'll mess her up once so she can learn an [[Broken Aesop|important lesson.]] And then they'll help her for the rest of the story.
** Don't forget clumsiness. But not your average clumsiness, she will only be clumsy as the plot demands and/or when the author decides she needs to appear more flawed yet endearing
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** Or in a universe where her ability is naturally impossible to have these abilities, say ... bog standard real life?
* Absurd natural athletic ability - she can run like the wind without ever having worked on her running, and has impossibly high acrobatic skills.
* And with all this - don't expect the [[Green
** Alternately, anybody who does get jealous is a bitch and is wrong. This is typically a single other character and may be [[Die for Our Ship]] or for other reasons.
* [[Mary Sue]] always has excellent fashion sense, even if she's meant to be a ruff-and-tumble, Tom-Boy type who doesn't care about that sort of thing, she will always look effortlessly beautiful ([[Unkempt Beauty]]) and other characters, often males, will frequently talk about how they like that she isn't as high maintenance as other girls (if she has a female rival they might mention her specifically.)
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== Physical Appearance ==
* [[So Beautiful
* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|Unusual hair]] and/or [[Technicolor Eyes|eye color]] relative to canon is another common characteristic of [[Mary Sue]]. Alternatively, these features may be [[What Beautiful Eyes|amazing]] in other ways - shining and shimmering eyes, or [[Anime Hair]] in non-Anime fandoms.
** [[Rapunzel Hair]] is also common.
** Another variant is [[Kaleidoscope Hair]], where the [[Mary Sue]] can change her hair color.
** Note that White Hair isn't really considered all [[White
** More important than colour is highlights. Of course hair dye is nothing special, but somehow Sue's streaks are not only a colour completely different to the base, but also ''natural''. Nature allows ''some'' leeway here - blonds with dark roots aren't unheard of, but that's not what Sue is after.
*** Similarly, these "natural" highlights are often a color such as blue, pink, purple or any other color that doesn't occur naturally in hair outside anime.
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* Similar to the above, she will often wear [[Custom Uniform|special clothes]] even when the rest of the cast is supposed to be in some form of uniform.
** Alternately, she will wear a uniform that resembles the standard one that other characters wear, but it will be [[Custom Uniform of Sexy|customized, and in a skimpy and impractical]] sense. For example, if the uniform includes a skirt (or even when it doesn't), Sue's skirt will be skin tight and extremely short, and will usually be paired with thigh-high fishnets.
* {{color|purple|Purple seems to be popular.}} After all, [[Graceful Ladies Like Purple]], [[Purple Is Powerful]], and [[Supernatural Is Purple]]. This applies especially when the canon characters are a [[Five
* In text, [[Description Porn|massive descriptions]] [[Costume Porn|of their clothes]], or links to images of their outfits. Bonus points if it's designer clothes in a situation where it would be unlikely and/or expensive for her income.
* Descriptions of her looks are usually overly-detailed and distinctly [[Purple Prose|violet-hued]]. Because saying she's slim with long black hair and blue eyes only tells you what she looks like. Saying she's a delicate, willowy goddess with flowing tresses that shimmered onyx like the feathers of a raven and sparkling cerulean orbs that shone like the ocean and radiated with femininity tells you she's ''special.''
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* Magic jewelery. It might be used as a [[Green Lantern Ring]] to justify her abilities.
* Exotic weaponry in a setting where she shouldn't have access to such. Usually, the question of why the law enforcement allows her to carry it doesn't come up and nobody seems to find a [[Girl With Psycho Weapon|girl carrying a large sword]] intimidating. Bonus points if there is [[Hammerspace|no explanation for where she keeps it]].
** A katana. Now it's not impossible to have a katana outside of Japan anymore, but when it's because [[Katanas Are Just Better]] (especially in a place they either shouldn't exist or would be technically useless), you've got Sue-ness coming on. ''[[Dual
** Sometime they'll use guns instead, especially if the setting doesn't usually have them, and in which case they're almost always [[Revolvers Are Just Better|revolvers]]. Or a [[Gatling Good|minigun]].
*** Or if [[Author Appeal|they're particularly into firearms]], just check the list of [[Rare Guns]]. (see Desert Eagles) Often [[Gun Porn|as lavishly described as the outfits]].
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** Bonus points if the love interest stands aside or sacrifices himself/herself so Mary Sue can be happy, or is [[Die for Our Ship|twisted into]] [[Ron the Death Eater|a hateful person]] to justify Mary Sue breaking up the canon couple.
** Or perhaps Mary will be introduced as the canon character's [[New Old Flame]] and this is their rediscovery of each other, though it's never really explained why they split up in the first place if they loved each other so much.
* Turns out to be [[Luke, You Are My Father|the offspring of a canon character]]. Made worse if that character would have been too young to have the [[Mary Sue]], is gay/[[Asexuality|asexual]], or perhaps is just physically incapable of it. For added [[Wangst]], it's the villain.
** She may be related to a canon character in some other way. This can be the explanation for a [[Copy Cat Sue]]. And why spend chapters explaining why the heroes accept a total stranger into their midst so readily, when they can just shout, "Luke, I am your sister!"
** [[Kid From the Future]] may explain away the 'young' part, but not much else.
*** [[If
* Even the characters who don't have sex with her give her more heed than they normally would. Characters she likes can't stop talking about her beauty and power. Characters she doesn't like can't stop [[Straw Loser|making themselves look bad]] by insulting her. There may be just "something special" about them, with no particular reason why anybody would think that. In the worst-case scenarios, they pay no heed to their own responsibilities or lives, only to Sue.
** Bonus points: the disliked character behaving badly toward the Sue eventually sees the "error" of his/her ways and grows to love Sue as much as everyone else does.
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== Story Elements ==
* [[Mary Sue]] is always on the [[
* If she has any flaws intentionally written in by the creator, expect them to be [[Informed Flaw|Informed]] or [[Suetiful All Along|not really flaws to begin with]]. Bonus points if they're genuine flaws that would actually be pretty awesome were it not for their drawbacks (e.g. substance abuse, nymphomania, etc.), and of course the drawbacks will never be shown.
** Clumsiness is a common "flaw".
*** Which tends to manifest itself only a few times throughout the entire story, like [[Show, Don't Tell|the author saying, "No, she's not a Sue. See, she has flaws!"]]
* She's [[The Chosen One]]. Even if the canon hero is already [[The Chosen One]], she either 'shares' the position or just steals it away from them.
** Or she might be part of the same specialized species/organization as the hero. See [[Sailor Earth]].
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** There are several popular methods:
{{quote| [[Abusive Parents]] - all too often because she's special in some way, and not just because her parents were assholes.<br />
[[Heartwarming Orphan]] - Plane crashes and car accidents are increasingly common ways to make her [[
[[Parental Abandonment]] - Not just because it's a baby and babies are expensive, messy and smelly and the parents didn't want it. There has to be a SPECIAL reason for that abandonment - this is Sue, after all.<br />
[[Rape As Backstory]] - Most notable when it's given just as a cursory excuse for... well, whatever. }}
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* Perform a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] as a way to prove that she's [[Too Good for This Sinful Earth]]. Bonus points if the story goes out of the way to ensure she doesn't leave an ugly corpse (whether it be by a method that doesn't involve external physical damage or by [[Never Found the Body|her body not being recovered]]).
** More bonus points if it turns out to be a [[Disney Death]].
* She might turn out to secretly be [[Half
** Or maybe she's a [[Cute Monster Girl]]. Bonus points if this does not mesh with canon (i.e. canon dragon girls have heavy scales, flat chests, large talons for hands/feet, and are just flat out monstrous, but this character is just simply [[Little Bit Beastly|human with dragon wings, tail, unobtrusive horns, and a couple random scales on her shoulders and midsection]]).
*** Similarly, if she's half-cat or dog, the only physical proof of this is that she'll have cute ears and a tail.
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* Redeems the villain through her overwhelming goodness. Might be through [[Redemption Equals Sex]] (bonus points if it [[Lemon|leads]] into [[IKEA Erotica]]). Even more bonus points if the story decides to mention that this is her loss of virginity. Yet more bonus points if the villain comments on how awesome she is in bed despite said virginity.
** As she gives the most awesome, mind-blowing, divine sex ever, it obviously comes with super-redeeming powers. Yet, if the villain isn't her choice love interest, her love interest of choice will be better at it.
* Is a princess. [[
** On a similar note, the [[Changeling Fantasy]] is popular enough in its own right without ever involving [[Rags to Royalty]] to begin with. It's certainly advantageous to the writer to have a set of cruel parents that can be replaced with ideal ones.
* In fantasy canons, she can break the [[Magic
* If she ever does anything wrong, she's both instantly remorseful about it ''and'' [[Easily Forgiven]] by those she wrongs.
{{quote| '''Sue''': I'm sorry [[I Just Shot Marvin in The Face]].<br />
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* She will often suffer from [[Special Snowflake Syndrome]], having some trait or backstory that sets her apart from her race.
** This can be taken to the point of being from another setting entirely. It's no coincidence that many of the most notorious fanfics are mega-[[Crossover|Crossovers]].
* Sometimes, the Sue has only one supernatural power: being [[The Chosen One]]. Her chosenness makes her critically important to the world, but since she has no other godlike powers, she will spend most of the story being kidnapped (usually by a villainous love interest) and/or otherwise victimized. This is becoming more common as writers catch on to [[God Mode Sue]], since it allows her to continue [[
* Will often be either of the author's ethnicity, an ethnicity the author wishes to be (often [[Magical Native American]]), or [[But Not Too Foreign|both]]. Not bad by itself, but can lead to [[Unfortunate Implications]], and often occurs in cases when it's not even likely.
* In fanfiction at its most unoriginal, an [[Author Avatar]] is sometimes just inserted into the story as it happened (the Tenth Walker is to ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' as the American exchange student is to ''[[Harry Potter]]'') and has basically ''no'' effect on the plot -- she's there to either elbow aside each of the canon characters in turn and take over the plot points they were responsible for, or even more boring, just stand around and watch them do their thing, thinking all the right thoughts to show what a good judge of character she is -- maybe with a romance with a canon character or an occasional [[Fixer Sue]] moment thrown in. Reading these fics is like experiencing the original work with a thirteen-year-old fangirl talking in your ear.
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* Whole passages seem [[Beige Prose|minimalistic]], as though the author knows what's going on and only wrote the parts that he/she wanted to fetish-obsess over.
* Pressing concerns of the actual story such as a villain who's actively trying to take over the world, aren't even addressed because everybody is too busy taking an interest in the new girl's life.
* Alternatively, major plot points (that aren't solved by the new girl) are done entirely off screen. If the [[Draco in Leather Pants|handsome yet evil character]] walks in and explains that he has [[Heel Face Turn|seen the error of his ways]], [[Calling the Old Man Out|confronted his evil father]], killed [[The Dragon]], and [[Plot Coupon|found the seventh and final]] [[MacGuffin]] all in one sentence and nobody seems to really care because ''[[
* When the character is off screen, if ever, the other characters are still talking about her, taking it as a chance to speak "honestly" about the new girl. If they like her, they sing her praises; if not, their dislike will be taken as jealousy, as her "haters" will only talk about petty issues (Sue's background, perceived promiscuity, etc.), and not genuine gripes (massive attention whoring for starters).
* The story is often told entirely from the POV of the Mary Sue, sometimes in first person so the focus can never shift away from her.
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* The same character--either literally the same character or the same in spirit--tends to appear in all of the works by a particular author or artist because they identify so closely with the character.
* The author takes personal offense at any criticism of the character or story, no matter how well-meaning or justified it is.
** Bonus points for an [[Small Name, Big Ego|overblown ego]] behind it.
* The author may get upset when she sees her favorite character paired with anyone but her OC.
* In extreme [[Small Name, Big Ego]] cases, the author will create a fan club for her own Mary Sue and/or aggressively ships the Sue with a canon character and makes a fan club for ''that.''
* The author/artist has a massive gallery of art exclusively of the character. A few illustrations to give an idea of what a character looks like is a good idea. Over a hundred illustrations of a single OC is an obsession.
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