Just over fifty years ago, Paula Smith, the editor of a Star Trek fanzine, published a parody short story featuring Mary Sue, “the youngest lieutenant in the fleet – only fifteen and a half years old”, thus giving the world of fantasy fiction and science fiction the term “Mary Sue”.
Given that the original Mary Sue was fifteen and a half, and fifty years have passed, this means that Mary Sue would technically now, at the age of sixty-five, be eligible for retirement in a lot of countries. Is it time to retire the concept of Mary Sue as well?
What Or Who Is Mary Sue?
Paula Smith is said to have originally coined the term “Mary Sue stories” to describe fanfiction tales submitted to her fanzine that focused on an adolescent girl (often an idealised version of the author) who was improbably good at everything, had all the popular characters fall in love with her and was known for “her beautiful youth and youthful beauty, intelligence, capability and all around niceness”.
The term, however, has spread from its original meaning – words have a tendency to do this. The trouble is that it’s now trotted out as a quick way to put down and dismiss any competent female protagonist. Someone (I forget who) said that “Mary Sue” had almost started meaning “female protagonist I don’t like”. And more than one woman has pointed out that male characters (sometimes called Marty Stus or Gary Stus) don’t come in for the same level of ire.
However, the general accepted meaning of “Mary Sue” is a female main character, either within fanfiction or in original works, who is stunningly beautiful, super-competent at whatever she sets her perfectly manicured hand to, flawless and loved by everyone – except the villain, who will either die or will be reformed because he falls in love with her.
Some of the traits typically seen in Mary Sues are the following:
She gets everything she wants and gets it too easily: skills, looks, lovers…
She and only she solves all the problems and has all the answers.
Everybody else in the story is only there to make her look awesome.
She has no doubts, no struggles and no problems.
In the case of fanfiction (and only fanfiction), she warps or even breaks the established canon.
She’s awesome because she exists, not because of anything she’s done.
The Difficulty Dodging Mary Sue
No writer wants to have their heroine turn into a Mary Sue. However, having a main character who is the total opposite, either by being a nasty piece of work or by creating someone who is boring and incompetent, is equally undesirable? Who wants to read a story where someone who sounds like a villain wins? I don’t. Who wants to read a story where the main character isn’t the one who saves the day?
In original works, the main character is the main character because he/she is the focus of the story. It is all about her or him. If someone else saved the day, then the story would have been about that other person, making them the main character. This is one of the problems with using the term “Mary Sue” in original works.
To help writers try to avoid Mary Sues as their main characters, a vogue started for creating “Mary Sue litmus tests”. This site has a list of them, with the most famous being Springhole’s Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test. These tests were rather fun (and timewasting – you have been warned) but it didn’t take long to spot some of the problems with them. For example, a character would collect Mary Sue points for wearing black leather, having a scar that doesn’t ruin their good looks, playing the guitar and having animal companions. I mean, I’ve got some black leather in my wardrobe (and wouldn’t mind some more), have a few scars here and there, play guitar and keep several animals. You could run real people through those tests and have them score enough to make them an “unrealistic Mary Sue”. So those tests, though fun, weren’t very helpful for writers in the long run. The only way to “pass” them was to have bland, boring characters. And who wants to read that?
Why Writers Create Mary Sues
I think all writers go through a Mary Sue stage in our writing journey. When we’re younger, we’re full of ideals and we’re dazzled by the world of the imagination, whether it’s our own or someone else’s. We want to create that character who is so much better than us, overcomes the obstacles and has all the cool gear. In the case of fanfiction, we often want to write ourselves into the story to have romantic adventures with the hero we like the best, especially in male-dominated works such as Lord of the Rings.
I should know. I came up with some Grade A Mary Sues when I was starting my writing journey. This was in the days before the Internet, so the world has been spared that attempt at a Western featuring super-competent cowgirl called Linda who could jump out of an upstairs window without breaking anything, had an incredible horse, never missed a shot or ran out of bullets, had an endless supply of bullets… and I’m cringing so hard right now I’m going to stop. That story went to the paper recycling facility over 30 years ago. The female maia who had cool fire and shadow powers like a balrog but was good and beautiful and who fell in love with Eomer (and this was well before the movies) never made it onto paper. CRINGE.
It’s only later in our writing journey – and possibly in our lives – that we realise that success that comes too easily without effort is unsatisfying. Without the struggle, there isn’t a story. Reading about how someone overcame obstacles and won in the end is one of the reasons why we read fiction.
The Effect Of Cultural Trends
In many articles online discussing Mary Sues, someone will mention the importance of having a flawed main character who has some weaknesses in their character – something that makes them less than perfect. However, it’s here that cultural trends come into play. Modern fiction tends to like the morally grey character and the antihero(ine). It’s almost like we ask our main characters to be weaker (unless she’s the Strong! Female! Character!) and to be more amoral.
However, in the past, you could get away with characters who today would be considered absolute Mary Sues. Take Luthien Tinuviel: half-maia elf princess, everybody falls in love with her (even Morgoth), animals love her, she’s got enough magical power to defeat Sauron and case Morgoth into a deep sleep, she is the most beautiful of all the children of Iluvatar ever… and we like her anyway. Disney heroines of the Golden Era were always kind, cheerful, patient and helpful no matter what horrible circumstances they went through. Then in the 1980s, during the “Girls Can Do Anything” era, we got heroines like Tamora Pierce’s Allana, who was great at combat with weapons and was powerful in magic and had several guys after her once she was revealed as a woman… Don’t get me started on Ayla from Jean Auel’s Earth’s Children series; she is definitely getting into Mary Sue territory.
However, notice what all those examples above had in common. Hardships. Struggle. Oppression and opposition. (As an aside here, can we stop with the “oppressive patriarchy holding her back because she’s a woman” thing? It’s been around for at least forty years.). Well-written characters don’t get everything coming to them easily. Walking over token obstacles, having everyone tell you you’re wonderful and having everything your way because the universe revolves around you may be a wish-fulfilment (especially when we’re younger) but these are the attributes of an entitled spoilt brat.
Summary
As I started digging into the topic of Mary Sues, I had the experience of someone starting out on what looked like a gentle bushwalk who then discovered that it’s a hefty hike uphill through tough terrain. There is a lot to be said and discussed about the concept of Mary Sues. I could write a dissertation or a whole book on the topic – but I’ve got better things to write – like fantasy fiction stories.
However, given the fact that “Mary Sue” was coined in the world of fanfiction and because it’s specifically female, it’s time to let the girl who was youngest lieutenant in the fleet retire. Let’s stop calling characters Mary Sues and start calling them what they are: entitled spoilt brats. And let’s start writing characters who aren’t bratty.
(Disclaimer. This post was not written with any help whatsoever of generative AI. I hate generative AI, as it encourages people to get the result they want without effort, handing everything out on a platinum plate… and that’s the mentality of a Mary Sue... or a spoilt entitled brat.)
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