A Mary Sue is a character that is so strong that it removes any investment or tension that might have existed in the story otherwise. In this, authors often write these characters as self insertion characters in an attempt to vicariously live through their far too perfect personas. No one can deny this: All Mary Sues are terrible and often drag the story down in terms of quality to such depths that it's offensive to be experiencing such a story as this. But, according to this forum right here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.932593-Ooooookay-Why-is-the-term-Mary-Sue-being-thrown-around-like-paint], people seem to have a different idea of what constitutes a Mary Sue. Some people said that a Mary Sue is someone who is able to do things that they have no right of doing. Others say that what they define as a Mary Sue requires more to it than just knowing how to do things very easily and impressively.
For me, A Mary Sue is someone who is usually well-liked by most or all people, excluding one or two for enemies and fake tension, is very popular with their preferred partners of the opposite sex, is able to do things easily that most can't or struggle to do so otherwise, and always ends up on top, despite the odds that they have faced. They are also familiar with several people of great influence by chance or by reputation. One of these can be omitted if the other qualities of the character are exaggerated to an even more irritating effect, but you get the general idea.
As for who is a Mary Sue to me, well, that's a different question altogether. For the longest time, it has been Batman.
I have never liked this character. He is far too smart, strong, skilled, and rich than any character has any right to be. People claim that this character is relatable, and I don't think I've ever heard a louder pile of bullshit than that. Yes, he's a tragic character, but that tragedy left him with infinite money and even more time on his hands. Any sort of flaw that he may have had is either ignored by his friends and family, such as his obsession with his job, or justified, as in whenever he suspects something is going to happen, he always has a contingency plan.
That is, until today. Today, between my classes, I decided to read some more of a book that a friend of mine happened to recommend to me, The Name of the Wind. It's beautifully written, with each paragraph painting a picture in my head more vivid than most physical pictures could give me. Which makes it all the more tragic when the main character, Kvothe, is the worst Mary Sue I have ever had the displeasure of reading about. I'm gonna spare you most of the details, but the moment that cinched it for me was about 2/3 of the way through the book when he managed to do something that he had no right to be able to do.
Basically, he's one contrivance after another, and that's the worst Mary Sue character that I have ever seen. But that's not why I'm here. (Alright, it is a little bit) I want to know how you define a Mary Sue and to give an example of one.
For me, A Mary Sue is someone who is usually well-liked by most or all people, excluding one or two for enemies and fake tension, is very popular with their preferred partners of the opposite sex, is able to do things easily that most can't or struggle to do so otherwise, and always ends up on top, despite the odds that they have faced. They are also familiar with several people of great influence by chance or by reputation. One of these can be omitted if the other qualities of the character are exaggerated to an even more irritating effect, but you get the general idea.
As for who is a Mary Sue to me, well, that's a different question altogether. For the longest time, it has been Batman.
That is, until today. Today, between my classes, I decided to read some more of a book that a friend of mine happened to recommend to me, The Name of the Wind. It's beautifully written, with each paragraph painting a picture in my head more vivid than most physical pictures could give me. Which makes it all the more tragic when the main character, Kvothe, is the worst Mary Sue I have ever had the displeasure of reading about. I'm gonna spare you most of the details, but the moment that cinched it for me was about 2/3 of the way through the book when he managed to do something that he had no right to be able to do.
Basically, he went to go perform at a bar where amazing talent goes to perform in hopes of obtaining a set of tiny silver pipes, which signify that they are some of the greatest musical talents in the land. The pipes basically guarantee permanent funding for any performer, as these are incredibly rare and people who can afford their abilities often pay out the nose for them to continue. Not even actual payment, they are given donations, but whatever. After seeing about 4 people perform onstage that he considers to be quite fantastic overall, he gets up onstage with a self-admitted second rate lute with about 6 months of practice under his belt after not playing the thing or even thinking about music for about 3 years beforehand when his parents were murdered by forces summoned by the song and manages to reduce the entire crowd to sobbing fits with an incredibly complicated song that his dad had played once unfinished and a final part that he wrote himself while studying mercilessly at the most prestigious university in the entire country. It doesn't stop there, oh no. The song also requires a duet to be sung by a woman or someone with a very high voice in harmony and rhythm played literally against the two separate and simultaneous parts the instrument plays at the same time, and the woman that just happened to know the parts of the song that needed to be sung without any prior knowledge that this was going to be played and thus no preparation beforehand. And, when the performance is over, he goes to meet the mystery woman, and lo and behold, it's literally some random girl that he met about 2 years prior on a carriage that he talked to about twice. But probably the biggest blow against him is that during the final part of his performance, one of his strings on his lute broke, and after faltering from surprise, he carried on, playing the instrument with the missing string flawlessly on the spot. That's right, he went from a shitty lute to a broken one, playing the most complex and difficult songs in the entire world and he managed to drive the entire populace of the bar to tears, including the part at the end where he himself wrote the ending of the song.