Question #43: Mary Sue and Gary Stu

[Faye]

What character would you nominate as a "Mary Sue" or "Gary Stu?"

[Donna]

O.K., I'm not too proud to admit I need an explanation.

[Faye]

Donna wrote: "O.K., I'm not too proud to admit I need an explanation."

No problem. Click on the "Mary Sue" or "Gary Stu?" link in the first post and it will take you to the Urban Dictionary definition. Cheers!

[Donna]

Okay, duh! Now I'll have to think about this... I just finished "An Object of Beauty" and Lacey comes close, but obvious character flaws would rule her out. Hmmmm... I'll be back.

[Faye]

Well, if you read my review (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...,) you know I just found the definitive work of Mary Sues and Gary Stus. It's called The Ruby in the Smoke.

[Chris]

I only heard the expression a while ago. The first character that popped into my head was the main character in The Little Book. Wheeler is entirely too good to be true. He's beyond perfect at everything he tries - and it is the biggest flaw in the book. That said, the book has really stuck with me since I read it a couple of years ago.

Other people have suggested the Kvothe/Kote in The Name of the Wind/The Wise Man's Fear is a Mary Sue. Still thinking about this. While he's definitely a little too good to be true, he does have some flaws and he also has a good sense of humor, for which I will forgive a lot.

[Donna]

Has anyone posited that Sookie Stackhouse of Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampires books (better know these days as "True Blood") is more than a little Mary Sue? I just started the latest this morning, & seeing this discussion pop back up made me think about it. Blonde, orphaned, raised by the saintly grandmother who gets murdered. Always gets the guy, always gets a tan, always kind, always regretful of the lives she ends up snuffing - or that get snuffed out because of her.

[Faye]

Donna wrote: "Has anyone posited that Sookie Stackhouse of Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampires books (better know these days as "True Blood") is more than a little Mary Sue? I just started the latest this mornin..."

LOL - when you boil her down that way, Sookie sounds like a real contender. I keep thinking about this phrase, Mary Sue, and seeing some major overlaps in characters. I guess a like-able person with no strings attached as a popular hero to get the story started.

[Lin]

Chris wrote: "Other people have suggested the Kvothe/Kote in The Name of the Wind/The Wise Man's Fear is a Mary Sue. Still thinking about this ..."

Yeah, I think Kvothe is more a play on a mary-sue. In the legends about him he is perfect, but he's telling us the 'real' version where he messes up a lot.