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The Mary Sue Has Been Everywhere
Aug. 15th, 2014 03:00 pmWas taking a short break from finishing off Trilogy 13 and decided to start up my research/web page saving for Trilogy 14. Found this website:
The Field Guide to PotC Sues -- the Officlal Fanfiction of the Caribbean
Within this page is Magic!Sue:
I found this interesting because of my writing up of the SG-1 universe's Tuatha de Danann. Myth says they were magical and over time, they've become the Fay. In Trilogy 13, they're who the Asgard mistakenly named Furling/Ferling. So I took the magical aspect and ran wild with it. The most powerful fay is Morrighan, who is Queen of the Tuatha de Danann (whom I've renamed as Lia Fail, since Tuatha is Gaelic and that language hadn't arrived in Ireland during the time of the Tuatha.)
I found this website amusing and intriguing. I asked myself if my new OC is a Mary Sue. Queen Morrighan is all powerful, has not been shown to have flaws or defects (so far, in this, their intro chapter of the trinity universe). She is queen of the Lia Fail b/c of her immense powers. Her culture is matriarchal with the leader of the people selected by heart, duty, loyalty, and most importantly, the most magical power. My insistence on creating this all-powerful character is b/c I wanted magical fay and b/c I wanted all powerful beings who help the humans without going all Prime Directive on our asses. I love my fantasy and the more fantasy, the better.
So again, I'm asking, is Morrighan a Mary Sue? She's immensely tall at 6'6", has brown-auburn hair, rainbow eyes (yes, I know), is telekinetic, telepathic, teleportic, shape-shifting, all sorts of other good fantasy stuff. She can kill someone with a thought, if she felt like doing so. She doesn't have a problem with killing. She has a bad temper. She's also overly generous, highly curious, assertive, etc., etc. I know she's over the top (as are her people), but I just love having a fantasy creature who kicks butt. I don't *want* to call her a Mary Sue, and by the standards above in that paragraph for Magic!Sue, she isn't one. BUT I've given her omnipotent status. So... At what point does my OC become what others consider a Mary Sue? When does anyone's?
The Field Guide to PotC Sues -- the Officlal Fanfiction of the Caribbean
Within this page is Magic!Sue:
Magic!Sue (marisuis hocus pocus) Not only is she fiercely independent and hauntingly beautiful, she has magical powers. She can read minds, have premonitions of the future, see into men's souls, control the winds, divine the history of objects, heal, shapeshift, summon sea creatures, speak the language of birds, or do something so totally outrageous (i.e. instant teleportation anywhere, bringing back the dead, brainwashing people to be her loyal zombie slaves) that it leads one to question what the author has been inhaling. Regardless of plausibility, she uses her powers to help Jack/ Barbossa/Davy Jones and wins their respect, admiration, and love by committing feats of superhuman spiffiness. She often has a vague but supposedly significant destiny that unseen forces are guiding her towards. This destiny doesn’t generally get fleshed out, but is good for the occasional occult, suspenseful moment. Often the technical terms for the abilities she has are mixed up or incorrectly used. Her weakness is collapsing and fainting, because using her powers requires so much exertion and strength that whenever she does something major she nearly dies and needs to be nursed back to health.
I found this interesting because of my writing up of the SG-1 universe's Tuatha de Danann. Myth says they were magical and over time, they've become the Fay. In Trilogy 13, they're who the Asgard mistakenly named Furling/Ferling. So I took the magical aspect and ran wild with it. The most powerful fay is Morrighan, who is Queen of the Tuatha de Danann (whom I've renamed as Lia Fail, since Tuatha is Gaelic and that language hadn't arrived in Ireland during the time of the Tuatha.)
I found this website amusing and intriguing. I asked myself if my new OC is a Mary Sue. Queen Morrighan is all powerful, has not been shown to have flaws or defects (so far, in this, their intro chapter of the trinity universe). She is queen of the Lia Fail b/c of her immense powers. Her culture is matriarchal with the leader of the people selected by heart, duty, loyalty, and most importantly, the most magical power. My insistence on creating this all-powerful character is b/c I wanted magical fay and b/c I wanted all powerful beings who help the humans without going all Prime Directive on our asses. I love my fantasy and the more fantasy, the better.
So again, I'm asking, is Morrighan a Mary Sue? She's immensely tall at 6'6", has brown-auburn hair, rainbow eyes (yes, I know), is telekinetic, telepathic, teleportic, shape-shifting, all sorts of other good fantasy stuff. She can kill someone with a thought, if she felt like doing so. She doesn't have a problem with killing. She has a bad temper. She's also overly generous, highly curious, assertive, etc., etc. I know she's over the top (as are her people), but I just love having a fantasy creature who kicks butt. I don't *want* to call her a Mary Sue, and by the standards above in that paragraph for Magic!Sue, she isn't one. BUT I've given her omnipotent status. So... At what point does my OC become what others consider a Mary Sue? When does anyone's?
