Is Sophie A Mary Sue? (Essay)

What Is A Mary Sue?

Of course, in an essay on whether or not a certain character is a Mary Sue, I need to define the term so we're all on the same page. "Mary Sue" is so contested mainly because its definition is so ambiguous. A Mary Sue could be a stand-in character, a self-insert, an all-powerful or "perfect" female, or perhaps a mix of all of these.

For the sake of this essay-- and to eliminate as much confusion as possible-- I will be mainly referring to the definition "a 'Mary Sue' is either a female or male (sometimes called a 'Gary Stu') character who embodies the perfect hero/heroine" (Kaitlin Hillerich, Is Your Character A Mary Sue?).

(For reference, go to this article: http://inkandquills.com/2016/03/06/mary-sue-characters/)

The type of Mary Sue talked about in this article is a character who is (but not always) a self-insert, has unrealistic power, is perfect in every way, and is idolized by every other character.

You might be able to think of a character like this. Perhaps one from a fanfiction, or maybe from an actual book or movie. Besides Sophie, maybe you thought of Rey from Star Wars, or Harry Potter from Harry Potter. Maybe not. In any case, if you did think of a character, how did you feel?

Well, I can't speak for you, but I'll speak for myself: I indeed can think of a few Mary Sues in stories-- and I can also think of real people who seem to get everything right on their first try. It's a tad bit annoying-- to me, at least.

It's the same for characters. Mary Sues can be annoying. But why?