Is Sophie A Mary Sue? (Essay)

1st Sign: Beautiful, Yet Plain

This is a characteristic that essentially means the main character (in this case Sophie) thinks she is not beautiful, but in reality she is. Other people don't fail to notice, and they often compliment the Mary Sue on her gorgeousness.

And in some cases (but not all)... the Mary Sue has a unique hair or eye color.

Meep.

Okay, so I think we all know what I'm about to say here. These qualities kind of define Sophie's entire character (at least in the first few books). Here's a few quotes about her "extraordinary" beauty:

"'Well, you look great. Not that you weren't pretty before, but I think that detox made a difference. You should see how shiny your hair is, and your eyes are so... exotic. You're going to be quite the heartbreaker when you grow up' [Della]" (Keeper of the Lost Cities, 126).

"'Oh, Sophie,' Della gasped when she saw her. 'You really should wear that color more often. Makes your eyes even more striking. Especially with your hair that way.'" (Exile, 179).

"'She is right, though,' she [Biana] whispered. 'Red is definitely your color'" (Exile, 179).

"'What?' she asked, when she caught Fitz and Keefe staring at her.

"'Nothing,' they both mumbled" (Exile, 179).

"'And you look awesome in red' [Biana] ... 'Red is definitely your color' [Fitz]" (Lodestar, 547).

Okay, so I think you get the point. There's probably a few more quotes I can pull (don't even get me started on page 179 of Exile XD), but I think those are enough to get the idea across.

But those quotes really only cover the Beautiful aspect of the "Beautiful, Yet Plain" requirement. There are plenty of protagonists in stories that are pretty, but that doesn't make them a Mary Sue. What puts a character under this qualification is their self-image.

There are dozens (probably even hundreds) of characters that are portrayed as insecure. It doesn't always have to be about their appearance, but often it is-- particularly in stories meant for a younger audience. (This is mainly because younger people tend to struggle more with how they look; that isn't to say adults don't struggle with confidence regarding this factor, however.) This is of course from my limited experience; I have not read every book under the sun. But out of the ones I have, I can identify a clear topic in a lot of them... that being self-consciousness-- or, even more broad, acceptance.

While Sophie doesn't ever think, Wow, I am so ugly, she is self-conscious about her looks. Every time it's mentioned how pretty she is, or how unique her eyes are, she gets uncomfortable. For instance, in the Aurenflare scene:

"'Mom, you're embarrassing her,' Biana said..." (Exile, 179).

This was a quote taken right after Della complimented Sophie on her outfit (and right before the boys were total simps *laughs awkwardly because it's so cringy*).

Another quote: "'I see Fitz wasn't kidding about the brown eyes. Most unusual.'

"She could feel her cheeks flush. 'Oh. Uh. Yeah.'

"Alden smiled. 'There's nothing to be embarrassed about. I think the color is quite pretty'" (Keeper of the Lost Cities, 50).

I included that last part of the previous quote because it's yet another example of a character informing Sophie of her matchless beauty-- but back to what I was getting at, Sophie was clearly embarrassed that Alden and Fitz were paying so much attention to her eyes, which she's clearly insecure about.

At least she's self-aware of that. In Exile, it says, "Sophie still wasn't totally comfortable being the-only-elf-with-brown-eyes, but she wasn't about to let some mirror-girl insult her" (62).

Sophie also complains a lot about dressing up and putting on makeup. It was established early on in the first book that she doesn't like to stand out.

"This was exactly the kind of attention she went out of her way to avoid. Why she wore dull colors and lurked in the back..." (Keeper of the Lost Cities, 1-2).

"Biana laughed from the doorway... She tossed a very long, very fitted, very red tunic onto Sophie's bed.

"'Don't scowl at me like that-- it's camouflage,' Biana told her" (Lodestar, 546-547).

Also, "'Of course not,' Sophie promised, surprised at how thick her voice sounded. 'You know I'm not into fancy dresses'" (Everblaze, 164).

Oh, wait, wait, wait! I found a quote! I found a quote! Yaaaaaay!

Okay, so here is the uLtImAtE "Yet Plain" quote! (I'm so happy I discovered it-- just in time, too! XD)

"But she [Sophie] would never be as beautiful as Biana."

So this quote doesn't expressly mean "I'm so plain," but it's a close second. It's the perfect quote to show Sophie's self-consciousness surrounding her looks, as well as proving that she does indeed fit quite well under the "Beautiful, Yet Plain" category.

HOWEVER. In these early books (with the exception of Lodestar), the Neverseen isn't as pressing of a problem. In fact, they don't even know the Neverseen's name!

In the later books, Sophie still gets compliments regarding how pretty she is ["'You really are adorable when you worry'" (Keefe, Nightfall, 319)], and she's still insecure ["She'd also used the gold-flecked eyeliner Biana had been telling her would bring out the glints in her brown eyes-- even though she hated drawing more attention to their unique-for-an-elf color" (Flashback, 2)], but I don't recall her worrying about her looks in Unlocked. Granted, Unlocked was a lot shorter than the other books-- but at least she realized it was best to focus on saving the Lost Cities than it was to focus on how attractive she is.

Potential Rebuttal- "There's a reason, though, for Sophie's supermodel looks-- since all elves have heightened genetics."

While I agree with this, I would argue that if elves were so used to beauty, why would they constantly compliment Sophie on hers? Her eyes, of course, make her stand out-- but as you can see in the quotes, she was praised for much more than her eye color.

I'm not trying to say Shannon Messenger was lazy when she wrote Sophie-- just that Sophie, in this regard, seems (to me at least) to fit this characteristic.

All in all, I'd say we can check off the "Beautiful, Yet Plain" box-- 1 point for Mary Sue, 0 for Sophie!