Is Sophie A Mary Sue? (Essay)

2nd Sign: Talented

This sign is all about the skills and abilities. A Mary Sue is often talented-- not just in a couple things (which is realistic and relatable), but in almost everything. She often doesn't have to try to do things the right way... it just comes naturally.

Hehe. Hehehehehe.

Ummmmmmmm.

Okay, so-- again-- I have a feeling you all will know what I'm going to say about this.

But I'll say it anyway, as well as backing it up with evidence; maybe you don't know what I'll say, so woohoo, I can surprise you!

Let's split this up into nice little sections, so I can organize my thoughts (there you go, guys-- now you know I am a hopeless scatterbrain, and any semblance of "organization" I present is a facade XD): SKILLS and ABILITIES.

Starting with SKILLS.

So far, we know the elves have nine skills they can choose to excel in (Telekinesis, Blinking, Body Temperature Regulation, Night Vision, Breath Control, Levitation, Appetite Suppression, Outward Channeling, and Full Body Momentum... does anyone know what Full Body Momentum is? XD 'Cause I don't). Skills are not limited to specific elves like abilities are-- they are available to anyone, but since abilities are more valued in the Lost Cities culture, the majority of those who use skills are ones who are Talentless or Banished. Basically, anyone who is scorned, and feels the need to prove themselves.

Telekinesis- Telekinesis is, actually, the first skill the readers are introduced to in the series. On page 12 of Keeper of the Lost Cities, it states, "It was her only thought as her instincts took over.

"Her hand shot into the air, her mind pulling strength from somewhere deep inside her gut and pushing it out through her fingertips. She felt the force collide with the falling lantern, gripping on like it was an extension of her arm."

Sophie didn't even have to try to make her telekinesis happen. However, she was about to die, and in that scenario, it's overlook-able (if not acceptable). But then we get to her test for Foxfire, with Bronte, Oralie, and Kenric. Here's that quote:

"She took another deep breath and shoved every ounce of the force she could feel in her core toward the empty chair next to Bronte.

"A collective gasp rang in the air as three chairs floated off the ground, including the one Bronte sat on.

"'Incredible,' Alden breathed" (KotLC, 63-64).

This display (lifting three chairs) is definitely "incredible." As we learn in later books (and as Shannon presumably already knew in this book), elves focus a whole lot more on abilities versus skills, and a lot of elves' skills aren't that great. It's funny how skills are sort of looked-down-upon, and yet they're an integral part of the Foxfire admissions test, but... oh well. I won't get into that XD.

If you go to these pages, you'll find that Sophie did exert some effort, proven by lines such as "try harder," "shoved every ounce of the force," and "cramped from the pain." But this whole performance took place over two pages-- just two. Which... isn't all that earned. I mean, if the level of telekinesis Sophie was doing was all that hard, she shouldn't have been able to realistically do it after using telekinesis only once before. Then again, it was mentioned somewhere that her telephone pole thing was done with a brain push, right?

Which leads me to my point-of-a-point, a.k.a. a subtype of telekinesis: brain pushes. If her telekinetic hold on the telephone pole was indeed a brain push (I don't remember if it was or not, and I don't know where to double-check in the books), then there's one quote for you that shows how she did it without any effort (but again, she was in a deadly situation, and things like adrenaline can have an effect on that).

Other quotes include these:

"Her brain seemed to stretch, like someone snapping a rubber band, and her ears rang, but she didn't break her concentration" (KotLC, 220).

"'...A brain push is a highly specialized skill only the Ancients can pull off'" (KotLC, 223).

There is literally a quote that states how rare a brain push is-- yet Sophie can do it with ease. This partially has to do with her Telepathy skills, which are definitely way more powerful than normal.

Before I move on to abilities, however, I just want to say I won't discuss the other elvin skills, since Sophie barely practices them and the series barely mentions them.

ABILITIES

Telepathy- It's stated a gazillion times throughout the series what powerful telepathy Sophie has. Here's a few quotes, though I won't bore you with too many, seeing as how I'm sure we all are aware of Sophie's strength in this particular area:

"'How can that be? [Sophie read Bronte's mind.] An Ancient mind is almost impenetrable'" (KotLC, 62).

"Most Telepaths could only isolate a general area, but Sophie could nail down the exact spot" (KotLC, 240).

Basically, Sophie has enhanced Telepathy. This is partially due to the Black Swan tweaking her genes, but despite the excuse, Sophie is a little Mary-Sue-ish when it comes to her powerful abilities.

Teleportation- This is another ability Sophie develops quite early on (along with being a Polyglot and Inflictor-- though a Polyglot's abilities come naturally anyway, so I won't touch on that one).

"Her vision narrowed to a singular point-- a speck of light in the distance-- and as she rushed toward it she felt her feet leave the ground without realizing she'd decided to jump" (Exile. 165).

This ability requires absolutely no training-- in fact, she didn't even know what she was doing when she did it for the first time. This ability has no excuse, since it was not one the Black Swan tweaked. Then again, how exactly would one train to Teleport? It's kind of an instinctive ability, so maybe I don't really have a point here.

Inflicting- I want to touch on this one a bit. I actually think this is the one ability in which Sophie's skill for it was earned. She learns she can Inflict during the whole Paris kidnapping fiasco-- and while she didn't have to try all that hard to Inflict, we can, once again, chalk it up to her being in a near-death situation. But then we go a few months (since there's a small time jump between books 1 and 2) where Sophie is being taught by Bronte how to better her Inflicting. Even then, she's not very good at it.

This is probably the one ability she doesn't automatically master-- though I feel like part of that reason is because she didn't want to be an Inflictor. In any case, however, Sophie actually had to learn to get better at it. It wasn't illustrated very clearly throughout the books, but at least it's mentioned how she's grown in that department.

As for Enhancing, that's another ability that seems instinctual. Sophie doesn't really have to do anything to make it work-- although she does have to work to turn it off, which is a nice subversion of the training trope-- so I won't discuss it here. As for Mimicking, Sophie's bad at it, but that's one minor flaw out of five or six strengths. I think she'll be fine.

All in all, I think this is another point for Mary Sue. There are a lot of instances where Sophie struggles with her skills and abilities, but the instances where she doesn't outweigh those when she does.