Mary Sue

"Haven't the miracles gone far enough now? Not to suit Cooper; for the purpose of this whole scheme is to show off his prodigy, Deerslayer-Hawkeye-Long-Rifle-Leatherstocking-Pathfinder-Bumppo before the ladies." --Mark Twain, Fennimore Cooper's Literary Offenses

A Mary Sue, sometimes shortened to Sue or  'Sue, is a type of character in a work of fanfiction that exhibits many cliched characteristics. Often she is the idealized version or self-insert of the author, who is consequently called a Suethor. A Mary Sue is often portrayed in overly idealizes ways, lacks noteworthy or realistic flaws and primarily functions as a wish-fulfillment.

Calling a character a Mary Sue is rather subjective. Often a character is called a Mary Sue because she has certain characteristics such as oddly colored eyes or hair and a bizarre name. A good writer, however, could pull off creating an original character with Mary Sue characteristics that is not a Mary Sue. The most true indication of a Mary Sue is that she changes the focus of the canon characters so that their whole reason of being revolves around her.

Etymology
In 1973, Star Trek fan Paula Smith wrote the parody "A Trekkie's Tale," starring a flawless character named Lieutenant Mary-Sue. The term became popular in Star Trek fandom to refer to author-inserts of this variety, and later spread to fandom in general.

Sub-concepts of Mary Sue
There are many different varieties of Mary Sues, all with different strategies for getting control of the story. They can be divided up both by fandom and by Sue-type.

Description!Sues
'Sues are commonly described using the convention Description!Sue, e.g. Evil!Sue or Emo!Sue. This is an easy way to categorize the different varieties.

The original type of 'Sue is sometimes described as Bubbly!Sue. She is very social, helpful, kind, and caring. The canon characters are won over by how perfect she is in every way. At some point, she usually reveals some tragic past.

One new variety of 'Sues is the group of Emo!Sues, Goth!Sues, etc. While it has always been common for the 'Sue to be something of a rebel, these take it to a whole new level. They generally wear stereotypical goth make-up and clothing--or, some have remarked, like a twelve-year-old's idea of goth--and have pale skin and black hair. Emo!Sues, as their name suggests, attract a mate by angsting almost non-stop throughout the story. She always has some sort of tragic past. Other common traits of these 'Sues are cutting and drug use. The future mate usually starts out feeling sorry for the 'Sue.

Evil!Sues are often the close relatives of the main antagonist in the fandom. She often has pale skin, black hair, and black or red eyes, and dressed in dark red or black. Part of the way through the story she meets her future mate, she learns the error of her ways, and he redeems her through his love.

Warrior!Sues are peerless fighters and bristle at the suggestion that they might need help from anyone. They frequently make their first appearance in the story when their future mate is about to be killed by bad guys. A mysterious cloaked and hooded character rides up, kills the bad guys, and then--to the other characters' astonishment, reveals herself to be a woman. In other words, she's a really horrible rip-off of Eowyn. This type of 'Sue also often means that there is at least one Designated Mysogynistic Bastard, often Gandalf or Aragorn in Arda Suefics. He questions the 'Sue's ability to come along, often making comments about how women are only good for making babies, and then is dramatically proven wrong.

Grrl!Sues are über-feminists, sometimes straying into mysandry. They are out to prove that a woman is at least as good as a man, and nearly every male is a Designated Mysogynistic Bastard. Of course, they fall for the one who isn't.

It isn't uncommon for one 'Sue have characteristics from different categories. For example, they may swing wildly between angst and bubbly joy.

Possession!Sues
Possession!Sues, also called Canon!Sues, are created when a Suethor takes a canon character and gives them Sue-ish characteristics. This process is often referred to as sueing, for example: "She sued Hermione." Different fandoms have characters that are commonly sued: Harry Potter and Hermione Granger are common victims in the Harry Potter Fandom, as is Legolas in the Tolkien Fandom. Sue!Hermione is given sleek hair and overall beautiful looks--often in a "summer make-over"--or she'll turn out to have been under a spell to mask her true beauty. Legolas is given perfectly blue eyes and golden hair, as well as a tragic past, usually in the form of an Evil!Thranduil fanfic.

This is especially common in slash badfics--the typist doesn't want to create a new character, so he or she just makes one of the canons perfect. Sue!Hermione and Stu!Harry often show up together in badfic written by Harry/Hermione shippers.

Common 'Sues in Different Fandoms
Especially large fandoms, like Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings, have certain types of 'Sues that are very common in them. Harry Potter often has an exchange student, usually from the USA, who arrives and falls in love with one of the students; another common one is the Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher who falls in love with another teacher. The Tolkien Fandom is plagued with 'Sues who "fell into Middle-earth from our world," often as the result of a car crash. The most common type, however, is the Tenth Walker, who joins the Company of the Ring. Strangely enough, a significant amount of The Lord of the Rings "fell into Middle-earth" Sues seem to be from Australia. Whether this is because they have an excuse to be a stereotypical Aussie (loud and blunt) or because Australia isn't America is unknown.

Gary Stu
The male version of a Mary Sue is sometimes called a Gary Stu or a Marty Sam. He is often tall, dark, and handsome, and spends much of the story brooding. The main exception to this is when he is created to be the perfect mate of the main Mary Sue; then he can be however complements the main 'Sue the best.

Litmus tests
Various tests have been written where authors can test their original characters on their Sueness.