Perfection? Please. (An Analysis of Mary-Sue)

Types of Mary-Sues

Cloying Sues

        Cloying Mary-Sues are obnoxious, and very easy to spot. These are the characters that have surplus of everything mentioned in the last chapter and more. Some are so terrible that they’re fun to laugh at. These are found mainly in fan fiction, with few in original fiction and almost none in published fiction.

Sweet Cloying Sues

          Sweet Cloying Sues are the Golden Girls of the story. They’re kind, sweet, smart, beautiful, and powerful. They save the day every time. Everybody loves them. If someone doesn’t love them, they’re jealous of how amazing the Sue is. If the Sweet Sue is popular, she’s not arrogant or bossy. If she’s not popular, every always tells her how beautiful she is and she never believes them, even though the author goes to great lengths to show how gorgeous she is.

Dark Cloying Sues

          Dark Cloying Sues are bred of the new ‘scene’ and ‘emo’ trend going around right now. Dark Sues will have tragic backgrounds, as mentioned before, and often cut themselves, drink, or smoke. They dress in black and red, moan about their past, and lash out at everyone. However, all the other characters love her and want to sleep with/be friends with her. Most authors who make Dark Cloying Sues defend themselves vehemently. They say that they have a temper and they’re depressed, but if the ‘negative’ traits only serve to make the Sue seem feisty, then it’s not a flaw.

Subtle Sues

        Subtle Sues are found in fan fiction, original fiction, and published fiction. They are the most infuriating of the Sues. They’re so perfect that you want to hit them. And they’re not suffocating enough to be categorized at a Cloying Sue.

          Most Subtle Sues are Sweet Sues, but the author downplays their talents a little bit. They’re smart, but not geniuses. They’re beautiful, but not everyone has a crush on them (though more than one person usually does). They’re powerful, but don’t use their powers due to morals.

          However, just like Cloying Sues, they have no obvious flaws. They might not be geniuses, but they’re not dumb. They might not be drop dead gorgeous, but they’re not ugly. They might be rude, but only to people who deserve it. They might not be all-powerful, but few people can defeat them.

          Subtle Sue authors are the most defensive of their characters. They will point out the tiny flaws, such as clumsiness, and play it up like it’s as bad as being extremely arrogant and bothersome.

          These Sues are harder to spot, but to one who knows enough, they’re blatantly obvious. These Sues might be background characters, rather than the main one. They might share their power with another few people (but they’re still rare and extremely powerful). In my opinion, they’re the worst kind of Sue you can make.