What fictional characters do you think are Mary Sues?

[MockTurtle]

First, I commented about Mary Sues before and the reasons why I think that it’s a meaningless term.I stand to what I said back then so I’ll just copy my previous comment.

@MockTurtle

I feel that I also have something to add to the whole Mary Sue discussion, because it is probable that many of you have encountered two definitions of the same term, and I feel different to them.

First, there is the classic definition of a Mary Sue; and idealized self-insert character that pops out in fanfiction and warps the canon around them in a way that is detrimental to the story, other characters or the internal consistency of the universe.
This character is emblematic of a certain type of bad writing, and it is mostly due to the idea of warping the canon around them, which I feel it is the most clear sign of a Mary Sue.

Then, the other definition, which would be something like: an (usually female) character in any medium whose perceived perfection isn’t appealing to a reader. This is usually why the word Mary Sue is used way too often; it has become some way of saying “I don’t like this character because their skills or personal qualities feels unrealistic to me”. By this definition, any character could be a Mary Sue if it makes you feel this way: Cinderella, Harry Potter, Batman, shopkeeper #1… anyone.

And, let’s be honest. Mary Sue is often a word used to dismiss female protagonist as bad or unrealistic, in a way that isn’t equally applied to male characters. In fact, there is a joke that summarises this pretty well:

“How do you call a male Mary Sue?”

“Protagonist.”

Secondly,

@EVERYBODY IN THE FUCKING WORLD

Rey is a Mary Sue

Seriously, this is starting to piss me off. When did everyone in the planet made a consensus that Rey is the ultimate example of a Mary Sue?

I’ll admit that despite not thinking that she was a Mary Sue ever, I wasn’t neither the biggest fan of her in The Force Awakens, I thought she was just ok, but at least I thought that The Last Jedi did an excellent job of flashing her out and presenting her as a really complex character.

Rey is just a person that is really dependent on external validation, that’s her big weakness and a great flaw that she works to overcome, during both movies she is really afraid of having to face the idea of being left alone and tries to seek comfort in figures that could substitute her parents such as Han or Luke. She is the person who grew up alone in a planet trying to raise herself, always hearing about legends of people like Luke hoping that she is a part of a greater destiny, a secret skywalker or a Solo…
That’s exactly why the reveal of her parents being nobody important is so powerful, she is completely terrified of hering that, she doesn’t receive the validation she so desperately wants, all her arc in the second movie is devoted to her working to overcome this and become emotionally dependent.

Character flaws are not only something that means not being good at a skill, it usually has more to do with internal struggles and conflicts between what a character desires and what they learn in order to grow what creates good flaws and compelling character arcs.

@Ozymandias

She’s a deus ex machina in human form

If there is a term that is more misused than Mary Sue it has to be Deus Ex Machina.
A Deus Ex Machina is a something unestablished that resolves a conflict, that’s all that it is, just because something seems convenient or too easy is not a Deux Ex Machina.