SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Mary Sue, What Art Thou?
Disclaimer: Any mention of the workings or characters of Middle Earth belongs to J.R.R.Tolkien.
Special Thanks to Liz for letting me know that OC stands for Original Character, instead of Other Character.
A Special apology to thirteen-year-olds for any slight I may have inadvertently committed.
I have been wondering, since I am fairly new at this website, if I have the definition of a Mary Sue down correctly. My definition of a Mary Sue is a story about an exquisite young girl (young woman, young female Elf), who either drops into Middle Earth, or somehow joins the characters of the Lord of the Rings, either on their quest, or in some other manner. A Mary Sue is always an Original Character. This female character is always beautiful, has long, beautiful hair, and her gown almost always matches her eyes. Her eyes are usually the color of a gem (amethyst, sapphire, emerald). Her dress is described down to the nth degree, and always fits like a glove, whether it is her dress, or a borrowed one—and do not forget the matching slippers!
This same girl knows every weapon and mode of fighting or self-defense known to mankind, and is proficient in them all. If she has dropped into Middle Earth as a modern-day teenager/young adult, her language is as foul as sewage. She almost always falls in love with Legolas, or, since The Two Towers has been released, with Haldir. The author seldom takes into consideration that neither the person dropped into Middle Earth, or the people she interacts with once she is there, understands the other's languages. These stories generally read as if a thirteen-year-old has written them.
On the other hand, you have your Original Character story. The Original Character (known from now on as OC) is usually female, but not always. The character does not usually join in the quest; at least none of the ones I have read have done so. However, the OC is sometimes perfect, which makes him/her not only an OC, but also a Mary Sue.
My point to all this rhetoric boils down to one simple question: If all Mary Sues are by definition Original Characters, are all Original Characters Mary Sues? This is something I have wondered about ever since I began to know what a Mary Sue was.
If the OC has no other characteristics in common with a Mary Sue, besides not belonging in Tolkien's world in the first place, does this automatically make an OC a Mary Sue? I do not think so. But I could be wrong. I have been wrong several times in my life, so this could be one of them.
I have had the pleasure of reading many fictions here at this website that have an OC as one of the main characters. In each of the examples I can think of, the character is never perfect, nor in some cases, even beautiful. They are not always female, and when they are male, they are usually not the most handsome of men, nor do they possess impossible to achieve prowess in all modes of fighting or weapons. These characters are ordinary people, and the stories are usually excellently written. The OC in a story of this type could very well belong in Tolkien's world, for their speech, their mode of dress, and the settings in which they are inserted, are in the style of Tolkien's Middle Earth. Does the fact that these stories were written with characters, which were not written by Tolkien, automatically make them Mary Sues?
I would give specific examples of some of these excellent fictions, but I do not have the permission of the authors to do so, nor do I know if such a thing is allowed on this site. I actually don't know if this essay (or whatever you would wish to call it) is admissible here. However, I do sincerely wonder at the questions I have raised. I believe that when some people, as they peruse the lists of stories to read, see that an OC is involved, they pass up the story as being a Mary Sue. If this is so, it is a shame, because some of the absolute best stories here involve Original Characters.
So if you find yourself glancing through the lists on this site for things to read, why not give a story with an OC a quick glance? You may be surprised at the number of really excellent stories to which you may not have otherwise given a second look. If you have any comments about this subject, I will be happy to hear them. If my definitions of the Mary Sue and OC stories are incorrect, please let me know. I am interested to know others' opinions on this subject.