Disclaimer: I do not own LotR

The Abridged Guide to Avoiding Sues in LotR Fanfic

If you've clicked on this link, I'm going to assume you have a smidgen of knowledge as to what a Sue is. But I will quickly explain; A Mary Sue is a character who, in the work of fiction, is treated as if she has no flaws. Often times the readers see how selfish or bratty she is, but the tone the author uses attempts to justify this and make her seem always in the right. She is strong, beautiful, spunky, and rarely meshes with the universe.

This annoys readers because Sues

A) Turn things so the characters they love are no longer in any focus (which, as I will later explain, isn't always a bad thing)

B) Stereotype characters and turn them into either fawning machines or idiots or rapists

C) Are never called out on their flaws, or have their flaws treated as positive traits

D) Are impossible to relate to on any level, because no one has rainbow eyes or farts unicorns,

and E) Are just a sign of plain laziness

But not every OFC is a Sue, not even ones who are central characters; if you're writing a study about the life of a noble woman living in the aftermath of the war, you need a female, original character to serve as your lead, and that's fine; so long as she is developed, realistic, and enjoyable (though not necessarily likable), I probably will have no problem with her, and most intelligent reviews won't, either.

But the above is rarely the case, and more often OFCs fall off a slippery slope. Hopefully, this guide will keep that from happening to your character.

The Basics- OFCs as People

Most readers are human. And humans are weird. Maybe your best friend gets along with this one kid you hate, and maybe you love that celebrity everyone thinks is annoying, and that's normal. A person's personality is basically a collection of good and bad traits. And maybe your traits don't mind another persons traits while a third's traits dislike them. Again, that's normal.

So it stands to reason that a character, who should be a person, may be well developed and well written and you just won't like them. This doesn't make them a bad character- if anything I think it makes them more dynamic. What does make them a bad character is if, in the fic, all 'good' characters the author likes don't see the OFCs flaws and they are placed on a pedestal.

Keeping that in mind, creating a character sounds easy; just pick some good and bad traits and put them together and make some characters dislike them. Only … it's not that simple.

The Good

It's okay if your character is nice. It's okay if they're funny. But it's not okay if they're nice, funny, smart, strong, brave, loyal, confident, and display great leadership skills.

It's also okay for them to be good singers, artists, or linguists. It's not okay for them to be singers, artists, linguists, geniuses, and sword-fighting-archers with a knack for chess.

Good traits are all about balance. Pick two or three and have those ones be dominant. People have good qualities, however much you may hate them- like that annoying know-it-all in your class is probably really studious, and that gossip might be really friendly and outgoing, but few have quite as many as Sues seem to.

The Bad

A lot of time characters have 'pseudo flaws'- a temper that never gets them into a terrible situation, or their pride never prevents them from seeking desperately needed help. A flaw, to be flaw, must cause a bad thing to happen- from someone disliking your character to accidentally starting a feud between two countries.

Keep in mind purely physical things, like clumsiness or being weak, don't count as flaws. If you decide to give that trait to your character, however, it must abide by the flaws-cause-harm rule, and not just be something cute.

Also keep in mind that characters will dislike your character because of her flaws. A sensitive character won't like your brash, unsympathetic Sue, and a workaholic character won't like your lazy Sue. A warrior who has seen horrible things won't want to deal with you self-pitying Sue; basically, a character will dislike your character usually because of one of their flaws or because something they perceive as a flaw- like all those ill-timed jokes.

The Ugly

*stating your character's traits but never showing them. If your character figures things out quickly, and makes clever decisions or bright allusions, we can figure she's smart. We don't need the narrator or the other characters commenting on it. A good trick is to have all of her traits lined up, and try to never use those words in reference to something your character says, dose, or is. If you know your character well, their traits will show.

*Mishmash traits with no logical connection. Good and bad go together, hand in hand. If your character is confident, they may also be prideful and arrogant. Or if they are really sweet, perhaps they're a pushover and have no backbone. But don't just toss it traits because you need a flaw- your character should come naturally.

The Name

Names are extremely important in the Tolkienverse. Elves have many, given to them by many people for many reasons (I am not an expert on Elvish names- check out realelvisdotnet for that- and check out her list of un/trustworthy sites while you're at it). Gondorians are named in Sindarin and Rohirrim usually have Anglo-Saxon names, while Hobbits have very English names (these last two are what Tolkien substituted for their actual languages).

That being said, your characters name should be researched.

The website above has an excellent selection of Elvish names, and link to find others. You can also check out behindthenamedotcom to look for Anglo-Saxon names or old English names (avoid one with a root dealing with god- religion in ME requires reaserch)

Unforgivable mistakes

*if your character comes from earth, their name should NOT be:

extremely unusual

of a race/ethnicity they don't belong to

elvish

hard to type, read, or pronounce

just plain weird.

Your character's name isn't a big deal if they are from earth- just call them Sarah or Emily or even Isabella. It can be pretty, but you don't need to go to extreme lengths. Just Google popular baby names of the decade they were born in.

*giving a character who is native to middle earth a name from our time. I don't care how much you like Taylor as a name, it doesn't belong in ME.

*Giving a character who is native to middle earth the name of a different race, culture, or time. Like I said, names are a big deal in ME. Use them wisely.

*naming an elf after someone long ago. Elves don't die. So if you name an elf, say, Galadriel, it's going to be confusing when they all get to Valinor. Also, naming an elf after Lúthien or Arwen just screams Mary-Sue.

*naming your character in gibberish. Names, as I'll say once again, have meaning. If you name your character something with no actual meaning other than that it sounds elvish or old fashioned, it just screams laziness.

*changing that characters name, or giving them an elvish name, half way through. Once you pick a name, it is what readers and characters use to identify your character. Imagine being forced to start calling your best friend 'Betty' from now on (if your best friend is named Betty, call her Joan). It's not easy for you, and it's not easy for the reader.

Appearance

Unless your character is an elf, there is no logical reason that they need to be stunningly attractive. But even so, any character being more attractive than every other character in the story (or even all character with the exception of Arwen and Galadriel) is a bit extreme and a red-flag for Sue Haters.

It's okay to make your character pretty; if they have brown hair and pretty green eyes, their fine in my book. But if they have dark mahogany hair with red accents and green eyes that sparkled like the ocean, you might have a problem.

Over-description

This is a huge problem. Often, paragraphs will be devoted to just describing the characters appearance. This just shows that the author A) thinks the characters appearance are super-important, even if it isn't, and/or B) can't figure out how to convey her vision of the character without blocks of description.

I think it's okay for the character to mention in passing something about their appearance; nothing like my sea-green eyes looked west or I gathered my blue hair into a ponytail, but there are much subtler, sneakier ways to do this.

If your character is an elf, you need only mention what kind- Noldor, Teleri, or Vanyar, and a reader will know their coloring. If your character has a relative, a brief, sensible comparison such as her hair was smother and longer than mine, which I envied can be used (I find this acceptable only with relations). You can mention (again, briefly) how the character wishes her hair was lighter or less unruly, but make sure to keep it from being overdone. Maybe even say OFC liked wearing blue because it brought out he eyes, but that's pushing it.

If her appearance can somehow be used to show something important about her character, you can spare a little descrption on that, but only if it enhances the story rather than takes away from it.

Personally, I find only a little description to be really necessary. If characterization is done right, I can often picture her myself.

Unusual features

No one has eyes that are anything other than blue, green, gray, brown, hazel, or some combination there of. DNA doesn't work like that. Most Rohirrim are blond with blue eyes and most Gondorians are dark-haired with gray eyes. Essentially all elves have gray eyes, but the Noldor have dark hair (yes, some had auburn/red hair, but this was very rare and I advise never giving it to an OC), the Teleri can have silvery-blond hair or hair that's plain silver, and the Vanyar (who are mostly in Valinor) have golden blond hair, so an elf can have any of the above hair colors, so long as you work their genealogy out properly, but not a mix.

Now, genetics are what they are, so there's got to be a few exceptions to this rule- not so much with elves, but you can make a Gondorian OC have lighter hair and blue eyes, or a Knight of Rohan can have green eyes. Just keep in mind the basics.

Never give your character an unnatural feature, because that will make them seem like a Mary Sue, even if they're perfectly fine characters otherwise.

Clothing

it's important to not overly describe your character outfits. Maybe if they are dressing particularly formally you can spare a sentence about their dress and hair, or if they are witnessing Middle Earths clothing for the first time, a description is due. Still, it's important for the author to know what style the character is dressed in, so they can mention the character tripping over a hem or their sleeves getting in the way, things like that.

I understand that clothing is a big deal- it covers you, keeps you warm, and can define who you are. The same is true for clothing in Middle Earth, but it works differently. Take inspiration from the middle ages, from viking and Anglo-Saxon cultures, and from the Renaissance. Anything later than these will raise eyebrows.

I've read stories in which characters attended the council of Elrond in 'strappy tops' and 'short skirts'. These girls would be considered whores. Middle Earth, modesty wise, is like the middle-ages. Dressing in converse and shorts, with a hot-topic T-shirt is silly and would be a horrific wardrobe choice. Interestingly, no one has made this clothing issue a plot-point for girls falling into Middle earth. Usually they're clothing is just describes as 'strange' or 'odd'

The Beginning

Your characters back-story is extremely important in establishing who they are as a person. Someone who grew up in a wealthy neighborhood and taught superiority would most likely be prideful, condescending, and arrogant, not rebellious and spunky. True, there are exceptions, but if you want to write a believable character I would avoid exceptions at any cost, especially when she already is riddled with them.

But the back-story is very easy to mess up. It generally is cliched and overly simplified.

The Tragic Back-story

these ones can vary in level of angst, but I would strongly advise against using any form of them. Subjects such as rape, abuse, eating disorders, and many others are very sensitive and difficult, and it's hard to capture how devastating they truly are.

Often in fanfiction, they are treated as plot devices, just something for a character to angst over in the arms of her beloved, but this is HIGHLY OFFENSIVE. Also, they are rarely well researched. Usually they're just throwaway lines that ad nothing to the story or are just an excuse for the character to be the way she is.

Also, these types of stories tend to use the back-story to evoke sympathy for the lead. It's better to evoke sympathy from your readers by putting the character through hell in the story- not by using elements of a tragic back-story on-screen, but by showcasing the daily trials we all go through and deal with, but are still hard; it makes the character easier to relate to. If the back-story is used to cause sympathy from the other characters, keep two things in mind; A) this is reducing this horrible experience to nothing more than a plot gimmick, which is insensitive and offensive, and B) these characters are warriors. They have gone through everything, almost. Yes, they are sympathetic, but they would not drop everything to comfort a girl. Most cases of canon-characters-react-to-OFC-angst are forced, uncomfortable to read, and riddled with OOC.

The Meh back-story

These are second most common, especially among GiME plots. This is where we know the character had a mother, father, and usually some unnamed siblings and friends, but are never given any detail. We never know if she fought with her mother and got along with he father, or if she was close with her siblings, or about what she did/talked about with her friends. She may mention feeling homesick, but never what, exactly, for.

This is bad because most of us come from loving communities; we may not always like our families, biological or not, but we generally love them. Now imagine being taken from them, and never knowing if you will ever see them again. Not your annoying little brother, not your constantly worrying mom. No one.

I think that the moment your OFC truly realizes that she may never see her family again is the one time angst has a rightful place. There's something about that sort of scene that makes the character very vulnerable and, as a result, easy to relate to.

The Everything Back-Story

This usually happens when the Suethor doesn't know where she wants the character to come from. So instead of making her mind up, she just leaves it out and throws in random references to living in several cities, multiple family situations (in one fic, the protagonists parents were divorced, dead, always nagged her about schoolwork, and her mother was a widow), and a heaping of skills that, in reality, would take a lifetime to master separately, let alone together.

It's important to just craft one, believable back-story, because it shapes your character and makes them humans.

The Plot

Literally the most important thing in your story is the plot. As a general rule, all plot stems from conflict and there are three basic types of conflict. Alas, I am not an English teacher, and I'm going to be more specific in addressing plot that deals directly with Lord of the Rings fanfiction plots. But, as a rule, there should be a protagonist in your story overcoming a conflict or series of conflicts caused by and antagonist (LotR already has one, if not several antagonists). Now, since Middle Earth is so vast, the plots really outnumber anything I could feasibly count. But here are some basics.

The GiME Plot

Arguably the most common plot in all of LotR fanfiction.

Now, in premise, it's a cool idea; a girl with the values of our time winds up alone, scared, and confused, in a place with values akin to the middle ages. To top it off, a huge war is being fought and this girl has no clue how to deal with whatever amount of foreknowledge she has pertaining to people who may be her friends. This plot is ripe for the picking- it can deal with emotional issues, values, morals, and the basic idea of self identity.

More often it's just a platform for self-inserts.

It's fine to fantasize about what would happen if you fell into middle earth. It's even fine to write this fantasy out. But you shouldn't publish it or think of it as 'good literature' unless it's been edited to the point of being realistic, sensible, and, well... not a shameless self insert.

The Tenth Walker Plot

This can be combined with every other type of plot and is grossly common, despite making no sense.

Let's take a look at our NINE walkers; The ring-barer, a future king, and elf prince, a noble warrior, a Maia, a dwarf who uses an awesome weapon, The Hobbit who made everything possible, a hobbit who saved Faramir and a hobbit who helped kill the Witch King.

There's a reason these nine were chosen to counter the nine wraiths; they each helped in destroying the one rings and saving middle earth; they combined all the races and fought evil by bringing their skills to the table.

What does an OFC bring?

Not the downfall of Sauron, as that was accomplished without her. And since that was the purpose of the quest, why does she need to be there?

Also, the downfalls to having a girl on the quest greatly outweigh the zero pros. For one, she would be another mouth to feed, which means more supplies. She would also be a distraction to our male fighters (who, no, would not rape her, but might be wondering what the fuck they're supposed to do with a stunning maiden trailing around). She would also throw of the balance pf walkers/wraiths. Not a good thing.

The There-is-Literally-no-Plot-Here-but-the-Romance Plot

here's the bottom line; with the above two plots, there is at least something resembling conflict. In this plot, well...

these come in many forms; arranged marriage, girl-likes-guy-who-doesn't-know-she-exists, people from different classes or races falling in love...they are countless.

Now, sometimes they can be well written, when there is genuine conflict other than a love triangle, when the cast of supporting characters is interesting and dynamic, and when things actually happen to detail how an actual courtship and relationship would work in ME. But they don't quite embody this plot. This plot is when the entire story, every single chapter, is devoted to the relationship or something to do with it. Side characters are mentioned in throwaway lines and subplots abound, but never overshadow the main relationship- even when nothing interesting is happening with the couples dynamic.

Also, these plots tend to go against all the laws of Middle-Earth. Elves and Men pairing, for example, are rare, with four known cases; Two where the elf woman became human, one where the human man became immortal, and one where the elf and woman never really hooked up (this is also the only pair in which the elf was the male, which is interesting, but a topic for another essay). But in fanfiction, you'd think every elf was getting it on with whatever mortal walked by.

The Character Study Plot

My personal favorite, this plot deals with the trials and tribulations of a character and their life. It handles their friends, romance, job, political and social situation, etc. it's, in many ways, a subsection of the above plot, focusing mainly on one character.

The difference here is intent. Romances are created for just that- to tingle your panties. These stories stem from a place of wanting to flesh out a character, culture, or some other aspect of Middle Earth.

Of course, the OCs for this are hardest to create, because of the amount of development they need to be successful. If you know of a good one, however please recommend it.

Other Characters and Yours

By far one of the biggest complaints most Mary Sues get is how unrecognizable they render the characters. Boromir is turned into a rapist, Legolas into a million different stereotypes, and the hobbits into children. It's really disturbing.

To get the characters right, you not only need to read and study the books like they're the freaking bible, but understand the time period. Back in the ages the books are based off of, girls with 'spunk' weren't liked, they were frown upon and treated as brats. The concept of a strong, independent woman was not well accepted or even to existant- yes, Éoywn was kick ass, but she was an exception, and remember what I said about avoiding those?

It's important to understand motive when writing character relations; why do characters feel/react to your character the way they do? Things like jealousy, when aimed at the man character, are rather cliché. But a character feeling annoyed that the OFC can't stop making stupid jokes, and another liking her for being witty, for example, is plausible.

Most importantly, it's about balance. Characters should not uniformly love or hate you OFC, sans one or two. Some should like them, others shouldn't.

The Ending

The way you end your story is extremely important- a make or break moment.

If you go the typical rout, the OFC will end up in the loving arms of her love interest and with several children, all subplots happily resolved and side characters cheerful. This isn't so great, because real life isn't like that. There is no such thing as relationships without troubles, or lives without sadness.

The opposite is the sad route, which usually ends in the death of the main character (with a flower blooming once a year on their grave, usually), and some more horrific tragedy. This is also inadvisable, because it ends the story so definitely the readers are left with nothing.

Mos will agree that the best type of endings are somewhat open-ended, but tie up the main things nicely, and have a mix of good and bad. Perhaps the main character gets together with the love interest, but they have marital problem along the way, and the beta-couple breaks up, while another side character may be pregnant.

Most importantly, it's nice to end on a important note. Something that closes things well- the final chapter shouldn't be the climax and resolution, but the tying up of loose ends (unless you want, and have the talent, to be all artistic and ambiguous).

And the final words, in my humble opinion, should always be

THE END.