Common Mary Sue Traits - Television Tropes & Idioms

Revealing outfit? Check. Purple? Check. Ethereal traits? Check. Contradictory backstory? Check. Stealing the hero's job? Check. Sparkly? Check. She's good to go.

"Im good at too many things! WHY CAN'T I JUST BE NORMAL? IT'S A FUCKING CURSE!"
—Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, My Immortal

While Mary Sue is too nebulous to be judged by any hard and fast standard, certain traits have become surprisingly popular. In an effort to make their characters more attractive without having to do the leg work of natural character development, the authors just add some of these superficial traits to their character. Below are the ones that the collective unconscious (so to speak) find especially attractive and end up incorporating into their characters with regularity.

With the way the word has mutated over time, a great many people just end up labeling any character overdosed with these traits as a Mary Sue regardless of her importance within the story. That's not necessarily true. Even if a character has quite a number of the traits described below, Mary-Sueness can still be averted by a good enough explanation for why they're there. It's when a trait exists more to make somebody stand out than to develop them as a character that it starts going into Mary Sue territory. Alternatively you may feel as if the writer is frantically trying to justify a trait to themselves and the reader.

Also, a lack of these traits does not necessarily excuse Mary Sue status: see Anti Sue and Suetiful All Along.

This article will concern itself with gender neutral and female traits. For male variants, see Marty Stu. For a couple of litmus tests that draw on much the same source material, see here

and here

Personality

What personality? In these cases, it's fairly blatant the author is just writing the character for amazing stuff to happen to instead of a character that actually exists as a person. Obviously, this is only a Mary Sue trait if what happens gives the character special powers, fantastic romances, or somehow lets her be a big damned heroine; otherwise it's just another faceless first-person perspective.
If there is a personality, it's who the author wishes they could be, never who they are. While this is a regular feature in most original characters, Mary Sue takes it to the extreme.
Highly persuasive, regardless of the actual content of their conversations. Everyone finds her opinions are just better than their own - even when they're usually stubborn bastards. This is especially likely in an Author Tract.
Friend To All Living Things. It's becoming gradually less common as authors catch on to the Mary Sue Classic framework.
Is either brave and cheerful (despite her past), or unnecessarily mopey and depressed.
Incorruptible. In fact, unaware of the possibility of temptation.
Occasionally a complete asshole, especially when they're supposed to be all of the above. Nobody will call them out on it.

Skills

Inexplicable and/or poorly defined abilities in general, especially if they play no factor in the plot after their introduction (not even as a Required Secondary Power) and are only there to make the character seem even more awesome.
Regardless of what skill level the canon characters have established, she might just simply be better than them, often in ways that do not make sense. See also: Always Someone Better, God Mode Sue.
- Not to mention that if she isn't already skilled at something, she'll pick it up in a fraction of the time required.
- That's if she even needs to learn them at all.
A perfect singing voice. Most often shows up in Mary Sue Classic. No doubt inspired in part by the Disney Princesses, but is becoming less common what with the trait now commonly labeled as Mary Sue.
- She may have proficiency with a random musical instrument. Of course, she'll have a skill level so high, she would smash Yngwie Malmsteen in a guitar battle. On Air Guitar.
She tends to not have normal sex, but the most mind-blowingly divine sex ever.
- And she always has it with the guy that has the most fangirls.
Speaks several languages fluently. This can vary depending on the setting, of course. A modern-day diplomat is expected to know at least one or two other languages, but a 14-year-old peasant girl in Medieval Europe shouldn't know anything but her native language. It's much worse if it includes animals. Bonus points if an alien lands in her backyard and she can communicate instantly (provided it doesn't speak the language already).
A type of martial arts (bonus points if it is ninjutsu) in a setting or with a backstory that doesn't allow for it.
And with all this — don't expect the Green Eyed Monster to show up. Envy appears in the Mary Sue's life only as a means of angst, and so does not appear just because the Mary Sue has everything.

Physical Appearance

So Beautiful, It's A Curse ™. While being beautiful isn't a qualifier of Mary Sue (who wants to be ugly?), it's a bit excessive to try and play it as being some sort of disadvantage. Alternatively she may only be Suetiful All Along. In an Anti Sue, this is reversed into a hideous monster. Regardless, her astounding beauty (or astounding lack of it) will make her stand out from the crowd - or so we're constantly being told.
Unusual hair and/or eye color relative to canon is another common characteristic of Mary Sue. Alternatively, these features may be amazing in other ways - shining and shimmering eyes, or Anime Hair in non-Anime fandoms.
- Kaleidoscope Eyes. Seeing it in text is practically an instant Mary Sue qualifier.
- Eyes the color of gem stones. Not emeralds or sapphires, more unheard of eye colours like amethyst or amber. Bonus points for Boat Light eyes
- Rapunzel Hair is also common.
- But note that Silver/White Hair isn't really considered all that unusual in fiction. Sephiroth, Riku, the list is huge.
- More important than colour is highlights. Sues love streaks, tips, forelocks, fringes, and any other hair highlights of a colour completely different to the base. Bonus points if they are declared to be natural.
She might have a waiflike figure, so slim and delicate... and yet her breasts are perky, supple D-Cups, totally disregarding the fact that in reality, the slimmer you are, the smaller your breasts are likely to be (though there are real-world exceptions, a few even natural). These breasts never get in the way, or make running difficult, or sag. If height and weight figures are given, expect it to violate physics (unless she's made of styrofoam or something).
She'll often wear revealing outfits with tons of gems, Frills Of Justice, and other extraneous details, even if it may be difficult or impossible to find such an outfit in the world (or be well outside of her realistic price bracket).
Purple seems to be popular. Especially when the canon characters are a Five Man Band color-coded with red, yellow, green, blue and white/silver/black/pink. Gold is about the second most popular.
In text, massive descriptions of their clothes, or links to images of their outfits. Bonus points if it's designer clothes in a situation where it would be unlikely.

Accessories

Magic jewellery. It might be used as a Green Lantern Ring to justify her abilities.
Exotic weaponry in a setting where she shouldn't have access to such. Usually, the question of why the law enforcement allows her to carry it doesn't come up and nobody seems to find a girl carrying a large sword intimidating. Bonus points if there is no explanation for where she keeps it.
- A katana. Now it's not impossible to have a katana outside of Japan anymore, but when it's because Katanas Are Just Better (especially in a place they either shouldn't exist or would be technically useless), you've got Sue-ness coming on.
- Two katanas is almost always a dead sure sign. (three is just plain Crazy Awesome)
- Sometime they'll use guns instead, especially if the setting doesn't usually have them, and in which case they're almost always revolvers. Or a minigun.
If she has her own transport, it will always be cool and expensive. Sometimes she has her own Time Machine - even worse if it's based on something from a different canon.
She may have access to a Humongous Mecha in a universe that lacks them, or only hands them out on a case-by-case basis.
The web exists everywhere for her— she can whip out her laptop anywhere and have access to both our normal internet and the local internet of whatever world she lives in. And use it to hack toasters and the Pentagon.

Canon Character Relationships

Some Wish Fulfillment with a character you think is hot isn't that bad. But Mary Sue seems to grab their attention straight away. Even if they already have a stable love interest in canon, that relationship will be treated as either non-existent, or the couple will be split up in some way.
- Bonus points if the love interest stands aside or sacrifices himself/herself so Mary Sue can be happy, or is twisted into a hateful person to justify Mary Sue breaking up the canon couple.
- Or perhaps Mary will be introduced as the canon character's New Old Flame and this is their rediscovery of each other, though it's never really explained why they split up in the first place if they loved each other so much.
Turns out to be the offspring of a canon character. Made worse if that character would have been too young to have the Mary Sue, is gay/asexual, or perhaps is just physically incapable of it. For added Wangst, it's the villain.
- She may be related to a canon character in some other way. This can be the explanation for a Copy Cat Sue. And why spend chapters explaining why the heroes accept a total stranger into their midst so readily, when they can just shout, "Luke, I am your sister!"
- Kid From The Future may explain away the 'young' part, but not much else.
Even the characters who don't have sex with her give her more heed than they normally would. Characters she likes can't stop talking about her beauty and power. Characters she doesn't like can't stop making themselves look bad by insulting her. There may be just "something special" about them, with no particular reason why anybody would think that. In the worst-case scenarios, they pay no heed to their own responsibilities or lives, only to Sue.
Previously-established personalities change in reaction to her. Arrogant gimps may admire her for everything. Sweet, mild-mannered characters (that she doesn't like) insult and degrade her. A leader with responsibilities pays attention to only her. Young, reckless characters who would never settle down just yet will become totally reliable. Evil characters follow her around like a puppy or seem uncharacteristically obsessed with her. The characters in general just seem unnaturally focused on her, positive or negative.

Story Elements

Mary Sue is always on the Spotlight Stealing Squad. Without her, there would be no story.
If she has any flaws intentionally written in by the creator, expect them to be Informed or not really flaws to begin with. Bonus points if they're genuine flaws that would actually be pretty awesome were it not for their drawbacks (e.g. substance abuse, nymphomania, etc.), and of course the drawbacks will never be shown.
She's The Chosen One. Even if the canon hero is already The Chosen One, she either 'shares' the position or just steals it away from them.
- Or she might be part of the same specialized species/organization as the hero. See Sailor Earth.
- Alternately she is "Destined to help the destined one fulfill their destiny" which pretty much means do all the real work except for the final blow so the prophecy isn't technically wrong.
She is often around the age the author is, or just looks that way despite being Really Seven Hundred Years Old so that she can be wise and leaderly. This doesn't have to be bad (there are many settings where it's acceptable) but when you start seeing hardened military officers that are 16...
Sympathetic Sue has an unusually Dark And Troubled Past to the excess, but other subtypes often have them too, just to emphasize how brave and special she is to live through it. This past is rarely explored in-depth, just dropped casually into the conversation to get attention. Alternatively it's written badly owing to not doing much research. How much she Wangsts about it is usually out of proportion with how bad it really is.
- There are several popular methods:
Parental Abandonment - usually for being too powerful, or for being too spunky and independant.
Heartwarming Orphan - plane crashes and car accidents are increasingly common ways to make her feel responsible, without actually doing anything wrong.
Rape or Molestation - especially when given less than a paragraph in the whole story.
She might be a Blithe Spirit and reform an entire population center of its negative qualities. Bonus points if this involves The Power Of Love, The Power Of Rock, or (to paraphrase Lisa Simpson) "[...]rebellious... in a conformist sort of way".
Perform a Heroic Sacrifice as a way to prove that she's Too Good For This Sinful Earth. Bonus points if the story goes out of the way to ensure she doesn't leave an ugly corpse (whether it be by a method that doesn't involve external physical damage or by her body not being recovered).
- More bonus points if it turns out to be a Disney Death. Just stop reading if it says something to the extent of "God wanted me back here".
She might turn out to secretly be half-human, half-(insert species here). Or maybe just full (insert species here). Elf is extremely common, but any sufficiently human looking, "pretty" race will work. For added points, make her feel outright shame because she's not human even though, if anything, it only makes her more beautiful and/or powerful.
- Or maybe she's a Cute Monster Girl. Bonus points if this does not mesh with canon (i.e. canon dragongirls have heavy scales, flat chests, large talons for hands/feet, and are just flat out monstrous, but this character is just simply human with dragon wings, tail, unobtrusive horns, and a couple random scales on her shoulders and midsection).
- Also common is vampire-anything (like a Half Vampire), with no discernable monstrous attributes or drawbacks, which often leads to great amounts of Purple Prose or a Copy Cat Sue syndrome (can anyone say Blade?).
- In some cases she's somehow half-human + half-elf + half-veela + half-angel + half-saiyan + half-God-like ridiculous hybrid creature. Bonus points if one of these races does not even exist in the story's canon, or if the end result would be illogical by definition (i.e. a half-demon/half-angel).
- If the character is already a furry, they'll typically be some incomprehensible hybrid, a rare or little-used (always pretty) species, and/or have wings regardless of species.
Redeems the villain through her overwhelming goodness. Might be through Redemption Equals Sex (bonus points if it leads into IKEA Erotica). Even more bonus points if the story decides to mention that this is her loss of virginity. Yet more bonus points if the villain comments on how awesome she is in bed despite said virginity.
- As she gives the most awesome, mind-blowing, divine sex ever, it obviously comes with super-redeming powers. Yet, if the villain isn't her choice love interest, her love interest of choice will be better at it.
Is a princess. Everything's Better With Princesses, after all. Bonus points if she grew up as a peasant (or equivalent social class) and only just discovered this during the story. Of course, in any case, it will be a position of high opulence and little actual responsibility.
- On a similar note, the Changeling Fantasy is popular enough in its own right without ever involving Rags To Royalty to begin with. It's certainly advantageous to the writer to have a set of cruel parents that can be replaced with ideal ones.
In fantasy canons, she can break the Rules of the World at will. Often, nobody will even be surprised.
If she ever does anything wrong, she's both instantly remorseful about it and Easily Forgiven by those she wrongs.
Sue: I'm sorry I Just Shot Marvin In The Face.
Marvin's Friend: It's okay. I never liked him, anyway.
She will often suffer from Special Snowflake Syndrome, having some trait or backstory that sets her apart from her race.
- This can be taken to the point of being from another setting entirely. It's no coincidence that many of the most notorious fanfics are mega-Crossovers.
Sometimes, the Sue has only one supernatural power: being The Chosen One. Her chosenness makes her critically important to the world, but since she has no other godlike powers, she will spend most of the story being kidnapped (usually by a villainous love interest) and/or otherwise victimised. This is becoming more common as writers catch on to God Mode Sue, since it allows her to continue stealing the spotlight while still avoiding the "god mode" label.

Names

May be named after the author in some form. Becoming less frequent as people catch on to the Litmus Tests.
May have some overly long, complicated, usually Meaningful Name that relates to her abilities or personality - whether this is usual in canon or not.
Her name is sometimes a gemstone, a flower, or a pretty color (e.g. Violet, Sapphire). With Emo-Sues, her name is something spooky, mystical, or related to darkness (e.g. Raven, Trinity). Of particular note, Serenity seems to be a cliche often finding its way into parodies.
Maybe they have a generic Japanese name like Hikari or Sakura. Bonus points if it's a decidedly non-Japanese setting.
- The reverse can also occur in other cultures, when people are given "exotic" English words for names. Often results in name which doesn't mean quite what the author intended, due to the large vocabulary and connotations attached to many supposedly synonymous words in the English language.
  - And of course the same can apply to any other language that the author thinks is cool.
Above all, the name is inconsistent within their particular culture. So you get cases of a small isolated village where Bob and Andy are lusting over Serenity Jasmine Sunrise Snapdragon.

Presentation

A massive amount of time gets spent on describing her every feature in her introduction. Obviously, most canon characters are already well-defined to the reader whereas the new character needs an adequate description, but if it spends paragraphs, continues cropping up throughout the story, and includes detailed appendices on every little detail, just abandon all hope.
She gets Purple Prose (usually with heavy Fetish emphasis) while no other character character (canon or otherwise) gets it. Whereas her love interest extends his hand out to her, she slowly but confidently raises her slim, tender, yet dexterous left hand that has a ring on her index finger to hide a small birth mark, shifting her weight to her front stiletto adorned foot and causing her long, flowing aquamarine hair done with two front tails to ripple and her supple yet firm right breast to shift ever so slightly, rubbing against her slightly loose but supportive black lace bra and causing her heart-shaped face to gain a slight bit of blush underneath her sparkling green eyes.
- Relatedly, many things about her are described as "[adjective] yet/but [adjective that often comes into conflict with the other adjective]".
In visual media, the camera just can't stop staring at her. Every angle is seen several times and her every action gets a heavy emphasis with close-up shots galore. Other characters don't get to be in the frame alone if it can be helped.
New words get made up to describe her. She isn't just fantastic, she's megariffic!
Whole passages seem minimalistic, as though the author knows what's going on and only wrote the parts that he/she wanted to fetish-obsess over.
Pressing concerns of the actual story such as a villain who's actively trying to take over the world, aren't even addressed because everybody is too busy taking an interest in the new girl's life.
Alternatively, major plot points (that aren't solved by the new girl) are done entirely off screen. If the handsome yet evil character walks in and explains that he has seen the error of his ways, confronted his evil father, killed The Dragon, and found the seventh and final MacGuffin all in one sentence and nobody seems to really care because Princess Doctor Professor Saint Serenity Jasmine Belle Sunrise Snapdragon the Ninja, KBE, Esq., wasn't directly involved, that's not a good sign.
The author takes personal offense at any criticism of the character or story, no matter how well-meaning or justified it is.
- Bonus points for an overblown ego behind it.

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