Tropes that are directly related to and often found on Mary Sue and her brother Marty Stu. Not related to Peggy Sue.
See also The Beautiful Tropes, Trapped in Another World, Harem Genre, Purity Personified, and Rule of Glamorous.
Tropes:
Subindex:
Mary Sue Types
No examples of the pages in this section, please. With the exception of Dream Sue and Parody Sue, the various types of Mary Sue have been declared Flame Bait.
- Anti-Sue: A Mary Sue who has many "anti-Sue traits"—ugly, clumsy, untalented, etc—but is still a Mary Sue by other means, such as being worshipped by everyone or always succeeding without fail.
- Black Hole Sue: Much like a black hole, this is a Mary Sue who "sucks in" the plot and characters to her. Characters will behave outside their personalities, logic will be defied, and rules will be broken for her sake.
- Canon Sue: A Mary Sue who is a canonical character.
- Copy Cat Sue: A Mary Sue who is a carbon copy of the creator's favorite character (same abilities, same backstory, etc.)
- Dream Sue: A character who dreams themself being perfect in every way.
- Einstein Sue: A Mary Sue who is amazingly smarter than others, even if said others are professionals and said Mary Sue is an everyday person.
- Fixer Sue: Within a Fix Fic, this is a Mary Sue who is more of a plot device than a person. Her main purpose is to railroad the plot and fix what the author originally didn't like.
- God-Mode Sue: A Mary Sue who is so amazingly powerful that they can never be defeated.
- Jerk Sue: A Mary Sue who is mean or maybe even cruel, but are still treated as an ideal person.
- Lemon Stu: Appearing in lemon fics, this is a Mary Sue (very often a Marty Stu) who can and will sleep with anyone and everyone they want to, on top of being a Sex God.
- Marty Stu: A male Mary Sue.
- Mary Sue herself.
- Mary Sue Classic: The classic embodiment of a Mary Sue—beautiful, can do no wrong, the object of everyone's affection, and probably able to fix every problem.
- Mary Tzu: A tactician Mary Sue, able to overcome every battle and war no matter if her side is outgunned and overpowered.
- Neutrality Sue: Neutrality means that a Mary Sue can do whatever they want and get away with it.
- Parody Sue: An intentional, Played for Laughs Mary Sue.
- Possession Sue: A canonical character-turned-Author Avatar.
- Purity Sue: Adorable, endearing to all, always positive, kind, and gentle, this Mary Sue's only flaws only make her more likable, like naivete or clumsiness.
- Relationship Sue: A Mary Sue whose personality, arc, and traits all go towards being the perfect match for another (typically male) character.
- Sympathetic Sue: When The Woobie is cranked up to the max, this Mary Sue's personality and backstory all carry the intention of making one feel bad for her.
- Villain Sue: An evil Mary Sue, typically either A) given a Freudian Excuse to dismiss their wrongdoings, or B) made so invincible that the heroes suffer personality and intelligence changes so that the villain can win.
Concepts
- 30-Sue Pileup: A work features several kinds of Mary Sues.
- The Ace: A character who is great at everything and highly respected for it.
- Alternate History Wank (for countries in Alternate History stories; also known as Republic of Mary Sue): A group, faction, or even county that is wildly successful in an alternate version of history.
- Canon Defilement: Fanfics tend to include whatever the author wants it to, but this is an Audience Reaction for when the artistic license goes a little too far.
- Can't Argue with Elves (for ideologies instead of people): An entire race is presented as perfect, incapable of fault, and always right in an argument.
- Creator's Pet: A character who is loved by their creator but hated by the fans.
- Dream Sue: When a character dreams of being perfect in every way.
- Her Code Name Was "Mary Sue": A character creates a Mary Sue character for their own wish fulfillment.
- Humans Are Special (For usnote — humans): A work features several other species, but humans are shown as the more "special" race.
- Humanity Is Advanced: When compared to other races (including aliens), humans are the most technologically advanced.
- Humanity Is Superior: Among other fictional races, humans are superior due to a special ability, history, etc.
- Mary-Sue Hunter: A character who hunts down Mary Sues in other fanfics to get rid of them.
- Redemption Equals Sex: A plotline where a villain's redemption consists of having sex with the Relationship Sue.
- Sex–Face Turn: The Mary Sue is just so good at sex that the villain switches sides for her.
- Sailor Earth (when it overlaps with Copy Cat Sue): The setting of a work establishes a certain order or theme for characters. This can be teams, schools, special powers, etc.—whatever it is, it makes it easy to create a character that fits into that order or theme.
- Stock Light-Novel Hero: A character archetype that is frequently a Mary Sue, but not all the time.
- Superior Species (for species instead of people): A species better than all other species in every thinkable way.
- We Are "Team Cannon Fodder" (If Mary is on a team): Sure, the characters are in a team, but it's really only the one character (usually the captain) that does everything.
Genres
- Fix Fic: A fanfiction with the main purpose of changing aspects of the original canon the author didn't like, like the outcomes for their ships or a Downer Ending.
- Reformed Rakes: The most common plotline for the Relationship Sue.
- Self-Insert Fic: When the author (or a character who is practically a copy of said author) features in a fanfiction as a protagonist.
