Basic Trope: A nun who engages in some sort of behavior (usually of the non-virtuous variety) that one would not expect of a nun.
- Straight: Sister Mary Sue goes out on Friday nights for cocktails. Her habit is a little revealing, she cusses like a sailor, and she has been seen at the local No-Tell Motel every now and then.
- Exaggerated:
- Sister Mary Sue goes out several times a week for cocktails dressed in something that's Stripperific or even Vapor Wear. She cusses so much sailors have been known to faint from shock, and is a regular at the local No-Tell Motel. With Father Martin, no less!
- All monastery of sister Mary Sue is involved in criminal activities such as drug traffiking, stealing buyup and moonshining.
- Alternatively, Sister Mary Sue is the Big Bad.
- Downplayed:
- Sister Mary Sue doesn't so much Kick the Dog as Poke the Poodle.
- When no one's around, Sister Mary Sue likes to have a cigarette and a stiff drink and give herself fancy hairdos.
- Sister Maria is pious but a bit too whimsical and immature to be a nun. She enjoys singing songs, climbing trees, and sneaking off to go on walkabouts in the countryside, and is often late for prayers.
- Justified:
- Sister Mary Sue is in a Nuns Are Mikos or Naughty Nuns setting, where her behavior and that of an actual nun may be two very different things.
- Sister Mary Sue is very religious, but also has little to no self-control. Thus making her do things she will regret.
- Sister Mary Sue's monastery is a part of Corrupt Church or Path of Inspiration.
- Inverted:
- Sister Mary Sue is a decent person who sincerely does her best to live up to the ideals of her Noble Profession.
- Alternatively, Freaky Fashion, Mild Mind.
- Sister Mary Sue is a Satanic priestess who acts like a stereotypical fundamentalist Christian with a "Holier Than Thou" attitude.
- Gender Inverted: Father Martin drinks, smokes, and repeatedly breaks his vow of celibacy.
- Subverted:
- Sister Mary Sue enjoys the occasional cocktail, may even say the occasional "Damn it!" But is still a good person, and still does her best to be a good nun.
- Alternatively, Sister Mary Sue ''used'' to be like that, but isn't anymore. Her sordid past does come back to haunt her, however, and no one can believe she's actually a nun now.
- She likes to go out and do fun things society does not associate with nuns, but doesn't do anything bad or unwholesome.
- Double Subverted: ...In front of her Mother Superior. When Mother Superior isn't looking, Sister Mary Sue kicks puppies and jaywalks on her way to the No-Tell Motel to meet Father Martin, with cocktail in hand.
- Parodied: All the nuns in Sister Mary Sue's order are wanton sluts bent on world domination.
- Zig Zagged: Sister Mary Sue dresses in a Bad Habit, but says her prayers and is helpful. At night, she goes on a drunken puppy-kicking rampage. The next day,Catholic guilt sets in, and she turns herself in and makes amends. Then she is seduced by Father Martin, and says a Novena afterwards.
- Averted: Sister Mary Sue is a generic nun, portrayed as neither overly good nor particularly naughty.
- Enforced: "What if a nun acted like that?" "Great idea! Let's make the main character a nun!"
- Lampshaded: "Were you even listening to the vows you took!?"
- Invoked: Sister Mary Sue acts like this so she'll get kicked out of the convent she has no desire to be part of in the first place. (Or no longer desires to be part of.)
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Sister Mary Sue strives to be the perfect nun.
- Discussed: "Um, Sister Mary Sue is a little...different. We really wonder why she's here at the convent of Our Lady of Tropes in the first place."
- Conversed: "They actually let her join their convent?! The Catholic Church must be really desperate..."
- Deconstructed: Sister Mary Sue is an outsider in the convent, the other nuns blatantly disapproving of her Nun Too Holy behavior. She isn't a bad person, she just couldn't give up some of her vices. She may not even want to be in the convent, but was sent there by parents who wanted to get rid of her.
- Reconstructed: Sister Mary Sue channels her urges to have fun in a more acceptable direction. She takes her fellow nuns to the amusement park, goes rollerblading, starts snowball fights, and engages in various other pastimes that may seem un-nun-like to outsiders but don't go against her vows. She livens up the convent and the other nuns become fond of her.
Back to Nun Too Holy.
