The teacher introduced the newcomer. By height, he stood out among all the guys in the class. Beautiful thick hair was so black that it gave a bluish-metallic shade. And expressive amber-colored eyes framed by fluffy long eyelashes looked calm and domineering. When it appeared, my heart beat faster.
This is approximately what the typical appearance of Marty Sue looks like - a frequent fanfic, and sometimes the owner of her own full-fledged original story. This name has become a household name for heroes with an outstanding appearance, often a tragic past and an invariably great future. With enviable constancy, they save the Earth (and even the entire Universe) from complete destruction, simultaneously falling in love with all individuals of the opposite sex, miraculously receive all conceivable and unimaginable abilities, and unscathed come out of all the vicissitudes, while not forgetting to cope with the heroic effort of will the consequences of a difficult childhood.
Our hero has a female hypostasis - Mary Sue. Where did they come from? Why did you get such names? And is it possible to automatically characterize any character with an attractive appearance and special talents as Marty Sue?
The birth of an image
The first to appear was Mary Sue. Back in 1973, she climbed the bridge of a spaceship in the Star Trek universe with a light gait and, with the light hand of the author of the fan fiction, Paula Smith, remained in the annals of history as a kind of standard of tasteless and lurid embellishment of the character. Her heroine (English Mary Sue), fifteen years old, instantly conquered all crew members with her unearthly beauty and extraordinary abilities, solved all problems by plugging in the belt of seasoned wolves of space routes, and tragically died in the color of the same fifteen years under mournful crying men in love with her.
In fairness, it is worth noting that Paul Smith wrote her story precisely as a parody of fanfics that were gaining popularity and were full of undeveloped characters. It turned out so well for her that they began to use the name Mary, as the dismissive name of the main character. A male character with similar qualities was nicknamed Marty, retaining the same surname. Although in the Russian spelling you can find the Marty Stu version.
What's in a name?
Among the distinctive features of the literary Marty often stands out a complex, artsy and illogical name. Some Mark Antonio Jesus von Kyoto can easily live in the lost village of the Oryol province or, at worst, be an Irish immigrant in the Wild West. At the same time, close friends will call him Nicky. The incoherence and inconsistency in the description is generally the main distinguishing feature of Marty Sue.
Also, the author often uses his personal name or its derivatives. This happens for two main reasons: firstly, it’s easier, and secondly, the often inexperienced author takes the main character off himself, and in this case his own name looks as organic as possible.
A rare and intricate family tree
The tangled genealogy of the protagonist is also prescribed to match the magnificent name. He simply cannot be the son of mere mortals. At least in the family should be aristocrats with blue blood (even more often, he will be the direct heir to the throne). And in fantasy worlds, from mixing different blood, the head goes round. It’s scary to think about the love story of parents, and earlier the grandparents of this very hero. Because the angel somehow comes from the union of the vampire with the dryad, and in the marriage of the werewolf and demigod female, a magician is born, whose son will be our Marty.
Most often, parents tragically die in the first years of their child’s life, preferably in the eyes of this child. So he has the meaning of life (read: an obsession) - to find and take revenge on offenders in a particularly harsh form.
Dazzling appearance
Marty certainly looks stunning. Moreover, literally everything is knocked down within sight, often regardless of gender and sexual orientation. All positive characters Marty idolize, and negatively fiercely hate. For envy! What do the poor fellows still have to do?
The height of the hero must be above average. The figure of Apollo, on the body of a single scar (however, tattoos are allowed, especially if they are with a hidden meaning), shoulders are wide. Eyes are necessarily described especially carefully and in detail. They are certainly expressive, piercing, dreamy, and at the same time hypnotizing. Hair, as a rule, is long and thick of the most unimaginable shades from blue-black to acid-yellow, but in no way ordinary blond or chestnut. Such a “hellish” Marty Sue looms.
Bright personality
Marty's character deserves special attention. This character simply does not have averages and midtones. How else? He is so exceptional! Therefore, our hero is certainly either unbearably kind and attentive to everything that exists (except for those to whom he must take revenge, of course), or angry and cruel (but inside he is unbearably kind, you just need to get to the bottom of this kindness).
Such duality often arises from the fact that the author is overly focused on the hero. He should have everything very, very! As for the elementary argumentation of his actions or their logical sequence, everything is attributed to the originality and infallibility of the character.
Master of martial arts
Marty fights skillfully and tastefully. He knows how to skillfully handle almost any weapon, and if necessary he will turn any improvised means into a weapon. In hand-to-hand combat, he is also invariably good. In addition to conventional techniques, in his arsenal there will certainly be secret tricks passed down from generation to generation or shown to him by a wise mentor. If the action takes place in a world where magic is present, then the hero will certainly be fluent in some of the available forces, and in especially advanced cases - and all at once.
Tamer of all living things
Marty Sue will easily find a common language with any representative of the animal world. Among his companions is often a favorite, devoted exclusively to his master and faithfully protecting the latter from the entire surrounding world. At a minimum, it will be a wolf or other exotic predator. Often a dragon or an unknown hybrid of completely incompatible predators can act as a beast.
However, not everything is Marty that has the unique abilities or sympathy of others. Often, for an unmistakable definition in Marty Sue's fan fiction or original work, characterization will not even be the most important, albeit significant, factor.
The main difference between a well-developed hero and a cardboard and ill-conceived Marty is a causal relationship (and, accordingly, its absence). For example, if the protagonist has reached the heights of fencing skills thanks to years of hard training under the guidance of an experienced teacher, it is not surprising that he will win the battles. But if another fellow traveler from our world into a fantasy one, who in his life did not twist anything heavier than a ballpoint pen, grabbing a sword for the first time, immediately disperses a small detachment of regular troops, then this is a classic case of “syunness” in its severe manifestation.
Harry potter under suspicion
It happens that among the fans heated debate erupts in connection with their favorite characters. For example: is Harry Potter Marty Sue? Indeed, with a cursory glance, one can easily agree with this statement.
Judge for yourself: a simple schoolboy has been pulling the plot for seven years, the main antagonist is stubbornly chasing after him, but Harry always manages to emerge victorious. But if you look more carefully, a completely different picture emerges.
First of all, Harry is far from an ideal student. Yes, in high school he teaches other students magical tricks, but he does not know them because it came in some miraculous way, but because he had to use these spells in real life. And he was specially trained for him. Harry makes mistakes, he has his own weaknesses, and what he knows is the result of considerable efforts on his part.
Hermione's charge
Even more vivid accusations of "Marysuiness" fall on another heroine of this universe - Hermione Granger. Like, and clever, and beauty, and a know-it-all ... Yes, and Joanna Rowling herself does not hide that she wrote this character from herself (and the personal projection of the author on the hero is one of the clear indicators of Mary Sue).
However, again, just some isolated individual indicators are not enough to brand the heroine with the unflattering nickname Mary Sue. Even Rowling herself does not idealize Granger at all. Remember, in the first book with a little dummy, no one wanted to be friends at all, including Harry and Ron. Subsequently, Hermione more than once frankly sat down in a puddle, but the “accusations” of beauty can generally only apply to actress Emma Watson, because according to the book, Hermione was by no means the first beauty. Even her notorious all-knowingness has a firm justification - the girl spends all her vacations on preparing for the school year, almost memorizing textbooks by heart.
Signs of “Sustainability” in Naruto
But in the universe of the anime "Naruto" Marty Sue are frequent guests. For example, almost all females are in love with Sasuke Uchiha. And he himself does nothing for this. In addition, Sasuke has incredible learning successes. In the very first battle with demons, a very young and inexperienced student not only enters the battle and gives a worthy rebuff to enemies, but, according to Naruto, he does this effortlessly, without even sweating.
Naruto himself also does not graze the rear. His educational successes are dizzying, and any hero will envy the number of friends. The popularity of this anime series, as well as the features of character rendering, gave rise to a lot of fan fiction, in which Marty and Mary Sue bloomed in magnificent colors. No exception and parody genres.
Mary Sue as a comedic character
On the fertile ground of fanfics and samizdat, seeds of a separate independent grotesque genre were germinated, in which characters are deliberately drawn with hypertrophied signs of "suoids." Talented authors even manage to put these super-characters in situations that do not even crush superpowers, and this adds even more comicism to the presented humorous genre.
The main distinguishing features
How can authors not accidentally put Marty Sue in their fanfiction? It is worth remembering its main distinguishing features and carefully avoiding them when working out your hero. So Marty is known for:
- by his often pretentious name and loud nickname (prefixes von, de and others are welcome, even if we are talking about the son of a peasant);
- incredibly spectacular appearance without a single drawback (the tan is necessarily even, no scars or calluses);
- the hero’s sexual victories compete only with the list of enemies defeated by him (for everyone must fall in love with Marty Sue);
- the level of possession of weapons is slightly higher than absolute perfection (here you can safely include all magic or supernatural skills);
- they either want to be friends with the hero or hate violently (as a rule, due to envy of his abilities and successes);
- problems and difficulties are solved either directly due to the genius of the hero, or as a result of a happy combination of circumstances;
- literally everything is forgiven to the hero (insolence, cruelty and injustice);
- the hero’s numerous virtues are often contradictory to themselves (invariable kindness to all living things peacefully adjoins the determination to destroy anyone who has encroached on something dear to Marty).