A ‘Mary Sue’ character will either have an unrealistic, compendious skill set that outshines everyone else, or otherwise, she/he will simply be praised by the other characters for a small contribution. All her/his ideas are praised as brilliant, all her/his jokes are laughed at, (even if they aren’t funny, which they usually aren’t) and any insight she/he offers will be seen as amazing deductions, no matter if they are glaringly obvious or moronically simplistic.
A Mary Sue is able to persuade anyone to see her/his way of thinking, regardless of how weak her/his argument is. People will trust her/him right away and people who just met her/him will immediately be taken with ‘Mary Sue’ and start talking about how amazing she/he is. Other characters will spend much of the episode talking about how special the Mary Sue is, even if she/he hasn’t done anything to give that impression.
A Mary Sue is pure goodness. She/he doesn’t actually have to do anything to prove it…Mary Sue is just good! Mary Sue is better than the rest of us; not by anything she/he does…She/he is just better because she is! Anyone who doesn’t like the Mary Sue is either portrayed as an unsympathetic character, or will change their opinion by the end of the story and admit that the Mary Sue is indeed wonderful. Mary Sue will often redeem the villain through the power of her/his goodness.
A Mary Sue will generally have no flaws. However, if she/he does, those flaws are either overlooked by everyone or considered endearing. She/he is never blamed for any problems she/he causes, and is always easily forgiven for doing things that other characters would be lambasted or punished for.
Mary Sue is always in the spotlight, sometimes even more-so than the hero. Even though the Mary Sue is usually a supporting character, she/he will either save the day at the end of the episode, or otherwise be the object that everyone is fighting over. A hero will often see the Mary Sue as the inspiration that keeps him fighting, even if the audience can’t see the appeal. (Well, except for the appeal of the invariably good looks of the female Mary Sues, who are always very attractive.)
A Mary Sue will usually have a tormented background to make her/him more appealing and sympathetic to the audience (Since we can’t sympathize with this perfect character otherwise.) Usually they will have had a bad childhood, or have overcome something like poverty or the death of a loved one.
A Mary Sue will often have some special destiny. At first they are just a downtrodden regular (albeit perfect) person, but later will be revealed to have an important place in the universal scheme of things.
The point of a Mary Sue is not in what she/he does but in how others react to her/him. A Mary Sue exists to be praised; an object to be idolized by others. She/he inspires others with contagious goodness, and makes the hero fight harder, even if the Mary Sue never actually does anything of note.
A Mary Sue is generally a wish-fulfillment character. The writer/showrunner often sees her/himself in this character and puts herself/himself by proxy in the story through this character, which is why the Mary Sue character usually gets the biggest happy ending of all the characters in the show.
(via klarolinestan)
Broke Bohemian 