Mary Sue

Mary Sue is a derogatory term for a phenomenon that emerges especially in the fan fiction about famous books and films. Furthermore, the term has become very popular in role-playing games. It is a mostly female and often very young main character ( male Mary Sues are Marty Stu, Stu Murray, Gary Sue, Gary Stu, or - rarely - Barry Lue called ), which is equipped with highly idealized traits and characteristics. It represents modern positions and moves into action the interest of all secondary characters to be. It goes without saying that it solves all the problems that arise with flying colors.

It is often assumed that it is an idealized self-portrait of the author, and mainly serves its own fantasies.

Origin

The term Mary Sue is from the short story A Trekkies tale by Paula Smith, which was published in 1974 in the magazine Menagerie # 2. The Halbvulkanierin Lieutenant Mary Sue is superior to Kirk, Spock and Dr. McCoy in every respect. She saves all three life and eventually dies in tragic circumstances.