The Universal Mary Sue Litmus Test

[Lunasola]

Now I'm sure most of you already know what a Mary Sue is, but if not, let's clarify~!

A Mary Sue (sometimes just Sue), in literary criticism and particularly in fanfiction, is a fictional character with overly idealized and hackneyed mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as a wish-fulfilment fantasy for the author or reader. It is generally accepted as a character whose positive aspects overwhelm their other traits until they become one-dimensional.

Definition courtesy of Wikipedia

Now I just thought I'd make this thread for anyone interested in seeing if their OC scrapes the 'Mary Sue' line or not. Of course, just because your character gets a high mark does not mean your character is necessarily a Mary Sue, but it's good just to get a basic idea.

Parts 1 and 5 should generally be completed, and possibly Part 2 as well if you take their backstory into consideration (or maybe a different story of their own).

Some of these questions may not be entirely relevant to AALC but just try your best or skip them out.

Afterwards, post your results and see what you got!

Test here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

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0-16 Points
Most likely Not-Sue. Characters at this level could probably take a little spicing up without hurting them any.

17-21
Fanfiction characters can go either way at this point depending on the writer. For an RPG or original fiction character, however, you're most likely perfectly fine.

22-29
Original fiction and RPG characters can go either way at this point depending on the writer. Fanfiction characters may need some adjustment, however.

30-35
Fanfiction authors beware - Mary's on the loose. There's still a chance you can save this character with some TLC, though. Role-players and original fiction writers, you should also consider tweaking your character.

36+
Fanfiction authors, you might just want to start over. Role-players and original fiction authors, at this point your characters are likely to provoke eye-rolling and exclaimations of "yeah, right!" from your readers. (Well, at least from me.) Immediate workover is probably in order.

50+
Kill it dead. Or make sure you read the instructions properly (some people don't do this, which causes freakishly high scores) and take the test again.

[Richard Wallace]

15 here. xD It is a pretty dang difficult test, makes you think!
Those vampire-specific questions at the bottom made me crack up a little.


To avoid spamming, adding Audi here: 16! Oh my!

[Lunasola]

17 for Rendaz! I suppose it comes from his backstory... the whole shebang of raising himself on the streets and being banished from the other ruckarls. >3>

Notable question:

d. Clothing that is realistically impractical or improper for the character's situation, but looks cool?

...Aha...

Lunie had 6.... Tragic backstory roped in quite a lot but the de-suifiers helped to get rid of most of them xD;;

And Owen got, uh, -3. Whups.

Solasta got 9...

And Tony got a 38. ^^; Probably one of my more sue-ish characters for sure!

[Irina Henriksdottir]

-1 for Irina, and frankly that's just crap. I must've missed some places to check off for being melodramatic and dying for it. But the De-Suifiers took out the few checkmarks I had.

[Leon Barner]

Leon got a 21 lol.

Chayne got a whopping 11 X3

And Deneli got a 16 :3

Becca got a 5 X'D

[Denskith]

. . . So. > >; This was interesting, to say the least.

Ambrose: 63. o o; There was a consensus that he's not a Gary-Stu, though. It might be mostly due him being overpowered but also having horrible defects (debilitating curse, coinage obsession) . . . His past didn't help with the score, either. XD;

Denskith: 36. ^ ^; Being experimented on does not help with scoring. Neither does being adopted. Or having mutations. Or being scarred horribly. Or . . . Still, I might need to think about this one a little.

Now for the fun one: my original (as in Genesis) OC. I expect this score to be high. Unfortunately.

Daggers: 28. Despite eye-color, hybridity, and otherwise Mary-Sue traits, he scores the lowest. I guess that's the magic of PTSD for you. . . . I got some good inspiration out of it, too-- need to work on my elves. : P

[Guest]

Aesis: -3

Pai: 0

Rhys: -8

ASDGHAAAH..

That makes my characters boring. .n.

[Henry Quickair]

i dont get how todo this D:

[YuukiHyouketsu]

after some character edits (adding weaknesses that i've discovered while rping), yuuki got an 18....i refuse to disclose the original score XD . however, i would once again like to thank aalc for helping my character grow ^^

[Aesis - DISCONTINUED]

@Jami: You kinda click the boxes according to your character's bio/description/traits etc.

For instance:

"Does your character have a name based off a noun?" (It was a question something like that or so)

For Pai and Rhys, I had to click the check box next to it, since their names are based off of common foods xP

P.S. Has anyone read the manga Medaka Box? I only read the first chapter, but the main character/class president person is so Mary Sue like its nothing >o>;;

[Alicia Harper]

Alicia got:
...
42

xD i like that number though

[Aesis - DISCONTINUED]

42 is the meaning of life. --Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Kudos to youse twinrar 8D -thumbsup-

[Henry Quickair]

jami- in the 50's
Henry- 1 (Way to go henry!)
Chimney- 6

[Ambrose]

Couple more OCs here. XP One of these will eventually join AALC, depending on the Shattered Echoes thread; have fun guessing who.

Metis-- 12. Mirror Girl's the 'normal' one in Ambrose's story and can't really do anything. > >; There's a prophecy, though.

Disaster/Occurrence/Vernal Equinox-- 19. I'm glad I took it for him; the test made me think about his backstory, for once. Still . . . "Does your character look like a celebrity?" XD;

And: I always have to check "Do you use poetic and/or creative terms to describe your character?" ALWAYS. > <;;; I love question 22, though. No, They are not happier. I don't think any of Them are, in the end.

[AislingGhost]

Very late reply--Aisling is my most non-Mary Sue character, with a score of 4 XDDDD

it helps that she goofs up so much--that subtracted a few extra points, haha. I'm kinda glad that I made her though. I mean, all my other characters were made yeeeaaarrs ago, like back when I was 12/13-ish, so I guess Aisling shows that my character creation changed.

because let's face it, Yuuki was absurdly Mary Sue when she started, and though she's better now...

well, yeah, you get the idea XD

[Esteban]

Well done on the improvement, Yuuki~!


...I got... 34 here. More than Audi and Richard combined.

Why?

Well, there was almost nothing in all categories apart from one... Family. Being a magical creature abandoned by their parents and raised by mundane humons makes a changeling insta-Sue x'D

[Shae-Lantern]

Shae got 14.. not bad considering his past
Mitsi got 5... which is quite surprising really- thought he'd have more than Shae xD

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