Anneka Elizabeth is a Mary Sue. So is the Goblin King.

[modernwizard]

According to this amusing quiz, Anneka Elizabeth is a stinkin' rotten Mary Sue. Well, of course she is. She developed out of a doll called AE for Alter Ego. She's supposed to be semi-autobiographical.

I ran Jareth the Goblin King [movie version] through the quiz too. Guess what? He came up as an "Uber-Sue." I think it's because he has many traits [weird eyes, weird hair, weird clothes, weird name, magic powers, sexiness] romanticized by writers of fanfic. There's probably an essay for the Realm in here somewhere....

Comments

[sappho413.livejournal.com]

Not to weep, so are Sherlock Holmes and Jane Eyre. I'd like Great Literature Mary Sues for $600 please, Alex!

[katranna.livejournal.com]

But Jane Eyre is the definition of a Mary Sue in litearature. (I even used to hate the book because of that.) How can she NOT be seen as a Sue?

[sappho413.livejournal.com]

I think the very fact that so many of the characters of great literature are Mary Sue by definition is an indication that the concept is somewhat flawed. If characters were not very individually talented and more interesting than regular people, no one would want to read about them.

Where the difficulty lies is when characters are badly written and just like every other so-called individually talented character. We get tired of the cliches, even though a stereotype has to have some validity in order to become a cliche.

Jane Eyre can't really be denigrated for being a Mary Sue, because she was one of the first of her type of character. She can't be derivative, because she was written before the others. Rather, one would have to say that other characters are derived from her formula.

I LOVE that book. I love the Scarlet Pimpernel as well, and it's got Emo-Sue written all over it.