Zoë Sumra Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 [quote name='Errant Bard' post='1531246' date='Sep 25 2008, 17.08']I see the discrepancy as a general bias not something specific to mary sues, as you could probably apply that to any category of character... most slick thieves are white straight men, most support characters are white straight men, most dark lords are white straight men, etc.[/quote] Agreed. Western adventure literature's [i]boring[/i] in that respect. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L'Sana Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 [quote name='Korr' post='1530891' date='Sep 25 2008, 02.08'][quote] Well, that would mean Honor Harrington passes the test easily, since she is neither a man nor white.[/quote] That's debatable. Regards, Ryan [/quote] I don't think it is, actually. Honor is definitely not male. From the descriptions in the books, she is definitely not white. She is, however, a repeated world-saver. Whatever else she may be, she is definitely that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Korr Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 [quote name='L'Sana' post='1532977' date='Sep 26 2008, 20.34']I don't think it is, actually. Honor is definitely not male. From the descriptions in the books, she is definitely not white. She is, however, a repeated world-saver. Whatever else she may be, she is definitely that.[/quote] I was just being sarky, suggesting that Honor might as well be a white man, because she acts exactly like one. Regards, Ryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazydog7 Posted January 14, 2009 Author Share Posted January 14, 2009 I found another one Rifleman Dodd by the same guy that wrote Horatio Hornblower while I have a great deal of respect for the level of detail the main character is always berating social and military inferiors for their lack of intelligence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazydog7 Posted June 3, 2009 Author Share Posted June 3, 2009 I found another one any main character written by Simon R. Green the guy that wrote The Deathstalker series a good set of books overall (which I just discovered so they'll last about a month) The SAGA OF THE SEVEN SUNS always gets totted as Song of Ice and Fire in space but I would nominate this series it has several court scenes that would not be out of place in Westros. http://www.amazon.com/Deathstalker-Simon-R...3339&sr=8-2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grogsmash Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 The SAGA OF THE SEVEN SUNS always gets totted as Song of Ice and Fire in spaceUggh, what? How in the world can the SAGA even be compared to ASOFI? I only read 2 books into the series and just couldn't stomach it enough to continue. Speaking of Mary Sue's, is it possible for a whole side in a book to be Mary Sues? I found the whole "roamer" culture to be a complete Mary Sue in the series. The Roamers could do nothing wrong, everything they did was just so perfect. They had the most advanced technology, the most intelligent leaders, more honorable leaders, etc etc. Yet somehow, none of the other sides ever manage to realize how great and powerful they are, or how their technology is so much better! Yes, they somehow managed to create, in these bands all separated, gigantic hidden shipyards that everyone else was too stupid to notice heh. Am I missing something here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humble Asskicker Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 I checked out that Mary Sue Litmus test. What the hell is the obsession with gargoyles and fays? I don't think I've read or seen anything dealing with either outside of the Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame and A Midnight Summer's Dream.Is this a fan fiction thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 I think so, yes. Most Mary Sue Limus tests are for fan fiction writers rather than original fiction writers.Back when I wrote fan fiction I never bothered with 'em, personally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Petronius, the Arbiter of Elegance: 7I think we can exclude Petronius from Mary Sue status on the grounds that he was a real person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 The SAGA OF THE SEVEN SUNS always gets totted as Song of Ice and Fire in spaceNonsense. For ASOIAF-in-space see The Gap series by Stephen Donaldson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wastrel Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Main character of novel I'm writing: 26. Yeah, I'm happy with that, given the nature of the book.For fun, I tried Kidd from Dhalgren - I've not finished it yet, and I can't read Delany's mind, but I made my best guesses where appropriate. Result: 103. And no doubt if he talked about his childhood more it would have been higher. True, there is some purpose for this, as how he copes with the terrible curse of receiving so much love and attention from everyone for being so darn wonderful is a big part of the point of the book, but it's still immensely annoying.Let's just say that I didn't have to look at Delany's biography to be 90% sure that he had mixed racial ancestry, that he was gay, and that he was sexually experimental during the 1970s [turns out his wife was a lesbian, but they had a bisexually open marriage]. And he'd probably rather have been taken seriously as a poet than as a writer. [i've nothing against people putting in characters redolent of their own background. It's just when it's so hazed in self-adulation that you know their background from their characters that I have a problem. I like my writers to have a little mystery in their works - it seems almost indecent when you can see right through them to the author themselves]Of course, I'm guessing theres' a 20% chance that Kidd actually IS Delany explicitly, and a 40% chance that he's not explicitly 'Delany' per se but is 'the author' of the novel. I'm not sure what that would do to the Mary Sue scale....[Don't tell me what happens!] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WrathOfTinyKittens Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 The Wheel of Time is, predictably, full of them.Rand Al'Thor - 124 (damn)Perrin Aybara - 91Mat Cauthon - 101I'd do more characters but I'd just imagine that Nynaeve, Egwene, Elaine, and Aviendha (probably among others) are all Mary Sues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serious Callers Only Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 The thing is, though, Paul Atreides can hardly be considered an author stand-in, which is required for Sue-dom. Everything he does is believable for his character, the things that happen to him and the changes he undergoes are not particularly nice or benevolent, and nowhere does he actually do, say or think anything that would make me think it was Herbert living out some creepy fantasy. Simply being a high-powered character shouldn't mean an automatic tarring with the Mary Sue brush.David Weber's books, on the other hand . . .Regards,RyanWell if you replaced Paul with Duncan Idaho, i think you might have a case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Korr Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Well if you replaced Paul with Duncan Idaho, i think you might have a case.Oh, Idaho is definitely skirting the line a lot more than Paul. He's fine in the first book but after going ghola, well . . . That's all that needs to be said, really.Regards,Ryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K26dp Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Jane Eyre? Elizabeth Bennett? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.