Mary Sue and the Author
I was reading the Interrobang Studios' Pot Luck Comic's "Ensign Two: The Wrath of Sue".
It features a character named "Sue" which named after the moniker "Mary Sue".
In short, a Mary Sue (or Marty Stu if you're speaking of a male counterpart) is in its most negative connotation a character inserted into a story as a form of author wish-fulfillment.
The character in the "Ensign Sue" series is a hilarious caricature entity of such a character and wreaks havoc throughout the J.J. Abrams Star Trek's USS Enterprise. The crew managed to get rid of her using the "Red Shirt Principle," but unknowingly caused her to infect the parallel dimensions of the Multiverse.
I decided to insert a character of my own into the story just for personal exposition purposes and to provide a different perspective. Unfortunately, it's not set in the hilarious tone of the comic, but I can totally see a power-abusive Author being behind the Sue shenanigans. Hey, isn't interpretation and retelling the heart of fan-fiction--good or bad?
Without warning, a being beams directly onto the bridge of the USS Enterprise. Helmsman Sulu was shocked by the sudden intrusion and proceeds to ask, "Who are you?"
"I, for lack of better words, are what you call a 'Sue'. Or rather, a Marty Stu. You may call me Cecil. Excuse the monologue, but we don't have much time...
I was created for the purpose of attempting to mitigate the 'Sue' threat. However, it won't be easy. See, the Sues infecting the other dimensions are driven by the will of the Sue's creator--the Author. The Author is akin to a god-like entity to your respective realities. Limited only by their imagination, an Author can create one or more characters to insert into any given reality and bend it to its will. A more experienced Author can even fabricate entire realities from scratch or as a splinter from another reality. Truth be told, where many Authors come from, they typically don't have any notable superpowers of their own outside of their imaginations. But here and other realities, the power of their imaginations make them nigh-untouchable."
Sulu replies, "Is it safe to assume you have your own Author?"
"Yes, I do. From what I understand, he's trying to track down the Author of the rampant Sues to see about reigning them in before they irreparable damage to your reality and any adjacent ones. I will use the Stu powers granted to me to avert the threat. However, there's a catch..."
"Catch?"
"Yeah. When two or more Authors and their respective Sues or Stus begin to clash in a given reality--the attempt to assert each other's control over a given reality can cause its very fabric to tear itself apart. The competing Authors either have to voluntarily agree to subdue their Sues, be stopped by an intervening force in the Authors' own reality or risk destroying one or more realities in the ensuing conflict. It's not pretty. Characters in the sundered realities aren't necessarily killed. They just fade away into a strange limbo or are reborn in a state different than their previous selves.
For the sake of your reality and the others, I can't bring my full powers to bear against the Sues as of now, but I can still help you...
Sulu curiously asks, "Has a Sue ever crossed into the Author's reality?"
"No. Well...not usually. There have been a few exceptions. It usually happens when a character is intentionally fashioned as a demi-deity or full deity. I'll give you a prime example. Around 3,000 years ago, a collection of Authors created a deity with the best or worst powers that usually comes with a Sue: omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, invincibility, able to warp reality on a whim, etc. It was used in religious texts to explain much of the happenings of the cosmos at the time.
However, unlike other characters found in texts, it had followers that applied their faith and will into this deity character. This devotion granted their deity so much power it entered our reality and has persisted through the last three millennia. Despite the fervor of its followers, this entity tends to act upon its own accord.
The followers say our population owes our existence to the entity when it's technically the other way around. Even many Authors are under the influence of the entity. However, some of the more crafty Authors in recent history have realized we were the creators of the deity character. Unfortunately, its power will not diminish until many of us stop feeding it our will. I don't think that day will come anytime soon...
An idea is a very power thing, Mr. Sulu. If one is not careful how they're applied, it can have irrevocable results. The Author we're after has a blatant disregard for the existing realities. This person must be stopped! Otherwise, I fear the Sue threat will never truly be contained."
This entry was originally posted at http://strife-caecus.dreamwidth.org/1874.html. If you wish to comment at Dreamwidth, please comment there using OpenID or your registered Dreamwidth account.
It features a character named "Sue" which named after the moniker "Mary Sue".
In short, a Mary Sue (or Marty Stu if you're speaking of a male counterpart) is in its most negative connotation a character inserted into a story as a form of author wish-fulfillment.
The character in the "Ensign Sue" series is a hilarious caricature entity of such a character and wreaks havoc throughout the J.J. Abrams Star Trek's USS Enterprise. The crew managed to get rid of her using the "Red Shirt Principle," but unknowingly caused her to infect the parallel dimensions of the Multiverse.
I decided to insert a character of my own into the story just for personal exposition purposes and to provide a different perspective. Unfortunately, it's not set in the hilarious tone of the comic, but I can totally see a power-abusive Author being behind the Sue shenanigans. Hey, isn't interpretation and retelling the heart of fan-fiction--good or bad?
Without warning, a being beams directly onto the bridge of the USS Enterprise. Helmsman Sulu was shocked by the sudden intrusion and proceeds to ask, "Who are you?"
"I, for lack of better words, are what you call a 'Sue'. Or rather, a Marty Stu. You may call me Cecil. Excuse the monologue, but we don't have much time...
I was created for the purpose of attempting to mitigate the 'Sue' threat. However, it won't be easy. See, the Sues infecting the other dimensions are driven by the will of the Sue's creator--the Author. The Author is akin to a god-like entity to your respective realities. Limited only by their imagination, an Author can create one or more characters to insert into any given reality and bend it to its will. A more experienced Author can even fabricate entire realities from scratch or as a splinter from another reality. Truth be told, where many Authors come from, they typically don't have any notable superpowers of their own outside of their imaginations. But here and other realities, the power of their imaginations make them nigh-untouchable."
Sulu replies, "Is it safe to assume you have your own Author?"
"Yes, I do. From what I understand, he's trying to track down the Author of the rampant Sues to see about reigning them in before they irreparable damage to your reality and any adjacent ones. I will use the Stu powers granted to me to avert the threat. However, there's a catch..."
"Catch?"
"Yeah. When two or more Authors and their respective Sues or Stus begin to clash in a given reality--the attempt to assert each other's control over a given reality can cause its very fabric to tear itself apart. The competing Authors either have to voluntarily agree to subdue their Sues, be stopped by an intervening force in the Authors' own reality or risk destroying one or more realities in the ensuing conflict. It's not pretty. Characters in the sundered realities aren't necessarily killed. They just fade away into a strange limbo or are reborn in a state different than their previous selves.
For the sake of your reality and the others, I can't bring my full powers to bear against the Sues as of now, but I can still help you...
Sulu curiously asks, "Has a Sue ever crossed into the Author's reality?"
"No. Well...not usually. There have been a few exceptions. It usually happens when a character is intentionally fashioned as a demi-deity or full deity. I'll give you a prime example. Around 3,000 years ago, a collection of Authors created a deity with the best or worst powers that usually comes with a Sue: omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, invincibility, able to warp reality on a whim, etc. It was used in religious texts to explain much of the happenings of the cosmos at the time.
However, unlike other characters found in texts, it had followers that applied their faith and will into this deity character. This devotion granted their deity so much power it entered our reality and has persisted through the last three millennia. Despite the fervor of its followers, this entity tends to act upon its own accord.
The followers say our population owes our existence to the entity when it's technically the other way around. Even many Authors are under the influence of the entity. However, some of the more crafty Authors in recent history have realized we were the creators of the deity character. Unfortunately, its power will not diminish until many of us stop feeding it our will. I don't think that day will come anytime soon...
An idea is a very power thing, Mr. Sulu. If one is not careful how they're applied, it can have irrevocable results. The Author we're after has a blatant disregard for the existing realities. This person must be stopped! Otherwise, I fear the Sue threat will never truly be contained."
This entry was originally posted at http://strife-caecus.dreamwidth.org/1874.html. If you wish to comment at Dreamwidth, please comment there using OpenID or your registered Dreamwidth account.