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Okay, so the flesh eating squirrels sucked muchly.

Getting thrown to the Kraaken for being a stowaway sucks, I think, even more.   Well for being a MAN and a stowaway. How was I supposed to know that in that 'verse being a man is bad luck on the seas? And Sparrow shouldn't have been that gleeful.

I smell like fish. I don't think I'm going to stop smelling like fish for a while.

Actually it's more charrred fish than anything else. I had to blast my way out ... with fire ... from the damn thing's gullet.

And then I was stuck in the flamin' ocean, surrounded by fish guts.

Frozen fish doesn't smell so bad. Frozen fish thawing smells very bad.

I need a shower.

Or ten.

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Canon, Sues, and Canon Sues

 

            In the world of fan fiction one of the worst insults you can throw at an original character is to call them a Mary Sue; after all Mary Sues are found in some of the worst writing out there. They are pure authorial fantasies usually written by teen age girls. But there is something more to a Mary Sue than just authorial fantasy and poor writing; a Mary Sue shows a lack of respect to the reader because with a Mary Sue there often follows poor attention to detail and bad characterization. The forty days that it took to reach the Mine of Moria is hastened down to a week or even a day of walking. Red, black and Mood Ring colored dragons fly in Pern’s skies and Harry Potter is saved by his long lost twin sister while Draco Malfoy professes his love to Hermione. 

            But at least, on the bookshelves of bookstores, where authors tried and true with years of writing experience under their belts, a reader can find them selves free of the scourge that is the Mary Sue.

            At least a first glance. At second glance this may not be as true. On numerous fan boards on the internet the term “canon Sue” has appeared, applied to canon characters that stretch the believability and bounds of their worlds.  Usually they are the heroes of the story and thus it would be expected that they are extraordinary. But sometimes, can they go beyond the range of extraordinary and move to the realm of the unbelievable?

            To figure this out and to decide if there is such a thing as a canon Sue, a definition must first be laid out, defining what is a Mary Sue, going to the heart of the character type’s problems and leaving the trappings of fan fiction behind.  For this purpose a Mary Sue is defined as a character that breaks the written boundaries of that character’s world and the laws of logic. They cause the world around them to conform to their desires by sheer force of power or personality (or both) without any regards to what has been previously laid down as law. They can do anything and often do without regards for custom or tradition and have no detrimental consequences for their actions. Their flaws are inconsequential and unhindering. In short they are perfect and defy realistic belief.

            The characters that I’ve chosen to examine for this paper are chosen only because I’ve been exposed to them and have had a chance to study them.  They have also been accused of being Mary Sues.

 

            The Dragon Lady of Pern

 

 

            Lessa of Pern at the first surface glance seems like a Mary Sue. She is the lone survivor of her family’s massacre. She remains hidden in her family’s hold plotting revenge and living as a drudge until one day she’s rescued by a dragonrider and taken to Benden Weyr where she impresses the last gold dragon on Pern, a dragon that becomes the largest dragon ever seen on the planet. There it is discovered that she can hear all the dragons and rediscovers, or discovers the dragonic ability to travel through time. Lessa then travels back three hundred turns to bring back the missing weyrs and thus saving Pern. As the series progress, she becomes one of the most important people on Pern. 

            Tragic past, super abilities and saving the world, all hallmarks of a Mary Sue. But these don’t make Lessa a Mary Sue.  If Lessa were to follow the traditional Sue’s path she would have been the cleanest drudge on Pern. Instead of scheming and plotting for ten turns, living in squalor, she would have been adopted by one of the craftsmen or by the new Warder himself, who would know her secret but would be so besotted with the eleven turn girl that he would keep it hidden.

            She would have used her feminine wiles to ply Fax to her will, openly challenging him when he came with the dragon riders on Search. F’lar would have challenged Fax to champion her cause, instantly smitten with her unearthly beauty.  Lady Gemma and her unborn babe would be totally forgotten, Jaxom never born.

            Lessa’s birthright would be unchallenged and she would gain control over her family’s hold before going on to Benden Weyr where she would Impress Ramoth while still retaining her rights as Lady Holder. Instead of waiting two turns for her dragon’s flight to break the tradition that Queens don’t fly, she would have demanded and won the right to train with the other weyrlings. She would have learned to fly between normally.