I’ll disagree with this one a bit. I get that during this expansion she hasn’t had much pushback, and it seems like everything goes her way.
But, looking at her arc as a whole, she has had two major defining character flaws: her all-encompassing desire for revenge against Arthas and, after trying to kill herself once that was completed and her life lost meaning, trying to avoid the everlasting torment that awaited her upon her death.
Those two driving forces led her to where she is today. Huge character flaws. And while during BfA she seems like a Mary Sue character, as a whole she’s not, and whether it happens in SL or not, her flaws will eventually lead to her downfall, for she has proven incapable of overcoming then time and time again.
Fixed.
More often than not, if you take any female character they call a Mary Sue and make them male they’d be like ‘That dude’s awesome!’ I mean, Luke was a whiny farm boy getting his butt kicked by Tuskens when we meet him and, like, the next day he’s flying a space fighter and using the force to blow up the Death Star. No one walked out of the theater going “Jeez, can you believe that crap? What a Mary Sue!”
Rey does, what, learns the ‘mind trick’ after having it done to her (that’s kinda how we learn, guys, imitation) and didn’t die in a lightsaber fight against a guy who just took a blaster shot to the side and she’s the worst Mary Sue ever.
4 Likes
It is a character name from some seriously horrible Star Trek fan fiction. It definitely describes the way Sylvanas is written.
2 Likes
It is a real trope of a character that is absurdly powerful for no reason and has no, or very few, character flaws. Jaina has character flaws; my only problem with her is the fact that she’s never been shown to be Guardian level but she pulls off some Guardian level magical feats (what she pulls out of her rear during the Battle of Lordaeron comes off as a deus ex machina, if I’m honest). Sylvanas is poorly written, but she does have character flaws, and she was written pretty well in the past (“give my regards to hell, you son of a b____”).
Mary Sue is a common trope. Remember Wesley Crusher? He was very, very much hated by fans. So much so that Wil Wheaton still gets crap for it to this day. Even notoriously skilled Japanese writers can fall into this, even in extremely well written FFXIV (Minfilia and especially Lyse).
mankriks wife was a mary sue
…and Fluffybuns was never heard from again.
1 Like
I fixed it for you.
I love how literary this thread is becoming.
1 Like
The term then is a Villain Sue. They can still have character flaws, but they don’t actually limit them. When a flaw doesn’t really hinder you, its not a flaw. Like say a flaw of fear of whales, and the story takes place in the middle of a desert. It’s not a flaw.
In short, they’re so perfect they can outthink the mastermind, outmuscle the superman, outrun the speedster, and outcharm the gentleman.
2 Likes
so you don’t think mary sues are a thing, have you seen rey from star wars. powerful for the sake of powerful yet no training.
1 Like
Yes, they are portrayed this way so they are a credible threat to counter the power of the Hero. But in the end (mostly), their character flaws cause their downfall.
Sylvanas’s story is not over. Her arc is not complete.
For this one portion of her story, she may be perceived as a Mary/Villain Sue. But overall, from the beginning to the ending we’re expecting in SL, she is not.
A Villain Sue can still lose. But it typically takes Deus Ex Machina for that to happen.
At any rate, some people acting like everyone is equally skilled or gifted at everything.
If you want a story revolving around a totally average Joe, there are plenty of those. Just as there are plenty of stories revolving around the extraordinary.
Not every “extraordinary” character is a Mary Sue. Such grotesque misuse of the term going on in the forums, it seems. Why do people insist on their wrongness to try to remold definitions, instead of correcting themselves to fit the rest of the world?
I blame millennials, but that’s just me.
"SCREW YOU, EVERYONE ELSE! ADAPT TO ME!!"
2 Likes
It’s a damned shame when one off comic relief characters like Orkus make the list.
Not every “extraordinary” character is a Mary Sue.
There isn’t one set definition for the term. But okay:
WoW is rife with overpowered-to-the-point-of-bending-plot characters devoid of any serious flaws, cardboard villains of similar power levels, and then there’s Neri Sharpfin.
2 Likes
Did you finish the quest chain? The whole point was that he wasn’t just comic relief as he was portrayed at the beginning of the chain.
It was, for me, one of the only times I’ve ever been completely floored by something in WoW.
Yeah, I saw it - and I saw him as a coward who was trapped by his stupidity and ambition but who ended up doing the right thing for the horde anyway. (Would he have done it if we weren’t watching him? Maybe not)
He was comic relief, even when he was doing the thing.
Still can’t top Dumass, though. Dumass for Forsaken Leader.
I… don’t? But thanks for playing.
Now that you’ve had your moment to be snide, I invite you to make a valid counterargument?
Okay no one can use that term cause this dude said so. Okay? Yall got that?