{"id":866,"date":"2006-08-03T12:39:00","date_gmt":"2006-08-03T16:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oddpla.net\/modernwizard\/?p=866"},"modified":"2015-07-17T08:04:57","modified_gmt":"2015-07-17T12:04:57","slug":"die-vile-protagonist-killing-off-the-mary-sue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/oddpla.net\/modernwizard\/2006\/08\/03\/die-vile-protagonist-killing-off-the-mary-sue\/","title":{"rendered":"Die, vile protagonist: killing off the Mary Sue!"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a paper about “150 years of Mary Sues,”<\/a> Pat Pflieger comments about the coup of killing off a Mary Sue — that is, the character that is the author’s shill. Why is a dramatic death the ultimate end?<\/p>\n

1. Mary Sue is too good for you.<\/b> Like the saintly, sickly paragons of Victorian novels [Helen in Jane Eyre, Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop], Mary Sues become too talented, too virtuous, too stupendously amazing, for this world. So there’s really nothing else to do except kill them off. In a fanfic that’s full of the highest highs, deepest lows, widest loves and most passionate hates, a Dramatic Death makes an orgasmic conclusion.<\/p>\n

2. Hah, you really loved her, didn’tcha?!?!?<\/b> Like the original rebellious female character who loved the evil man [Clarissa], Mary Sues die to afford the author and reader some perverse glee. Since everyone loves Clarissa [and the Mary Sues], everyone feels devastated when she dies. Thus, pre-death and even post-death, the author and reader can bask in the secondary characters’ grief because the grief proves how greatly the main character [Clarissa or Mary Sue] was loved.<\/p>\n

3. You’ll remember her forever.<\/b> Because they’re so damned good and because everyone loves ’em, it’s guaranteed that the characters will not forget the Mary Sue. Her virtues will shine as a noble beacon forever. Secondaries will idealize and idolize her. She will never leave their minds. More wish-fulfilling whack-off on the author’s part.<\/p>\n

Hmmm, and I thought killing Anneka was just a good way to literalize a huge change in her life. Nope…it was the Orgasm of the Mary Sue!<\/p>\n

Dear Loremistress  — If Mary Sues are so hated by other writers, why do you think LHF, which is so obviously teeming with Mary Sues, is well-liked?<\/p>\n

Go read what the Loremistress muses<\/a> about Mary Sues. She’s good. \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a paper about “150 years of Mary Sues,” Pat Pflieger comments about the coup of killing off a Mary Sue — that is, the character that is the author’s shill. Why is a dramatic death the ultimate end? 1. Mary Sue is too good for you. Like the saintly, sickly paragons of Victorian novels [Helen… Continue reading Die, vile protagonist: killing off the Mary Sue!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[672,696],"class_list":["post-866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-books-i-actually-like","tag-books-that-piss-me-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/oddpla.net\/modernwizard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/oddpla.net\/modernwizard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/oddpla.net\/modernwizard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oddpla.net\/modernwizard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oddpla.net\/modernwizard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=866"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/oddpla.net\/modernwizard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5491,"href":"http:\/\/oddpla.net\/modernwizard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866\/revisions\/5491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/oddpla.net\/modernwizard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oddpla.net\/modernwizard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oddpla.net\/modernwizard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}