A Guide To Redwall Mary Sue
~~~
Basic Plotlines
used by Mary Sue
~The Generic Redwall~
Any plotline obviously directly stolen- er, borrowed, from the books. Mary Sue
is escaped slave/last surviving member of wiped-out tribe/sheltered child
suddenly exposed to harsh reality in other situations. She vows revenge on her
captors/torturers/family's killers etc, goes through boring Generic Adventure
Story plotline, possibly finds love on the way, causing readers to throw up in
disgust at soppiness, gets revenge, lives happily ever after. Generally reads
like Brian Jacques' first drafts. Tends to be long, boring and pointless.
Stalking ground of: Pretty much every Sue except Human Sue. The most-used
plotline. Preferred by Warrior Sue.
Plot problems: It's cliched, and generally gets boring fast.
Can it be done well?: Possibly - after all, BJ manages it. Just don't add
millions of pointless chapters, and try to make the storyline interesting.
~"I just dropped in by accident - honest!"~
Teenage human girl, a.k.a. Mary Sue, finds magic book/computer/jewel/dream that
pulls her and sometimes a friend or two into Mossflower. On the way, she becomes
either an animal or the same size as the animals. When she lands, she is
entirely unsurprised at being in a fictional world inhabited by gigantic British
wildlife, just as the Redwallers are not scared of a human appearing out of
nowhere. Considering that humans don't exactly have a clean track record in
their dealings with animals, this seems odd, but who am I to say? (Oh great, now
Mary Sue has brought out my inner PETA member.) Sometimes she is The Chosen One
who was prophesied to come and save Redwall, thus giving the villain a reason to
try and kill her. (I would think being a Mary Sue would be enough reason, but
there you go.) She will definitely save the day, despite knowing practically
nothing about battle skills, while the canon characters cheer her on. Possibly
the most irritating of Sue storylines, but can be a laugh if it's done well.
Stalking ground of: Human Sue.
Plot problems: It's unrealistic, and basically just plain weird. The
reason Mary Sue has suddenly dropped into Mossflower is usually either stupid or
ignored altogether.
Can it be done well?: If you're careful, yes. Have your character react
realistically to her situation (eg have her scream in terror the first time she
encounters a Redwaller), come up with an original reason for her to fall into
Mossflower, and give her time to get used to Redwall. If you must have her save
the day, give her SOME weapons training, and do not make her the new bearer of
Martin's sword. And don't make it romance between Redwaller and your character
in human form. Please. Even I think that's squicky.
~Resurrected Rose~
(No offence meant to rampant Martinshippers here.)
Exactly what it sounds like. Martin sits up late, staring at the stars and
mourning for Rose. Several people throw up and/or click the back button. Others
think "oh well, it'll get interesting soon" and scroll down. Oh, it's stopped
for some lyrics cut out of a pop song. More scrolling. Now it turns out Rose
wasn't really dead/has come back for some unexplained reason! Yippee! Now Rose
and Martin can marry and have children, thus removing the entire point of the
books featuring him. Some authors do show that the history of Mossflower is
changed because of it, but it's mostly ignored. I am a Martin/Rose shipper, but
I still hate these fics. One or two were sweet, when they make up every other
romance fic they get wearing.
Stalking ground of: Canon Sue v 1.1 Rose Sue, occasionally a Mary Sue
Classic v. 1.1 Martin's Daughter.
Plot problems: It's unrealistic - directly contradicting canon, in fact.
It's cliched, and always overladen with angst and/or fluff.
Can it be done well?: I'll be kind for once and get it over with. No, it
can't. Rose is dead. Rose did not come back, nor will she ever. Get over it. Let
Rose rest in peace, and let Rose Sue rest in pieces.
~Plot? What Plot?~
The "miscellaneous" section. "Plot? What Plot?" or PWP is usually used to refer
to porn fics, but in this case it means anything which has no real storyline.
This type of story exists solely so Mary Sue can angst over/drool over/snog some
random male in tune to music which does not exist in Mossflower, but which the
author likes, therefore Mary Sue must like as well. Not necessarily a songfic,
but you get the idea of what I mean.
Stalking ground of: Again, pretty much every Sue, mainly Mary Sue
Classic. Can feature Reformed Vermin Sue angsting over how she isn't accepted
and blah blah blah.
Plot problems: It's boring, to be frank. Also, it's usually overdone.
Can it be done well?: Sometimes, but don't make it a songfic to some
pop tune which will be forgotten in six months.
~~~
Tell me if you spot any other Mary Sue storylines, so I can update this chapter. I'm sure there are more. Next chapter will be about the appearance of Mary Sue. If you start drowning in her eyes, remember to dog-paddle.
~~~
~~~
Questions? Comments? Email me at wordsmith101NOSPAM@btopenworld.com (don't forget to delete the NOSPAM first).