A Guide To Redwall Mary Sue
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Marty Stu
Marty Stu is, as you might have guessed, a male Mary Sue. Much less common than
his female counterpart, Marty Stu is usually written by male fans, while Mary
Sue is written by the girls. Marty Stus come in different breeds as well. Here's
a rough guide.
~God Stu~
Watch a group of six-year-old boys in a playground. When they play
"superheroes", they will argue over being the hero, because who wants to be the
"baddie"? Plus, heroes get to zap things without getting in trouble. Now assume
one of these boys gets into Redwall when he's a little older, then reaches the
fanfiction genre. He remembers the superhero games of his toddlerhood, wants to
write a character like the heroes of those games. . . hello, God Stu. God Stu is
Superman, Action Man and Martin the Warrior rolled into one. Scary thought. He
is so amazingly brilliant and good at everything that frankly, he's annoying.
The very worst Marty Stu of all, and unfortunately the most common.
~Nice Stu~
Aww. Sweet. He's good, he's kind, he's helpful. . . he's bloody boring. Nice Stu
isn't as good-looking or clever or strong as God Stu, but he's so flipping NICE
we're supposed to adore him, like all the other characters do. Kind of like a
less cute and funny version of Durry Quill, only he's usually a mouse instead of
a hedgehog. Usually Nice Stu is hiding a crush on the heroine, who herself is
usually a Mary Sue. They may or may not end up together. We also have to put up
with at least one weapons lesson (for Marty Stu, not us, you mad Fanfiction
University students)
so that when he suddenly becomes amazingly brilliant at fighting we are not
confused. At least, the author doesn't think we'll be confused. Usually we still
will be.
~Human Stu~
Pretty much the same backstory as Human Sue, but with a few telling differences
to his personality. Both of them are likely to bring 21st century devices with
them, but while Mary Sue prefers her Walkman (no, I don't know how it would work
in a world without batteries), Marty Stu brings a gun. This means he doesn't
need training with Redwallish canon weapons, but can fight anyway. He also seems
to have an unlimited supply of bullets, oddly enough. This Stu is usually older
than his female counterpart, who tends to be in her mid-teens, so he can use
said gun legally. Shame nobeast ever steals it and uses it on him. He also tends
to be dark and brooding, instead of his Suvian equivalent's Teletubby-esque
cheerfulness. This should make him at least marginally less annoying. It
doesn't.
~Frequently Asked Questions~
~Why is everybeast always so out-of-character (OOC) in Marty's presence?~
If they were in-character, Marty Stu would have a very short life expectancy.
The Redwallers would not actually instantly trust a human. Remember, they didn't
trust Dingeye and Thura, or Blaggut and Slipp, and they at least knew WHAT said
characters WERE. As much fun as we would find it to watch Marty Stu get mangled,
he and his author wouldn't find it so much fun, so they play with the canon
character's minds a little.
~That's really irritating.~
I know, I know. I have to read these fics as research. Hey, wait, that wasn't a
question. NEXT!
~Why is Marty-Stu always so noble?~
Fantasy Fandom Syndrome. All male characters in fantasy stories written by Marty
Stu authors must be Knights In Shining Armour (TM), unless they're the villains.
The age of chivalry is not yet dead, but Marty Stu almost always suffers from
excessive chivalry. You wouldn't think that was possible, but he manages it
somehow or other.
~Why can't Mary Sue and Marty Stu just pair up with each other?~
Because that would be logical. See previous chapter. Most of Mary Sue's enemies
are those of Marty Stu as well. Seriously though, often they do. Whichever
member of the pairing was a Mary Sue/Marty Stu first tends to warp the other.
Sometimes Mary Sue will be Marty Stu's sister/mother/daughter/cousin/pet/owner
instead, though (the last two only in the case of the Human Sues and Stus, I
hope - eww).
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Next chapter will be about Mary Sue's parents. Poor beasts, how could they have known they would unleash a force upon Mossflower more evil than Cluny himself?
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Questions? Comments? Email me at wordsmith101NOSPAM@btopenworld.com (don't forget to delete the NOSPAM first).