Nov 21 2008
Interactive Mary Sue Test
Mary Sues are characters that are overpowered and too perfect. This test will help you diagnose and fix the problem. It typically takes around ten minutes.
Is Your Protagonist a Mary Sue? » Quiz School
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I went to ProProfs and did it there. I got 90%!
When I asked “is this character royal?”, 30% of readers said yes. When I asked “was this character born into a powerful position, caste or rank?”, only 10% of readers said yes. That means that 20% of readers think that their character is royal but somehow not born into a powerful position. What the hell?
Haha! Maybe their royalty is like in Britain where they look good but have absolutely no power! Haha!
“Is this character Human?”: 69% answered yes, 31% answered no
“Is this character a non-human that looks mostly human anyway?”: 36% yes, 64% no
Apparently at least 5% of Human characters are simultaneously non-Humans that appear Human. I find this to be a bit disturbing.
Haha. Let’s see… on the Mary Sue test, 5% of test-takers would be 2 people.
See that question about supernatural talents?
Cara’s talent is normal in her society and is not all that impressive to them.
Two things:
In the score section, it did not elaborate on the questions it marked wrong. Is it supposed to only explain the few that it did?
Also, a bit late but, when you asked why people thought their character was royal but not born into a powerful position; maybe they meant that their character rose to power.
I’ve added explanations for almost all of the questions now. Which ones did you have questions about?
It says the page (or quiz) does not exist/’posted as not found.’
Hmm. I tried it myself just now and it seems to be working fine. Could you try again?
That was helpful. But it gave me some grief with question 11. I wasn’t sure what to answer for that one, becuase the character I was testing (I’ll call him ‘N’) does feel that his abilities are a curse, at least until he meets the other two superheros, and then he doesn’t so much like a freak after that. (That’s not cliche, is it?)
You know, I noticed this quiz asked about either prophecies or social/ political status (and I’m speaking from memory) 4+ times…either it’s trying to make a point, or the creator of this test put it in multiple times and in multiple ways without thinking about it…
Also, my answers and my defense…
1) Is this character born with amazing abilities? I answered yes, but that’s because of a genetic defect, not because I just wanted to make him cool.
2) Does your character have a problem with society? I answered yes, and because they tried to kill him several years ago, and put him in a loony bin when they failed to cork him, so to speak.
3) Are his parents abusive or nasty? Again, yes, and this one of the reasons why he went psychotic, and it was only once…so…
4)Does he use a bladed weapon in a futuristic setting. Yes, because his fighting style is up close and personal, so he prefers to use a knife. Also, he hates guns for obvious reasons…
5) Does the character convert/ defeat another character of different beliefs. Yes, because the secondary character is of a different political belief, and Azrael (the main character) believes that the character is a threat to his plan. Also, the guy’s trying to kill him.
6) Does the character have a badass name? Yes, because he’s Arabic, and he was left to die as a child, so he was forced to name himself. So he called himself Azrael du Sandavar.
Those are referenced so many times because they are key hints about Mary Sues, political beliefs being similar or the same have a tendency in unskilled writers to lead to mouthpieces or Public Service Announcements. Prophecies are easy to write, increase the power of the character and make it easier to simply make a super-you, since Ted, the super-writer extra-ordinary could have Susan, the rockin-bod lady of the lake pop up at any time in his life and give him superpowers.
Riku:
Mary Sue tests in general are rather faulty(no offense, B.Mac). It highly depends on the skill of the author, not the factors leading to Suedom. Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, for example. Dream would and has failed multiple MS tests, but that does not stop Gaiman from crafting a critically acclaimed series, nor making Dream and the rest of the Endless as very well-rounded characters.
Like how you justified some of the factors, “yes, but…”
I would do the same, for example:
“Is this character a non-human that looks mostly human anyway?”: Well, yeah. My character is a parasite that invaded the brain of a human female host, and takes over the host’s identity and conciousness. Of course, she can’t choose if the host is pretty nor its gender, and no guarantee of the species either. Hell, she could’ve ended up as a turtle or anything else, for that matter.
These are just factors that can lead to Suedom, not definite factors that 100% determine a character is a Mary Sue, therefore must die an unsightly death.
Oh that is not fair! I felt obliged to answer yes to ‘Is the character a rebellious member of a high-class family?’
1. My character is an alien and son to a famous orator on their home planet. He is of no royal blood and held no office of high position. On the contrary the best analogy would be a human rights protester like Ghandi or Martin Luther King. His family are exiled to earth and are forced to live among humanity in the shadows. The son’s rebellion involves his desire to live like a human, while his father is trying to protect his families identity from humans long enough to return to their home planet. His father is a pacifist and his son develops a human fiery passion.
Does this scream Mary sue?
Does mutant or Freaxter count as “non-human that looks mostly human anyway”?
Ekimmak asked: “Does [a] mutant or Freaxter count as ‘non-human that looks mostly human anyway’?”
For mutants, no, because I think they’re generally portrayed as a type of human rather than a distinct species*. So it wouldn’t annoy me at all if a mutant were extremely similar to a nonmutant anatomically, mentally and/or culturally. In contrast, I think it’s a lot more contrived for an alien species to show up and just happen to be all-but-indistinguishable anatomically, mentally and culturally. Unless there’s some in-story explanation, like “we actually used to be the same species,” I don’t think it’d make sense.
So, for example, I could buy Superman being culturally very similar to the typical Midwesterner because he was raised by a human family in Kansas. But it strains my suspension of disbelief that his mind seems wired 100% like a human’s, let alone that he looks 100% like a human. If you’re going to use an alien, I think it’d probably be better to put more originality into it than that. If the character is essentially a human with superpowers, I’d recommend just making him a human and using an origin story that fits the story better.
I’m not familiar with Freaxters and was not able to find any applicable information through a brief Google search, so I have no idea there. Could you introduce me to the story or give me a link or something?
*Without getting too deep into biology, the main criteria of species-hood is the ability to reproduce, and as far as I know mutants in X-Men don’t have any trouble reproducing with non-mutants. (Note: some Superman stories show that Kryptonians can have kids with humans, which takes “like-human-but-better” to a whole new level of ridiculousness).
“He is of no royal blood and held no office of high position. On the contrary the best analogy would be a human rights protester like Ghandi or Martin Luther King.” If the father were just a low-ranking humans rights protester or lawyer or something, I don’t think it would have any potential for Mary Suedom for the son. If we’re talking about Gandhi or MLK-grade, with thousands of people hanging on every word (check out some footage of Gandhi’s funeral), I think it’d be not dissimilar to being the son of a high-ranking family.
Powerful families aren’t a problem, but I would recommend making them more of an obstacle or a challenge than a gift from the heavens. For example, if the protagonist were the child of someone like MLK, Jr. but wanted to become a professional athlete rather than do anything with civil rights, the father might get annoyed that the child wants to waste his life moving a ball up and down a field. Or maybe the kid is far less scholarly than his family. Or maybe the kid is just as persuasive and eloquent as the father, but wants to do something that’s less dignified but sexier, like advertising. (Yeaaaahh, copywriters. We get the love).
So, in the context of your story, one possibility that comes to mind would be that the father (because he was a highly visible protester) got his family exiled to Earth. One potential source of conflict would be that the son blames him for getting them exiled. (Not that Earth isn’t kickass, but it’s not for everyone). Or maybe the way he grows up in Earth makes him substantially different than his father. (For example, whereas his father probably grew up painfully aware of his status in the minority, maybe the son is really well-liked by his peers and has less sympathy for people on the outskirts of society).
Sorry, should have explained:
Freaxter, or Freax, the plural term, is slang in my novel. The scientific terms for superhumans are “genetic meta-humans” and “altered meta-humans”. But, that isn’t really easy to say, so most people shorten it to Mutants and Freax. Basically, a mutant is someone born with powers, but they don’t neccessarily develop until a later stage (X-men rip off). A Freaxter is someone who was human, but gained their powers through science, (Spiderman and Fantastic Four, are examples).
You did answer my question, though. Thanks.
I created on of these Mary sue quizzes on an HP RPG site I work on. It was never intended to be a serious diagnostic but more of game and yet I still managed to get a lot of whining from people who thought I was unfairly biased against them. (Okay I was pretty hard on the French exchange students, but it was my quiz so I could do what I want.)
Anyway… I filled this out using a character I’m hoping to develop into a novel protagonist. I erred on the critical side when I was uncertain how to answer and managed to come up with a 75% (not especially good) but of course I have my justifications, lol, just like all the little whiners I mock on my site.
My “wrong” answers:
Q.7) Are this character’s parents/guardians abusive or otherwise nasty?
I wasn’t certain how to answer this so I answered yes. My character has one loving (but ineffective) parent who is the main one featured in the story. But she also has one who would have to be described as nasty. The nasty one is absent though and will probably only get a mention to explain his absence. I’m guessing that this is preferable to him sticking around being nasty and abusive. Point? Partial point?
Q.12) Is this character ever raped or tortured?
There’s probably going to be some torture in the course of the story. Certainly some bullying.
Q.14) Are your other characters generally impressed by this character?
Another one I wasn’t sure how to answer. It depends on which other characters and at what point in the story, right? I mean I think the majority of the characters in the book will NOT be impressed with her at all in the beginning and most will not be impressed until close to the end. (Some will not be even then.) She’s actually a character who isn’t too easy to like unless you understand her motivations and her skills are not especially impressive at first. Perhaps I should have answered “no” to this question. She’s certainly not one of those characters who says some lame wise-cracky thing and everyone else stands around in awed amazement. (I hate those characters.)
Q.16) Misread this one when I answered. So I guess this one should have been correct.
Q.29) Was this character born with an impressive supernatural talent, like magic or The Force?
Meh. She has a magical aptitude which shows up as an unexplained ability. However it’s not an awesome power and will in fact turn out to be detrimental. So maybe this doesn’t fit the “impressive” adjective. Her real powers will have to be learned with a fair degree of hardship, so perhaps this should have been a non-point or a partial point.
Q.38) Does this character have problems with authority figures? (For example: his parents, his bosses, the police, etc.)
She does… partly because she’s paranoid and partly because she’s a thief. Does that count?
Q.39) Does the character have political or religious beliefs similar to yours?
I think we’re both agnostic, but I’m not exactly going to preach about that.
Q.24) Does this character date any of the following: an elf, a royal or someone high-class?
I think she might. (Still developing the story) However the high-class character I’m thinking of isn’t a reward, he’s more of a douchebag, and would be sort of an example of a moment when my protagonist makes the wrong choice for the wrong reasons. The real love interest is more of a nebishy, low class, unlikely hero type.
Q.22) Does this character use a sword or other bladed weapon in a high-tech setting?
Guilty. Cause I DO think swords are cool, lol. (This is still in development though. There may not be any swords by the time I finish, but I don’t like guns and am trying to avoid magic wands or anything that’s going to get me HP comparisons.)
Q.19) Is this character originally from the 20th or 21st century real-world but somehow transported to a fantasy realm?
I’m still debating this, but leaning toward yes. I’ve got characters in search of a setting so I still haven’t settled. I could go straight quasi medieval fantasy world, but I’ve been leaning toward an otherworld setting like Spirited Away or Neverwhere.
So yeah. Mary Sue? Maybe, maybe not. She’s certainly a flawed character and more unlikeable than likeable to the majority of characters who observe her. I do think angst is something I’ll have to be careful about since I intend to be pretty hard on all my characters and I’ll have to work to make sure that she’s not wallowing in her misery or being generally emo. I’m actually not feeling too apologetic about the otherworld concept though.
Sorry for the length of this post.
I fared a little better on my other protagonist.
Incorrect:
Q.12)
He too has a nasty parent. The character is meant to be troubled and neurotic. It didn’t make sense to me to give him a happy childhood and a supportive family.
Q.16) Is this character very modest?
Unfortunately he has every reason to be. He’s generally pretty incompetent, at least in the beginning of the story. Also, since no one will be praising him, I’m not sure this counts?
Q.31) Does this character consider his talents and/or abilities a curse?
Yeah, but any reasonable person would. His “gift” looks a lot like schizophrenia. He sees and hears creatures that no one else can. As a result, he questions his sanity.
Q.33) Does this character feel overwhelming guilty about something that wasn’t his fault?
In the beginning he thinks everything is his fault. The challenge will be to keep him sympathetic and not annoying during the worst of his depressive stage.
Lol. Some questions were harder because my OC is half Minish and half hylian But I got an 85 out of 100. >.<
I guess Vaati might be a mary sue….
These Mary Sue tests are going to be the death of literature one day. They’re pretty much saying that any unique or interesting trait is bad.
Ehh, it’s just a fun resource. I don’t think it (or anything similar) will have any impact on the shape of literature.
That said, if a character is overpowered or insufficiently challenged by the story, I don’t think the story will be very interesting. If the main protagonist has no discernible flaws, I’d lean heavily towards rejecting the manuscript under most circumstances. Assistant editors pass along ~5 of every 1000 works on to their bosses for consideration and it does not take much to get a work rejected.
Q.19) Does this character have the job you have (or a job you wish you had)? – (Tell me, who doesn’t wish they were a space pirate!)
Q.26) Does this character wear leather, sunglasses or anything you find to be particularly badass? – “But I don’t want to be a pirate!”
Q.36) Does this character have problems with authority figures? (For example: his parents, his bosses, the police, etc.) – His boss is trying to kill him, for money and other less important reasons.
Q.39) Is this character very modest? – Nobody compliments my character, he’s a screw up who ocassionally gets lucky.
I guess a 90% means I’m doing ok. We’ll see how the final product turns out.
Max H. – In addition to what B. Mac said, I feel like any writer who was really concerned with the issue of whether an online resource said he’d build a Mary Sue, he would likely be able to make the necessary changes while still keeping the character interesting, or at least get some assistance in making the changes.
Those writers who maybe took the test and became indignent of the results would likely not have their minds changed either way. They would submit their work as was and if it was good enough, they would required to make the necessary changes to their characters or turn down publication.
Thanks for this test. I stumbled across this website while looking for “inspiration” aka trying to appear busy. I’ve had this first draft sitting on my computer that I just could not get back into which is a horrible sign if the writer doesn’t want to even read what she wrote! The first time I took this, my main chick character passed. But when I tried to pass the main male character, he failed. Gives me a good idea why the story sucks. Thanks again, I’m going to retool him and make him more of a real guy instead of a guy written for a romance novel.
Glad this site helped you out, Dani!
I found the “reasoning” behind this test to be extremely bias.
Why can’t some answers have better guidelines. Apparently my guy is wrong because he came from an alternate universe, didn’t like his parents telling him what to do, didn’t make stupid decisions or being born into a ‘high standing’.
I bet the explainer doesn’t want to know that my guy pursues the villain role as tradition, and that his parents want him to use technology instead of magic.
There should be more specific guidelines as even the most “sueish” trait can be written well.
“I found the “reasoning” behind this test to be extremely bias.” Umm, biased in what way? (Biased against alternate universes?)
PS: Not every character’s mistakes will be the result of stupidity, but I think pretty much every protagonist needs to make mistakes. If the character doesn’t make mistakes, I think the odds are exceedingly high that the story will be rejected. (PAs have to reject ~995 out of 1000 manuscripts in an average of 1-2 minutes. I’m not sure what you could do to make the character feel sufficiently believable and morally/mentally complex to make the top 5). But do whatever you feel comfortable with–obviously it’s your project. Let me know how it goes for you.
“Does the character have political or religious beliefs similar to yours? ”
I disagree that this makes a character a mary-sue. Maybe if they were exactly the same- but similar? I expect this to be very common. If I’m aetheist, would you expect most of my main characters to be deeply religious? And conversely, if I’m deeply religious, would you expect most of my main characters to be of a different religion or atheist? The same goes for if I’m conservative or liberal or libertarian.
That said, you SHOULD NOT agree with everything your character thinks and does. Challenge yourself. They should definitely do things that are wrong. But that doesn’t mean we need to disagree with their core beliefs.
I suggest rewording it to: “Does the character have political or religious beliefs identical to yours?”
Also, I would say that using a sword in a high tech setting can be marysue-ish (though not if it’s urban fantasy, but that’s just my opinion), but bladed weapons? Just cause there are guns doesn’t mean stabbing someone with a knife won’t kill them. Knives are still used as weapons today.
But other than that this test is awesome.
“I disagree that [having similar religious or political beliefs to the author] makes a character a Mary Sue. Maybe if they were exactly the same- but similar? I expect this to be very common. If I’m atheist, would you expect most of my main characters to be deeply religious? And conversely, if I’m deeply religious, would you expect most of my main characters to be of a different religion or atheist? The same goes for if I’m conservative or liberal or libertarian.”
In most cases, characters’ political and religious views don’t crop up much. Maybe a character uses an exclamation that hints at his religion (“Good God!” or “Sweet Jesus!”, for example), which I think is pretty easy for readers to handle. In contrast, if the character’s religious or political beliefs come up in a more substantial way, and they happen to coincide with the author’s, I’d suspect the author is using the character to lecture the reader. One red flag here would be that the author doesn’t have likable/sympathetic characters disagreeing with the character in question. For example, in The Dark Knight, Lucius and Batman were both likable protagonists that disagreed about how far one could go to enforce the law. The writers didn’t push viewers to think either the libertarian Lucius or the more authoritarian Batman was more justified than the other. It’s more morally complex that way.
…
“Knives are still used as weapons today.” Indeed! I don’t have any issue with knives in fiction. In some situations, they’re totally practical for a protagonist. However, if a character packs a sword in a modern/futuristic setting, I’d have to wonder “Is there some good reason for him to have a sword, or are you just doing it so he’ll seem like a badass?” If there’s no good reason, a sword would probably strike me as goofy.
“Is this character ever raped or tortured?”
What if the character is captured by the enemy and beaten? Certainly that doesn’t make a “Mary Sue.”
I think maybe it meant if a character was created solely to be raped or tortured.
Or if being raped or tortured was in the characters backstory, for no other reason than to provide guilt/angst?
Plus there’s the ultimate Mary-Sue scene: The girl is about to be raped or gang-raped and the hero guy saves her and the scene exists solely as a minor event storywise to establish the male hero as a male hero (and possibly the female lead as desirable) (Note: I’m not saying it makes characters Mary Sues, I’m saying it itself is a Mary Sue). Especially if this event is never mentioned again.
It’s almost as annoying as women falling in love with their male kidnapper.
In response to B. Mac’s comment from 11/25/2008 — “is” vs “born into”. So more like 20% became royal by some means other than being born into it.
I got an 80% on the quiz, but most of the “wrong” answers are ones I skipped because of a kinda-sorta-sometimes-maybe or it-depends answer.
Are these questions all weighted equally, or do some carry more weight than others?
They’re all weighted equally. If ProProfs had let me make some questions count for more than others, I definitely would have. For example, a problem with authority figures or the ability to polymorph could definitely be justified by themselves–however, stacked on top of many other things, they could get slightly bothersome. In contrast, a hero that never gets defeated by an opponent or obstacle is probably not ready for prime time. I’m having trouble envisioning any circumstances (in the modern publishing industry) under which that might be preferable to a character that has real setbacks.
How many languages one speaks is partly a function of where one grows up. I knew a girl who grew up in France who knew 7 languages and acted like that wasn’t very impressive. I know trilingualism and better is common in Europe. We’re spoiled rotten over here in the USA where it’s easy to get away with just English.
Also, I have a very good reason for her to have a sword. It’s a fairly common superhero weapon in her universe.
I just keep trying to imagine what a Mary Sue would look like from all this…
A furry, royal, annoying, modest, shapeshifting, superpowered alien, who conquers anything with sunglasses?
“I just keep trying to imagine what a Mary Sue would look like from all this… A furry, royal, annoying, modest, shapeshifting, superpowered alien, who conquers anything with sunglasses?”
…who is also secretly related to the main villain, has no flaws besides trying too hard and being too committed to justice, holds himself/herself responsible for some sort of completely unavoidable disaster that every other character will point out was completely unavoidable, takes off his/her sunglasses just so the author can spend upwards of a paragraph describing his/her eyes, fails 0-2 times throughout the course of an 80,000+ word novel and other characters will make excuses for why these failures were unavoidable, any characters that DO try to hold him/her accountable for failures will be portrayed as nasty or “mean,” holds political and/or religious views indistinguishable from the author’s, and is completely beautiful BUT thinks that he/she looks pretty forgettable, etc.
That’s pretty much a perfect storm of Mary Sue-dom right there. More commonly, it’s just a character that isn’t challenged enough, doesn’t make enough mistakes and/or fail enough, and doesn’t face enough consequences for his/her mistakes or failures.