A possible working definition of Mary Sue?

I was pondering it over dinner for some reason, and a simple, one-sentence statement hit me:

A character that seizes control of a story to the detriment of its universe's proper inhabitants.

It's probably been said better elsewhere, but hey.

I don't know how many people have read Rheanna's In the Waiting, but it includes what many people (myself included) consider to be one of the best original characters in fanfiction. Unobtrusive, far from dominating, serving not so much as a deus ex machina, as a conduit, a guide for the Angel Investigations team to find a truth.

Heh. Speaking of which ... celli has a link to an anti-recs site: Evil and Stupid. Check the entry for 23 December 2002. Kinda gives a new meaning to deus ex machina.

Or actually, now that I check, that's kind of the original meaning.

Hang on, data dump coming:

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Main Entry: de-us ex ma-chi-na

Pronunciation: Day-S-Eks Ma-she-Na

Function: noun

Etymology: New Latin, a god from a machine, translation of Greek Theos ek mEchanEs

Date of origin: 1697

1: A god introduced by means of a crane in ancient Greek and Roman drama to decide the final outcome.

2: A person or thing (as in fiction or drama) that appears or is introduced suddenly and unexpectedly and provides a solution to an apparently insoluble difficulty.

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Snurched from the jewel case of a computer game CD, if you can believe it.

The game (don't laugh): Deus Ex.

OK, so I'm a copmuter game nut. :)

Close entry.