Is my main character a Mary Sue?

[Stargazer31]

Is my main character (Gunhild) a Mary Sue? And if she is, how can I improve her without rewriting my whole comic?

Realmwalker | Tapas

[Shomin]

Hm... well. Please take note that my opinions are personal and might not apply to other's view.

1. What's the age of your target audiences?
2. Is Mary Sue/Gary Stu a bad thing to have in your story?
3. Have you had a plot where your character is in trouble and showing some weakness or emotion, or being naive?

Here's the point. Eps.5, it seems like ||Loralei is more in control and powerful as an antagonist. And Gunhild couldn't even avoid her power and emotionally she was shaken by Loralei's words.|| So it's not Mary Sue at all.

[DiegoPalacios]

Have you had a plot where your character is in trouble and showing weakness, emotion, and being naive?

i would not consider being naive a requirement to avoid mary-sue-ness. But agree that a character having some flaws and weaknesses help to avoid the trope, and being naive could be one of them.

Answering OP's question @Stargazer31 i've only seen a few pages, but so far, she doesn't seem like a Mary Sue.

[ar-ninetysix]

Having JUST read a hefty amount of your comic recently, you're fine. Gunhild never came off as a Mary Sue due how much she happens goes through throughout the journey.

The only thing that changes this is the situation with the runestones... I can see why you might worry then. Technically, they were earned by reliving a sad memory. It's not the same as earning them through some arduous task, and she manages to use them perfectly well the first time using each. Everything else that happens to her outside of that is still impacted by what she decides to do in a given situation.

All in all, you're sort of on the line between having a Mary Sue and not having one. The battles are where I'd suggest making rewrites. The easiest way to avoid writing Gunhild out to be a Mary Sue while keeping the same exact story is.. have her get hurt more in battle and/or struggle to learn how to use the runestones.

[Stargazer31]

I am planning for her to get hurt in future battles, since her realmwalker abilities were lost, causing her to doubt herself. The loss of her realmwalker abilities also means that her rune usage has to be reduced, and it causes her fatigue.

[ghostmaya]

It's okay to have mary sue character, I can guarantee of that~
How can you improve her without rewriting the whole~?
Easy and very effective and most common answer, I'm not sure everyone agree with this but the answer is CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT~ Readers love character development~ Character Development is one of element that a character makes feel so real and relatable~ if you manage to make a character relatable then people will love that character~

[ar-ninetysix]

Hey, I mean, you already got a plan that pushes her even further away from Mary Sue! What do you need us for?? Lol I think you have a good idea of what you're doing already That sort of progression is an interesting one to follow too, like a skilled fighter facing their lack of power and working their way back to it? There's all sorts of cool developments to make from there sooo.. yeah, idk I think you're fine as is, you don't even have to rewrite anything that point lol

[Stargazer31]

I thought that a second opinion would be useful

[crimson_mystery_cake]

I think Mary Sue is a very flawed term, it’s been abused over the last ten years and as a concept it holds no merit as literary criticism so I say don’t worry about it.

[system]

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