Honor Harrington's "bad temper" is an excellent example of an informed characteristic. I defy you to name one instance where she becomes angry beyond reason or out of proportion toward (which is, one might say, the defining attribute of a bad temper, otherwise it's just a normal temper) any protagonist character. The only times she's ever angry, the objects of her scorn have been deliberately set up in the narrative to be human ****stains that deserve everything coming to them. Seriously, if you can name one counter example I will be genuinely impressed. I think I know which ones you're thinking about, and after one of them she was knighted, given a stack of medals, and made a noble in two different space nations not even ten minutes after her reprimand.
I did not set the bar high when I mentioned Honor Harrington.
Shall we inventory the character, for those who might not be familiar following the thread?
And I'll quote from TV Tropes on the general consensus definition of "Mary Sue" so following along is easier. Obviously, the quoted text is centered on fan fiction uses, but I'm sure we can ignore the concept of 'canon' characters for the moment.
The prototypical Mary Sue is an original female character in a fanfic who obviously serves as an idealized version of the author mainly for the purpose of Wish Fulfillment. She's exotically beautiful, often having an unusual hair or eye color, and has a similarly cool and exotic name. She's exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas, and may possess skills that are rare or nonexistent in the canon setting. She also lacks any realistic, or at least story-relevant, character flaws — either that or her "flaws" are obviously meant to be endearing.
She has an unusual and dramatic Back Story. The canon protagonists are all overwhelmed with admiration for her beauty, wit, courage and other virtues, and are quick to adopt her as one of their True Companions, even characters who are usually antisocial and untrusting; if any character doesn't love her, that character gets an extremely unsympathetic portrayal. She has some sort of especially close relationship to the author's favorite canon character — their love interest, illegitimate child, never-before-mentioned sister, etc. Other than that, the canon characters are quickly reduced to awestruck cheerleaders, watching from the sidelines as Mary Sue outstrips them in their areas of expertise and solves problems that have stymied them for the entire series. (See Common Mary Sue Traits for more detail on any of these cliches.)
Exotically beautiful? Check. (The phrase 'almond-shaped eyes' is practically a trademark for David Weber; she is extraordinarily tall)
Similarly cool and exotic name? Her name is literally Honor.
She's exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas? This one deserves a list.
- Starship command/Tactics. This one is pretty necessary, so it gets a pass by itself.
- Fleet command/Strategy. Likewise pretty necessary, but I feel like special attention should be given to her repeated descriptions as one of the best to ever live on the subject.
- Martial arts. Still believable, but once more noteworthy for being one of the universe's foremost expert on her chosen style.
- Sword fighting. O....kay? Not just good at it, either, but truly exceptional. Once defeated a grand master as a novice in a deathmatch in one stroke. No, I'm not joking.
- Hang gliding. Okay, it's a hobby. She's damn good at it, but hobbies are allowed.
- Piloting. She set the academy record for... I forget exactly which record she set, but she did it in a "sailplane". Honorable mention for being one of the (if not the actual) top of her class at the academy, because of course she is. She was also roomates with the Queen's sister, because of course she was.
- Teaching. Speaking of the academy, she becomes one of its finest instructors.
- Governance. Still believable, but definitely starting to edge into "what can't she do?" territory. She's a Duchess in her state of birth, a Steadholder (basically a fancy name for a Duchess) in her adoptive state, before that she was a Count in her state of birth awarded for an entirely different act of valor and heroism.
- Politics. Mentioned here after Governance because they're definitely distinct, and also because it's the start of the descent into ridiculousness. For someone who really hated it to start the series, she ends up being one of the cleverest and most politically astute individuals in an entire empire of billions!
- Dueling. Edging into the "why is she so good at this?" category, Honor is also the best duelist ever to take the field, at one point killing a notorious and infamous dueling assassin before he was able to raise his gun because she shot perfectly from the hip. Which leads into...
- Ancient firearms. Honor is potentially the best (and fastest) sharpshooter in the setting with literally 2,000 year old gunpowder handguns because why the hell not?
- Treecats. Edging back into "this is understandable" territory for a bit, Honor is the setting's foremost expert on Treecats. Given her upbringing, this is not surprising, but it leads into...
- Telempathy. Honor is the first human telempath in a setting where they previously did not exist. She can determine without fail when someone is lying, and sense their emotions even without her also telempathic Treecat companion. Speaking of which...
- Treecat colonization. Honor is the catalyst and enabler of Treecats spreading to other planets, because why the hell not? Again.
- Instinctive navigation. Back away from the realm of the barely understood, Honor hates math and is bad at it. Except for the part where she can determine the optimal course for a hundred thousand ton warship threading between busy travel lanes, while disabling a potential threat with her ship's propulsion system all at the same time. Oh, and did I mention she does this faster than her ship's computer? Because she does.
Well, that's a hell of a list, isn't it? Perhaps I shouldn't mention her cybernetic arm and eye, which are of course better than normal people's body parts. Or maybe her polygamous marriage to her birth country's most senior admiral and also to its most famous entertainment star? No, certainly not necessary to the point. But maybe the part where she's a genetically engineered superhuman who can eat whatever she wants and never gain weight? Or that her homeworld was extra high gravity so she grew up stronger than everyone else just because.
Now that that's out of the way, let's take a look at Rey.
Exotically beautiful? She's a fairly attractive woman, but otherwise not noteworthy for her looks alone.
Similarly cool and exotic name? This is Star Wars, Rey is practically on the boring side of mundane.
Exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas? For helpful comparison, the list again.
- Starship piloting. We don't know a lot about Rey's early life, but she flew the Falcon well the first time behind the controls. Then again, we've seen force-sensitive pilots kick-ass in the pilot seat literally without exception in Star Wars. The closest you can come to a counter-example is Obi-Wan, who merely dislikes flying but is still good at it. We even get to hear her, when talking about the flight afterward, say that she has no idea she could do that. At least she's older than 10.
- Lightsaber combat. Possibly the only one I'm willing to concede is improbable on the face of it, her opponent was wounded not once but twice before she even picked it up, and her opponent was not trying to defeat her in earnest. Then again, The Force. She showed some skill in combat with her staff thing on Jakku.
- Repair and maintenance. Her entire lot in life is literally scavenging and repairing equipment. Of all the things she's good at, this is the one I damn well hope she's good at, since it's all she does.
- Force usage. Rey resists Kylo Ren's attempt to enter her mind and instinctively turns the tables. I wonder where I've seen that before. Admittedly not the same setting, but it lays the foundation for what comes next, like her use of a mind trick or her telekinesis (obligatory reminder that Ren was seriously wounded).
- Shooting blasters. She does this like four times, and is only half-way good at it, but I feel like it should be on the list anyway. It at least makes it look more like she could compare to Honor's massive List of Bull**** above.
What else is significant and interesting about Rey that doesn't fit into her list of skills? That's... pretty much it, no? She's force sensitive, obviously, but that's par for the course in a Star Wars movie. She's an otherwise normal human girl who up until the movie started had an uninteresting life and a skill set that is not even merely normal but
expected for her occupation.
