JP Official Forums are also criticizing the Dawntrail MSQ.

[ReynTime]

Well she is basically a Mary Sue, from what I have seen so far.

Wuk Lamat is a bad character. But she is not a Mary Sue.
People need to stop using "Mary Sue" to define "character I don't like".

[Folsom]

Wuk Lamat is a bad character. But she is not a Mary Sue.
People need to stop using "Mary Sue" to define "character I don't like".

Based on the Wikipedia definition of Mary Sue, I'd say Wuk Lamat actually fits the definition quite well.

A Mary Sue is a character archetype in fiction, usually a young woman, who is often portrayed as inexplicably competent across all domains, gifted with unique talents or powers, liked or respected by most other characters, unrealistically free of weaknesses, extremely attractive, innately virtuous, and generally lacking meaningful character flaws.[1][2][3][4] Usually female and almost always the main character, a Mary Sue is often an author's idealized self-insertion, and may serve as a form of wish fulfillment. Mary Sue stories are often written by adolescent authors.

She's definitely a young woman.

Even though we're told that she's inexperienced, she is competent at everything she attempts within a matter of moments.

She has the unique talent of people just giving in to whatever she requests/asks for, among other things. Her "power" is Charisma, even though many players wouldn't agree that she has it; all of the in-game characters act as if she does.

She is liked/respected by most other characters (even if they don't like/respect her at first, most quickly grow to like her despite how annoying she is).

All of her weaknesses are either quickly overcome or are not meaningful at all (seasickness, naivety; physical weakness is irrelevant because despite claiming to be "weaker" than her brothers and Bakool Ja Ja, she fights an Auspice aka Tural Vidraal and then defeats Bakool Ja Ja and his entire group of lackeys with literally no additional training or development. Not even the Scions could all have done that throughout the story, but she does so with zero problems).

She is attractive (she's a cat girl in a game world where cat girls are universally loved).

She is innately virtuous (Peace! Love! I will save my people!)

All of her character flaws are especially meaningless. Even those we're told she has are erased with ZERO effort and have no bearing on the story after the first moments.

She is not just a Mary Sue. She is the archetypal example of a Mary Sue. She is more Mary Sue than most Mary Sues.

[CaptainLagbeard]

Based on the Wikipedia definition of Mary Sue, I'd say Wuk Lamat actually fits the definition quite well.



She's definitely a young woman.

Even though we're told that she's inexperienced, she is competent at everything she attempts within a matter of moments.

She has the unique talent of people just giving in to whatever she requests/asks for, among other things. Her "power" is Charisma, even though many players wouldn't agree that she has it; all of the in-game characters act as if she does.

She is liked/respected by most other characters (even if they don't like/respect her at first, most quickly grow to like her despite how annoying she is).

All of her weaknesses are either quickly overcome or are not meaningful at all (seasickness, naivety; physical weakness is irrelevant because despite claiming to be "weaker" than her brothers and Bakool Ja Ja, she fights an Auspice aka Tural Vidraal and then defeats Bakool Ja Ja and his entire group of lackeys with literally no additional training or development. Not even the Scions could all have done that throughout the story, but she does so with zero problems).

She is attractive (she's a cat girl in a game world where cat girls are universally loved).

She is innately virtuous (Peace! Love! I will save my people!)

All of her character flaws are especially meaningless. Even those we're told she has are erased with ZERO effort and have no bearing on the story after the first moments.

She is not just a Mary Sue. She is the archetypal example of a Mary Sue. She is more Mary Sue than most Mary Sues.

She most definitely hits more Mary Sue points than not... Just about the only thing that can't be confirmed (or denied) at the present is whether it's one of the writers OC.

[Tethan]

She most definitely hits more Mary Sue points than not... Just about the only thing that can't be confirmed (or denied) at the present is whether it's one of the writers OC.

Newsflash in case you didn't know this, but every single character ever is someone's OC. It's how characters work. They are made up by people.

What makes a Mary Sue bad isn't being an OC, it's not even being a self-insert, it's that they are not compelling as characters, ruin any attempt at a coherent narrative and their mere presence makes other, better characters worse.

When everything in a story is about glorifying your lil precious fave Poochie, nothing can exist outside of that. They really are like black holes.

[Raven2014]

Wuk Lamat is a bad character. But she is not a Mary Sue.
People need to stop using "Mary Sue" to define "character I don't like".

Maybe that's why she's such a bad characters?

From the way Wuk was presented, I don't think the writer intended her to be a Mary Sue. But they were afraid to give her any real character flaw (like the Scions) that all of her supposed flaw are superflous at best. At the same time she's also cuddle with success after success without facing any real failure. Also, a proper Mary Sue usually serve as an inspiration for other flawed character. I felt Wuk was supposed to be one of those "flawed" character that are inspired by Scions given how the story is set up. But again, the writer obsession ended up reverse that role and Wuk literally inspire everyone else with her "love, understanding and friendship" speech, in another word - she is the Mary Sue.