We here at the Mary Sue know a lot about, well, Mary Sues and so when the internet discourse went off today about who in the Star Wars universe is the real Mary Sue, it was sort of like a Bat-signal for us. And it came thanks to someone with her own bat-credentials—legendary comics writer and master fandom troll Gail Simone.
Now, if we wanted to, we could devote a weekly, maybe even daily, column to “how Gail Simone broke the internet this time” and still not fully do justice to the beautiful chaos that is Simone’s Twitter feed. Whether it’s shaming Cyclops or insisting that Brits make their tea in the microwave, we can always rely on Simone to make the jokes no one else would think of, usually ones that whiny fanboys don’t quite get. But when it comes to her opinions on Luke Sky Walker … her humorously delivered opinion is totally correct.
Mark Hamill says he got the Luke Skywalker role by copying George Lucas’ exact mannerisms but sure, Rey is a Mary Sue, if it makes you happy.
— Gail Simone (@GailSimone) December 21, 2020
And of course, people popped out of the woodwork to tell Simone she was wrong and start ragging on Rey. Because … men.
Case in point… https://t.co/WJmF9ytTNo
— Gail Simone (@GailSimone) December 21, 2020
She is a common-as-fuck archetype, the ‘chosen one.’ A category of which at least three other, previous SW characters also belong.
This stuff isn’t complicated.
— Gail Simone (@GailSimone) December 21, 2020
But the thing is, Gail is absolutely right. I mean, seriously. George Lucas created Luke S. in his own image. He’s Lucas’ adventure avatar, succeeds magically because he is the chose one even though his sister is a hundred times more competent, and is the hero because the narrative says so. That’s a pretty on point Mary Sue. Now, that’s not to say that Luke isn’t great, but if the Sue fits, wear it. We love and support Mary Sues ’round these parts.
Luke has like 10 minutes of training then blows up a death star from the cockpit of a ship he’s never flown before, let alone in space, without the use of targeting, but Rey’s abilities are an issue.
— Andy Donaldson (@FuriosaLives) December 21, 2020
He’s the most Mary Sue of all Mary Sues.
I don’t care, neither should anyone. I still love him.
— Gail Simone (@GailSimone) December 21, 2020
Case in point… https://t.co/WJmF9ytTNo
— Gail Simone (@GailSimone) December 21, 2020
I mean, let’s even look at where Luke goes after the original trilogy: he takes on too much responsibility and is eventually attacked by a member of the order he created. If that isn’t a metaphor for Lucas going into the prequels and after, I don’t know what is. But what Simone’s trolling and the “wHat AboUt rEy?!” whining really points out is that calling something a “Mary Sue” often ends up showing the sexism of the person making that declaration.
Remember, the only difference between “classic lead character” and “Mary Sue” is “is this character a dude”. https://t.co/cGKWYQYa3J
— The 💜 Mela 🖤 Experience 🦊 (@kakapotrainer) December 21, 2020
Star Wars is a silly space opera, which we forget sometimes. And Luke Skywalker is a drama queen who’s a pretty transparent self-insert character for the author who wanted to take part in the pulpy, B-movie adventures he loved as a kid. It’s fanfic and Luke is a Mary Sue, and that’s fine. Because just being fanfic or a character being a Mary Sue doesn’t mean it’s bad. In fact, both of these things can be highly creative and engaging.
Take it from us, being a Mary Sue is pretty fun sometimes!
(image: LucasFilm)
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