It's Not Mary Sue Stark!

A couple of clickbait sites decided to start up a fake controversy that Arya Stark is a Mary Sue. There are two basic problems with that: 1) The definition of “Mary Sue” is pretty vague, and 2) she doesn't match any of the definitions.

The major problem is that “Mary Sue” has become about useful a term as “anime”; seriously, try to get two animation fans to agree on what exactly “anime” is, and start with the question, “Is Avatar: The Last Airbender anime?” Trust me; the blades will come out at some point. The usual bit of history: “Mary Sue” started in Star Trek fanfiction as a term for the insert character that was the center of attention, and who happened to have the answer or skill for any crisis. That is, the author would insert an idealized version of herself into her Star Trek stories, and that version kicked butt.

Over time that definition has fluctuated, but there are several hallmarks of the “Mary Sue” character. While she isn't always an insert character, she does tend to be over-powered; she isn't just the master of one or two skills, but is master, or pretty close to it, of every important skill in the story she's in. She also has some sort of additional perk or three, such as virtually immune to prosecution, the power of flight, or some combination of the strongest traits in her world.

In short, she is one of the most powerful beings in whatever world she appears in.

She is also the emotional center of her universe. That is, she is usually the center of some sort of romantic triangle, is the most popular girl (or is working her way there), and somehow wields a lot of social power, be it because of her father, her popularity, or because she's the teacher's pet. The bottom line is that she is the center of her universe, either because she is just so interesting, she's the Chosen One, or she's basically the sole remaining goddess in an otherwise godless world.

In short, she's pretty powerful, solves all the problems just by showing up, and is surrounded by a lot of fake drama that wouldn't exist if she would just make a bloody decision.

That is so not Arya. She has one special talent: She can disguise herself perfectly as someone she kills. Sure, she can fight, but she is hardly even among Westeros' Top Twenty Warriors. Also, she isn't the series' Chosen One; she cold live or die and nothing would really change. She just isn't the center of her universe, and she's not exactly Miss Popularity; in fact she takes pains to stay out of the limelight. Heck, she only has one guy pining for her, and she put the kebosh on that as quickly as she could.

In short, Arya does not meet any of the qualifications for a Mary Sue character; heck, even if you define it as an insert character, that's Samwell Tarly's job. As such she's hardly a Mary Sue just because she killed a powerful enemy; that's just people trying to drive hits, and such people are a waste of your time.