Is Harry a Gary Stu? (was: Mary Sue)

[antoshachekhonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 94763

Kateydidnt :
> 
> I don't think that test is accurate either. Take any main character 
> from any book and most likely any of them would qualify-we read books 
> about characters because the characters are different in some way or 
> interesting in some way. Who wants to read a story about someone just 
> like yourself? 
> 
>

I have to agree--many of the questions are simply variations on the theme of "is this 
character like Harry Potter?" or "does this character fit the archetypes of a typical hero/
ine?" Well, Harry IS like Harry, and he does fit many of those archetypes, but he is neither 
so clearly a wish-fulfillment of the author's own desires or a stand-in--nor, as pointed 
out, is he so poorly written--that he falls to GS/MS status. Like Hermione (or Ron or Ginny, 
for that matter, all of whom could fit the mold) Harry is an intriguingly drawn fictional 
character, well-rounded enough that we feel as if we like him, consistent enough that we 
feel we know him, and complex enough that we feel we aren't sure what he's going to do 
next. Having run across a few MS/GS in the reading I've done since I was a thirteen-year-
old attending Star Trek conventions (when the fic came in smelly mimeographed 
'magazines'), these guys aren't it.

Antosha, who wonders, Am I a Gary Stu?