I am an archaeologist, and enjoying researching, teaching, and field work to learn more about the past. I have been passionate and dedicated to this career for over half my life now, with a serious love for fiction and quality story telling mixed in.

This dedication to learning and theorizing over how artefacts, memoirs, ruins, even samples of pollen and dust in soil samples or lake cores contribute to how I look at fictional universes. Information, context, powers, characters, events and more each relate to each other and are what I enjoy in a good story. That is why I am the most passionate and dedicated to franchises that have complex worlds and universes created around them. However, this does not completely define which franchises or stories I enjoy.

To me, some things just click, while others do not. I don't categorize my preferences by genre though. This has resulted in a very wide range of different stories that I am interested in or like.

I am also a Martial Artist. I enjoy physical activity and training techniques immensely. Which gives me first hand experience and insight into different settings and scenes that I can write. However, I also don't like to stray too far from the established or cannon rules, laws, characterizations, and relationships that were established by the creators of the franchises I enjoy.

Personally, I view changing certain characters, or ignoring established laws does not give proper respect to the writers who first created them. It's like people who completely ignore historical and archaeological facts for the sake of creating drama, action, and enticing characters that the audience would enjoy. Masterpieces like the film Master and Commander, which payed especially close attention to historical accuracy, show that it is possible to create amazing stories within the established confines of historical accuracy. Also, the Star Wars Legends continuity was built-up over four decades, and by hundreds of different authors, all integrating within the established continuity and rules that others had created. That is how I write, rather than only taking pieces and working them into a blank canvas. I want to create an addition to the mural that complements the original artist's work.

Favourite films franchises:

-Harry Poter. -Star Wars. -Fullmetal Alchemist -One Piece. -Naruto/Naruto Shippuden. -Black Lagoon.

-Hellsing. -Hajime no Ippo -Firefly/Serenity. -Sword of the Stranger. -Inuyasha.

Interests: -Muay Thai. -Iado (Japanese Sword Arts). -Boxing. -Bronze Age Greek Archaeology. -Roman history.

-Military history. -Philosophy. -Iron Age Near East Archaeology. -Marathon Running. -Weight lifting. -Long Walks.

-Paddle Boarding. -World History. -Travel. -Karate (Goju-ryo)

In writing, I place a very high value and emphasis on development. People do not change overnight, nor is it realistic and relatable to allow characters to enjoy immense success on talent alone or by have a special power and gift with background development and context.

Characters in the Dragon Ball franchise are some of THE most OP in all of Anime; yet they all of extensive backstories, and long-term development that fans can watch and understand. While others have additional context within the lore that make great sense when they are applied to their accomplishments.

A personal favourite me is Luke Skywalker's Development over the course of The Empire Strike's back. This is my favourite Star Wars film because the characters, especially Luke, went from being random unknown who could accomplish the absolute impossible against a galactic-scale empire, Mary Sue's, to struggling fighters who could only win by escaping at every turn. Concerning Luke, the film make it appears that he was only training with Yoda on Dagobah for a few days before he fought Darth Vader. However, the lore of Star Wars established that after The Millennium Falcon escaped the Astaroid field to travel towards Cloud City, it took a theoretical 4-6 weeks due to the universe logistics of space-travel.

This means that Luke trained under the personal attention of Yoda, a centuries-old Jedi with God-Level extreme introspection and experience, who had over 20 years to plan-out the training of either Luke or Leia, daily for over a month. This makes the ease of accomplishments more realistic: like comparing calling his lightsaber to his hand in the Wamp cave to Cloud city, lifting small stones in a hand-stand in one scene and in another lifting multiple crates and R2-D2 in another, and pushing Darth Vader onto his back-foot in the Carbon-Freezing Chamber, much more realistic and impactful.

I enjoy reading and writing about long-term development and personal improvement the most. They make a story much more relatable and enjoyable rather than showing simplistic characters performing impossible feats with little efforts. Or added depth to a character rather than depicting bland archetypes in their stereotypical roles.

This is also much more challenging, because writing such development can easy become monotonous and boring if too much detail is added, or progression is too slow for readers to remain interested. The pacing, struggles, and erratic results (both success and failure) are all elements that should be addressed in a good story.

Complexity without being mundane.

I also enjoy fights that have more tactical influences rather than depending solely on pure power and exotic abilities. Fights in the Star Wars Legends, or Naruto are much more entertaining and depthful because they take have stronger strategic influences compared to other franchises that only allow victory to come from great power, simplistic will and endurance, or a sudden important power-up that occurs at the right time for a protagonist.

It can be epic, but also runs the risk of being boring. Powers and skills are drastically less effective if they are not used in the right way, or without cognitive thought and strategy.

This can also be difficult to write a times, however. Because it can deemphasize the emotional impact or excitement of a fight, making it appear like a chess-match or a tactical play-by-play. Writers who can balance both elements and keep readers enticed are true artists in their own right.

Books are always better than movies:

Everybody is open to their own opinions. I’d like to share mine towards why no movie will ever tell a story to the same degree a book can. Stories can still be told through both and they can start as a movie, then become novelized with amazing quality in the former: Star Wars or Fast and the Furious are two big examples of that. However, there are 3 encompassing factors which can make the quality of Books higher than Movies: Imagination, Insights and Budgets.

I’ll talk about the latter first. The bill for making different movies today are measured by hundreds of thousands on the low-end, millions on average or for top-quality, 10’s or 100’s of millions. Negotiating with actors, equipment, special-effects, real-effects, travel across different countries, and nearly every project, like city-wide construction, can wind-up over-budget. Creating a movie scene demands time, multiple takes and all of them cost money; pulling efforts and resources away from later stages of a film.

On the other hand, in the 21st century we live in, books can often cost only tens of thousands or large amounts of time to write, print and publish. Paper is rarely expensive now and or many different people read words on one type of screen or personal accessory. Exciting, dramatic, action-filled moments or long-term clues building to a dramatic reveal can all be added to the manuscript, with details put in words dozens or hundreds of different ways, before time or deadlines confide them. Where a movie can only settle for the best out of a few and have to cut-down or make incredible scenes smaller to manage within a budget, a book can be filled with to the brim.

In almost every book-turned-movie, key scenes or components would be cut away from the films. Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Eregon and more all suffer under this, cut important moments away or condensing them so tightly that valuable details, character development, world building and more become lost. Events or actions in one stage lack sense or understanding, or exciting, large-scale moments become glossed over or never receive any screen time. Which can either move things very quickly, robbing the audience of time to appreciate or digest what they have seen, or change part of a character or omit the world around them.

In Harry Potter, the Philosopher’s Stone, 2 extra challenges to reach the Mirror of Erised were cut form the movie: a Troll, and a logic puzzle; the puzzle was Snape’s addition and doubled as a trap, with only enough for 1 or 2 people to continue forwards. For anybody who only saw the movies, Hermione solved the puzzle and claimed wizards or witches often depend on magic and spells, yet lack even an ounce of logic to unravel mysteries or solve anything they couldn’t answer with their wands. Something which can explain why so much went bad for the heroes and the ministry across the Chamber of Secrets, Hagrid getting expelled for it, Sirius Black in Azkaban (which happened without any trial in the books, or magic tests to see if he’d cast a spell or invading his mind through legilimens), and Tom Riddle gone missing for decades. Later books even claimed Voldemorte was hiding in a forest in Albania after he tried to murder 1-year-old Harry, something that is never given lip-service in the films and questions where or what he was doing for 10 years.

All of which relates to Insight. Insight into what thoughts, opinions and emotions characters have in a book. Movies, unless narrated, barely have any means to let somebody into the mental state and thoughts somebody is having. All we can comprehend are their actions, and if an actor or actress has merit in their professions, this can be easy to pick-up on or be left flat and useless.

Depicting what or how people think directly can allow the author to build suspense, reason and empathy from their audience, taking somebody whom does not exist and making them feel very ,very real; much deeper than over half of all the movies ever filmed can display. Or even craft entertaining moments as somebody’s thoughts are known to the reader, to an audience, and as they react to conversations or opinions from other characters, they alone know better. In one scene where a character would sit, pace or stand alone and stare into empty space, thinking; a book would instead depict the exact thoughts, the train of thought, the opinions and emotions that person has, allowing the reading to follow them along or have a sense they are engrossed in the same setting, demands and dilemma’s the figures they enjoy face.

Darth Bane: a trilogy of novels written by Drew Karpinshin a decade before Disney purchased the rights to STAR WARS. They cast the figure who created the Rule-of-Two, the Sith master-apprentice Dynasty Emperor Palpatine came from, as they destroyed the Sith and remade it, and encountered trials, risks and dilemma’s between Bane and his own disciple: Darth Zannah. A female character far more compelling and skilled than Rey has ever been, Darth Bane raised her to one day prove she would continue his legacy by defeating him in a duel. The Final Book: Dynasty of Evil, follows thoughts and opinions of both Master and Student as they run their own plots for the continuation of the Sith Order, including 1 contest where Zannah encountered Bane, he didn’t have a lightsaber, she did, and they were even, matching the other move-for-move. Next, an introspective chapter came, of Darth Zannah deconstructing their fight to identify why she hadn’t killed Bane…and managed to grasp an answer. Whereas a movie would only have a dramatic monologue, feature Zannah sitting in a chair with only her face to show what she is thinking, or have to use several narrated flashbacks, the novel allows the read to experience and follow the insights in real-time, through their imagination.

And finally the last component: Imagination. On the silver screen, everything is visual and cannot be changed or altered; while in reading a book no 2 people ever picture a moment the same. The event can happen, but their imaginations can change the details found, colours, furniture, shapes, movements and more into what they like and enjoy, whereas the films are consequentially grounded in what is real and physical to film. Many audiences often complain about how actors do not often match the characters they play if the source material is a book: Jack Reacher, played by Tom Cruise, many of the fans complained of him because the books pictured a figure a blonde, 6ft 5inch, 250 pounds, somebody who will take fear and make it into fury, who will “beat you a death, then drink your blood from a boot.” A Wild man, who desires to roam by choice, will see something wrong and act without a care for what is normal or legal, and impress Sherlock Holmes himself at a crime scene. With Tom Cruise, the author who created him, Lee Child, stated the movie Jack Reacher could deliver 95% of his character, with 5% missing on appearance; Cruise is 5 ft 7inch. 6 years after the movie, Child claimed so many fans complained about how the guy on the screen didn’t match the books, that Tom Cruise wouldn’t have the roll again and special attention for the right physical appearance would be a priority for additional films.

Privately, I watched the Jack Reach film before reading the books; Tom Cruise was incredible and delivered Reacher’s grit, his focus and his self-righteous actions in a way nobody else could. Vin Deisel might have fit the physique, yet who would want to pick a fight with somebody with his size or could stop you with a look alone? With Vin Deisel, the grit, suspense and tension in scenes with Tom Cruise would instead have felt replaced with drama and no real worry for the main characters at all.

More examples exist, of character summersaulting, having a stare down, or surrounded by piles of books. On the screen, these become grounded in reality but in the pages of a book, the imagination takes over and the less than is written can allow somebody’s imagination to fill the gaps. Crafting the scene of image, or a person, or object and more in our imaginations can make their satisfaction all the stronger and with no real disappointment or a sense of “That should look like this.”

Books have several freedoms which movies rarely, or ever can transcend: the money spent to make them, the perspectives people have in characters, and confined to the real instead of freedom through thoughts. To me, there can be dozens to hundreds of ways to enjoy a book or write stories without certain confined that movies will always encounter and will leave some people let-down or disappointed. Now, books do have their own flaws, and I freely recognize movies and stimulate physical senses more, making their excitement far stronger. If a movie tells a story from the start, they can be legendary and glorious; yet taking a book and attempting to make it a movie will always involve the loss or omission, and some sense of disappointment from sincere fans. Or worse, some movies will even change the movie from the book so far they lose sincere fans irreversibly.

Assassins Creed: the Creed.

Anybody whom has played a single game in this series know “Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted.” The titular Creed the Assassins follow, but not one that they actually explain directly very often, save for Ezio Auditore’s walk with Sofia Sartor. A lot of people reference his words to explain what the Creed meanings, and leave it inside the Game. Personally, I actually find these words and examples can be found in the modern world today. They aren’t an excuse for actions or consequences, nor lip-service for fantasy, but insightful, relevant and a way to accept and in-turn act in our own lives.

A lot of people whom play the game, read novels or know about the franchise, do build their own stories on , and recycle explanations or definitions from the game to explain the Creed. Instead of thinking a little deeper and building their own interpretation or descriptions from these words and presenting it in those stories. Here, I’m only writing my own observations about the Creed, and to explain different examples of what they sincerely can mean. Like everything else, every opinion and attitude in the world has their own perspectives on right or wrong, and one person might actually have 3 or 4, to even a dozen interpretations inside their heads. I respect all of them, this segment is not an absolute or true definition, because after all; “Nothing is true.”

“Nothing is True,” between 2 independent people, societies, nations, cultures or individuals. 1 subject, event or belief can have dozens of various interpretations, and they are constantly changing. Even for somebody inside the same country, political party, profession, religion or another organized body of people, they will all have their own perspectives on action, importance, laws, lifestyles and how those should be prioritized and valued. Some people can agree on certain topics, and have to actively maintain that consent instead of assuming they will always remain stagnant and concrete, impossible to change.

To Ezio Auditore: “The foundations of society are fragile, and we must be the shepherds of our own civilization.” Outside of fanfic., I am an archaeologist, studying civilizations of the Mediterranean basin, and this quote has a lot of impact and echoes in my profession. Cultures often evolve as new challenges and generations come, or traditions become stagnant and detrimental. In order for certain traditions to continue, people have to actively teach others, to ask questions and find answers to them, and otherwise actually evolve their ideas to answer news demands which a certain principle or approach was not made to address.

The Roman Empire, as a Republic and across 500BCE-0CE; often their military, their religion and society was constantly evolving, finding deities other people worshiped, building techniques invented in Egypt, Greece, Turkey and Syria, weapons their enemies used, and adapting them into their own infrastructure. Their political sphere often changed too, despite conservative Senators whom opposed those measures or murdered anybody trying to create fresh change; the Grachus brothers, Marius and Sulla, or Julius Caesar. Caesar’s assassination especially, in reality, not Assassin Creed Origins, had people whom thought if he died then Roman was naturally accept a Republic again without issue. Instead the people and half the other Aristocrats were in uproar, they desired singular, decisive leadership and gradually an Imperial family and bureaucracy overtook the Republic.

Yet after a period called the “Crisis of the 3rd Century,” Rome could barely be ruled by 1 Emperor for more than a decade, the Empire split in two, and stagnation led to the end of “The eternal city.”

Today in political spheres, different parties naturally oppose actions from a rival group solely based on who introduced it and their position as supportive, coalitions or opposition. The nature of a Bill, the demands from the nation or personal opinions rarely matter for the sake of Party loyalty and the agenda a certain group aims to fulfill; and when elections occur barely of various promises become fulfilled by the individual who wins the race for the top job. Do they truly want to see a nation become great? Or remake society and their nation in their own image, or please those whom can keep them in-power for as long as they can hold it?

In each example, different people believed in a absolute, unchanging truth, importance or righteousness in their own group. When in reality, facing the results of those beliefs, they often fall flat on their face or fail to fulfill what they promise or more disastrously, fail to recognize and answer in time. There is never simply 1 reason why disasters or downfalls occur, creating the illusion of a singular “truth” in history or the present. Instead, there are so many differences, dilemmas and dichotomies between people, that a single absolute truth or answer is non-existent.

Moving away from reality, look at other sources of fiction for example of “Nothing is true?” In Naruto, the Shonun Anime by Kishimoto, most of the characters believe the protagonist was evil incarnate as the host of a demon, instead of having an open mind or comprehending what a person and the Jinchuuriki are. The theme of discrimination as a absolute truth, and a serious problem today across the world. Even beyond general themes, another character Sasuke Uchiha believed in certain truths about his brother and their clan and made several terrible decisions and actions driven by that truth; he never questioned it or formed his own philosophies from the world around him and spiralled into self-destruction, narcissism and emotional instability.

Other characters in Naruto often believed that if they had faith in other people, or followed their own principles to the letter, then everything around them would be fine: the 3rd Hokage and compassion, Danzo Shimura and betrayal or self-righteousness, the titular character himself towards Sasuke. Kakashi Hatake first followed every rule to the letter and later valued comradeship ahead of everyone and everything; and other people paid with their lives from his decisions. They all often had good intensions and stuck to their principles when things became difficult. But others did not often reciprocate those opinions and the consequences were deadly. People often make terrible choices from projecting their own philosophies onto the world, instead of understanding or using alternative ideas.

Another powerful example can be found in Avatar: the Last Airbender. The character Aang, was he a selfish child who abandoned his people? Is he compassionate to a fault and admirable, or valued his principles and spiritual righteousness to avoid killing others at the expense of creating problems for Zuko with Ozai and Korra with Yakone’s children? Are both true, or neither and each should be seen and valued selectively? Quite a contrast to find in a children’s show protagonist, and an indication on the writer’s dedication and excellence.

Star Wars: around the “righteousness” of the Jedi Order, or Anakin Skywalker’s identity. In the Original trilogy, Ben Kenobi stated “What I told you was true. From a certain point of view.” He selective told Luke Skywalker his father was betrayed and murdered by Darth Vader; impacting Luke to dedicate himself trying to kill or at least stop the Sith with a motivation many people would accept or even relate to. Then he discovered Darth Vader was his father. Yet Vader himself claimed the name “Anakin Skywalker,” “no longer has any meaning for me.” The Sith, trapped in a suit of armour with 4 missing limbs, actively distance himself from Anakin despite claiming Luke was his son to that exact man. Were his perspectives and Obi-Wan’s ever really so contrasted, or did their respective truths just make it easier to accept the world, or were pragmatic tools to steer Luke one way, or a different one?

Many people even look at the Jedi Order across the Prequel series, or the Expanded Universe/Legends continuity, and question if they truly were “Guardians of peace and justice,” or self-righteous hypocrites who believed they could never do anything truly wrong. They mostly sat on their hands across the films, waiting for a threat or Sith to come into the open and challenge them, instead of looking into the shadows from how much their were afraid of, and put distance between them from, the Dark. Very few of them, except for Qui-Gin ever gave general respect or consideration towards Anakin Skywalker, instead criticizing him, offering few if any answers to his questions, or proclaiming they lacked any trust or faith despite everything he’d accomplished up to Twilight of the Jedi.

Even in an old storyline, published by Dark Horse comics. A group of Jedi gained a vision of one of their own Padawans turning into a Sith. 1, out of a group of 5 whom were training together. Those Jedi, called the First Watch Circle, decided to murder all their students, full their own fanatical righteousness even as they butchered children. They failed to comprehend how later events can be stopped with smaller steps, or look ahead to the consequences of such choices. Which directly ties-into the 2nd part of the Assassins Creed:

“Everything is permitted,” to occur in response to your actions. Somebody could follow all the rules, execute a simple plan or turn left instead of a right. And they honestly have very little control over all the results, or what the next event they face will be. Something totally outside of their control and give them success at the expense of somebody else, or the consequences of multiple choices do not deliver the results a person wanted to see or gain. Yet they are still responsible and those consequences are theirs to own, whether positive or negative, glorious or tragic.

In the real world, gaining 1 job or a successful career mean somebody else will not gain that same occupation and suffer because of it. Or an academic can develop a new principle or theory, and others take such lessons and apply them in alternative, or horrendous ways: Charles Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” principle developed in the late 1880’s, later became a fundamental in Nationalism, Racism and Anti-Semitism across the early 1900’s.

Circling back to politics, if individuals don’t measure results carefully or make too many promises about what they will deliver, then their support and the consent for their positions vanish and leaders lose power to a rival candidate, or become toppled by coups and revolutions. The English Revolution and French Revolution were terrible examples of such consequences, and in the end “New” leaders, Robespierre, William Cromwell, King Louis VII, and King James II of England all made certain promises but then practiced the same actions others made, or turned to tyranny and executions to maintain their hold on power until opponents deposed them at best, or ended their rule, and their lives, at worst. Cromwell and Louis VII especially committed many acts which certain predecessors, James II and Louis VI, respectively, followed and gradually lost their power and reputations as consequences.

I deliberately won’t talk about other examples from Anime, video games or fantasy here. Instead…..think about franchises which are highly popular, or which people enjoy: Avatar, Naruto, One Piece, Star Wars, The Witcher, Harry Potter, Jack Reacher, and more. Where are examples of people committing actions in an absolute belief they will control the outcomes, or the results will deliver exactly what they want? And how many of them accepted responsibility for those results, or denied and ignored their own failings and repeated the same choices, over, and over?

In the unpopular Assassins Creed Unity, Arno Dorian noted how "The Creed is not a grant of permission. It is a warning." To me, this is the ideal way to view the Assassin Creed. As a warning about the world we exist in, to often expect differently from other people or that there’s never only 1 option or way to accomplish something. If you look at that and stop your actions, then stagnation means you are unmoving, and only something dead cannot move, breath, or live. We can ignore this and become lost in dealing with other people, closed-minded or shocked and unresponsive if we don’t get the results we wanted, or the unexpected pops out of no where.

Defining a Mary Sue (Ray, Anakin, and Luke)

I became curious one day after finding a video-essay which assessed whether or not one popular character deserved to be labelled as a “Mary Sue;" "Is Korra Mary Sue," as in Avatar Korra from the Cartoon Network series. DOne by Antoine Bandele, the author referenced a set of factors and descriptions drawn from this source: What is a Mary Sue? - and evaluated how a specific character would match or contrast with the article's content.

This link has quite a thorough definition of "Mary Sue's," by describing certain criteria which a "SUe" would have meet, on a consistent basis, to recognize if or if not the label can stick.

Another key to whether or not any form of character trope, type or label can reliably be used. A single, one-off scene or moment should never define every aspect of a person, whether fictional or not, nor a single opinion or person’s interaction with them define how both would address and relate to all people or situations. Either multiple examples of different criteria much be easy to identify, or smaller examples with the same present in crucial, pivotal plot points need to exist if a character can or cannot be recognized as a Mary Sue.

And the characters I will put on trial here: Luke Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, and Ray from the STAR WARS franchise. The latter has become a poster or nearly all criticism against the STAR WARS Sequel films, while the former with their own compelling stories are brought down by fans or critics whom look at their dispositions or accomplishments in the same light.

1. A Mary Sue is a character who is given or is expected to be given unwarranted preferential treatment and unearned respect.

Luke Skywalker, across the Original trilogy, began as a farm boy complaining to his Uncle, yearning to have adventure and later gets thrown head first into a galactic scale war and pulled off the impossible by destroying the 1st Death Star. In his story his Uncle Owen deliberately tried to keep him grounded to avoid Luke winding-up turning into his own father; even implicitly breaking several promises for Luke to strike out on his own: “I was thinking about our deal." …. "The harvest is when I need you the most. You can go next year." …….. "That is what you said last year.” Later at Mos Eisly Cantina two thugs tossed Luke around instead of becoming cowed or befriending him, and Han Solo questioned if Luke knew how to fly a ship at all. Later at the Rebel Base, Red Leader asked if Luke could pilot a ship and instead of giving an answer, a close friend of Luke spoke-up on his behalf: “Sir, Luke is the best bush-pilot in the outer rim territories.”

Luke became “Commander Skywalker” after he blew-up the Death Star, earning respect from the other Rebels, and even after all that upon reaching Degobah he had to start from the bottom with Yoda. The Jedi Master declared him too old, reckless, impatient and unfit to be a Jedi. Luke had to repeatedly ask to learn from the Grand Master, and give respect to receive it. Even the evil side of the movies: Darth Vader and the Emperor took notice of Luke after he succeeded with the Death Star and they discovered who’s son he was; Vader’s interest especially was centred only on Obi-Wan in the 1st film, and the Emperor in the end desired to replace Darth Vader; offering Luke to join him AFTER he defeated Darth Vader. The same Emperor whom, minutes before hand, praised Vader for his own success earlier in the climatic clash of the throne room.

The only figure who actually valued Luke without any proof of his merits appears to be Obi-Wan Kenobi himself. Ben Kenobi pleaded on Luke’s behalf to Yoda and introduced him to his father’s lightsaber; yet even Ben told him half-truths about Anakin Skywalker, not the complete story and even when Luke departed Degobah to Cloud City, Kenobi withheld the truth about Anakin from him, hardly showing trust and respect. All together, Luke Skywalker initially was in a derogative or neutral shade in the opinions of other figures, until he accomplished to earn their respect.

Anakin Skywalker became introduced as a child-Slave, the bottom of society and even outright property of somebody else. Within the Phantom Menace, Sebula insulted Anakin and claimed he’d “finish him if he weren’t a slave.” Watto even gloated to Anakin prior to the race and instead of showing faith head would win, other children in the film claimed Anakin wouldn’t win: “keep racing Ani. You’re going to be bug-squat.” Like his son, a mystical “crazy wizard” came into Anakin's life and vouched for his importance to others. Yet even upon reaching Coruscant and the Jedi Temple, how many others actively respected him?

The rest of the Jedi Order rejected Anakin’s candidacy to become one of them, claiming he was too old. Yoda even protested him become Obi-Wan’s apprentice following Qui-Gon Jinn’s death, and Kenobi only did so for Qui-Gon’s sake instead of a preferential sense for Anakin simply being Anakin. Even 10 years later in “Attack of the Clones” Obi-Wan chastised Anakin repeatedly and in front of other individuals even when Anakin made honest efforts and saved Kenobi from a Coruscant free-fall. Kenobi even claimed Anakin himself was arrogant and reckless in his talents instead of showing stronger faith in him, literally 1 day after Kenobi leapt through a glass window to go dangling by his fingers off a droid and floating through the airspace of a giant city.

Even his own future-wife, Padme, when they reunited, claimed Anakin was “always that little boy I knew on Tatooine.” Only after spending possibly days or weeks together did she display any feelings for him and confessed to him while they were carted out into an area for their own executions. Glaringly, the only figure whom constantly praised Anakin, claiming “he was the greatest Jedi I ever met. Even more powerful than Master Yoda,” was Palpatine, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious.

By the final Prequel film “Revenge of the Sith,” despite Anakin’s triumph over Dooku, saving Obi-Wan’s life and his position as a Knight, the Jedi declared they did not trust him and rarely displayed any sense of respect or consideration towards his difficulties. Anakin even sought-out help from Yoda for his nightmares, told Mace Windu about whom the Sith Lord was, and reluctantly agreed to spy on the Council despite the hypocrisy against the only set of rules or code that explained the Jedi’s actions towards him. Until he became Darth Vader, Anakin actually received very little respect, and preferential treatment was actively withheld from him by nearly everyone but Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Sidious.

Finally Ray Palpatine, or Ray Skywalker if somebody prefers, spent the early stages of her life as a scavenger on a desert planet. Childhood through her teenage years she wound-up having to push herself, implicitly became harassed by others on Jakku, and barely got more rations than enough to get by. When the Resistance and First Order arrived, initially Han Solo and Finn became more and more impressed by her accomplishments, the same Han Solo whom was skeptical of everything and Finn as a recent-defector. Even as the films progressed, more and more people imparted that Ray was extremely special, from Mazz Kanata to Leia Organa-Solo and especially the obsessive Kylo Ren. The only figure whom did not immediately respect Ray was Luke Skywalker, jaded by his failure and given-up on the Jedi and the Force, and upon realizing how powerful she was he became scared.

Unlike the aforementioned examples, it was more difficult to find examples of individuals whom did not innately respect or trust Ray, and even scarcer to identify cases where others had an instinct or obsession that she was important and special right-off-the-bat. But, crucially, this was not exclusive and she did partially earn that attention through accomplishments. First she fixed the Millennium Falcon better than Han Solo, resisted Kylo Ren tearing into her mind and proved she was quite powerful with the Force. These factors will come up again later, yet many did initially write her off as a scavenger until she pulled-off something impressive or incredible. A sharp contrast from Anakin’s pattern of accomplishments bringing greater alienation and impartiality.

All together, Luke Skywalker and Anakin Skywalker’s stories and experiences do not align with this trait for a “Mary Sue” in any strong capacity. Ray does have clear examples and if often praised or given strong trust with comparatively little feats or efforts to earn it. Or the reactions to her minor accomplishments can even seem excessive in some figures, from Kylo Ren to Hana Solo or Leia Organa. Unfortunately, Ray does have moderate alignment with this criteria for a Mary Sue, while Luke and Anakin do not.

2. Other Characters who are normally grouchy or hostile will immediately be able to sense the innate goodness/specialness of the Sue and will warm right up to them.

Luke Skywalker rarely encountered many people whom were actively hostile to any form of contact, and in the beginning they viewed him with indifference or mild disbelieve. The only individual, a single figure, whom saw Luke as innately special was, again, Old Ben Kenobi. Both Yoda and Darth Vader were skeptical towards him in their own ways, Vader outright commenting about: “The Force is strong with you young Skywalker. But you are not a Jedi Yet.” And “All too easy. Perhaps you are not as strong as the Emperor thought.”

The Rebels, a rag-tag force trying to topple an Empire did appear to accept Luke into their ranks quickly and with relatively little doubt or question. Instead of imemdiate promotion to a big role, however, Luke began as a rank-and-file pilot, “Red Five,” until he accomplished something spectacular. Even upon meeting Leia for the first time, she expressed doubt or little innate admiration towards Luke, albeit she did lend him comfort after Ben Kenobi was cut-down.

Even by “Return of the Jedi” when Luke addressed Jabba the Hutt over Han Solo’s freedom, the Hutt laughed him off instead of giving reverence towards Luke, and responded to the death of his Rancor with rage, as he sentenced Luke and Han to death. Even Luke’s final warning went ignored, and the Hutt with everybody on his side paid a hefty price. Jabba did not see anything appealing or special about Luke, even over claims he was a jedi, and derogatively brushed him aside; not sensing anything special or innate about Luke and trying to appeal or beseech him.

Anakin Skywalker, again, only had 2 individuals who actively viewed him as a special individual with valuable potential: Qui-Gin Jinn, out of a sense of altruism, and Darth Sidious for his own conniving machinations. Mace Windu, whom actively acknowledged Anakin had exceptional skills in “Attack of the Clones,” was cold and distant towards Anakin directly for the majority of “Revenge of the Sith.” And he was the active voice whom proclaimed Anakin would not be accepted into the Order. Even as a child slave Anakin’s owner, Watto, viewed him as a material asset instead of trying to warm-up or appease the boy. Sebulba, a figure hostile with nearly everybody, provoked Anakin prior to their final race and in the film it was Padme whom appealed to the grouchy Boss Nasa, not Anakin.

Further into the Prequels, even the villains, such as Count Dooku or Jango Fett, did not display any exceptional interest in Anakin and neither did they switch to the good side only through interactions with him. General Grievous even derogatively snorted about “expecting someone with your reputation to be a little, older.” Anakin rarely had any close interactions with too many other characters, and in such moments other character remained neutral or gave him general respect.

Ray, again echoing the previous trait, only had a sincerely hostile relationship with Luke Skywalker in the 2nd Sequel film “The Last Jedi,” and otherwise trying to identify grouchy figures was quite difficult, or since few of the figures she encountered had a hostile or difficult disposition. Han Solo and Leia Organa-Solo was complete 180 turns towards her compared with their first encounter with Luke. The lead-junker on Jakku did clearly have a neutral opinion towards Ray, or possibly a negative once since he ordered a hit to steal a droid from her. Other characters from Finn to Poe Dameron, practically all of the Resistance and more individuals followed or valued Ray immensely without any question or loss. Leia Organa also valued Ray as one of the last candidates to be a Jedi at all, and as her teacher displayed great faith in her pupil. But never outright or encompassing flattery and indulgence.

One critical point in this trait can be found in Emperor Palpatine, however. Whom actively tried to sway Ray to his side with flattery and familial connections, for the purpose of his own immortality or to invade and utilize for form as a vessel for his own spirit. The Emperor valued Ray no more than he did Darth Vader or any of his previous disciples, and only tried to “warm-up” to her for emotional manipulation and his own motives.

In reflection, while Ray might align closer than the others, none of these 3 have sufficient or consistent sway with others to the point they drop any and all of their standards to buttress this powerful, special “Chosen One.”

3. They will have few, if any meaningful challenges, hardships or handicaps. Obstacles which exist are virtually nonexistent or pose no sincere threat or difficult to a Mary Sue and the fabric of the universe is bending to accommodate the character.

4. Things that were supposed to have been genuine hardships won’t have a realistic impact on the character or their life. Emotional traumas might disappear at the writer’s convenience. Or things that should be traumatizing won’t bother the Mary Sue at all.

Initially, I intended to address these separately, but they would-up too interwoven and multiple topics kept repeating themselves.

#3 can involve obstacles that are physical, psychological or emotional challenges. Or they exist for nearly everybody yet do not appear to impact the Mary Sue at all. There is no ‘absence’ of challenges or dangers in a story, but the influence or difficulties which could be expected to cost the Mary Sue to overcome them would be nothing more than a brush-off the solder, or simple side-step. Which, incidentally, Luke, Anakin or Ray have some easily successful feats in a few cases, or struggle with in others. Where #4 often relates to how powerful a “Mary Sue” can appear to be, or explain why they are paragons of morality whom always make the best decisions or possess perfect moral compasses.

Luke Skywalker as a Jedi Master might fit such a mold, but across the Star Wars films, and including the Sequel series that is a few million miles away from the truth. Luke had loving guardians in his Aunt and Uncle, and in retrospect his desire to leave them is extremely tragic in light of their deaths. After holding a lightsaber for the first time, Luke initially declined to join Obi-Wan, yet his Aunt and Uncle’s deaths impacted him to fight back against the Empire, and when his own Master was cut-down by Vader, Luke was paralyzed for a moment and visibly mourned him, stating “I can’t believe he’s gone.”

Luke Skywalker was an exceptionally talented figure, as a character and particularly a pilot. Yet in the initially movie he first appeared in, his butt got beaten, he was hesitant to leave home when a good excuse and reason came up, and nearly became crushed to death inside a garbage compactor. His own character arc and the quintessential “Hero’s journey” was never in a sense ‘easy’ and he made several small and large mistakes on the way. On some occasions such mistakes had beneficial outcomes, such as running off to cover a screw-up by finding R2-D2. Upon discovering the Empire might attack him home, the hero found it burned-down, his family dead, and decided then and there follow Ben Kenobi and fight with the Empire as a consequence. This example of happen-chance survival could be seen as “woven into the fabric of the universe” for his benefit, but it was not an overnight decision.

Within the 2nd film in all of Star Wars: Luke wound-up mauled by a Wampa, nearly froze to death from a consequence of running away from said snow-creature, and had no capacity to save himself with his own faculties. He was shot-down out of the sky at the Battle of Hoth, ran-off to Cloud City and lost his right-hand, then wound-up dangling through empty space on a wire apparatus. Everything which occurred on Cloud City was a consequence of him running off before he was prepared and into Darth Vader’s trap, and in the end he literally had no direct impact on Leia, Lando or Chewbacca’s escape as they got away on their own. The only good thing he had done was bring R2-D2 to Cloud City, opening doors and turning the Falcon’s hyperdrive back on.

The lowest point Luke every reached in the Original Trilogy, came at Cloud City where Luke lost his right hand and discovered who his father was. This was a shock not only to the audience, but especially to Luke’s view of the universe, with emotional impacts that reverberated through the entire “Return of the Jedi” where Luke rejected the concept of killing his father. Instead of merely accepting his father was his enemy and deciding nothing changed, Luke altered his entire perspective towards Yoda, Ben Kenobi and Darth Vader with a firm and quite unfounded belief that Vader could be redeemed and he could not kill his own father.

Even when the final, climactic “Return of the Jedi” came out, Luke got stuck in a Rancor pit, with the handicap of no lightsaber or weapon of any kind. He barely overcame this obstacle and later in the same film, his duel with Darth Vader was no cake-walk, forcing Luke to fight for every inch of ground, and he inevitably found one obstacle too great to overcome in Emperor Palpatine himself, totally at his mercy under Force lightning. All of which are clear example of hardship, handicaps and massive obstacles which can hurt, or even kill him certainly do exist.

Even beyond these physical or personal challenges, 2 addition, powerful moments of emotional weight and impact for Luke occurred in "Return of the Jedi,": his Sister, and becoming his father. When Luke discovered Leia was his sister, he was visibly shocked and grew highly protective towards her, and shared a deep empathic moment with her. A revelation which later was discovered by Darth Vader, and upon threatening to turn Leia to the Dark Side, Luke went into beast-mode and overpowered Vader; only to discover they both shared a mechanical right hand, and Luke very visibly could become a complete mirror of his father. None of which were merely ignored or brushed aside, or disappeared from the narrative of the story as the impacts they had led to serious consequence.

This situation of emotional turmoil existed for Anakin Skywalker across his own life until he became Darth Vader. Anakin Skywalker was an extremely emotional figure, and hardly had a clear and easy ride through his own arc to becoming Darth Vader. As a 9-year-old child slave, he had to earn his own freedom through succeeding in a Pod-race, not immediately granted it from his own desires. He also nearly crashed or had to out-perform each individual racer in the event to reach freedom. But after success in the race, a powerful and persistent emotional event occurred as Anakin departed from Tatooine, and left his mother behind. Even Qui-Gon Jinn did not sincerely relate to or comprehend how emotionally powerful this separation was; and only days later that same mentor whom he’d come to trust, died. Anakin may have succeeded later in the “Phantom Menace” on Naboo, but he never actually moved-on from his life on Tatooine, nor emotional ties to his mother.

When Anakin experienced visions of his mother in danger, they deprived him of sleep and become his total fixation after he had accumulated 10 years of training with the Jedi Order. And upon her death, literally in his arms, Anakin’s reactions or deep and volatile, but at the same time, human. Jedi philosophy involved repression and detachment from their emotions, and should Anakin have followed them to the letter, he would have merely taken his mother’s body and ignored the trauma he’d been agonizing over for half the film. Yet….he did not, to the point which he slaughtered not the warriors who captured and tortured her, but killed women, pets and children in the Tuskan tribe, undergoing severe hardship in pure emotional turmoil.

Crucially, this event and the emotional weight behind it directly shaped the plot and consequences her experienced in “Revenge of the Sith.” Despite success in the Clones Wars and his own growing powers, the moment Anakin experienced visions of Padme dying as Shmi Skywalker did, he became obsessed with saving her and it showed that the event continued to haunt him. His mother’s death was not a “gone-and-done” moment, and Anakin himself initially sought help from the Jedi to answer this problem, yet found nothing but advise to cut himself off from that fear; bury the problem under a rock, so-to-speak. The trauma of the earlier loss was so terrible, Anakin became desperate for any answers, and when Darth Sidious offered them, the consequences were disastrous.

Anakin certainly did not buckle under each and every difficulty he found, albeit he was unjustifiably reckless. In “Attack of Clones,” when Obi-Wan claimed “you might rival Master Yoda as a swordsman,” Anakin replied with “I thought I already did.” He also managed to get his lightsaber cut-in-half after coming to the planet Geonosis, and encountered a dangerous foe whom costed him his right arm. This was a critical moment, as in Revenge of the Sith, Dooku and Anakin fought each once more, and Anakin won. He won against somebody even Yoda fought to a draw, de-handing Count Dooku before executing him, once his own morality was compromised by Darth Sidious.

Anakin initially rejected Palpatine's offer to be a Sith and informed Mace Windu of it immediately. Later the hardship of losing another family member compelled him to chase after the Jedi, but he did not rush-in declaring himself a Sith. Anakin was visibly standing between the Dark Side and the Light Side, arguing that murder was not the Jedi way; displaying how both he and Mace Windu were hypocrites to their own degrees. Even after cutting off Windu’s arm, Anakin was traumatized, shocked at what he had done and knowing that he could no longer say he was a Jedi. The Sith were the only option left for him, he massacred even children from this obsession to save his family and avoid the pain of losing his wife and unborn child as he lost his own mother.

Yet in the same vein, Anakin Skywalker felt betrayed and his emotions and reasoning were wild and unpredictable. He spoke of power and tyranny to his wife, who rejected that when she witnessed the monster he had become, and Anakin himself even choked her with his powers until she fell unconscious. His confusion and rage had catastrophic impacts, and never truly vanished from his mind or attention, at all.

In contrast, Ray Palpatine had a very different situation for emotional or personal ties encountered across her own cinematic journey. Ray did have her own form of challenges, but the majority of them which proved to be serious handicaps were internal instead of external. Whether it was piloting, leadership, artefact hunting, or fighting skills, she often had an answer or discovered an ideal way to break out from them.

She appeared, the majority of the time, to only be blocked by her individual choices, desires or other people withholding something from her. Initially she appeared to be in denial over abandonment and believed somebody was coming to Jakku to find her, rejecting alternative options in favour of going back to Jakku. She did appear extremely distressed when Han Solo was impaled by his own son and pushed herself to attack and fight Kylo Ren for his sake, yet later in the subsequent films, she barely looked back on Han’s memory or his words at all; growing more attached the Luke and Leia despite the close interactions she had shared with Han Solo, or even Chewbacca. Later she wanted to be a Jedi and displayed emotional feelings for Finn, as if suddenly returning to Jakku no longer matter at a crucial point in to plot.

Moreover, in the subsequent films the latter relationship between her and Finn was abandoned dissolved and she rarely actually listened to him, Poe Dameron or Luke. She rarely paused or was impacted by surprise, whether learning about how and why Luke and Ben Solo had a falling-out, to Kylo Ren and her fighting side-by-side, and meeting Supreme Commander Snoke barely 1 week after becoming his enemy. Ray could act very stubbornly and clung to a sense of purpose or instinct of what she had to do to succeed, very often show she was correct in the end yet instead of a strong personal code or experience to drive her, Ray’s goals would change and evolve in-line with the setting she was in or for the sake of the plot, instead of decisively choosing what kind of life she wanted.

Even in the climax of Sequel series, when Leia Organa passed on or Ben Solo sacrificed himself, Ray appeared to accept both without complaints and was looking ahead to the next adventure without pause; something very different from Luke’s reaction to Ben Kenobi’s and even Master Yoda’s passing, or how Anakin felt about Qui-Gon Jinn and Padme. Subsequently, and even more glaring, upon learning how she was the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine, Ray followed Luke Skywalker’s example and went into Exile, where her old teacher and appeared and gave her a clear way forwards just in-time to rejoin the fight when everybody was assembling for the dramatic showdown.

In retrospect, Ray’s first win over Kylo Ren was actually a moment where things really went down-hill for her character, as there was never any sincere suspense or concern towards her chances of winning, and her biggest stumbling block everywhere was often her own mood, not the actual threat her enemies could weigh against her. Even when she encountered the Emperor, somebody whom Mace Windu, Yoda and Darth Vader himself either failed to kill or died in their attempt, she did struggle and got thrown around a little bit. When she did triumph, even at the cost her own life, any excitement or sense of real accomplishment was missing ,and it became just another tick on a list; unlike Luke’s finally victory for Darth Vader, or Anakin’s duels with Dooku and Obi-Wan, the action and suspense invite people to watch them over and over again, with a different thrill. For Rey, her victories after beating Kylo Ren in “The Force Awakens,” and her constant wins left-and-right or any real consequence if she lost, had the absolute value of “Meh,” and a shrug.

Even when she was on the edge of death and Ben Solo committed an act of self-sacrifice, Ray appears to have accepted these deaths and her heritage all in-stride, opposed to questioning and trying to reconcile her own family or changing her whole outlook on the world into a new being. She barely changed and instead would double-down on her old ideas in an emotional circle, rather than showing spiritual and emotional growth.

5. Enemies and rivals of Mary Sues will be defeated quickly and easily, or will pose no serious threat to them. In essence, Mary Sue’s foes are straw men and paper tigers.

This component is not only decisive, but also extremely impactful on Luke Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker and Rey Palpatine’s disparities in their own, respective characterisation. It’s also the most glaring case where the Star Wars Sequels fell flat on their face (for more details, see my writing about Star Wars Villains on this Profile). Many people often cite easy-wins or effortless success as the hall-marks of a Mary Sue, and addressing these in a holistic, encompassing view is critical.

Luke, Anakin and Rey all were impressive figures whom defeated powerful antagonists in their own respective series, but one had a nearly un-broken record once they found a rhythm, while the others had ups and downs.

For Luke Skywalker, the first hostile encounter he was shown in across the films occurred on Tatooine, after R2-D2 ran away. Upon finding him, Luke learned a few “Sand People” might be close by, took a sniper rifle and like any teenager went closer to danger. Inside of 15 seconds, one Tuskan Raider surprised him, knocked the rifle aside, and beat Luke with a long pole, a Gaterffi stick, until he was KOed. And the next we see of him is an unconscious prisoner who had to be rescued by Obi-Wan.

Later in the films, Luke got roughed-up by thugs, managed to fight back against Stormtroopers to escape from the Death Star, and was seconds away from getting shot-down by Darth Vader until Han’s last-minute save let him bow-up the Death Star. Even into the Empire Strikes back, after this grand feat, Luke was ambushed again by a Wampa and taken into a cave to be eaten. He also got shot-down by Imperial Walkers, and on Cloud City he came away with a missing hand. Each of these defeats can in fact be juxtaposed with Luke’s performance as a Jedi in “Return of the Jedi,” and the more recent “Mandalorian” season 2 finale. Luke failed, met defeat, and his efforts to grow and improve past them eliminates any case for a “easy win” trait of a Mary Sue applying to him.

Anakin Skywalker also had mixed success and shortfalls with various enemies he met. Even in the “Phantom Menace” he was directly referenced to have raced in Pod Races several times and lost on each occasion, not even finishing the whole track. As a 9-year-old kid he didn’t use a blaster or a lightsaber, save for piloting a starship in the climax. Even then, Anakin was hit by a droid star-fighter and crash-landed inside the Droid Control ship. I do freely admit how this mistake allowing him to hit the Reactor from the inside was a little plot-devised luck, yet he was in a sense injured in this way instead of getting the idea and pulling-off an impossible stunt for the thrill of it. Like father like son, however, the 2nd film in their trilogies has the stronger case for assessing this component of a Mary Sue qualifier.

In “Attack of the Clones,” Anakin only really busted-out his fighting skills on Geonosis; which ended in his captured and fighting to survive against animals and droids later in the arena. Sub sequentially, he and Obi-Wan came away all right and honed-in on Count Dooku for a duel. Yet right off the back, Anakin ran head-first into Dooku’s lightning, got thrown into a wall and left Kenobi to duel with Count Dooku alone; who is hardly a “paper tiger.” Even upon getting his strength back and leaping into fight, Anakin lost one weapon, and later his whole arm.

This moment was crucial for Star Wars as a series, as up to that moment, a trope had been established for Jedi, Sith and the apprentice. The Master would be cut-down, the apprentice takes-up the sword and in the end would triumph over the Sith. But Dooku literally cut this pattern apart and Anakin suffered for it. Crucially, 20 minutes into “Revenge of the Sith,” Anakin and Dooku clashed again, which at the time of it’s release was devoid of their dozens of pointless rematches in “The Clone Wars” Cartoon Network series. This victory, and returning the lost-hand two-fold, showed Anakin’s own growth between the films. And in the end, we all know what happened on Mustafar, where a catastrophic defeat for Anakin occurred to shape the rest of the franchise.

Rey Skywalker, different the others 2 in this analysis, actually came out ahead of more conflicts than she ever lost in her own film series. Even before leaving a desert planet, unlike Luke, she did fight-off some minor hit-men and successfully out-flew First Order pilots in a “garbage” ship. Later in “The Force Awakens” she managed to shot-down several troopers with a pistol, but immediately was frozen and captured by Kylo Ren, so she certainly does not complete align with “straw men and paper tigers” for enemies.

Yet, later in that same film, she picked-up a lightsaber and duelled Kylo Ren with the latter seriously injured, and won. Kylo Ren in this scene had a hole in his stomach and a lightsaber cut on one arm, and he was dominating Ray until she finally clued-in about “the Force.” From then on, any time Rey and Kylo Ren met again, there was never any sincere suspense or worry about if Rey would or would not win, as there was for Luke vs. Vader, or Anakin against Count Dooku. And in “The Last Jedi,” barely days after the destruction of Starkiller Base, not years which spanned between events in the Primary or Prequel film settings, she fought dozens of Red-clad guards around Supreme Leader Snoke, after spending only a few days on Acho-Tech and no actually, sincerely training or growth.

Unfortunately, this is one very clear-cut case in which Rey does align quite strongly with Mary Sue criteria. While Luke and Anakin are not even close and have a very healthy distance from it. Ray did have some small losses early in her debut, but afterwards she rarely was in a real threat and in retrospect, anytime she would fight it was a matter of how quickly or dramatically she could win. Luke and Anakin lost, hard, and while this is a negative trait it can also allow an audience to empathize with them, while Ray was a figure to admire and her victories appear intended to have be dramatic and enviable.

6. Friends and family members are virtually nonexistent, leaving the Mary Sue free for time with canon characters, or beings who conveniently or miraculously make time for the Mary Sue in question.

This quality usually relates only to social drama stories, romantic tales or a “slice-of-life” theme. Yet for the sake of a complete study, I chose to include it. Anakin Skywalker did have family and a life on Tatooine, and it did emotionally weigh on him after he left his mother there. Luke himself had his Aunt Beru and Uncle Ben initially holding back on Tatooine, and later discovered both his father and sister, with serious responsibilities from them. Ray did not have anybody, yet in that same sense very few people actively sacrificed time or efforts for her happiness and convenience on a whim.

Rya Palpatine was literally introduced with no dependants or family in her life, and immediately helped Finn, BB-8 and the rest of the Resistance with nothing and nobody to leave behind; unlike Luke or Anakin. However, none of these characters ever had figures who miraculously made time for them left-and-right, or worshipped the ground they walked on. In facts other characters would disagree with all three at separate times, or they had other demands and rolls in the series which separately them from the protagonists.

7. Mary Sue’s could even be villains as well, possibly a Major Antagonist’s most loyal follower until the hell-turn without reason or explanation and join the hero’s side. And in such scenario’s nobody would distrust how they might be a mole, accepting them with open arms.

Rey Palpatine and Luke Skywalker were never sincere villains in any sense. Although this criteria could apply to Anakin Skywalker following his turn into Darth Vader; if he had defected and been accepted into the Rebels with open arms early in the Original series. Yet, he did not, and while Darth Vader did turn against the Emperor, it was after an emotional back-and-forth with his son, with the final choice motivated by a desire to save a family member; fittingly the same intentions he had while turning to the Dark Side for in the first place.

Additionally, Luke Skywalker did totally give up on the Jedi and detached himself from the Galaxy in exile. Consequentially to this, the First Order grew powerful and Han Solo was killed by his own son, Luke’s ex-apprentice. The only figure whom accosted Luke for this action was actually Rey herself, talking about how he betrayed Ben and eventually leaving him on his own. A very slight point in Luke’s corner that could somewhat match with some Mary Sue’s but given his later efforts to help the Resistance and self-sacrifice to do it, hardly one which he escaped consequences for.

While in the Sequel films, Kylo Ren actually fits into this trope quite well, far better than Ray does.

8. Mary Due’s rarely, if ever, have to deal with the realistic consequences of their action.

Let’s take a look through what occurred to Ray, Luke and Anakin after they made a serious, galaxy-shifting decision, or just shirked-off at chores.

Luke Skywalker went on a walk after dinner, and removed a restraining bolt from R2-D2. Inside that window, the droid ran away and Luke had to chase him down the next day, got ambushed by Sand People, and returned home to find his family dead. Later in the same film, Luke decided to rescue Princess Leia after learning she was on-board the Death Star…then wound-up strangled by a creature inside the Trash-compactor and almost crushed to death. And further on into the Empire Strikes Back, he made the choice to put a hold on training with Yoda to save his friends, walked straight into Darth Vader’s trap and his hand was cut-off.

Hardly a case of somebody making poor decisions and slipping-away scot-free. And a trope even less-present with his father. Anakin did commit some poor decisions across the Prequel Trilogy, such as by flying in a starfighter when he was supposed to stay hiding, to leaping out a car and free-falling through a city, and later went from Naboo to Tatooine to find his mother. While not directly scolded for these actions, he was shot in the first case and crash-landed inside the Droid Control ship, lost his lightsaber until Obi-Wan caught it, and experienced severe emotional trauma that echoed throughout the last film.

In this sense Anakin did loosely fit into the absentee consequences roll which a Mary Sue experience. Still, like other traits, this was initially broken when he collided with Count Dooku, and utterly shattered in Revenge of the Sith. When Anakin bull-rushed Count Dooku, the Sith merely swatted him aside, leaving Obi-Wan to duel the Count alone, and upon taking his own turn Anakin paid for it with his right hand. And even later when he turned against Mace Windu there was no possibility that Anakin could continue as a Jedi/ The only pathway open was that of the Sith, and the annihilation the Jedi. Finally, his choice to betray the Jedi and even murder children caused him to lose Padme’s love and trust once she realized it was true. Which in-turn coaxed him to lash-out and choke her, turn around and blame Obi-Wan instead of comprehending his own actions, and left burned-alive and trapped inside his armoured suit and life support.

Similar to her fighting track-record, Ray only had to sincerely confront consequences or bad decisions in the first Sequel film, “The Force Awakens." The examples are there: releasing the Rathgars, to taking BB-8 with her and running away from Maz Kanata’s castle. In each case, she was almost attacked by those same creatures, wound-up on the First Order’s radar, and became captured by Kylo Ren, respectively. Additionally, her capacity to resist Kylo Ren probing her mind made both Snoke and Ren particularly interested in her and she had to grapple with both across the subsequent movies. Yet across “The Last Jedi,” she barely had any overt impact or consequences to her choices at all. Albeit, she did explore a Force-bond with Kylo Ren and questioned Luke Skywalker a lot over what both “Ben” Solo and Luke chose to tell her. And those interactions had minor impacts on why they wound-up fighting back-to-back against a platoon of red-clad foes. And then merely minutes later erratically decided to remain enemies.

Now “The Rise of Skywalker” is a little harder to gauge. Ray herself was driven to find where the Sith were and discovered Exegol, and her first clash with Kylo Ren led to everybody believing Chewbacca was dead as she destroyed the ship he was aboard with Force-lightning. A decision which led to the loss of C3PO’s memories and their choice to rescue Chewie, where Ray discovered her heritage as Emperor Palpatine’s granddaughter. Yet in that same film, she impales Kylo Ren with a lightsaber, then immediately heals him and decides to run back to Acho-Tech in exile.

Kylo Ren, shortly after, threw away that name and switched into Ben Skywalker, making Ray’s win and what should be a fatal injury almost devoid of consequences. As it was Leia, and later Han Solo (either a hallucination or a ghost) that compelled Ben to change sides; a decisive moment while Ray was completely absent. Neither did Ben hold that wound against her at all. Even in the climax, where Ray herself did spent a lot of power to finally defeat the Emperor, she was ready to die but Ben Skywalker instead managed to heal her and vanished with Ray barely impacted by his passing.

Similar to “all their enemies will be Straw-men and Paper-tigers,” or “traumatizing events won’t impact the Mary Sue at all,” Anakin and Luke have enough contradictions to remove this trope over them, yet Ray does align with it to a stronger degree. She certainly did face consequences that occurred due to her own decisions, yet for a slight majority of cases she either was not a decisive agent in the aftermath of some events or appeared unbothered by loss, and even managed to side-step death and self-sacrifice which is what made other Star Wars characters compelling and admirable: Obi-Wan Kenobi becoming a ghost, Darth Vader to save Luke, all of Rogue One killed or destroyed by the Death Star, Han Solo getting frozen in carbonite, or Leia and Luke Skywalker’s own death’s in the “The Last Jedi,” and “The Rise of Skywalker.”

9. Very often, Mary Sues are created for the readers or audience to admire, envy, or pity rather than empathize with.

Now, several “Mary Sues” and “Gary Sues,” are present in popular, successful and classic works. In “Kingdom of Heaven,” Orlando Blooms, Balian of Ibelin, a blacksmith from France, matches a lot of qualities in this list, from agriculture and war, to everybody trusting him, leaving the Holy Land in the end with no sincere consequences, and with literally nobody in his life to distract him from what the plot demands. He is not a ‘Complete” “Gary Sue” as his wife’s passing was a strong motivator and he did lash-out and murder a priest. Even the movies “Extended Edition” clarified a lot about him, but at-a-glance he is a strong case of a “Sue” than Ray is.

The irony is that Anakin and Luke Skywalker are heavily admired and extremely loved by different fans due to the struggles they managed to overcome, the losses they suffered, and more traits which can allow some people to empathize with them. While Ray, which I credit to bad writers failing a character, does have great success and has the near-flawless streak that would invite people to admire her as a Paragon, but instead becomes derogatively labelled as “too perfect.”

Conclusion:

All together, Luke Skywalker is absolutely the furthest being from a Mary Sue as anybody in fiction can be. He earned respect from different people and had very little preferential experiences from others, and while few “grouchy or hostile” characters were encountered in his life he still had to earn their interest and attention and late growing success and skill raised their opinions of him, in-turn. He met some insurmountable challenges, whether physical, martial, emotional and psychological yet overcame them, and later became almost broken later in life but had others to pull himself back up. He was a part of his universe and very little bent-over backwards for him, he experienced deep emotional impacts which permeated across films and novels, depending on which continuity of Star Wars people follow and none of his enemies or rivals were easy wins.

Anakin Skywalker experienced even less, and in many cases we deliberately deprived of any advantages give to a Mary Sue. Emotional impacts in-particular hit him harder than his son, and consequences of his choices left him alone and broken as Darth Vader. Even as a villain he cannot be called a Mary Sue either, as his defection was slow and impactful, and he ultimately lost his life for that effort.

Ray Skywalker/Palpatine is a different case, however. She is not a Complete Mary Sue by any stretch, as in her first appearance and later stages of the films she does contradict some of their qualities or qualifiers to recognize who is or is not a Mary Sue. Yet, she did experience several victories without a serious, life-shifting loss, and here motional trauma’s or hardships either did not last very long or vanished when they became inconvenient for the sake of the story. She had some handicaps or obstacles but the majority of the time they were internal and she would sometimes avoid confronting or accepting them and appear like a frustrating inconvenience opposed to sincerely challenges to be experienced and grow into a stronger being. It is clear that she was created to be somebody for the audience to admire or envy, an example of a perfect or impressive figure that people should strive to be. Not somebody meant to be empathized or appreciated in the same sense Anakin and Luke are, which unfortunately have led to the division over her in the fan-base that is very present today.