The entirely scientific Circle Diagram, explaining the principles behind TCF Paradigm of Misunderstandings™

“To eat your cake and still have it” – Mary Sues VS Misunderstood MCs

I started wondering about something recently. Namely, why isn’t Cale Henituse a Mary Sue?

“Gasp! But Blue Teller!” – you say. “How could you possibly accuse Caleof being a Mary Sue?! No one would dare say such a thing!” Just, hear me out for a moment.

While people’s opinions vary on what exactly a “Mary Sue” is, I think most of use have the basics down: it’s basically the type of protagonist you see in badly written fiction (commonly fanfiction specifically) – usually female, but can be male as well (although it’s rarer to see male characters openly condemned by the audience for being Over-Powered and One-Dimensional due to stereotypes). Male counterpart is sometimes called “Gary Stue”, but I’ll keep using MS for simplicity.

MS is perfect, doesn’t have flaws – or at least any “real” flaws, for example she’s allowed to be “clumsy” or have “low self-esteem” because those traits still make her attractive. She is gifted, talented, beautiful (although she’s mostlyunaware of it) and everything goes right for her. Everybody adores her and she is objectively The Best. Anyone who disagrees with her is the Bag Guy. Often the object of romantic interest for many, MANY people around her, because of course everybody is attracted to Mary Sue! She’s allowed to have a tragic backstory, but within the story itself she rarely experiences any hardships or failures. The world itself seems to be only interested in her alone, even reality bends in order for her to be successful.

You know, that type of character.

So now you might be thinking: doesn’t that sound suspiciously close to a certain favorite red-head of ours??

So we go back to the main question – how is Cale nota MS?? Because most of the typical MS traits I pointed out seem to be true for him! Even how he has very few “real” flaws, but those usually make him only more attractive!

Not all of the things I described MS with line up with Cale, obviously; he experiences failure, both past and present, and he suffers a lot. More importantly, Cale is by no means a badly-written character.

MS is a typical Good Protagonist. Her intentions are pure, or at least mostly. We take it at face value that she’s In The Right, or at least we’re supposed to. Cale is more morally complex than a typical Good Protagonist from the get go, but that’s not what makes him different: it’s the fact that he acknowledgesthe complexities of morality. He doesn’t simply seperate people by them being “good” and “bad”. Everybody has their own goals and interests, including Cale. Just because other people’s opinions don’t align with him 100% doesn’t make them his enemies. He is also often biased, or even wrong.

We are set up to root for him, obviously, but he’s not Unquestionably in the Right. However, he still receives the same amount of glory and attention that a MS gets for being the Perfect Protagonist.

But just what is it about him that makes him work, though? What makes him different? Why is a typical MS considered “shallow” and “badly written”, while Cale is one of the best and most compelling characters I’ve seen in a while?

Well, most of the answers to those questions can be summed up in a single word: misunderstandings.

Let’s face it – having a character we root for receive fame and attention can be very gratifying. But it’s exactly that feeling which some (usually amateur) authors get drunk on, and eventually go too far with it, creating an Unrealistically Perfect Objects of Admiration – which in turn makes them too feel too fake to make them relatable, especially if they are too pretty and OP on the top of everything. They stop being a fun character, and become One-Dimensional like a stock image, a statue; basically a caricature of the very good protagonist they’re supposed to be.

However, there is a solution to that: to make a character receive all the glory while notbeing a MS. And that’s the Power of Misunderstandings!

Yes, the way to eat your cake and still have it in your possession… Have a character who is in fact flawed andcommits errors. But due to circumstances and wacky hijinks, as well as some seriously thick Rose Glasses on, the MC’s companions constantly misunderstand the situation! Now the MC still gets all the credit withoutsacrificing their character for the sake of fanservice!

It’s the perfect solution!

It’s not the only story where I’ve seen this trope, but TCF excelsat it. The story thrives on the comedy of misuderstandings, creating fabulous scenarios. Cale gets misunderstood by countless people in countless ways throughout the novel. All of these accidentally create the image of a MS-worthy hero, except he’s not like that at all! Furthermore, he hates it! He hates being percieved as something he is NOT! And it’s hilarious!

That is how it is done in modern era, my friends. We no longer need to deprive ourselves of cake in order to still have it. After all… now CTRL+C exists, hahaha!