Common Mary Sue Traits

"Im good at too many things! WHY CAN'T I JUST BE NORMAL? IT'S A FUCKING CURSE!" —Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way (of all people), My Immortal
While Mary Sue is too nebulous to be judged by any hard and fast standard, certain traits have become surprisingly popular. In an effort to make their characters more attractive without having to do the leg work of natural character development, the authors just add some of these superficial traits to their character. Below are the ones that the collective unconscious (so to speak) find especially attractive and end up incorporating into their characters with regularity.

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Personality

• What personality? In these cases, it's fairly blatant the author is just writing the character for amazing stuff to happen to instead of a character that actually exists as a person. Obviously, this is only a Mary Sue trait if what happens gives the character special powers, fantastic romances, or somehow lets her be a big damned heroine; otherwise it's just another faceless first-person perspective.
• If there is a personality, it's who the author wishes they could be, never who they are. While this is a regular feature in most original characters, Mary Sue takes it to the extreme.
• Highly persuasive, regardless of the actual content of their conversations. Everyone finds her opinions are just better than their own - even when they're usually stubborn bastards. This is especially likely in an Author Tract.
• Friend to All Living Things. It's becoming gradually less common as authors catch on to the Mary Sue Classic framework.
• Is either brave and cheerful (despite her past), or unnecessarily mopey and depressed.
• Incorruptible. In fact, unaware of the possibility of temptation.
• Occasionally a complete asshole, especially when they're supposed to be all of the above. Nobody will call them out on it.
• Her "major flaws" will be stubbornness and a bad temper. These will only ever help her, never hurt her — because she's always right, so whatever cause she dedicates herself to with such stubbornness will be a good cause, and whoever she loses her temper with will deserve it.
  • Sometimes they'll mess her up once so she can learn an important lesson. And then they'll help her for the rest of the story.
• I Just Want To Be Normal: Being super awesome is a curse.

Skills

• Inexplicable and/or poorly defined abilities in general, especially if they play no factor in the plot after their introduction (not even as a Required Secondary Power) and are only there to make the character seem even more awesome.
• Regardless of what skill level the canon characters have established, she might just simply be better than them, often in ways that do not make sense. See also: Always Someone Better, God Mode Sue.
  • Not to mention that if she isn't already skilled at something, she'll pick it up in a fraction of the time required.
  • That's if she even needs to learn them at all.
  • Magical powers similar to what the other characters have, only with the limitations removed.
• A perfect singing voice. Most often shows up in Mary Sue Classic. This died out for a while, but is returning due to the popularity of pop divas.
  • Extreme proficiency with an instrument of her choice.
  • And if it's a Song Fic, she'll possess the ability to compose her own lyrics and songs. Of course, they're NOT her own lyrics, they're somebody else's.
  • And the guy will probably be a Draco in Leather Pants.
  • Speaks several languages fluently. This can vary depending on the setting, of course. A modern-day diplomat is expected to know at least one or two other languages, but a 14-year-old peasant girl in Medieval Europe shouldn't speak Japanese and Hindi fluently. It's much worse if it includes animals. Bonus points if an alien lands in her backyard and she can communicate instantly (provided it doesn't speak the language already).
• • The most common second languages are probably Romance languages (because they sound awesome), Japanese (for the otaku), and Lakota (many Sues are of American Indian admixture).
• Skilled in a type of martial arts in a setting or with a backstory that doesn't allow for it. Not regularly skilled either; she could kick the ass of the resident ninja of her choice.
• Just random magical powers, such as telepathy in a universe where it's never even been mentioned.
• Absurd natural athletic ability - she can run like the wind without ever having worked on her running, and has impossibly high acrobatic skills.
• And with all this - don't expect the Green-Eyed Monster to show up. Envy appears in the Mary Sue's life only as a means of angst, and so does not appear just because the Mary Sue has everything.
  • Alternately, anybody who does get jealous is a bitch and is wrong. This is typically a single other character and may be Die for Our Ship or for other reasons.
• If she doesn't possess a particular skill or power in the beginning, it may manifest out of nowhere just in time to get her out of a jam, help her save the day or make her look even more awesome for no reason.

Physical Appearance

• So Beautiful, It's A Curse™. While being attractive isn't a qualifier of Mary Sue (who wants to be ugly?), it's a bit excessive to try and play it as being some sort of disadvantage. Alternatively she may only be Suetiful All Along. In an Anti Sue, this is reversed into a hideous monster. Regardless, her astounding beauty (or astounding lack of it) will make her stand out from the crowd - or so we're constantly being told.
• Unusual hair and/or eye color relative to canon is another common characteristic of Mary Sue. Alternatively, these features may be amazing in other ways - shining and shimmering eyes, or Anime Hair in non-Anime fandoms.
  • Rapunzel Hair is also common.
  • Note that White Hair isn't really considered all that unusual in anime-based fiction. It only becomes Sue-ish if it makes her special.
  • More important than colour is highlights. Of course hair dye is nothing special, but somehow Sue's streaks are not only a colour completely different to the base, but also natural. Nature allows some leeeway here - blonds with dark roots aren't unheard of, but that's not what Sue is after.
    • Similarly, these "natural" highlights are often a color such as blue, pink, purple or any other color that doesn't occur naturally in hair outside anime.
• Kaleidoscope Eyes. Seeing it in text is practically an instant Mary Sue qualifier.
• She might have a waiflike figure, so slim and delicate... and yet her breasts are perky, supple D-Cups, totally disregarding the fact that in reality, the slimmer you are, the smaller your breasts are likely to be (though there are real-world exceptions, a few even natural). These breasts never get in the way, or make running difficult, or sag. If height and weight figures are given, expect it to violate physics (unless she's made of Styrofoam or something).
• She'll often wear revealing outfits with tons of gems, fishnets, Frills Of Justice, and other extraneous details, even if it may be difficult or impossible to find such an outfit in the world (or be well outside of her realistic price bracket). Such flashy outfits will likely be just too impractical to wear in Real Life.
• Similar to the above, she will often wear special clothes even when the rest of the cast is supposed to be in some form of uniform.
  • Alternately, she will wear a uniform that resembles the standard one that other characters wear, but it will be customized, and in a skimpy and impractical sense. For example, if the uniform includes a skirt (or even when it doesn't), Sue's skirt will be skin tight and extremely short, and will usually be paired with thigh-high fishnets.
• Purple seems to be popular. Especially when the canon characters are a Five-Man Band color-coded with red, yellow, green, blue and white/silver/black/pink. Gold is about the second most popular.
• In text, massive descriptions of their clothes, or links to images of their outfits. Bonus points if it's designer clothes in a situation where it would be unlikely and/or expensive for her income.
• She might have some kind of birthmark denoting her specialness, and it will always be meaningful in shape and never anyplace that would compromise her beauty.
• Descriptions of her looks are usually overly-detailed and distinctly violet-hued. Because saying she's slim with long black hair and blue eyes only tells you what she looks like. Saying she's a delicate, willowy goddess with flowing tresses that shimmered onyx like the feathers of a raven and sparkling cerulean orbs that shone like the ocean and radiated with feminininininity tells you she's special.

Accessories

• Magic jewelery. It might be used as a Green Lantern Ring to justify her abilities.
• Exotic weaponry in a setting where she shouldn't have access to such. Usually, the question of why the law enforcement allows her to carry it doesn't come up and nobody seems to find a girl carrying a large sword intimidating. Bonus points if there is no explanation for where she keeps it.
  • A katana. Now it's not impossible to have a katana outside of Japan anymore, but when it's because Katanas Are Just Better (especially in a place they either shouldn't exist or would be technically useless), you've got Sue-ness coming on.
  • Two katanas is almost always a dead sure sign. (three is just plain Crazy Awesome)
  • Sometime they'll use guns instead, especially if the setting doesn't usually have them, and in which case they're almost always revolvers. Or a minigun.
    • Or if they're particularly into firearms, just check the list of Rare Guns. (see Desert Eagles) Often as lavishly described as the outfits.
• If she has her own transport, it will always be cool and expensive. Sometimes she has her own Time Machine - even worse if it's based on something from a different canon.
• She may have access to a Humongous Mecha in a universe that lacks them, or only hands them out on a case-by-case basis.
• The web exists everywhere for her— she can whip out her laptop anywhere and have access to both our normal internet and the local internet of whatever world she lives in. And use it to hack toasters and the Pentagon.

Story Elements

• Mary Sue is always on the Spotlight Stealing Squad. Without her, there would be a story.
• If she has any flaws intentionally written in by the creator, expect them to be Informed or not really flaws to begin with. Bonus points if they're genuine flaws that would actually be pretty awesome were it not for their drawbacks (e.g. substance abuse, nymphomania, etc.), and of course the drawbacks will never be shown.
  • Clumsiness is a common "flaw".
    • Which tends to manifest itself only a few times throughout the entire story, like the author saying, "No, she's not a Sue. See, she has flaws!"
• She's The Chosen One. Even if the canon hero is already The Chosen One, she either 'shares' the position or just steals it away from them.
  • Or she might be part of the same specialized species/organization as the hero. See Sailor Earth.
  • Alternately she is "destined to help the destined one fulfill their destiny" which pretty much means do all the real work except for the final blow so the prophecy isn't technically wrong.
• She is often around the age the author is, or just looks that way despite being Really 700 Years Old so that she can be wise and leaderly. This doesn't have to be bad (there are many settings where it's acceptable) but when you start seeing hardened military officers that are 16...
• Sympathetic Sue has an unusually Dark and Troubled Past to the excess, but other subtypes often have them too, just to emphasize how brave and special she is to live through it. This past is never really a point in the story, just dropped casually into the conversation to get attention. Alternatively it's written badly owing to not doing much research. How much she Wangsts about it is usually out of proportion with how bad it really is.
  • There are several popular methods:
  Abusive Parents - all too often because she's special in some way, and not just because her parents were assholes. Heartwarming Orphan - Plane crashes and car accidents are increasingly common ways to make her feel responsible, without actually doing anything wrong. Parental Abandonment - Not just because it's a baby and babies are expensive, messy and smelly and the parents didn't want it. There has to be a SPECIAL reason for that abandonment - this is Sue, after all. Rape As Backstory - Rape Is The New Dead Parents. Most notable when it's given just as a cursory excuse for... well, whatever. A real Sue will shout it out, "I WAS RAPED!" she'll scream, and that is supposed to explain everything.
• She might be a Blithe Spirit and reform an entire population center of its negative qualities. Bonus points if this involves The Power of Love, The Power Of Rock, or (to paraphrase Lisa Simpson) "[...]rebellious... in a conformist sort of way".
• Perform a Heroic Sacrifice as a way to prove that she's Too Good For This Sinful Earth. Bonus points if the story goes out of the way to ensure she doesn't leave an ugly corpse (whether it be by a method that doesn't involve external physical damage or by her body not being recovered).
  • More bonus points if it turns out to be a Disney Death. Just stop reading if it says something to the effect of "God wanted me back here." That's clearly Character Derailment of God Himself, who is far more likely to plunge so obnoxious a character straight into Hell.
• She might turn out to secretly be half-human, half-(insert species here). Or maybe just full (insert species here). Elf is extremely common, but any sufficiently human looking, "pretty" race will work. For added points, make her feel outright shame because she's not human even though, if anything, it only makes her more beautiful and/or powerful.
  • Or maybe she's a Cute Monster Girl. Bonus points if this does not mesh with canon (i.e. canon dragon girls have heavy scales, flat chests, large talons for hands/feet, and are just flat out monstrous, but this character is just simply human with dragon wings, tail, unobtrusive horns, and a couple random scales on her shoulders and midsection).
    • Similarly, if she's half-cat or dog, the only physical proof of this is that she'll have cute ears and a tail.
  • Also common is vampire-anything (like a Half Vampire), with no discernible monstrous attributes or drawbacks, which often leads to great amounts of Purple Prose or a Copy Cat Sue syndrome (can anyone say Blade?).
  • In some cases she's somehow half-human + half-elf + half-veela + half-angel + half-saiyan + half-God-like ridiculous hybrid creature. Bonus points if one of these races does not even exist in the story's canon, or if the end result would be illogical by definition (i.e. a half-demon/half-angel).
  • If the character is already a furry, they'll typically be some incomprehensible hybrid, a rare or little-used (always pretty) species, and/or have wings regardless of species.
• Redeems the villain through her overwhelming goodness. 
• Is a princess. Everything's Better With Princesses, after all. Bonus points if she grew up as a peasant (or equivalent social class) and only just discovered this during the story. Of course, in any case, it will be a position of high opulence and little actual responsibility.
  • On a similar note, the Changeling Fantasy is popular enough in its own right without ever involving Rags to Royalty to begin with. It's certainly advantageous to the writer to have a set of cruel parents that can be replaced with ideal ones.
• In fantasy canons, she can break the Rules of the World at will. Often, nobody will even be surprised.
• If she ever does anything wrong, she's both instantly remorseful about it and Easily Forgiven by those she wrongs. Sue: I'm sorry I Just Shot Marvin In The Face. Marvin's Friend: It's okay. I never liked him, anyway.
• She will often suffer from Special Snowflake Syndrome, having some trait or backstory that sets her apart from her race.
  • This can be taken to the point of being from another setting entirely. It's no coincidence that many of the most notorious fanfics are mega-Crossovers.
• Sometimes, the Sue has only one supernatural power: being The Chosen One. Her chosenness makes her critically important to the world, but since she has no other godlike powers, she will spend most of the story being kidnapped (usually by a villainous love interest) and/or otherwise victimized. This is becoming more common as writers catch on to God Mode Sue, since it allows her to continue stealing the spotlight while still avoiding the "god mode" label.
• Will often be either of the author's ethnicity, an ethnicity the author wishes to be (often Magical Native American), or both. Not bad by itself, but can lead to Unfortunate Implications, and often occurs in cases when it's not even likely.

Names

• May be named after the author in some form. Becoming less frequent as people catch on to the Litmus Tests.
  • The more common practice is to give the Sue a name that the author really, really likes. As in, wishes it were their own name or the name they'd give to their firstborn. Names like Raven, Hunter, Samantha, or Sam are really popular for this.
• May have some overly long, complicated, usually Meaningful Name that relates to her abilities or personality - whether this is usual in canon or not.
• Her name is sometimes a gemstone, a flower, celestial bodies, (i.e. Luna, Stella, Celeste) or a pretty color (e.g. Violet, Sapphire). With Emo-Sues, her name is something spooky, mystical, or related to darkness (e.g. Raven, Trinity). Of particular note, Serenity seems to be a cliche often finding its way into parodies.
• Maybe they have a generic Japanese name like Hikari or Sakura. Bonus points if it's a decidedly non-Japanese setting.
  • The reverse can also occur in other cultures, when people are given "exotic" English words for names. Often results in name which doesn't mean quite what the author intended, due to the large vocabulary and connotations attached to many supposedly synonymous words in the English language.
    • And of course the same can apply to any other language that the author thinks is cool.
• Above all, the name is inconsistent within their particular culture. So you get cases of a small isolated village where Bob and Andy are lusting over Serenity Jasmine Sunrise Snapdragon.
• Which raises another point: if standard western names have 3 parts—a first, middle, and last name—expect her to have four or more.
• If part native, expect one of a list of native names that probably don't mean what the author thinks they do, aren't really native, or are the names of tribes.

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(SOURCE) This guide is from TV tropes and is not my own work.