Is Cassie a Mary Sue character?

[Chad32]

The whole president thing was weird. Including putting tobi on the Counsil, or whatever. That didn't really amke any more sense to me than the fact that she didn't take her people to the Homeworld to help the resistance she helped start.

[wolfev]

What resistance, the yeerks lost.

[wotw2112]

I believe Toby was actually made a senator (though I may be wrong).  Ridiculous.

[adamjared]

What resistance, the yeerks lost.

they lost on earth. There were still forces on the taxxon homeworld...

[Shark Akhrrana]

The sub temporal space anomaly thing was just weird and unnecessary.

That is true but it i love the idea XD.
I don't think she is that much of a Mary Sue. There are alot of characters in books and stories who might have some slight Sueish feel to them but you can actually see the depth to them.
Also i don't think all Author Avatars are Mary Sue material. Some are actually very good.

[rocklobster]

Exactly.  For example, Rowling has gone on record that Hermione Granger is an author avatar.  I would truly hesitate to call Granger a Mary Sue.

[Chad32]

What resistance, the yeerks lost.

Do you think the Yeerks would abandon the Hork-Bajir Homeworld just because they lost earth and the Leeran Homeworld? That's where some of the Free Horks were sent to start a resistance in one of the books.

[Shark Akhrrana]

I don't think they did leave. They might  have pretended to leave and gone back. They can wait for teh Andalites to think they won and when they are not paying attention go back to what they were doing.

[Galladerotom]

I'm so tired of people blaming the ghost writers they were given a basic plot and they just had to write it while the author was raising her newborn son.

Second, as was stated by "Spartan 281 (parker)" the definition of mary sue is an indefinate one origionally refering to a short lived female character who was near flawless and often fell in love with kirk or spock (not often but I know there was one occasion at least).
Also I think that Cassie may have functioned in only three roles throughout the series.
1) A moralist who was used by the author for an underlying pacifist theme
2) The one who thinks up morphs to use for mission.
3) A long term mary sue (in regards to jake)

Number one would explain why she is always right because the author wanted her to be to state her underlying theme.

But I think the perfect quote for cassie would be
"She was right but at the wrong time." (Spock)

The author herself is well alot like cassie. For those veterans of the site you will notice that she gets very touchy when it comes to the subject of war. It is likely that she is motivated and deeply effected by some personal experience.

And once again the author can be compared to another Mary Sue who I think would fit the origional definition: Edith Keller (Star Trek episode: "The City on the edge of forever") if you've seen it you'll know what I mean.

[wotw2112]

Galladerotom: Just to be clear: do you agree or disagree (or something in between) with Cassie being a Mary Sue?  It seems like your saying yes but I got lost on the last sentence (don't know who edith keller is) and the phrase "functioned in only three roles".

On the whole I think I agree with just about everything you've said (assuming I understood it correctly), except:

I'm so tired of people blaming the ghost writers they were given a basic plot and they just had to write it while the author was raising her newborn son.

Outlines and so-called "revisions" have little to do with character building.  Tone and in-text execution (including sub-plots) both have extreme impacts on character development.

[filmstu2005]

Wow. Loads of hate for Cassie. Either way, Im a Cassie fan, thought she was brilliant.

Remember though, when KA wrote MM4 she didnt even recognize that the way she wrote Cassie was almost "supernatural" aka sub-temporally grounded It wasnt until the book was almost complete that she said "Oh. Wait a minute, that's what she is!" And then she went back to make it more sensible.

Rachel wasn't just an extra add on. The Ellimist admitted to her that her life did matter. (I do agree though, interesting that Melissa was her replacement in MM3). But wasnt it explained that Rachel was a serendipity? Earth's chance to save itself? So the universe "chose" her, working its way through random chances of time/space to put her in that position. She wasnt in the Ellimist original plans, but it still worked out, and if anything she motivated the others to be fierce in battle. Jake was there to lead, Rachel was there to motivate, and motivate she did.

If you recall, the world would have to be a pretty f***ed up place for Melissa to replace Rachel, and even in that reality the ANimorphs were going to lose. So big changed would have to occur to get rid of Rachel in that timeline.

[Darth Revan]

Yeah, and let's not forget that Rachel is also related to Tom. She has connections, albeit not as strong, to the stacked deck as well.

Rachel was a huge part of the team, Her morphs were the power morphs, were she not in the story, they probably wouldn't have survived many of the missions.

In regards to the MM4 Cassie grounding: I thought that was just a cool twist. It may have been unnecessary, and yeah, if Jake had succeded, the same result would've come about, but I thought that last twist was a very cool addition. And it also shows a "Mind over Matter" type of thing. Even though Cassie was grounded, if she didn't have the prescence of mind, and the will power, she would've just accepted death, and the war would've ended there. But she overpowered the vision, and took control. I thought it was a very cool addition.

Although, I also am a fan of Cassie, so I can understand that if you largely disliked Cassie, and were glad she died, how that ending would put you off.

[wotw2112]

In regards to the MM4 Cassie grounding: I thought that was just a cool twist. It may have been unnecessary, and yeah, if Jake had succeded, the same result would've come about, but I thought that last twist was a very cool addition. And it also shows a "Mind over Matter" type of thing. Even though Cassie was grounded, if she didn't have the prescence of mind, and the will power, she would've just accepted death, and the war would've ended there. But she overpowered the vision, and took control. I thought it was a very cool addition.

Which seems to be a good example of her Mary-Sue tendencies.

Yeah, and let's not forget that Rachel is also related to Tom. She has connections, albeit not as strong, to the stacked deck as well.

True but she really doesn't show much concern for Tom throughout the series.  Tenuous connections but the Ellimist comes right out and says she had no part in his plan.  That doesn't mean she wasn't necessary though.  You make a good point about the powermorphs.  She really did carry the load sometimes.