Subject: Generally speaking...
Author:
Posted on: 2012-01-16 22:26:00 UTC
Mary Sues, not being real characters, don't have souls.
That doesn't stop Agent Barid from shrinking their heads to trap their souls. He comes from, and works in, a world with frequent resurrections, so it is more of a habitual precaution than anything else.
Mary Sues don't have souls right? I mean, if there is an established location in the canon that people go to when they die, do we have to head there to hunt down the Mary's soul after we kill it?
Someone please say that they don't.
I wouldn't think Sues have souls. The way the PPC sees them, they aren't people - which is why it's okay to kill (and occasionally eat) them. In the case of continua with a canonical afterlife, even a really easily accessible one like in MSPA, I don't think a Sue would go there just because she was never really a person in that world to begin with.
Now, I'm wondering: if an agent dies on a mission in such a continuum, what would the results of that be?
Probably depends on the universe the agent was in at the time, but if the universe has a god/ruler/etc. then i'm pretty sure that making right what went wrong counts as a good deed. If the agent's home continuum has an afterlife though, then i wouldn't be surprised if you naturally(reflexively? instinctively?) drifted towards that.
It is my own personal view that Mary Sues/Marty Stus do not have souls if only because chasing them down in the afterlife to kill them again is needlessly tasteless (a view which others have reflected in previous comments.) Plus - from a purely structural viewpoint - the assassination of the Sue should be the climax of the mission. Doing it twice only hinders the overall story.
It should be taken into account that some Sues or Stus might be created as ghosts or spirits. *glares at the Danny Phantom continuum* Even in such a situation, one wouldn't need to go into the Underworld to hunt down the Sue. Just grab an unlicensed nuclear accelerator and remember not to cross the streams.
The idea of a team assigned to pursue their enemies into the afterlife is a truly horrifying one.
...I'd read it. I'd read it, shake my head in horror and possibly shame, and write a scene in which the Flowers discussed the moral issues inherent in the department, but I'd read it.
What about canons where there is some sort of afterlife? Think Dragonball or the whole MS Paint Adventures canon.
I think we can just assume that the mary sue doesn't have a soul unless they specifically wrote a section of the fanfic that was relevant to them having a soul. No soul unless otherwise stated, and even if they do, we could just knock them out and bring them to a universe where there isn't an afterlife.
But yea, MSPA was what made me think of this subject.
Well, my point was more in line with hS' post, further down-- if there is an afterlife in the continuum, it'd be (presumably) ruled by the deities of that continuum, and PPC Agents chasing down souls might not be entirely welcome.
Is it possible that, assuming there is an afterlife ruled by some sort of deity or deities in the continuum, they would realize the havoc the Mary Sue's been raising in their universe and forbid her soul from entering the afterlife?
As Mary Sue power is nearly nonexistent on deities, they either would be denied afterlife or would generate an afterlife of their own. So there are three total cases:
Case 1: Sue never had a soul to begin with. Sue is deader than dead. Approx. 90% Sues?
Case 2: Sue is denied access to afterlife. Sue soul either dies or suffers a Fate Worse Than Death (like being trapped in a void-between-dimensions)
Case 3: Sue created his/her own afterlife. Out of canon way, no need to further chase down.
It's a win-win situation for the PPC.
I know there is at least one religion where you lose all traces of what you were in life when you get in line to go to it.
Sooo. . .
Case 4: Sue loses everything about itself, and is therefore no longer a Sue.
So it's still a win for the PPC. I think we're good.
(sickness disclaimer: I accept the possibility that everything I just typed is complete gibberish that only makes sense to my pain-killer addled brain.)
Stop giving me plotbunnies, dude. *glares at the abundance of bunnies*
Or else we'd have to invent another division for the purpose of going into the afterlife...
"Spectral Ops" anybody?
Mary Sues, not being real characters, don't have souls.
That doesn't stop Agent Barid from shrinking their heads to trap their souls. He comes from, and works in, a world with frequent resurrections, so it is more of a habitual precaution than anything else.