Kip Carpenter, writer for many things but most importantly the British series "Robin of Sherwood", attended a convention in Ithaca, NY in the late '80s. Here I got to hear him talking about what he called the "Merry Sue" story.

This is a script or prose story in which a strong female character appears whom the heroes merely accompany and assist, instead of rescue and protect. I.e., one of the Merry Men. These stories were generally written by female fans. It was Mr. Carpenter's opinion that these ladies wanted to meet or be one of the characters from the show. He would reject these stories and urged the fan-'zine editors amongst us to do the same, as this was contrary to the idea of the main characters.

Thus came into my vocabulary the idea of the "Merry Sue" story. I use it anywhere it is applicable, whereever an extra character is written into an ongoing series as a, very temporary, main character. There are always main character wannabe's floating around any given fictional universe. But a "Merry Sue" character is someone who accidently solves the crime before the detective, or rescues the heroes from certain doom and doesn't die by the end of the show, or steals a leading man's heart for a single episode and them vanishes.

Now, if the character ends up a victim, or a bad guy, or otherwise exits the story before the denouement, or has to be rescued by the hero/s in the climax, we call him/her a guest star. There are no good examples of "Merry Sue" characters in established universes. This is because the writers and producers and creative directors, etc. are on the heroes' side and don't want to show up their characters with someone else.

There are many good examples of people who could have been "Merry Sue" characters, if they only appeared once, or were more effective, or didn't have their own shows already:

The A-Team - Amy Allen could have been an MS, if she had showed up in only one episode and wasn't so wimpy.

The Three Musketeers - d'Artagnan started out as an MS, if one assumes the other three were main characters already.

The Xanth series - Any of the characters (not descended from Bink) who make significant contributions to plots and then disappear, especially any Mundanes start out as (or are) MS's.

Doc Savage - Any of the one book "guest stars" who hold their own throughout the book can be considered MS's. Pat Savage (for one book anyway), Princess Monja(practically), The kids from The Gold Ogre, (other examples to follow when I read more) .

Magnum P.I. - That Luthor guy from the mainland, who always referred to Higgins as "the butler" makes a great MS, or would if he were a little more useful.

Magnum P.I., Simon & Simon, & (i think) Murder She Wrote - These shows had a series of crossovers, where the two shows involved would gang up the casts, the Simons on Hawaii, Jessica in San Diego, etc. If the guest star didn't have his/her/their own show, he/she/they would be MS's, although no character was as cool as a guest star as when it was their show's turn to host.

As you can see, this kind of story isn't very popular. Nor is it desireable. A "Merry Sue" disrupts any sub plots going on, it diminishes the main character(s) ever so slightly, and just annoys the reader/viewer.

But not every character who seems to interrupt plot is a "Merry Sue." They just have to be the main character. A great many TV, Comic Book, and other series are based on the "On the Road" concept, a character who makes a habit of going from town to town, or planet to planet, or time to time, interfering in the local character's lives. If one pictures the locals as being main characters in their own rights, then the interloper who solves their problems is the "Merry Sue."

Examples abound, so I'll just name chief examples in each basic genre, Quantum Leap (time travelers), The Fugitive (pursued person), Shazam (superhero), Murder, She Wrote (interloper amatuer detective), etc.

When seen in this light, MSs might just be "road" characters who haven't got their own series yet. Which brings me to Beth, the ultimate "Merry Sue" character. Click here to read about this remarkable (and slightly scary) character.