The Liger Syndrome

[Anonymous_Nanotyrannus]

Thanks in part of Anime and fantasy settings become more and more prevelant, hybrid characters, characters born from a mixed lineage are becoming more and more common in internet fiction pieces. Half-angels, half-elves, half-demons, half-dragons, angel/demon combos, ogre/elf combos, dragon/elf, gods/demons, nekomatas/werewolves....

An important thing to note is that a common feature of the feared Mary Sue, the Marty Stu, or AAH-OOH, is that these all these all too perfect characters are often of hybrid nature--multiple lineages--and they are all in perfect balance with one another to create an absolutely amazing character with the best features of each lineage.

A completely made up example would be a Mary Sue named "Princess Moonshine Fireheart and Someothersilveryshit", who is a dragon,cat,elf,human hybrid. She looks human, has a pretty, long cat tail, elf ears, silvery hair, great magical powers, does not age, and can turn into an amazing, powerful, fully capable dragon.

Yes, quite a beautiful little creature, but people don't like characters like this, and anyone who does, you'll find out is under the age of 16.

There has to be imperfection, there has to variation, there cannot 8 million absolutely stunning dragon/human hybrids who look like humans but can turn into perfect formed, capable dragons.

People create hybrid characters and give them the best features of each race, the magical powers and wings of a dragon, the agility and light features of an elf, cat tail of a nekomata, and a bit of human as a buffer.

I call this "The Liger Syndrome". Ligers were bred in hopes of making offspring with the best features of the two big cats: the mane of and social abilities of a lion, and the size and stripes of a tiger.

What did the breeders get?

A very antisocial creature with faint stripes, a very shabby mane, infertility in males, prone to mental problems and gigantism.

So take the poor liger into thought when you create a hybrid. Naturally one will not always get a balanced character if such breeding were to actually happen.

Add some of the more physically or mentally unattractive features to a hybrid character. Add inbalance.

Splotches of scales, a shorter tail, smaller horns: hey, these genetics are going to be duking it out and some genes are going to lose their power. Genes are not going to be pure, so don't make the features pure.

And sometimes a hybrid individual would look 100 percent like one parent, and not look like a cross at all.

Play around a little, become your own Dr. Moreau, and make your own unique character with obstacles (physical, mental, social) to over come.

People love conflict, and in a romantic story, conflict is center.

On a further note, cut back on just how many bloodlines go into a hybrid, limit it.

If you want your character to have multiple bloodlines, let me give you a hint, let your character be confused to just what exactly is in their family tree, leave things a little opaque. A character who is able to state their entire geneology will come across as haughty, annoying, and well knowing, will lead to the Mary Sue labeling..

In terms of realism, hybrids are more likely to happen in urban settings than rural settings. Hybrids are more likely to occur in lowerclass than in upperclass.

[Keith Inc.]

Frankly, i was under the impression that the first Liger was born some time after a zookeeper looked up and said, 'Holy crap, what is HE doing in HER cage!?'

Shasta, wasn't it?

But other than that, your point is well taken. Hybrids tend to be the worst of the donors much more often than the best of their characteristics.

Unless...

The hybrid is more of an Artifact Race, as Cook calls them.

Wizards have the advantage over breeders in that it could be expected that they could force the mix to hew to the traits they desire. "An ant the size of a hunting dog, with a dwarf's brain for mining, and glands in the mandibles that secrete barnacle glue...." to create mining engineers that can throw up a bulletproof castle almost overnight.

It still is a fact that a hybrid/artifact creature needs some justification for being so perfect, rather than something more like a Mule...uglier than both parents and largely infertile. Maybe the parents are or consulted wizards, or maybe the particular blending is illegal precisely because the outcome is just so damned powerful, due to the way that elves and dragons came into being in The Long Ago.

But if it is a Mary Sue, then she's probably the beautiful and powerful offspring of a unicorn/elf raped by an evil dragon/werewolf who left her mother to die by the side of the highway...JUST down the road from the monastery devoted mystical healing arts... So the attending wizard would be too late to explain why she has perfect teeth rather than three rows of different-sized fangs...

[Altari]

But if it is a Mary Sue, then she's probably the beautiful and powerful offspring of a unicorn/elf raped by an evil dragon/werewolf who left her mother to die by the side of the highway...JUST down the road from the monastery devoted mystical healing arts... So the attending wizard would be too late to explain why she has perfect teeth rather than three rows of different-sized fangs...

OMG