Redskins # 29 gotta catch that <| sep |> I disagree , but this is a fun discussion to have Terra is the nearest we can get of a protagonist . And yet she begins the game fearful and broken , feeling threatened by everybody who could possibly use her for her powers . She ' s for a long time the single magic user on the party . but other characters show their own abilities too , stuff she can ' t do . She feels emotionally empty through a good chunk of the game , and even when she gets her memory back , she wonders if she can ever feel normal emotions . When introduced to the player , Celes has huge trust issues . As a former Imperial general , her background is at least shady , if not outright evil for the sake of duty . She ' s competent , but she ' s arrogant enough to overrate it and she is not able to outshine other party members in gameplay or the story . She ' s a human infused with magic , and we have other examples of that . And on the middle of the game , she also shows she ' s quite depressive . They aren ' t beyond other characters , they have problems and issues , they are not flawless and all of this is recognized by other characters . All those would be defining traits for Mary Sue , and yet they have none of them . But more importantly , both show character development . Mary Sues can ' t improve , since they ' re already the best . They can ' t overcome trust issues or learn to love , because they know how to trust everybody with a big heart . they can ' t attempt suicide either , since they need to die for a noble cause and Mary Sues often die , since they ' re too good for this world the author has no other way to progress with the story , since Mary Sues don ' t show character development . Those differences are too brutal to ignore , even today .