Talk:Sibling

The Secret Sibling (the ones that pop out of nowhere) trope is different than regular fanon siblings. Perhaps the regular siblings (fanon and canon) should go on a page called Siblings in Fanworks? Or do folks have another suggestion? --Mrs. Potato Head 12:10, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

Just to clarify, do you mean there are fanfics where someone suddenly discovers half-way through that they have a half-sister, for example? And that this is different from a fan writer inventing a sibling and then writing them into the fanfic? --æthel 14:49, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

Yes, the secret/surprise sibling is one that, despite a long-standing canon that never mentions one, suddenly appears. Or in fanon, the sibling is a complete surprise to the character. --Mrs. Potato Head 14:54, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

Okay, I just thought of a story that fit this trope: Last Will and Testament. I haven't encountered it in fanfic much, so I was a little worried about the direction the page was going in: we're not TV Tropes, and we shouldn't be documenting canon tropes unless they intersect with fan activity. But as long as the page's focus is on how fans react to the canon trope and how the trope plays out in fanworks, then we're okay. Are surprise siblings common in fanworks?--æthel 15:02, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

"These characters are usually Mary Sues"

This sentence is in the introduction currently:

For example, fan authors who want to write themselves into the story might give Harry Potter a brother or sister. These characters are usually Mary Sues.

Also, Mary Sue is linked in the "related" section.

I realize that "self insert = mary sue" is a very widely held opinion, but I'm uncomfortable with it being at the beginning of the article and phrased as fact. "Mary Sue" is a value judgement that we shouldn't make up front about self insertion or related tropes, and personally I don't think that siblings in fanworks and mary sues are actually related enough to be linked in the infobox together. "Self insertion" would be a better fit.

Not to say that Mary Sues shouldn't be mentioned, but I think it'd be better to do so with more nuance farther down in the article. Maybe with some quotes? How do other folks feel? - Hoopla (talk) 20:41, 12 February 2019 (UTC)

I rephrased the sentence to 'Sometimes, these characters are Mary Sues.'. Perhaps it would be helpful to move the Mary Sue link in the info box to 'see also' instead of 'related'? SecurityBreach (talk) 06:50, 13 January 2023 (UTC)