As for Mary Sueism, she's the one who's going to win the hero; she has always loved him; she's his soul twin.
See, this is why I have big problems with the label "Mary Sue" when it's applied to canon characters. To me, a Mary Sue is a character who disturbs the balance of the canon universe and usurps roles that rightfully belong to the canon characters. It would be reasonable to apply this label to an OC who ended up defeating Voldemort, for example, because that's Harry's job, but that doesn't make Harry himself a Stu if he defeats Voldemort.
Similarly, I think you could make a good argument that an OC who ends up with Harry is a Mary Sue -- because there's already a canon character who fills that role, and you have to warp the canon to fit a different character into it. But this argument doesn't apply to Ginny, because she's supposed to be there. Being Harry's love interest is her job in the text. (And in order for her to do that job properly, she has to have qualities that attract him. The story wouldn't be improved if JKR left these qualities out; instead, readers would be left wondering what he saw in her.)
None of this means that readers have to like her or identify with her -- I do happen to like her, but I can certainly sympathize with people who dislike her because she's a brat to Ron, or because she went out with Michael and Dean even though she knew she liked Harry better and then broke up with them for trivial reasons. But I don't understand the reasoning behind labeling her a "Mary Sue" or disliking her because of her good qualities.
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See, this is why I have big problems with the label "Mary Sue" when it's applied to canon characters. To me, a Mary Sue is a character who disturbs the balance of the canon universe and usurps roles that rightfully belong to the canon characters. It would be reasonable to apply this label to an OC who ended up defeating Voldemort, for example, because that's Harry's job, but that doesn't make Harry himself a Stu if he defeats Voldemort.
Similarly, I think you could make a good argument that an OC who ends up with Harry is a Mary Sue -- because there's already a canon character who fills that role, and you have to warp the canon to fit a different character into it. But this argument doesn't apply to Ginny, because she's supposed to be there. Being Harry's love interest is her job in the text. (And in order for her to do that job properly, she has to have qualities that attract him. The story wouldn't be improved if JKR left these qualities out; instead, readers would be left wondering what he saw in her.)
None of this means that readers have to like her or identify with her -- I do happen to like her, but I can certainly sympathize with people who dislike her because she's a brat to Ron, or because she went out with Michael and Dean even though she knew she liked Harry better and then broke up with them for trivial reasons. But I don't understand the reasoning behind labeling her a "Mary Sue" or disliking her because of her good qualities.