See -- it's not a Mary Sue if it's the reader, not the writer!

[ladyvyola]

puritybrown nails the appeal of Vanyel in Mercedes Lackey's Last Herald-Mage Trilogy:

Oh, Vanyel. Poor, beautiful, brave, self-sacrificing Vanyel. I just love him. He's just like a rich, male, magically talented version of me. With black hair and grey eyes. And a tragically dead lover. Um, okay, so he's not that much like me, but I feel like he is, and that's the important thing.

And he's a helluva lot less annoying than Holden Caulfield. *g*