Nameless Narrative: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
Who needs names? Plenty of stories, jokes, and even ''myths'' eschew them entirely in a '''Nameless Narrative'''. If a character is "named", it's more than likely to be as their role in the story or the job they have. Sometimes, the "name" might be a unique and prominent feature to them that serves as a reminder of their basic description, such as "the one eyed man", or "the silver haired maiden".
Stylistically, it's very economical in terms of prose and narrator memory (many Nameless Narratives come from the [[Oral Tradition]]) and at times elegant, distilling a character's essence down to their archetype.
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Compare [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"]], [[No Name Given]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* In ''[[Maoyuu Maou Yuusha]]'' the characters are referred to even by each other with by their titles and positions, such as hero, female knight, demon queen, lone winter king…▼
== [[
* Even though we already know their names (or perhaps because of it), Batman and Joker are never referred to as such in ''[[The Killing Joke]]''. Even the newspaper clippings only call them "Disfigured Homicidal Maniac" and "Bat-garbed Vigilante." This works well with one of the themes of the book, which is that the two of them have gotten so intimate with each other (no, not in [[Foe Yay|that way]]
▲* In [[Maoyuu Maou Yuusha]] the characters are referred to even by each other with by their titles and positions, such as hero, female knight, demon queen, lone winter king…
== [[Comics]] ==▼
▲* Even though we already know their names (or perhaps because of it), Batman and Joker are never referred to as such in ''[[The Killing Joke]]''. Even the newspaper clippings only call them "Disfigured Homicidal Maniac" and "Bat-garbed Vigilante." This works well with one of the themes of the book, which is that the two of them have gotten so intimate with each other (no, not in [[Foe Yay|that way]]--maybe) that there's no need for names.
* Most have only one or two named characters, but frequently, you have none.▼
** [[The Brothers Grimm (creator)|Grimms']] "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/bearskin/index.html Bearskin]" -- unless you regard "The Devil" as a proper name▼
** "[[East of the Sun and West of the Moon|East of the Sun West of The Moon]]": The heroine is "the girl"; the hero is "the White Bear," and later, "the Prince".▼
** [[The Brothers Grimm (creator)|Grimms']] "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/armlessmaiden/index.html The Girl Without Hands]"▼
** "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/diamondstoads/index.html Diamonds and Toads]"▼
** [[The Brothers Grimm (creator)|Grimms']] "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/goosegirl/index.html The Goose Girl]"▼
** [[The Brothers Grimm (creator)|Grimms']] "[[The Twelve Dancing Princesses]]"▼
** "[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/368.htm The Golden Blackbird]"▼
** "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/diamondstoads/stories/witch.html The Old Witch]"▼
** [[The Brothers Grimm (creator)|Grimms']] "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/beautybeast/stories/lark.html The Singing, Springing Lark]"▼
** "[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/beautybeast/stories/smalldog.html The Small-Toothed Dog]": The heroine tells the dog its name is "Sweet as a Honeycomb" when she's trying to coax it, but there are no other names.▼
** "[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/009.htm The Blue Mountains]"▼
** Technically, the name "[[Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (novel)|Snow White]]" is just a description of the fairy tale's heroine.▼
** Similarly, "[[Little Red Riding Hood|Red Riding Hood]]", although many evolutions of the story have that become her nickname.▼
** In the original story, the princess is just "[[Sleeping Beauty]]".▼
== [[Film]] ==
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== [[Literature]] ==
* In the ''[[Canterbury Tales]]'', almost all the pilgims are unnamed and are identified solely by their occupation. The only pilgrims explicitly named in the work are the Prioress (Madame Eglantine), the Cook (Roger), the Reeve (Oswald), the Friar (Hubert), the Wife of Bath (Alisoun), and the Host (Harry Bailey).
* In [[H. G. Wells]]' ''[[The Time Machine]]'', the Time Traveller and most of the people to whom he's relating his story are just identified by their role, such as the Doctor <ref>
* The characters in José Saramago's ''Blindness'' are referred to by their roles or, ironically, psychical descriptions (given the fact all of them are attack by blindness).
** Saramago does this frequently, in whole or in part, for example in ''Seeing'', ''Death with Interruptions,'' and (ironically) ''All the Names''.
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* Several stories by [[Hans Christian Andersen]].
* ''Kokoro'' by Natsume Soseki.
* In Lucy Sweeney's ''[[Slummy Mummy]]'' column (and novel)
* ''[[Beachwalker]]'' doesn't have a single named character. Instead, the characters are named after their roles, or after figures from the protagonist's favorite childhood story.
* In Hilary Mantel's ''[[Wolf Hall]]'' the main character is never mentioned by his name, only ever being referred to as he or him. He is Thomas Cromwell, ill-fated advisor to Henry VIII (is there any other kind?), but the narrator never addresses him as such.
* The Wedding-Guest and the Ancient Mariner in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's ''[[The Rime of the Ancient Mariner]]''..▼
* In
== [[Music]] ==
* Almost none of the characters in [[Ayreon]] albums are named; the exceptions are [[King Arthur|Merlin]] and a few characters with names based on the names of singers playing them.
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], [[Mythology|Myths]] and Legends ==
* Many [[The Bible|Jesus's]] parables are like this: the "sower" (of seed); the "man which sowed good seed in his field", also known as "the householder"; the "man" who sowed a grain of mustard seed; the "woman" who leavened her meal; the "man" who found a treasure in his field; the "merchant man" who sold everything for a pearl of great price; the "good Samaritan", and so on.▼
▲* The Wedding-Guest and the Ancient Mariner in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's ''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner''..
** In fact, a number of people in the ''main'' narrative fall under this.▼
** Referenced in ''[[Life of Brian]]'', where Brian pretends to be a preacher, and says: "There was this man, and he had two servants..." A man from the audience asks what their names were.▼
* [[Older Than Dirt]]: Surprisingly for a culture that put such emphasis and value on names, [[Ancient Egypt]] has a few tales with no named characters, such as the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (Old Kingdom), the Wax Crocodile (Middle Kingdom), and the Tale of the Doomed Prince (New Kingdom).▼
▲* Most [[Fairy Tale]]s have only one or two named characters, but frequently, you have none.
▲** [[The Brothers Grimm (creator)|Grimms']] "[
▲** "[[East of the Sun and West of the Moon|East of the Sun West of The Moon]]": The heroine is "the girl"; the hero is "the White Bear," and later, "the Prince".
▲** [[The Brothers Grimm (creator)|Grimms']] "[https://web.archive.org/web/20131020110357/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/armlessmaiden/index.html The Girl Without Hands]"
▲** "[
▲** [[The Brothers Grimm (creator)|Grimms']] "[https://web.archive.org/web/20170618020621/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/goosegirl/index.html The Goose Girl]"
▲** [[The Brothers Grimm (creator)|Grimms']] "[[The Twelve Dancing Princesses]]"
▲** "[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/368.htm The Golden Blackbird]"
▲** "[https://web.archive.org/web/20130718142221/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/diamondstoads/stories/witch.html The Old Witch]"
▲** [[The Brothers Grimm (creator)|Grimms']] "[https://web.archive.org/web/20130718153153/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/beautybeast/stories/lark.html The Singing, Springing Lark]"
▲** "[https://web.archive.org/web/20130718140429/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/beautybeast/stories/smalldog.html The Small-Toothed Dog]": The heroine tells the dog its name is "Sweet as a Honeycomb" when she's trying to coax it, but there are no other names.
▲** "[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/009.htm The Blue Mountains]"
▲** Technically, the name "[[Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (novel)|Snow White]]" is just a description of the fairy tale's heroine.
▲** Similarly, "[[Little Red Riding Hood|Red Riding Hood]]", although many evolutions of the story have that become her nickname.
▲** In the original story, the princess is just "[[Sleeping Beauty]]".
== [[Theatre]] ==
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== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[HERO (Webcomic)|HERO]]'' is a partial
* ''[[Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name]]'' has {...}. He can't remember his own name. So he usually goes by Zombie by anyone too lazy to come up with anything creative or the random names Hanna gives him.
* Hardly any of the characters in ''[[Gone With the Blastwave]]'' are named, and the two protagonists aren't among them. Furthermore, all the characters are [[Gas Mask Mooks]] wearing uniforms, so the emblems on their helmets are the only way they can be told apart.
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* ''[[Echo Bazaar]]'' is almost devoted to this trope. Characters with names other than "The Adjective Job Title" are limited to the Masters of the Bazaar (Mr. Thing, where Thing is what they trade in), the dueling opponents in the Black Ribbon, and a few others (F.F. Gebrant, Huffam, Esq., Madame Shoshanna, Mrs. Plenty) who have their own Twitter feeds and were thus grandfathered into the universe.
** This is plausible true in-universe as well; the Traitor Empress has forbidden the use of her name, and it seems likely that, 30 years after the Fall, society has imitated this, with all remotely-fashionable individuals being referred to by role. All of those who have names are either on the margins of society or businesspeople (possibly aping the Masters rather than the Empress). Assuming you count semi-suicidal as being the margins of society.
* All of the characters in the ''[[The Lighthouse]]'' have no name, only being referred by their relation to the main character.
▲* Many [[The Bible|Jesus's]] parables are like this: the "sower" (of seed); the "man which sowed good seed in his field", also known as "the householder"; the "man" who sowed a grain of mustard seed; the "woman" who leavened her meal; the "man" who found a treasure in his field; the "merchant man" who sold everything for a pearl of great price; the "good Samaritan", and so on.
▲** In fact, a number of people in the ''main'' narrative fall under this.
▲** Referenced in ''[[Life of Brian]]'', where Brian pretends to be a preacher, and says: "There was this man, and he had two servants..." A man from the audience asks what their names were.
▲* [[Older Than Dirt]]: Surprisingly for a culture that put such emphasis and value on names, [[Ancient Egypt]] has a few tales with no named characters, such as the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor (Old Kingdom), the Wax Crocodile (Middle Kingdom), and the Tale of the Doomed Prince (New Kingdom).
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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** I'd say Hudson is more open about this. When choosing names, he first denied it and sarcastically asked if the river needed a name. [[Insult Backfire|When told that they named the river "The Hudson"]], [[Sure Why Not|he just went with it]].
** By [[Word of God]], humans invented personal names and gargoyles initially just regarded the custom as pointlessly absurd.
▲== [[Live Action TV]] ==
▲* In the [[Twilight Zone]] episode ''Five Characters in Search of an Exit'', none of the characters have names. [[The Protagonist]] is known simply as The Major.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Fairy Tale Tropes]]▼
[[Category:Naming Conventions]]
▲[[Category:Marcel Proust]]
[[Category:Older Than Dirt]]
▲[[Category:Fairy Tale Tropes]]
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