Books with secret character names

[Andrea]

I love it when a character's name is kept secret until late in a book/series, or not revealed at all - like the Darkling in the Grisha trilogy or the Staryk king in Spinning Silver.

Does anyone know any more books that have that? Ideally fantasy :)

Thanks!

[Melliott]

The only one I can think of, off the top of my head (not fantasy), is Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier. The protagonist and narrator, Max de Winter's second wife, is never named in the entire book.

[dolly]

Divergent - a characters real name is revealed later in the series
The Moth Diaries - the narrator is never named
Between You & Me - narrator is referred to as "You", written as a screenplay
The Wall - narrator is never named, SUPER sad
The Girl Who Came Home - a name reveal is used as a twist at the end
American Gods - it's not exactly like, a secret, but there is a twist with one characters name at the end

[dolly]

also i just realized that, since this is a trope, you could use tvtropes.org!! https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph... seems like the trope you are looking for specifically, look under the literature tab for books with this trope. hopefully this helps!

[Jen]

Andreea wrote: "Does anyone know any more books that have that? Ideally fantasy :)..."

I'm pretty sure we were never told the name of the narrator and protagonist in The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, which is a Fantasy book. 😊❤

[Colca]

I can think of a few at the top of my head:
Throne of Glass : Celeana
The Series of Unfortunate Events : the mother
Divergent: well, Four, who else could it be...

[Anushka]

It's not fantasy, but in Kill the Boy Band the main character's name is never revealed

[Drakeryn]

A couple fantasy recs:

In Finch, the main character's name (John Finch) is just a fake/cover identity, and his real name and past aren't revealed until much later. (This is third in a trilogy but I recommend the whole thing, it's so good)

The Lies of Locke Lamora also fits.

[Julia]

A Thousand Nights
It's a retelling of Arabian Nights, and throughout the entire book, only one character is named.

[mysticofworlds]

All I can think of right now is Throne of Glass where the king's name is kept secret and The Wednesday Wars (not fantasy!) where the protagonist's sister's name isn't revealed until over halfway into the book

[Andrea]

Melliott wrote: "The only one I can think of, off the top of my head (not fantasy), is Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier. The protagonist and narrator, Max de Winter's second wife, is never named in the entire book."
Ah, yes! Poor unnamed narrator, forever in Rebecca's shadow. That was very clever of Daphne du Maurier!

[Andrea]

dg wrote: "Divergent - a characters real name is revealed later in the series
The Moth Diaries - the narrator is never named
Between You & Me - narrator is refer..."
Nice list, thank you. What a great link too! I never thought to look for tropes :)

[Andrea]

Jen wrote: "Andreea wrote: "Does anyone know any more books that have that? Ideally fantasy :)..."

I'm pretty sure we were never told the name of the narrator and protagonist in [book:The Ocean at the End of ..."
Ah, I have that on my TBR - I'll have to check it out soon. Thanks! :)

[Andrea]

Colca wrote: "I can think of a few at the top of my head:
Throne of Glass : Celeana
The Series of Unfortunate Events : the mother
Divergent: well, Four, who else could it be..."
Thank you - I've read Throne of Glass and liked the revelation. Will have to check the other two out :)

[Andrea]

Anushka wrote: "It's not fantasy, but in Kill the Boy Band the main character's name is never revealed"
It sounds like a fun read! Thank you :)

[Andrea]

Drakeryn wrote: "A couple fantasy recs:

In Finch, the main character's name (John Finch) is just a fake/cover identity, and his real name and past aren't revealed until much later. (This is third in..."
Uuuuh, Jeff VanDerMeer! Read his Annihilation trilogy and I loved that the characters were never named, they were only ever 'the biologist, the psychiatrist'. I see it may be a thing with him.

Ah, I have Locke Lamora in my TBR and have been thinking about starting it soon. Will definitely read it asap now. Thanks! :)

[Andrea]

Julia wrote: "A Thousand Nights
It's a retelling of Arabian Nights, and throughout the entire book, only one character is named."
Thank you! I have it on my TBR - sounds even more tempting now :)

[Andrea]

Serena F. wrote: "All I can think of right now is Throne of Glass where the king's name is kept secret and The Wednesday Wars (not fantasy!) where the protagonist's sister's name isn't revealed until over halfway in..."
Thank you. I've read the Throne of Glass series, but hadn't heard of Wednesday Wars before. It sounds very endearing.

[Julia]

Andreea wrote: "..."

Glad to help!