History UnreliableNarrator / Literature

* ''Literature/TheNameOfTheWind'' by Patrick Rothfuss is written largely as a flashback told in the first-person perspective by the main character, Kvothe, and there are hints that it's not wholly reliable. One of Kvothe's companions remarks that a certain woman who shows up frequently in the story (and is the object of Kvothe's affection) wasn't as beautiful as described, among others. He actually says a character won't shows up, but uses ExactWords to lie. Further, he's just wrong from time to time. Because the narrative's descriptions of people are his own, he'll say things the audience later realizes are obviously untrue -- such as when he describes his LoveInterest as "naïve" or "innocent"...

* Creator/RobertCharlesWilson's ''[[Literature/JulianComstock Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America]]'' has a lot of fun with this trope, with the narrator simply not noticing important things about his friends, not being able to tell reality from propaganda, and often being manipulated and played, without even realising it.

** ''Literature/TheTellTaleHeart'', which has the narrator, who insists at the very beginning that he is [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial not mad]], murdering a man and putting him under the floorboards but giving himself away because he imagines his victim's heart is still beating. This story is often used to [[UsefulNotes/SchoolStudyMedia introduce students]] to the concept of unreliable narrators in general.

* In the ''Literature/HankTheCowdog'' series, Hank constantly lies to the reader, trying to make himself out as more brave, powerful, and intelligent than he actually is. His over-the-top efforts contribute to the humor of the series.

* Saleem Sinai of ''Literature/MidnightsChildren'' is also an example, though one that is more lighthearted than most. He can be very open about his mistakes, and occassionaly presents them as genuine mistakes (like [[spoiler: the year Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated]]), or [[spoiler: [[ArchNemesis Shiva of the Knees]] being assassinated by a former mistress in prison]] (the latter of which, by the way, he admits to making up [[PlayedForLaughs two pages after the fact]]). It does, however, leave the possibility that there's more to the story that is invented...

* ''Literature/BadMonkeys'' has one that challenges this. Hard. Jane Charlotte admits very early to be a homeless, drug-addicted murderer. But with only a few exceptions, the entire story is told by her and while challenged by the second party, it is quite difficult to tell which parts of the story happened and which didn't. The fact that Creator/MattRuff states on the books page that she ''loves'' to lie makes it hard, that she [[spoiler:might be heavily shizophrenic]] harder and that [[spoiler:everything might be true with the only issue that she bended the truth to fit her story]] impossible to tell. It is left up to the reader to guess how much -- if anything at all -- is true.

* ''Literature/JessicaDarling'' is prone to leaving out things she doesn't want to talk about, making conjectures with absolute certainty that turn out to be entirely false, and of course talking at length about [[CoolLoser how ugly and unpopular she is while people are constantly praising her and boys fawning over her.]] She's not entirely unaware of it, though; at one point she flat out wonders how she can be so [[TheSnarkKnight incapable of ignoring anything even if she'd be happier not seeing it,]] yet at the same time completely miss so much. Another character tells her that while she is indeed quite perceptive, she's also prone to making up her mind about what people are like and refusing to believe that they could ever [[CharacterDevelopment change]].

* In ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'', the reader is not supposed to agree with Arronax that Captain Nemo is the greatest guy ever. Arronax shows clear signs of StockholmSyndrome and excuses everything Nemo does throughout the book [[spoiler:until Nemo's VillainousBreakdown]]. Most adaptations completely miss this and [[MisaimedFandom portray Nemo as the hero]].

** Also, Kyon usually [[ObfuscatingStupidity knows much more than he admits]], even to the reader. His habit of stating to [[MrExposition wordy characters]] "I don't understand you," contrasts with his tendency to go off on downright cerebral tangents in a way which is...frustrating. Ignoring completely that his understanding of whateve is being discussed is often immediately made clear by the narration.

* Creator/JRRTolkien's ''[[Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium Legendarium]]'':
** ''Literature/TheHobbit'' has a somewhat odd example of this. In the first edition, Gollum bets his Ring in the riddle game with Bilbo. After Creator/JRRTolkien decided to [[CanonWelding set it in Middle-earth]] and write ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' as a sequel, this didn't fit with the concept of the Ring. So for the second edition of ''The Hobbit'', he {{Retcon}}ned it so the riddle game part of the story was changed to the "true" version of events. His explanation for the first edition? Bilbo was lying to legitimize his ownership of the Ring! He even obliquely apologizes for that in ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', at the Council of Elrond.
** At one point in ''Literature/UnfinishedTales'', Gandalf outright says that there was a lot of stuff going on at the time of ''The Hobbit'' that Bilbo either missed or didn't understand, and had he been the one telling the story, it would have come out very differently.
** Frodo in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' is somewhat of an UnreliableNarrator himself, or at least he has a few in-universe examples of BeamMeUpScotty. That said, given that the gist is generally correct, it seems more likely that he was honestly misreembering (it had been some months, after all) rather than lying.

* ''Literature/TheKharkanasTrilogy'': The story is narrated by the poet Gallan to another poet, Fisher kel Tath, and in the prelude to ''Forge of Darkness'', Gallan flat-out admits to not be telling the truth and inventing things as ge goes when he doesn't know what actually happened or to intensify the impact of the events:

* In ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'', the third person narrative manages to follow the villain for an entire chapter without giving away the fact that he is one, essentially pulling the same stunt that was later done in Heavy Rain.