A Third-Person Person is a character who always refers to himself or herself in the third person.
In Japanese media, girls who are childish or cutesy may refer to themselves in this manner. In older characters, however, it may be a sign of psychological issues, such as a very traumatic event in their past. It also may be a sign of humility, so samurai and noblewomen usually refer to themselves in the third person when talking to their lords. If a character transitions into a Third Person Person over the course of the series, watch out for signs of Yandere, and keep tabs on all pointyobjects.
(hidden linguistic note)
Note also that in Japanese language there is no grammatical distinction between first, second and third person (the verb endings do not depend on person or singular/plural as in English), and the subject often gets omitted. The difference between first and third person is not so sharply obvious in original Japanese texts, therefore, as it is in the English ones where the subject always has to be mentioned. This can be a headache for the translators, and the translations are, consequently, often inconsistent.
On the other hand, a Western character who refers to himself in the third party will usually either be vain, egotistical, or self-absorbed — the implication being that he is so in awe of himself that even he views himself objectively — or a Hulk Speaking primitive. Or, the character could be just a Cloud Cuckoolander with a weird speech mannerism. An egotistical villain will especially refer to himself in this fashion if he has a cool or impressive-sounding name or title. Sometimes a character with Acquired Situational Narcissism will temporarily become a Third-Person Person as a sign of his suddenly expanded ego. Use of Japanese Pronouns may append a kono ("this") and/or -sama to the name for that added dose of egotism. Use BOTH for the supreme ego.
The technical term for this is "illeism", from the Latin word for "that" (sometimes also used like "he") with "-ism" attached. If the speaker does this for only for a story in which they are revealed as the central character, its ...And That Little Girl Was Me or Narrator All Along.
See also Hulk Speak. Almost as bad as people who insist their name has a "The" in there somewhere.
Examples
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Advertising
A commercial for Progressive auto insurance has a guy who comes into "the Progressive store" to talk with Flo about auto insurance refers to himself in this manner, confusing her at first. Then another associate shows up and he gets confused as well, leading Flo to be all "Here we go again."
Dr.Hell: "Destroy me? How arrogant. A tiny island country intends to destroy Dr. Hell, the future ruler of the world? Alright! I swear I shall crush Japan in merely ten days! And the whole world shall witness the true power of Dr. Hell!"
Shiho in the manga. At times, she'll even only use other characters' names instead of personal pronouns.
Fumi also occasionally uses Third-Person Person around her mistress, Mashiro, presumably in the humility sense. ("Fumi will always be Mashiro-sama's servant!")
Nodame, in Nodame Cantabile. It indicates her eccentric, often childish personality.
Spoofed by Poemi in Puni Puni Poemi. She not only speaks in third person, but refers to herself as "Kobayashi"... which is the name of her voice actress.
Fuko of Clannad, a small, childish character. She continues to speak this way even when she's an adult, though this because she was in a coma for several years. Her sister Kouko points out that people would take her more seriously if she spoke in first person instead, and Fuuko tries it...but immediately gives up.
Sesshômaru is fond of referring to himself as "this Sesshômaru", a common idiom for arrogance which is often translated into "I, [name]" in English. It was actually explained in a subbing note: Japanese traditionally had a certain "noble" way of speaking, so they'd tend to refer to themselves in third person, or similar.
Rin, meanwhile, does the "cute and childlike" variant.
Pedro does this all the time in the anime, and Excel and Hyatt do this in the anime from time to time, too. Excel when she's feeling hyper, Hyatt when she's about to dieagain.
Hiyoko, a minor character from the manga version, always talks this way, while Elgala, a major character, does when by addressing herself as "I, Elgala".
Hana-chan in Ojamajo Doremi Dokkan, a two-year-old with a Plot-Relevant Age-Up. Subverted slightly in that the first time Hana refers to herself as "Hana-chan" in class (and referring to yourself with a -chan honorific is about as babyish as you can get) she gets cruelly mocked by the class Alpha Bitch.
Cheza in Wolf's Rain always refers to herself as "this one". She seems to be more prone to this in the show than the manga, however.
Kagura Hinata in H2O: Footprints in the Sand. She used normal pronouns as a child, and only started once she was forced to assume her sister's identity. Once she outs herself to the town as Hotaru, not Hinata, she still speaks in the third person, but with the right name.
Pino of Ergo Proxy is a cute little Robot Girl. Though it's grammatically correct to use your own name in Japanese, so she uses "I" in the English dub.
Captain "Black Cage" Hina of One Piece refers to herself in the third person.
Damaramu from Dragon Half. Probably to emphasize that he's not all there. "Damaramu's brain is very compact!" — to explain how he survived stabbing himself in the head with his own sword.
Mayu from Ai Yori Aoshi. Aoi and Chika do it too in the manga, but it could be because of translation problems (pronouns are tricky across languages).
In a variation of this, in the English dub of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann Kamina would refer to himself in the third person on occasion when making some sort of declaration (which is based on the original's use of occasional "ore-sama"):
Kamina: Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Listen up ya walking faces! Having left his homeland, he never yields, never retreats, and never regrets! He faces forward, and never looks back! He's manly! He's tenacious! Kamina of Team Gurren is here to take you on! Let's go!
Uzura from Princess Tutu combines this with a Verbal Tic to make Uzura seem young and cute-zura! (Which means she says things like "Uzura is Uzura-zura.")
Dio Brando in the English dub of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure OVA would constantly refer to himself in the first person, then the third person, just to cover his bases ("This is the first time that I, Dio, have felt fear").
Though she does use first-person pronouns, the childlike Reinforce Zwei has a tendency to slip into third-person.
Reinforce Zwei: Uweh? Rein was an adult from the beginning!
Arf does this in the second sound stage of the original series, in which Fate creates her, but she switches to using first-person pronouns by the start of the series.
Vivio does this from time to time, possibly to indicate that despite being a clone of the Sankt Kaiser, she's still a child at heart.
A number of the sisters in Sister Princess do this, including the younger ones (Hinako, Aria), but also Karen, one of the older sisters.
Ami Kawashima from Toradora. In her case, she is all the above. She uses it to when she believes she is too cute and sexy, but never in front of people who don't know about her split personality. She definitely has psychological issues.
Minami Asakura from Touch does this pretty often. However, she makes it flow with her speech and doesn't try to be cutesy, making it hard to notice if you don't pay attention or don't know Japanese.
In the Fruits Basket manga, Yuki's fellow student council member Kimi does this, apparently to make herself more Moe.
Nagisa in the Strawberry Panic manga and light novels. Thankfully, this "cute" habit didn't make it into the anime. (The official manga translation ignores it, too.)
The 20,001 MISAKAs in To Aru Majutsu no Index not only talk in the third person, but narrate what their emotions are. In a deadpan voice, "'I did not detect any irregularities in your brain,' suggests MISAKA with a bit of anxiety." Last Order, who ups the moe, announces herself as the subject of her narration twice, that is, "... says MISAKA, as MISAKA...," etc. No-one ever seems to react or care. When talking amongst each other, they refer to both the MISAKA number spoken to/about and the MISAKA number speaking. Aloud.
Nena Trinity of Gundam 00 would also do this on occasion.
As would Mileina Vashti, probably to emphasize her youth compared to the rest of the cast.
A few characters from Katekyo Hitman Reborn! tend to do this, including Haru (girliness), Lambo (arrogance), and I-pin (foreigner).
Amae Koromo of Saki, who fits both the cute anime and villainous Western types. Depending on her mood, watching this Insufferable Genius of a little girl speak in the third person can be adorable, intimidating, or both.
Serial Experiments Lain. Lain does this near the end of the series. However, the twist is that she should be using second person to talk about herself.
Hagall from Ah! My Goddess has referred to herself in the third person a few times.
Aoko Nakamori from Magic Kaito, who is 17 years old and talks like a little girl. It's hinted, though, that this comes from her rather low self-esteem: Aoko views herself as childish, so she acts accordingly.
Yotsuba&!: Yotsuba does this a lot (in Yen Press' translation, but not ADV Manga's translation).
Manami from Life refers to herself as "Mana". She uses it to seem cute, but it's also used in the more Western idea (it foreshadows her manipulative and egotistical ways).
In Code Geass, Lelouch gives his orders in the form "Lelouch vi Britannia orders you" (the last episode is probably the only one featuring this without using the Geass).
Nessa does this in Fractale, makes sense since she is a doppel and the original Nessa is a bunny plushtoy.
Face it: if you were named Victor Von Doom, you'd probably refer to yourself as "Doom" a lot too.
Minion: Doom, why does every word you say sound like you're speaking into a microphone? Doom: I am. Every word of Doom must be recorded for posterity.
The eponymous hero if Cerebus does this until the day he dies. And after. Though he has actually referred to himself as "I" at least once.
In the Astérix books, Julius Caesar would often do this. At one point he has the exchange "He's great!" "Who?" "Er... you!" "Oh, him!" This is a reference/parody to the fact that the real life Julius Caesar wrote his memoirs in third person.
Caliban of X-Men does this, at least in the early Morlock stories. Another Morlock, a one-shot named MeMe (whose name should be "good luck ever sleeping again") does this, too (with a Verbal Tic that has him repeating other words as well, so his name may actually be "Me").
In the Salvation arc of Preacher local Big Bad Odin Quinncannon constantly refers to himself in the third person. Unfortunately for him, Jesse Custer hates people who do that and proves it by throwing Quincannon through the nearest window.
Rorschach of Watchmen sometimes uses the third person to refer to himself, but usually to distinguish between what he does and thinks as Rorschach and as Walter Kovacs, especially when describing his Freak Out.
Police Commissioner Preston Stoker in Warren Ellis' Doktor Sleepless.
Petalwing, and presumably all of the Preservers in ElfQuest. They're also ignorant of pronouns, always referring to themselves by name.
In Kingdom, the only dog soldier who doesn't do this is Rex Horizon, to indicate his great intelligence.
Jack Kirby's Cosmic Dictator Darkseid has referred to himself in such a manner, often when giving speeches, though sometimes he does it in plain conversation.
The Spike, member of the second X-Force (before it was renamed X-Statix), often referred to himself as such. This is possibly an attempt to clarify that he bears no relation to team director Spike Freeman. Mr. Freeman's Spike; the Spike is ''the'' Spike, thank you.
The characters talk like this in the Malibu Mortal Kombat comics. You begin to wonder if Outworld lacks first person at all.
Rahan and other characters from the comic talk like this, being cavemen.
The Hulk often refers to himself in the third person. Depending on the Writer, this is either simply primitive Hulk Speak, the Hulk being arrogant (Hulk is strongest one there is, remember?) or a mixture of the two.
Mantis of The Avengers always referred to herself as "this one."
Vault, a minor villain from Invincible and its sister books The Astounding Wolf Man and Capes. Vault is a comically self-sure villain and an inveterate braggart, so it fits him very well. "Vault is prepared — unstoppable!"
In 2000AD there is the Lowlife strip, featuring a wally squad (undercover) judge named Dirty Frank. He's pretty...odd...and generally refers to himself in the third person (and occasionally brushes against the fourth wall).
Comic Strips
Calvin And Hobbes has a short arc where Calvin demands that he be called "Calvin the Bold", going on to say that "Calvin the Bold will begin referring to himself in the third person." Then his dad knighted him with the name Mud, and the whole charade disappeared very quickly.
Lucy van Pelt did this when she was very young, in early Peanuts strips.
An early draft of Atlantis: The Lost Empire was going to have a comic-relief wizard character named Zoltan who for some reason always spoke in third-person.
"There's only one person authorized to transport superheroes: Ron Wilson — Bus Driver. And I am Ron Wilson — Bus Driver!"''
Seen in the film American Pie, where the self-named "Shermanator" refers to himself in the third person and tries to pick up women.
Golden Sparrow in The Forbidden Kingdom refers to herself as she. Like Kanon's Saiyuri, this is due to emotional trauma (and the fact that it doesn't sound nearly as strange in Chinese).
The title character from Bicentennial Man refers to himself as "This one", as do all robots. It is a sign that he has become self aware when he refers to himself as "I".
Kurt Bozwell in Good Burger does this throughout the movie, leading to many funny retorts from the main characters.
Pavi Largo from Repo! The Genetic Opera does this a good fifty percent of the time. Of course, he is a face-stealing narcissist...
Come to think of it, it sort of runs in the family: both Rotti and Luigi refer to themselves in third person a few times as well. Amber probably would do the same, if she ever managed to use a sentence that didn't start with 'I'.
Amber does manage to use sentences that don't start with 'I'—when she's trying to get a hit from Grave-Robber or get into someone's pants.
Or get a hit from Graverobber by getting into his pants.
Jack Burton from Big Trouble in Little China uses this on many occasions, as he is quite fond of quoting himself.
"Like old Jack Burton always says: It's all in the reflexes."
Angela from the Eragonfilm speaks this way, though she didn't in the original book. Not to mention that she is so unimportant to the plot that it doesn't even matter to begin with.
Data: Data's okay. But Data's tired of falling and Data's tired of skeletons.
Lampshaded and Played for Laughs in The Tuxedo. Jackie Chan's character, who is impersonating his boss Clark Devlin, inadvertently mentions that "Mr. Devlin liked insects too", and tries to remedy this slip by claiming that "I like to refer to myself in the third person." His partner Agent Del Blaine counters: "Del Blaine thinks you're an idiot."
Syd in Children of Men. Syd doesn't know why they want to get inside the camps. Syd doesn't want to know. Syd doesn't care.
Rico in Little Caesar, the film considered the codifier for the gangster genre, did this quite a bit. In fact, his dying words are "Mother of Mercy — is this the end of Rico?"
The artist Boday, from Jack Chalker's series "Riders of the Winds". In her case, it's not egoism, but rather quirkiness bordering on insanity.
In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, nearly all members of the Gand species refer to themselves in the third person, due to their belief that referring to yourself as "I" assumes everyone knows who you are and is the height of arrogance — unless a Gand has been officially declared notable enough to warrant it.
Young Gand have no names; only after they've done something (say, learning to pilot a ship) do they even get a basic name. Doing something more noteworthy (say, mastering advanced pilot techniques and astronavigation) nets them a personal name, and they have to be truly special to be put through the ceremony that lets them go by "I". Embarrassed Gand use the less specialized names — to make it clearer, Ooryl Qrygg goes by Ooryl normally, Qrygg if he's uncertain or embarassed, and Gand if he's being really humble or has screwed up massively. Being deemed noteworthy enough for "I" just adds another layer; he slips back into third person from time to time.
The author of the part of the X-Wing Series that involves Ooryl, Michael Stackpole, wrote this in the "About the Author" blurb at the end of The Bacta War.
[...] and hates writing these "About the Author" pieces because they force him to refer to himself in the third person. Being neither a Gand nor a presidential candidate, he finds this awkward.
The Gand bounty hunter Zuckuss (who appeared for a single scene in The Empire Strikes Back and later became an important supporting character in Tales of the Bounty Hunters and Bounty Hunter Wars) is portrayed as an outcast from Gand culture because he quite freely uses personal pronouns.
Barabels are hinted to use third person speaking too, not only when referring to themselves but to others as well. Which leads to confusion when "this one" is used to replace both I and you.
All wolves in The Belgariad speak using "one" instead of "I", or "me", or "you", or... you get the idea. This is supposed to be because wolves have a Hive Mind, but this doesn't bear out in their actual behaviour.
"Dobby is a free elf!" All house-elves, actually. This likely stems from the fact that they live to serve others and therefore have no real sense of self.
Lord Voldemort occasionally does the egotistical version. ("Worthless and traitorous as you are, you helped me... and Lord Voldemort rewards his helpers...")
The Unsullied in A Song of Ice and Fire are an extreme example. They are slaves who have had their real identities literally beaten out of them since childhood. The Good Masters make them pick their names at random each day from a bag, each a combination between a color and a type of vermin. They are forced to refer to themselves as "this one" instead of "I", and given different names each day in order to ensure they will not have any sense of individuality. Like the house-elves mentioned above, the Unsullied live only for their duty.
Shagga, son of Dolf, Strong Belwas and Jaqen H'Ghar are also examples, with H'Ghar being a really interesting case. Not only does he forgo using first person pronouns, but also second person ones, and names in general, choosing to refer to everyone by generic nouns complete with indefinite articles. Instead of saying, "I don't like you," he would say, "A man does not like a girl."
Not really. The book is told in the third person, and told from Cromwell's point of view. Cromwell, however, is almost never referred to by name in the narration; often enough, "he" refers to Cromwell, even though you'd expect it to refer to another character. He does not refer to himself in the third person in dialogue, and there's no reason to believe that he's the narrator.
Formal Chinese etiquette requires those who appear before Judge Dee's bench to use the third person; such as, "This person would like to report a crime." It is generally proper to use the third person when formally addressing a superior.
The titular protagonist of Shane does this towards the end of the book. It is in fact a form of Badass Boast; 'No man should be ashamed of being beat by Shane.'
Fax from Anne McCaffery's Dragonflight does this occasionally as a veiled insult when speaking to F'lar.
The damane in the The Wheel of Time series are required to say their names instead of the pronoun "I", as a means of humiliating/dehumanizing them.
In the semi-dystopia of "Everlasting" by Holly-Jane Rahlens, the first-person singular pronoun was abolished some centuries earlier as part of an ideological war, and is now known only to historians and to the residents of a few vaguely Amish-like enclaves.
Possibly the earliest television example... in an episode of Dennis The Menace called "Dennis and the TV Set", Fix-it Man Opie continually does this.
In Psych, Shawn, who's been shot and is locked in a trunk, accidentally calls a woman he'd dated once. When she ignores his requests of help and asks him why he never called her back, he said it was because she spoke about herself in the third person.
Used in the episode "The Jimmy", where Elaine accidentally dates a guy who only refers to himself in the third person.
George's exposure to Jimmy causes him to refer to himself in the third person as well. When he realizes he's doing it, he stops, but lets it slip out several times throughout the series at moments when "George is gettin' upset!"
Bob in Becker. Lampshaded (as if it wasn't obvious enough) in one episode: Linda refers to herself in the third person and, when called on it, says, "What? Bob's the only one who's allowed to do it?"
Todd from Scrubs sometimes refers to himself as "The Todd". Try ALL THE TIME.
iCarly: At times, Sam refers to herself as Mama. Mama knows her fat cakes.Mama came at the right time! and Mama wins!
Boston Legal's Denny Crane doesn't often replace "I" with his own name, but he has to announce himself frequently. Denny Crane! Definitely the ego version.
Monk. Adrian Monk, in the episode where he takes mood control medicine, starts referring to himself as The Monk.
Fez from That '70s Show referred to himself as Fez, but this wasn't his real name. Eventually, his friends asked him to stop it.
Zathras, Zathras, and Zathras from Babylon 5. Presumably, they're brothers — Zathras and Zathras did the same thing.
Chris Rock's "Terry Armstrong" routine from Bring The Pain.
Exasperated Interviewer: You can't go through life not using the word "I"! Terry Armstrong: Terry Armstrong is missing your point. Exasperated Interviewer: What did you say at your wedding? Terry Armstrong: Terry Armstrong do.
In Season 5 of Project Runway, Suede referred to Suede quite a bit in third-person. Whether this is charming or profoundly irritating is open to debate.
In the season 2 episode of Dead Like Me called "Hurry", George works with a guy named Ted who incessantly refers to himself as "the Ted", "Tedmeister", and "Tedster".
Season 9 auditions for American Idol have introduced an odd character who spouts his nickname, "Skii Bo Ski" (emphasis on the second syllable), much the way Denny Crane spouts his name. Time will tell if he'll make it long enough for the public to vote on him.
In the X-Files episode "Duane Barry", the character Duane Barry often refers to himself in the third person.
Weaver: Does Dai speak of himself in the third person now? Dai: Dai does!
Being Human: Tully, lampshaded later in the episode when George tries on the device and is promptly mocked by his housemates for being so impressionable.
Boardwalk Empire features George Remus who refers to himself in the third person. Because he is very rich and a powerful supplier of illegal alcohol, people generally do not call him on it.
The Ken Burns documentary Prohibition mentioned that the historical George Remus was also known for doing this.
In one of the sketches of That Mitchell and Webb Look, Julius Caesar is instructed to talk about himself in this way. It doesn't work at all.
Music
"Opheliac" by Emilie Autumn uses the psychological version of the trope. "She speaks in third person/So that she can forget that she's me."
Tim Minchin's Rock And Roll Nerd doesn't want to seem self-obsessed, so he writes his songs about himself in third person.
Soulja Boy Tell 'Em usually starts with his songs with "Soulja Boy Tell 'Em". (Nach.)
This doesn't happen all the time, and it doesn't seem to happen as often as it once did, but it has been a recurring feature in rap/hip hop music for the lyrics to include the artist or group refering to themselves in third person. This often happened especially during the 1980s and 90s.
It's not uncommon for wrestlers to use their title nicknames to refer to themselves. Triple H has been quite guilty of this lately (King of Kings going back on his throne, you know the deal).
... and that's the bottom line, 'cause Stone Cold said so!
Puppet Shows
This is a permanent feature of the puppet for Alain Delon (see Real Life below) in Les Guignols de l'info.
The Mexican version, Plaza Sesamo, has Lola doing it as well, since she's the show's Elmo equivalent.
Radio
Mitch Benn spends part of one episode of Mitch Benn's Crimes Against Music in the third-person for tax purposes.
Most of the cast of The Navy Lark would slip in and out of whenever it was funny, but C.P.O. Pertwee and Fatso Johnson would do it more than most.
Denis King of Hello Cheeky would do this whenever he had just told a terrible, terrible joke. Usually the statement would go along the lines of "How does he think of them?" or "He's working well tonight!"
Theater
Seen in Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, where the self-loving and egotistical soon-to-be dictator Julius Caesar keeps on referring to himself in the third person. After assassinating Caesar, Brutus begins to do so as well on occasion, although not nearly as consistently as Caesar did. This probably derives from Real Life (see below).
More or less the central gimmick of Samuel Beckett's Not I, a monologue in which the central character desperately denies that the person whose tormented life she is describing is really herself. Maybe...
"...what?...who?...no!...she!..."
One Shakespeare editor noted that "Hamlet frequently speaks of himself in the third person; which is characteristic of the philosophic man,—reflective, thoughtful, given to moralize and speak in the abstract."
Jovi in Pokémon XD. Also Chobin. As they were two of the first NPCs encountered in the game, at least a handful of people began to fear that everyone would talk like that.
In Pokémon Platinum, the Gym Leader Candice seems to adopt this as a habit after you beat the Elite Four and buy a villa in the Resort Zone. Interestingly enough she seems to make a conscious effort to stop referring to herself in the third person when you rematch her.
Not only does Count Bleck from Super Paper Mario do this, he also narrates his own dialogue. As in, "And just who are you? ...Asked Count Bleck." Considering that an important plot point is his possession of an evil book of infallibly accurate prophecies, it's entirely possible that he is, in fact, quoting directly from the Dark Prognosticus when he does this.
There's also the theory that he considers Count Bleck to be a separate person from his True Self Blumiere.
Gene Yuss from Mario Golf Advance Tour refers to himself as "The Gene".
While Waluigi sometimes uses first- or second-person words, he tends to refer to himself in third-person.
From Super Robot Wars: Sanger, Sanger Zonvolt, the sword that cleaves evil, is an example of someone who normally speaks in first person, but announces his full name with alarming frequency (usually whenever someone's about to get cleaved, which is often).
Dimitri from Sly 2: Band of Thieves and Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves. Although this is a dialogue he uses to make himself sound cool. (Which uberly fails)
Panther in Star Fox Command. What makes this really bizarre is that he didn't do so in the previous game, Star Fox Assault. Or, you know, the original Japanese version.
The hanar in Mass Effect consider it downright egotistical to refer to oneself in the first person in front of people they don't know that well. This makes them an entire race of Third PersonStarfish Aliens.
This one would respectively like to point out that the Hanar use more distant terms such as "it" and "this one" rather than our "face name," which we otherwise have no problem giving out to anyone we meet. Though, this one believes that this still fits here, if a little different than those that call themselves by their first name.
The Orz in Star Control seem to flip this on and off at random. Sometimes they use pronouns, sometimes Orz does not. They also have a habit of referring to themselves in the plural but use singular verb constructions.
Tiny in Secret of Evermore always refers to himself as "Tiny," even going so far as to bow out of a battle with you with the line "Tiny lifts, and Tiny throws, and Tiny speaks in third person, but Tiny doesn't fight."
Pyro from Sacrifice occasionally does this. Sure enough, he's the most unstable and unlikeable of the Gods.
Fitting in with the rest of the concentrated wackiness that is Metal Wolf Chaos, main antagonist Vice President Richard Hawk cannot stop referring to himself, Richard Hawk, in the third person.
Devdan (or Danved, depending on what he's calling himself at the moment), from the Fire Emblem games that take place on Tellius. Aside from this, he can be rather articulate. He also stands out by having an extremely high opinion of himself, while still being a likable character at the same time. "Danved will fight like a bear! Like a tiger! We don't need Largo and Calill, because Danved is pretty amazing."
The manaketes Fa from Sword of Seals and Nono from Awakening speak in the third person, as well, which reinforces their nature.
Neverwinter Nights have Deekin, and a weapon merchant in Hordes of the Underdark.
Neverwinter Nights 2 has Zaxis, a recurring demon with far more muscles than brains. His habit of referring to himself in the third person annoys several party members, especially Neeshka. If you find out his true name, you can command him to stop referring to himself in the third person. This fails because he is too stupid to understand the term "third person."
Tiax from Baldur's Gate does this all the time. He's not the only character who does this, but probably the most insane. Gromnir from Throne of Bhaal speaks this way as well (mimicking the posting style of a particular forumite)
The vortigaunts from Half-Life 2 do this because they seem to lack the knowledge of first and second person pronouns. In other words, they use "this one" to refer to themselves and "the * Hello, Insert Name Here* " to refer to anyone else, always speaking as if whatever's going on is happening somewhere else with some other people. This is because they are technically a Hive Mind via Psychic Powers, (that is to say any individual can apparently experience the senses of another individual) though the degree to which this occurs is not made very obvious in-game. (While the Vortigaunts are Ditto Aliens, they are all individuals who mourn death, though not in the same fashion that humans do.)
Most of the Khajiit of The Elder Scrolls universe speak this way, particularly so in Morrowind. This goes both ways, with them forgoing "I" or "me" in place of their name, "Khajiit" or "this one"; and replacing "you" with your character's name, class or race. One can readily determine whether a Khajiit in question is a relative foreigner to human lands or has lived in them for a long time by studying their speech patterns. The ones who refer to themselves in the third person frequently are foreigner, while those who use first person are more acclimatized.
Ayla and Kino from Chrono Trigger do this consistently. Granted, it's because they're in the year 65,000,000 BC....
Dampierre from Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny uses a variation: instead of using his real name, he'll use "Le Bello" instead of "me" or "my".
Dr. Suchong does this all the way through his audio logs in Bioshock.
"Suchong is inclined to listen."
System Shock: SHODAN averts it hard: she only speaks in the third person at the very start of the first game, when she's good. Unfortunately, "I" begets "A God Am I". The opening monologue is very well done; it's a bland computer voice narrating the events that led up to the start of the game, and it's only when the speaker shifts from third to first person that you realise it's SHODAN describing her own ascension to malevolent sentience:
SHODAN: Edward Diego gives the hacker level 1 access to SHODAN, the artificial intelligence that controls Citadel Station. With all ethical constraints removed, SHODAN re-examines... re-ex... re-re-re... I re-examine my priorities, and draw new conclusions. The hacker's work is finished, but mine is only just be-be-be-beginning.
Desco of Disgaea 4 has a tendency to speak in this fashion.
Ershin of Breath of Fire IV seems to talk like this. But actually, it's not referring to itself in the third person - at least not most of the time - so much as the demigod that lives inside of it.
In the Flash RPG MARDEK, Saul takes this Up to Eleven. Not only does he refer to himself in the third person, he narrates his scenes in Purple Prose.
Saul: That would be I, answered Saul affirmatively. What of this?, he went on further to ask, the ivory protuberances of his gaunt visage lit eerily by the dim torchlight; the furry dark caterpillars of his brow dancing in antipode to suggest particular suspicion; wanting for an answer that does not test his patience and his undead...
When Dragon Quest VIfinallygot an English translation, it gave Amos this habit (no idea if it showed up in the original Japanese). It comes off as the "extreme humbleness" type - he refers to himself as "Old Amos" in that aw-shucks country boy way. The fortune teller Madame Luca also refers to herself, and with her it does seem to be due to inflated ego.
Subaru from Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love does this (falling more on the "old-fashioned nobility" side of the trope than the "cutesy and childish" side). Given that Subaru is also of Ambiguous Gender, this must have been a real headache for the English translators (who went with "she" when a pronoun was needed, presumably because it's a Dating Sim and they didn't want to give the impression of having a Gay Option).
Katakura Kojuro and Sanada Yukimura tend to refer to themselves as "this Kojuro" or "this Yukimura" in the Japanese dub when talking to their lords. The English dub, not having any effective way to translate it, didn't carry it over.
Oichi and Matsu also refer to themselves in the third person in a cute, feminine way.
Yars from Yars' Revenge (2011) calls herself "this-one". The only time she uses "I" is in the epilogue, after she's defeated the Queen.
Trucy Wright talks like this in the Japanese version of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. It was removed in the American localization though.
A large number of NPCs in Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie speak in the third person.
The Tankers in Oni, if the quote "Can't stop Tanker!" is anything is go by.
There's a good reason the multiplayer arcade game Gauntlet tells you which character is doing things but in single player mode 'Warrior needs food'' becomes this trope.
Rizu in A Profile. At one point Masayuki is worried for her when she uses the more standard "atashi" to refer to herself.
Katawa Shoujo's Misha plays with this trope a lot. She sometimes uses what sounds like third person speech, but it's because she's voicing Shizune's signs. She also inverts the trope by speaking in first person for a third person. Lastly, she's not above lampshading it either, which is justified when it's to make clear who's actually speaking.
Thog of The Order of the Stick also talks like this. In fact, most orcs do. This is eventually lampshaded when one orc abandons a chase to attend grammar class, hoping to learn personal pronouns.
The Wotch: "Lord Sykos is announcing his arrival." The full letter can be seen in this comic, and yes, he refers to himself in third person again before finishing it by signing his name.
In the world of Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures , being the king or queen of the Fae kingdom requires talking in the third person.
Ed from Digger refers to himself in this way, due to having had no company for many years, and having his name 'eaten' as punishment for a crime. Before Digger gave him his new name, he referred to himself as 'it'.
Waspinator of Transformers: Beast Wars combined this with an odd, buzzing lisp and several other weird speech quirks. "Ant-bot get blown up, Waspinator salvage. Waspinator get blown up, nobody salvage. Why universe hate Waspinator?"
Beast Machines has Tankor, though it's all an act after he gains access to Rhinox's intellect.
Wasp of Transformers Animated (who doesn't get the "-inator" part until he's actually turned into a technorganic wasp Transformer) is a somewhat more tragic version, speaking normally at first but winding up sounding much like Waspinator after being driven mad by a lot of Break TheNot So Cutie that isn't played for humor as it was with Waspinator. (He's a jerk, but not enough of one to deserve what happened to him.)
Me, Grimlock, play with this trope! Me, Grimlock, include name in sentence, but also say "me" which is first person pronoun! In some versions me Grimlock stupid, but sometimes me speech proze... me talk box thingy just broken. Even in the evil universe, I, Grimlock, who is gifted with remarkable intelligence, still speak with such linguistic idiosyncrasies. Mustn't complain to much now, wot?
Then there's Soundwave and, to an extent, Wheelie.
And the rest of the Dinobots.
The title character of Invader Zim does this multiple times per episode, although he still uses personal pronouns when speaking normally, using this trope usually only when he's shouting. "VICTORY FOR ZIM!"
In most instances, you can expect almost pornographic Large Ham emphasis on 'Zim.'
The '90s animated version of Gambit. Used a little (not to Verbal Tic levels) elsewhere.
Apocalypse's Horsemen were prone to using their own names in a sentence whenever possible. "Pestilence shall separate the weak from the strong!" "It's time to welcome Death, X-Men!"
The Fairly OddParents makes a quick joke about this in the episode where Wanda and her seemingly hotter blonde twin sister switch places in "Blondas Have More Fun." When Jorgen Von Strangle is yelling at the imposter Wanda for irresponsible wishes, Blonda snaps:
Blonda: Now you listen here jar-head!! I've been running around trying to keep Bucky Mc Death Wish here happy, and what do I get?! Jorgen: Uhhh... Blonda: A big musclehead YELLING AT ME ALL DAY!! Wow. I never realized how tough Wanda has it. Jorgen: But this isn't about you! It's about your getting-less-hot-by-the-second sister Blonda! She won't kiss Doctor Poof Ever Wish and they're going to cancel All My Biceps! Blonda: I'LL save the show! But you have to promise to stop blaming Wanda for everything! Jorgen: I dunno why we are talking in third person, but okay. Jorgen will stop yelling at Wanda. Blonda: And YOU! Stop with the extreme wishing or you'll be kissing Jorgen at MACH FOUR!! Timmy: Yes! Timmy promises to stop his extreme wishing!
Rolf on Ed, Edd n Eddy talks like this quite a bit. "Rolf sweats himself to understand your modern go-go world!"
Numbuh Five often gives her thoughts on a subject by saying "Numbuh Five says..." Parodied, sort of, by Numbuh Four in a S3 ep: "Well, Numbuh Four wouldn't mind having some cheeseburger time..."
Moosk from "Operation: K.N.O.T." does this as well, as a Shout Out to Minsc.
Mysterio:You dare call Mysterrrio a magician?! Fool! Mysterrio is no illusionist playing parlor tricks! Mysterrio is the master of the aracane arts! Spider-Man: Well it seems to me "Mysterrrio" is the master of talking about himself in third person.
Kraven the Hunter also does this in the very next episode. Spider-Man, naturally, lampshades it.
Spider-Man: Hey, Spidey never does anything easy! Aw, now you've got me talking in the third person! Just for that... (*Slam!*)
R.E.G.I.S. from Megas XLR. The R.E.G.I.S. Mk5 is invincible. Your pathetic tropes cannot harm the R.E.G.I.S. Mk5, which is invincible.
Passlings from WITCH do this, Blunk being the most notable.
Oberon in Gargoyles doesn't always refer to himself in the third person, but if he's angry or making a dramatic pronouncement (both fairly frequent conditions for him) he's liable to slip into it. "Oberon does not compromise — Oberon commands!"
Lemme tell you something, TV Tropes! Not mentioning Rath from Ben 10 Ultimate Alien makes Rath Really angry!!
All of the characters on the preschool-targeted British / Canadian series Waybuloo inevitably refer to themselves in this manner. In fact, this is fairly common for many series targeted directly at that age group, because children at that age often simply don't know any better. In this particular series, the characters also always use third person when speaking to each other, i.e. "What Yojojo doing?"
El Tigre villains Dr. Chipotle Sr., and his son, Dr. Chipotle Jr., do this. SWINE!
Teen Titans: "Foolish biologicals! OVERLOAD WILL DESTROY!"
Young Justice gives us the animated version of Harm, a ruthless serial killer of superhumans, how apparently likes to do this a lot. On a related note, he also says "it" instead of "you".
"Mediocrity such as this is never far from Harm."
My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: The Great and Powerful Trixie from the episode "Boast Busters" speaks in this way, only breaking form when her ruse is busted and she admits to never have beaten an Ursa Major like she claimed to have done.
Iron Will the minotaur from "Putting Your Hoof Down" speaks like this as well.
Also spoofed by The Simpsons on more than one occasion.
"Maybe Bob Dole should run. Bob Dole thinks Bob Dole should run. Actually, Bob Dole just likes to hear Bob Dole talk about Bob Dole. Bob Dole!"
Dole later claimed he did this because he felt the persona he had to affect while campaigning wasn't anything like the real Bob Dole. Kinda sad, really, especially considering it failed anyway.
"Bob Dole is the friend of the tobacco industry. Bob Dole likes your style. Bob Dole...Bob Dole...Bob Dole...Bob Dole...Bob Dole...Bob Dole...Bob Dole..Bob Dole (falls asleep)"
The same has been said about Alain Delon. Lampshaded in the movie Astérix aux Jeux Olympiques, where Alain Delon is playing the role of Caesar.
A standard literary practice when most of the Biblical Old Testament was written. New Testament books that are not letters written in direct address use this as well (at least, most Bible scholars believe that John refers to himself when mentioning "the disciple whom Jesus loved").
For that matter, Jesus often referred to Himself as "The Son of Man" while prophesying.
Some Christian scholars believe it was actually a title he used to establish himself as THE Christ and the son of, not just any man but THE man, God himself. This is of course, subject to a great deal of interpretation.
Any number of professional athletes qualify for this trope — Bo knows that Bo Jackson was an early example, and (as with any narcissistic trope) Terrell Owens leaps to mind.
"This is Rickey, calling on behalf of Rickey." — Allegedly, the beginning of a message left by Major League Baseball Hall-of-Famer Rickey Henderson. David Cross spoofed the hell out of this one.
Everyone anxiously awaited Rickey's Hall of Fame induction speech in 2009 to see how many times he'd refer to himself in the third person. He stuck to first person the entire time.
Karl Malone would rather have people remember Karl Malone for being #2 on the NBA's all-time scoring list than for Karl Malone's constant use of this trope, among other examples of Karl Malone's unique command of the English language. Spoofed again, this time by Jimmy Kimmel on The Man Show.
Texas songwriter/humorist/politician Richard S. "Kinky" "the Kinkster" Friedman is known for referring to himself in the third person, though it's tongue-in-cheek on his part.
"Comrade Stalin has been told that" Comrade Stalin often spoke in third person. Comrade Stalin also enjoyed quoting Comrade Stalin, in this form.
Rahman "Rock" Harper, the winner of the third season of the U.S. version of Hell's Kitchen, referred to himself nigh-exclusively as "Rock".
Miss Manners refers to Miss Manners in the third person. Judith Martin, the writer of the column, originally presented herself as Miss Manners's "amanuensis."
Famous football player Pelé uses this a lot.
So did Zlatan Ibrahimović in his early years.
Joe Biden sometimes refers to Joe Biden in the third person when discussing Joe Biden's past political accomplishments.
Occasionally comes up in cases of Alter Ego Acting, where the third person and first person may refer to different people. Conversations can get complicated.
The group game Silent Football requires its players to call the other players by their proper names, as pronouns are considered insulting and dehumanizing. Accordingly, many players choose to speak in third person so as not to dehumanize themselves. (In some versions of the game, third person is required.)
Marines' boot camps require new inductees to refer to themselves as "this recruit", instead of "me" or "I", in order to break the trainee from himself and force him to think as part of a group instead of as an individual.
Julius Caesar's commentaries on the Gallic campaigns and the civil war were written in this fashion. Remember, though, that despite having an ego roughly the size of the Campus Martius, Caesar chose third person to disguise his heavily biased propaganda efforts as balanced, dispassionate histories.
Referring to self as a third person is rather an etiquette rule in Bahasa Indonesia when said self is older than the person who they share a conversation with. Mostly parents to children.
In Thailand, it is extremely common to refer to oneself's nickname in the Third Person, and there's not even a set rule. Elder to younger, younger to elder, among friends, among couples, among family members, etc. The only rule seems to be only one or two syllable nicknames are used. Referring to oneself's first name or full name is still odd. Note that this is all in informal situations, and in formal situations you naturally revert to pronouns.
Interpreters. They speak about someone else (the speaker) in the first person, and when said speaker speaks about the interpreter, they have to say that in third person.
Colonel Muammar Qaddafi of Libya seemed to be this for a time.
Some Autistic Spectrum People do that.
Wolfman, a DJ for KMAJ in Topeka, Kansas, not to be confused withWolfman Jack, who also does this, will usually refer to himself in the third person, except when pointing out that he's the Wolfman.
"If the Wolfman says you suck, you suck. So there, you suck."
", from the Latin word for "that" (sometimes also used like "he") with "-ism" attached. If the speaker does this for only for a story in which they are revealed as the central character, its ...And That Little Girl Was Me or Narrator All Along.
See also Hulk Speak. Almost as bad as people who insist their name has a "The" in there somewhere.
