History ThirdPersonPerson / Literature

* Thomas Cromwell in Hilary Mantel's ''Wolf-Hall.''
** 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.

* ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': Dragons frequently switch between this and gramatically correct speech for no particular reason.

* Captain Ahab from ''Literature/MobyDick'' constantly refers to himself in third person, seemingly for dramatic effect. He's not right in the head.
* In the young adult science fiction novel EVERLASTING by Holly-Jane Rahlens, a post-disaster future world government suppresses the inconvenience of individualism by abolishing all forms of the first person singular pronoun, replacing them with third-person phrases involving "this _______." For example, a scientist will refer to him/herself as "this scientist." Illeism is actually referenced by name within the plot — we learn that, earlier in the future society's history, a book written by an unnamed government agency to to teach children this new requirement (and an associated self-repressing philosophy) had been titled "THE ILLEIST'S CODE."
* "This Trope thought it could get away with not noticing him, but it failed to account for Literature/HerculePoirot." In an InsufferableGenius way, usually after TheReveal.

* Zhenya Leukonovich from ''Literature/AWoodsCopMystery'' series by Joseph Heywood has very quirky speech patterns, and almost always refers to herself in the third person.

* Mother Jilo from ''Literature/WitchingSavannah''; it is actually part of her "voodoo doctor" persona.

* The artist Boday, from Creator/JackChalker's series ''Literature/RidersOfTheWind''. In her case it's due to quirkiness bordering on insanity.
* Ramona, from Literature/WitchesChillers series by Silver Ravenwolf.
* Taklit the Blessed from Paula Brackston's novel ''Literature/TheReturnOfTheWitch''.
* The receptionist Adele Girard from Lori Avocato's ''Literature/PaulineSokolMysteries'' series.
* Magda Digby from the ''Literature/OwenArcher'' series.
* The fortune teller Madame Esme from ''Literature/OrderOfTheBell'' series by Jacob Devlin.

* Mariana from ''Literature/BloomsOfDarkness'' by Aharon Appelfeld.
* The real-life teacher Christine Zajac, described in Tracy Kidder's novel ''Among Schoolchildren'', always refers to herself in the third person when addressing her class.

* In ''Literature/TheTalesOfCoyote'' by David L. Foster, the eponymous heroine always refers to herself as "she".

* Proprietor Tom from ''Literature/DeltoraQuest''.
* All wolves in ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' speak using "one" instead of "I", or "me", or "you", or... you get the idea. This is supposed to be because wolves have a HiveMind, but this doesn't bear out in their actual behaviour.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter''
** "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. Dobby would often refer to Harry in this manner, even when talking to him. "Harry Potter should not go back to school."
** Lord Voldemort occasionally does the egotistical version. ("Worthless and traitorous as you are, you helped me... and Lord Voldemort rewards his helpers...")
* Gollum/Sméagol in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. Tom Bombadil as well.
* ''Literature/TheReynardCycle'': Glim, the Glyconese ambassador, speaks this way in ''Defender of the Crown''. He refers to himself as "This One."
* The Unsullied in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' 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."
** Janos Slynt often does this as well.
---> ''' Janos Slynt ''' "I will not have it said that Janos Slynt hanged a man unjustly. I will not."
* Erik in Gaston Leroux's ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera''. And how.

* The title character of ''Theatre/DoctorFaustus''.
* Formal Chinese etiquette requires those who appear before Literature/JudgeDee'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 ''Literature/{{Shane}}'' does this towards the end of the book. It is in fact a form of BadassBoast; '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 ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' series are required to say their names instead of the pronoun "I", as a means of humiliating/dehumanizing them.
* Doll in ''Literature/HalfPrince'' does this, along with her MagicalGirl InTheNameOfTheMoon using her name
* ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'': Kruppe, a person of ObfuscatingStupidity and an unending girth, is deeply hurt by the fact that his humble self was not mentioned earlier. [[LemonyNarrator It reminds him of what happened few years ago]]. [[SelfDemonstratingArticle It begins with Kruppe...]]
* In the semi-dystopia of [[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Everlasting-Mann-aus-Zeit-fiel/dp/3805250169 "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.

* "John Double-u of the Double-us" from ''Literature/TheBookOfTheDunCow''.
* Noëlla, from Fred Vargas' novel ''Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand'', inexplicably switches between first and third person when referring to herself.
--> '''Noëlla''' : I met a nice chum in Paris, a Canadian. I followed him there. And you know what he did ? He left Noëlla. So now, she waits. She listens to the wind.
* In ''Literature/VenissUnderground'', the Gollux usually refers to itself as "the Gollux" in its speech.
* The title character of Shakespeare's Literature/JuliusCaesar does this frequently, as in: 'Shall Caesar send a lie?' This is an indication of his arrogance, which ultimately led to his downfall.
* Recruits in ''Literature/TheirsNotToReasonWhy'' are required to speak this way (e.g. this recruit is...), as a means of breaking down their sense of self (as do the U.S. Marines; see the [[ThirdPersonPerson/RealLife Real Life]] section.)
* All the black people in ''Literature/InDesertAndWilderness''. Probably because the conversations are [[TranslationConvention going on in]] [[CommonTongue Swahili]], which doesn't seem to be well known around the Dark Lake.
* In ''Literature/DoraWilkSeries'', insane witch Viola starts to talk about herself in third person when high on her powers. Witkacy notes that it's rather cliche for an insane person.
* Apachito in ''A Coffin Full of Dollars'' talks this way frequently.
* Dire, in ''Literature/TheDireSaga'', has found herself completely unable to refer to herself in first-person. This occasionally confuses people around her.
* ''Literature/TheHanSoloTrilogy'': Muuurgh refers to himself this way at first, before Han corrects him on the use of the personal pronoun. Mrrov though doesn't do this. It seems to be from his just being rusty with Basic. Jalus Nebl also does this however, in his own language.
* Falfa and Shalsha in ''LightNovel/IveBeenKillingSlimesForThreeHundredYearsAndMaxedOutMyLevel'' refer to themselves in the third person, i.e. as "Falfa" and "Shalsha". This is one of their childish traits.
* ''Literature/CradleSeries'': In Sacred Valley, it is considered respectful for speak in third-person to your betters, as in "this one humbly begs your forgiveness." Lindon, being an UnSorcerer in a world of MightMakesRight, has to do this a ''lot''. Once he leaves the Valley, most people find this to be very strange, so he doesn't do it as much, but he does still slip into it when dealing with angry authority figures. [[spoiler:When he finally returns to Sacred Valley, he finds all his old bullies and tormentors doing this to him, and admits he can understand why all his friends thought it was embarrassing]].

---> '''Noëlla''' : I met a nice chum in Paris, a Canadian. I followed him there. And you know what he did ? He left Noëlla. So now, she waits. She listens to the wind.

* In ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'', 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, [[Literature/XWingSeries Ooryl Qrygg]] goes by Ooryl normally, Qrygg if he's uncertain or embarrassed, 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 Literature/XWingSeries that involves Ooryl, Michael Stackpole, wrote this in the "About the Author" blurb at the end of ''The Bacta War''.

** The Gand bounty hunter Zuckuss (who appeared for a single scene in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' and later became an important supporting character in ''Literature/TalesOfTheBountyHunters'' and ''BountyHunterWars'') is portrayed as an outcast from Gand culture because he quite freely uses personal pronouns.

* In ''Literature/CouncilWars'', Bast the Wood Elf seasons this with bits of YouNoTakeCandle and [[StrangeSyntaxSpeaker Yoda-like syntax]]. Given the fact that she can, and does, speak normally at other times (as well as [[TheTrickster her mischievous personality]]), this is obviously an affectation.

* In the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse, 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.

* ''Literature/TheHanSoloTrilogy'': Muuurgh refers to himself this way at first, before Han corrects him on the use of the personal pronoun. Mrrov though doesn't do this. It seems to be from his just being rusty with Basic.

** "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.

* The titular protagonist of ''{{Shane}}'' does this towards the end of the book. It is in fact a form of BadassBoast; 'No man should be ashamed of being beat by Shane.'

* "John Double-u of the Double-us" from ''TheBookOfTheDunCow''.

* ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'': [[SelfDemonstratingArticle Kruppe is deeply hurt by the fact, that his humble self was not mentioned earlier. It reminds him of what happened few years ago. It begins with Kruppe...]]

* The artist Boday, from Creator/JackChalker's series "Literature/RidersOfTheWinds". In her case, it's not egoism, but rather quirkiness bordering on insanity.

* The receptionist Adele from Lori Avocato's ''Literature/PaulineSokolMysteries'' series.