He was lost when he came to us, and I fear the silver spoons he stole from us didn't save him when he ran away and went up into the high domains. Yet in the end the lost man, the runaway man, was our guide.
Gry called him the runaway man. When he first came, she was sure he'd done some terrible thing, a murder or a betrayal, and was escaping vengeance. What else would bring a Lowlander here, among us?
"Ignorance," I said. "He knows nothing of us. He's not afraid of us."
"He said people down there warned him not to come up among the witches."
"But he knows nothing about the gifts," I said. "It's all just talk, to him. Legends, lies ..."

The repetitive 'he' made me think about naming. This didn't stop me reading on (Le Guin does name the Lowlander on page 2). Yet, the viewpoint character Orrec isn't named until page 8. He is only referenced as a blind 16 year old boy on page 2.

Next, I pick up Charlie Fletcher's "Stone Heart" still pondering this question: "George never spent any time wondering why he wanted to belong. He just did."

So, I'm asking, is it necessary to name a character as soon as they arrive on the stage?

Call me confused.

Edit — one reminder of why naming has stuck in my mind, among other sources that concur is: OSC's "How to write Science Fiction & Fantasy" (p.90). It makes sense when he says:

quote:

---

Above all, don't coyly begin with pronouns for the viewpoint character and make us wonder who "he" or "she" is — give us a name first, so we have a hook on which to hang all the information we learn about that character.

---

I know rules can be broken, but as an unpublished writer I wouldn't want to be dismissed on the first page simply for lack of viewpoint name. I wonder what editors think about this?