Is there an actual "man with no name" in Star Wars?

Question

The Mandalorian was heavily inspired by Westerns which in turn were inspired by Japanese movies. In both of them there was a common trope of the protagonist not having a name.

This trope was carried onto The Mandalorian show, too, until the protagonists name was revealed to be Din Djarin.

Is there actually a Star Wars property where the main character (who has a considerable amount of screen time) does not have a name?

By name here I mean an actual name and not something like "Mando" or something.

Answer 1

The imposter Obi-Wan Kenobi from the "The Return of Ben Kenobi"

He appeared from May to July 1982 in the Star Wars newspaper comic strip, a single story arc mostly focused on him. He's also the only character whose inner thoughts we see, so I think it's reasonable to call him the protagonist/main character of the story. At no point (either in the comic strip or in 40 years of expanded material since) do we find out his real name.

This unknown actor was trained and surgically altered to mimic the elderly Obi-Wan Kenobi by Darth Vader, who also gave him a lightsaber and gadgets (such as a hidden shield generator) that let him fake using the Force. He revealed himself to a Rebel agent on the planet Aridus in order to lure Luke there, into a trap set by Vader.

However, he's so impressed by the bravery and loyalty of Luke and the natives of Aridus (who he's been helping as part of his act), that he decides to do some method acting and sacrifices his own life to thwart Vader.

He's not the standard Western "man with no name" but the fact that he throws himself into the role of Ben Kenobi so completely that we never learn anything about his true identity is a key part of the story.

Answer 2

Since the OP specified that characters known by an alias count, one of the most prominent examples is probably Revan.

This alias was bestowed on him early in his life as a Jedi Knight when he led an unauthorized expedition to fight the Mandalorians, who were invading systems near Republic space. The Republic media dubbed him "the Revanchist" (I'm not sure that's completely accurate, politically speaking, but never mind), which he later shortened to just "Revan". Under this name he led the Republic to victory in the Mandalorian Wars, then sided with the Sith and invaded the Republic, then had some later adventures which are frankly very bizarre, which I won't try to summarize here.

In his early appearances in the Knights of the Old Republic comics, before taking up his alias, great pains are taken to avoid giving him a name or appearance, identifying him only as a young Jedi Knight and a friend of another promising Jedi named Alek.

In all of his other appearances, including both Knights of the Old Republic games (which take place after his defeat by the Republic but heavily feature him as a background character), his namesake book (where he is, naturally, a viewpoint character), and The Old Republic (where he is a recurring NPC in a number of plot arcs, including his own namesake expansion), he is simply known as "Revan".

Even in the first Knights of the Old Republic game, where the player character is Revan under a false identity, no hint of his true name is given. Although the player can enter any name they want at the beginning of the game, this is the name of the false ID, not of Revan himself. This is in contrast to the player character of Knights of the Old Republic II, who eventually had a canonical name given.

Answer 3

Boba Fett.

According to the audio commentary of The Empire Strikes Back DVD (2004), while talking about how bounty hunters were written out of A New Hope and became an important plot point in Empire Strikes Back, George Lucas explicitly states that Boba Fett was similar to the man with no name.

Listen around 19:05-19:41

George Lucas audio commentary The Empire Strikes Back

Additionally, on page 240 of J.W. Rinzler’s book The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (2010), George Lucas, taking about Boba Fett, says that... “He is also very much like the man-with-no-name from the Sergio Leone Westerns.”

Also in Spice, Chris "Straight Shooting" with Jeremy Bulloch. sandtroopers.com. July 16, 2011, Jeremy Bulloch answers the question...

Q: Is it true you based the performance of Boba Fett on Clint Eastwood?

Jeremy: Yes it is. Fistful of Dollars was one of my favorite Western movies. Clint >Eastwood hardly moved. The way he moved slow and easy, silent. Everything done in >slow motion sort of, then when action would arise it was like bang, bang, and bang. >Very fast. So I tried to translate that over into Boba Fett.

Straight Shooting" with Jeremy Bulloch

Lucas's Boba Fett's "Man-with-no-name" appellative is also mentioned in Wikipedia (Boba Fett).

Wikipedia - Boba Fett

Answer 4

I would say The Ronin from Star Wars Visions ep 1 'The Duel'. The Ronin is the main character of this episode as well as the book Ronin: A Visions Novel.

His character and story are clearly based on old Japanese stories, with rōnin being masterless samurai warriors in feudal Japan.

He is never referred to be name and simply called "The Ronin" and in the book he is given the nickname "Grim".

None of this is official Star Wars cannon, but it is an official property of a nameless MC.

The 'Man with No Name' is a character from the Dollars trilogy which is based on Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo, which is about a ronin (whose real name we don't know) who gets involved with warring bosses in a small town.

Answer 5

The closest thing to the archetype is a bunch of bounty hunters that appear in The Empire Strikes Back but who are not named.

Well, one of them has a name, but that name only appears in the script in stage directions. He speaks only when spoken to.

Vader: He's all yours, bounty hunter. Reset the chamber for Skywalker.

He is first introduced to the public in a promotional animated short released after primary filming of The Empire Strikes Back had finished but before the movie had been released. It was mixed in with some other stuff that doesn't bear mentioning. There was also an action figure sold (by name) at McDonald's during the movie's pre-release hype.

He also appears in Return of the Jedi but is mentioned by name. Only once, shortly before he is (apparently) killed by a pratfall worthy of the Three Stooges.

As the franchise progressed, entire novels were dedicated to this character. A whole series, and another one dedicated to his parent and some little green goober.

But in that initial movie, Boba Fett is The Man With No Name.