Character with title or nickname as a name

Nah, because "the" is an article. Put another way, if his title was a little different, it would be Rock the Strong, not Rock The Strong.

If the article is considered a part of the nickname, I'd capitalize it. As in Dwayne Johnson's case, it's usually used as "The Rock".

caw

For me, The Rock is a full proper noun. Also, public universities capitalize the for the exact same reason. I graduated from The University of Texas at San Antonio. I suppose it's all varied based on preferences, but I'd capitalize it (however, please use this sparingly. It could get irritating to read over and over and over and over again.).

"The Hound" in A Song of Ice and Fire came to mind as a more or less current example, so I checked the books. His "the" is not capitalized.

Now I'm thinking of the game, Dragon Age Inquisition, where one of the NPCs, who is a very naive spirit without much in terms of human experience, calls another npc "The Iron Bull" whenever he addresses him, even though everyone else calls that character "Iron Bull" or "Bull."

Cole (the npc in question) would clearly capitalize the "the," but no one else would. So my answer is if the article really is part of the actual name or formal title and not just a reference, then capitalize it. If people don't address the person or refer to them with the article each and every time, then I'd say not to.

This issue might come down to an editor's preference, and in any case, it's not going to be a deal-breaker for acceptance of a story. It also would be dead easy to fix with a global replace in the word processor. I wouldn't worry much about it.

As an aside, when I have a name or even a phrase which I type repetitively, I sometimes just use a meaningless placeholder ("qqq", for instance) and do a global replace later. It saves a little time, and often numerous typos. I do a lot of academic writing, with long involved scientific names, and find it very useful for that purpose, but I've also done it in fiction writing, too.

caw

Fwiw, I would find it distracting if "the" is capitalized. Unless it's at the beginning of a sentence, of course.

So, this is a question of style and the answer depends on the stylebook a publisher uses. The gold standard for most publishers is the Chicago Manual of Style. I dug around in its free Q&A to find similar situations (if you have other questions like this and don't want to pony up for a paid subscription, the CMOS offers a free 30-day trial), and here's what the CMOS says:

Q. Dear CMOS: Several of my coworkers have balked at a copyedit I have made repeatedly, and I want to get to the bottom of it, whether I’m proven right or wrong. The University of Texas specifies on its website that “the” is part of its name and that it should therefore be capitalized in every reference to the university. However, I have done extensive research on the matter and have found that most respected copyeditors do not capitalize “the” when it also functions as an article in a sentence, as in “We evaluated the University of Texas’s enrollment data.” I have met with staunch resistance to lowercasing this “the,” especially from coworkers who happened to attend the university in question. Will you please resolve this for me?

A. Chicago style is to lowercase “the” in this context.

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[this next example is particularly relevant]
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Q. For rock fans, such as myself, it is sometimes important to know whether one is to capitalize the “the” preceding a rock group’s name. For instance, the group “the Who.” In the middle of a sentence, do I say “the Who” or “The Who,” given that the “the” is an integral part of the title and furthermore is the first word in the title?

A. When the name of a band requires the definite article, lowercase it in running text:

When I first saw the Who, they had short hair; when I last saw them, that was again true.

I can’t believe the Rolling Stones didn’t retire with all their money years ago.

The day I was introduced to the The was the day I learned that irony was finished.

It is true that “the” often gets capitalized on album covers, but our rule is to capitalize the first and last word in any title, which fits in with that practice (the The has usually employed a lowercase “the” nested above an uppercase “The” on its covers). Exceptions to the proper the rule are names that are captured within italics or quotation marks within running text. Hence,

Have you ever heard “The Real Me,” that song by the Who?

I have three copies of The Soft Parade, one of the Doors’ lesser-known albums.

but

Hey! Where did you put my Soft Parade LP?

The very last example illustrates the dropping of the article when it is grammatically convenient.

borogove said:

So, this is a question of style and the answer depends on the stylebook a publisher uses.

Click to expand...

True! Most publishers have their own style guides.

The gold standard for most publishers is the Chicago Manual of Style.

Click to expand...

Not true! I've worked for many publishers which prefer to avoid the CMoS. It's good in many ways, but it's not universally loved.

The answer to the OP's question is to capitalise however you think best, but to be consistent. Be prepared to edit to fit publishers' guidelines, if they mention this in their guides. But mostly, be consistent. Because most people aren't.