#like yeah i do have a preference for nico i'll admit that but still wtf rick

[tardytothepardy]

I've been rereading Nico's wiki page, and honestly I'm yet again astounded at the layers of shit Rick plunged Nico into.

Like, how much of that was really necessary? I almost feel like the shit Nico went through was ridiculous. Why did he go into Tartarus alone? Why was it mentioned that the literal goddess of misery herself looked at Nico and went, "lol you're my poster child bc you are the d e f i n i t i o n of misery"? Was that really needed? It's not exactly like anyone wouldn't believe that he was sad (to say the least) without bringing that up.

I mean, he still could've been a lonely, miserable character, fighting to be worthy in Hades' eyes (which does happen in Last Olympian, good job everyone), with just the stuff that happens in the first series.

But no. For whatever reason, Rick continued grinding Nico into a watery paste, to the point that, like I said, I find almost ridiculous.

That's not even mentioning my... discomfort, I guess, at the descriptions of Nico in the books, like he's steadily turning into a skeleton, what with him being super thin (he kinda gets a free pass on the thin thing after Mark of Athena given that he was literally sustaining himself with pomegranate seeds that put him in a coma, from what I remember), and his complexion being 'bone-white', or something like that? I just,,,, idk, I kinda feel weird about that particular description. Apparently, as of The Hidden Oracle, he still has that bone white skin tone.

Which doesn't make sense to me for one main reason: he's participating at least a little bit in things at Camp Halfblood, which I've taken to be a place with a lot of outdoor things (canoes, track running or something, the ever-present lava climbing wall, the dining pavilion has no roof, etc.) so he's either just burning up in the sunlight but not getting any darker, OR reality hops into the driver's seat and he gets darker from being out in the sun. There's also that thing about him being Italian, and from the limited information I've gathered, Europeans in general aren't really paste-y white people. (I feel endlessly awkward and self conscious bringing it up but I'm aware that it's a thing)

^^^That's a whole tangent, but still I just am dumbfounded by the shit Rick put Nico through, and seeing that he and Will are apparently going to feature in Tower of Nero, I kinda worry about whatever else is gonna happen to him.

I consider his arc (and story, basically) to be kinda finished after Blood of Olympus, but I'm still anticipating something happening to Nico that I might find entirely unnecessary. For example, are his shadow-travel powers just gone now? I would kinda hope not! I mean, sure, they might connect him to stuff happening as far back as him cracking open the earth in Titan's Curse, to nearly dying from over-working his powers in Battle of the Labyrinth (yeah he's done that twice), to pulling Bryce (or whatever his name was) into the Underworld itself and nearly dying/becoming a shadow after transporting a huge ass statue across a FUCKING OCEAN, carrying along two other people, like good fuck Rick can you give him a break? Invent a therapy service for demigods and have Nico (and doubtless many other people) go to therapy because he needs it! Forget the 'Nico Protection Squad', I'm going for the 'Nico gets a break squad'.

I just find the idea of Nico losing his powers to be dumb. Like, after all the shit that Percy did, he still keeps his powers. To be fair, he's never really took it to the extent that Nico did, but still. I can't really say much about Thalia or Jason, because I kinda don't remember any instances of either of them going fuckin berserk on their powers the way that Percy did (notably in Last Olympian with him controlling his own mini hurricane) or Nico.

I mean, if Rick is gonna take away his ability to shadow travel, he better put Mrs. O'Leary back in the story. Mrs. O'Leary was amazing and probably one of the better things that happened to Nico. She deserves a comeback.

I can just imagine some scene of Nico using an aspect of his powers in front of Apollo and Apollo gets freaked out or whatever and Nico's just like, "Yeah that's a thing I can do what about it."

Anyway I just want Nico to get a break. A lot of people in this series need breaks. It seems to me that Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Thalia even, Reyna, Frank, Hazel, Piper, Leo, Calypso, Jason whoops, all these people are getting their own little happily-ever-afters, and for Nico it's like 'He loses his powers and gets an opposites-attract boyfriend and vibes at Camp' (nothing against Will he's fine but that's kinda what he is, at least in the physical appearance sense) and that might be enough, but I guess I'd like some kind of acknowledge of the fact that Nico isn't even 15 and the majority of his life thus far has been a literal nightmare.

(to tie my personal experience and revealing my personal bias towards nico if it wasn't already clear, i hope that his life can kinda pan out like mine has: so much shit i doubt i'll really ever be able to share with more than like, 3 people, but eventually everything eases out into normalcy, and though he'll almost certainly never forget what happened in his life, he can kinda put it aside -with some of that demigod therapy amiright I am right- he can try to get a new starting point for his life. A new chapter, as cliche as that sounds.)

Wow this entire thing barely mentions Bianca or Hazel I just noticed that.