#nico di angelo analysis

[aroaceleovaldez]

One of the most important things to know with Nico’s character is he is, in this order:

1.) An extrovert who cares SO MUCH about EVERYTHING, ALL OF THE TIME and thinks so highly of his friends and gets sad and lonely when he’s not around people and doesn’t want anyone else to feel sad and lonely. When he’s not around people he talks to the dead to fill in that gap. He’s surprisingly self-assured but is sensitive to what other people think about him (ex: has no qualms against murder and doesn’t regret it at all but is concerned he scared Reyna and Coach/made them uncomfortable by killing somebody in front of them).

2.) The world’s most awkward nerd. He loves card games and struggles to not infodump about his special interests at inopportune times and wanted to be a greek hero/pirate/possibly an aviator growing up, but also that was like Two Years Ago and he doesn’t wanna talk about it.

3.) Thinks of himself as judge, jury, and executioner on both a metaphorical sense but also he is literally that. Like, that’s literally his job position as Ghost King/son of Hades and he takes it very seriously and he will straight up murder somebody if they are breaking the laws of the Underworld (unless he's giving somebody a pass because they’re his friend/family because see: bullet point 1 <3). And it directly ties into his powers (seemingly being able to judge people’s souls while they’re still alive and then also like. just. rip people’s souls out or turn them into skeletons).

So do with that information what you will.

[heliomanteia]

I think Nico's ability to survive is less so about his will to live and more so about his refusal (less so personal and more so narrative-wise) to die. Nico, for the lack of a better word, is like a cockroach: you cannot kill him in a way that matters so he survives and keeps haunting the scene.

There was once a marvelous post on Nico's function as a narrative tool and it was so beautifully pointed out that he's a near-omniscient deus ex machina (to simplify) which cannot be overlooked when characterizing him. Nico carries so much narrative weight on his back (which arguably could be an example of either good or bad writing depending on your perspective) that he cannot just go and die.

His road towards healing (though definitely not walked alone/individually) is his own, that's his choice to make as a character, but his disposition as a guy that perseveres resides more within his function, in my opinion.

He's not the tragic prince doomed for self-destruction people often draw him out to be but his capacity for survival is also not a product of his continuous work as a character, at least not just that — but is rather a result of his narrative function. Simply saying, you cannot, narratively, kill off Nico di Angelo.

[somewhereincairparavel]

my favourite character exchange of all time between the hoo gang will always be this particular line from jason to nico in house of hades.

“Nico, you do choose how to live your life. You want to trust somebody? Maybe take a risk that I'm really your friend and I'll accept you. It's better than hiding”

jason doesn't say something like 'i'll make sure to prove myself to you' or 'i'll do everything I can to make sure I earn your trust' because they are empty words. especially considering that this was before jason knew about nico's past, he can't exactly do anything to make nico trust him, apart from offering support, because in the end, it was nico's choice whether to trust him or not.

yeah, some people might think jason was being 'cold' and 'shallow' for saying this, but jason genuinely MEANT well. he told nico that he's WILLING to be his friend even before he knew nico's past. this was before jason knew an OUNCE of nico's backstory. he gave some slightly harsh but brotherly advice to him.

jason didn't deliver any false promise to nico that everyone will love him no matter what and that everyone will always be kind to him in camp half blood (this strangely parallels w percy deliberately choosing to NOT promise nico that he'll keep bianca safe because percy knew that death is a possibility and didn't want to make any fake promises just because nico is a kid, percy tried his hardest to be honest with nico, that certainly caused problems of course, but we can see the pattern between how percy and jason both hated fake promises.)

also, in boo, will says “Oh, please. Nobody at Camp Half-Blood ever pushed you away. You have friends or at least, people who would like to be your friend. You pushed yourself away. If you'd get your head out of that brooding cloud of yours for once”

i know I've seen alot of people use this excerpt as consensus of saying that will is super 'tone deaf' and 'insensitive'. but can you guys see the pattern here? will came off a lot more agressive bc of his romantic feelings, but we can see how will, jason and percy were sort of 'reality checks' that nico NEEDED. he had an inferiority and victim complex (which is very justifiable and valid considering how much trauma he faced, on the contrary i thought nico was being considerably calm with everything he's been through and deserved to yell way more. I quite related to nico a lot when it comes to the personality sometimes so jason's words definitely struck a nerve for me) but nico was always drawn to honesty.

nico had some of his earlier memories washed away by the river lethe to 'protect' him from more trauma, and nico was so attached to bianca that the thought of her leaving for the hunters of artemis felt like a personal betrayal. he was made to beleive that he and his sister were safe in camp half blood, and combining that w the whole lethe thing and hades generally trying to protect the di angelo family from the gods, you can see how much nico needed honesty and not coddling. because coddling and sheltering ruined his life and took away his light.

jason saying that nico needed to take risks as it comes with the package of love and friendship, and overall giving him authenticity, telling him that heartbreak and family can coexist, causes nico to be drawn to him and genuinely have him an eye opener.

jason knew what it was like to be held with fake promises his whole life, and even mentions it as a reason as to why he made sure he kept the promises he made. because he would never turn out to be like his two faces mother beryl.

I'll always believe that jason played a huge part in nico's overall character, and his death even more so.

[the-great-knight-gay]

Percy had a crush on Luke in TLT, in this essay I will-

No this is not a joke.

I am aware the Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes has alluded to Percy being heterosexual but I find that not being able to describe attractive men is not enough to be straight.

However, looking at the subtext between Luke and Percy's relationship in TLT, it shows clear signs of Percy basically hero worshipping the guy, in the same way Nico did with Percy. Main thing here is, Nico canonically had a crush on Percy that ran so deep that Cupid, the fucking god of love, literally described Percy as the person Nico cared for the most.

Now this does not instantly mean that Percy must have had a crush on Luke the same way but here is my evidence.

Percy (at that point) was starved of common decency from anyone but his mother

Look at the character relations in TLT.

From Book 1, other than his mother, Percy relations all had incredibly negative undertones.

Annabeth outright admitted to only joining him on the quest to get out of camp. They may have made up but that immediately put me off their entire relationship initially. I was a seriously anti-percabeth dude until Titan's Curse and this was one of the reasons.

Grover may have genuinely been Percy's friend but from the start, Percy found out that the only reason Grover was there was because of a job and not because they were friends. That eventually changed but at the beginning, it had to have been rocky.

Next up we have Chiron. Now while it was somewhat okay, albeit with manipulative undertones and an overall bluntness from Chiron, this was a purely teacher-student relationship.

Now we'll look at Percy in general. Percy was incredibly starved of affection from anyone but his mother. Coupled with an abusive stepfather, any act of kindness is amplified for him.

This is literally confirmed when Luke steals him toiletries. He feels that's the nicest thing anyone had done for him at that point.

Not only that, Luke personally taught Percy when everyone else was ignoring him like he was the plague.

Luke was literally Percy's only real friend for the majority of TLT. He literally recounted his entire quest to him during the Iris Message scene, a privilege he didn't even give to his mother. Plus, he was confirmed to blush around Luke almost as much as Annabeth and we all know how Annabeth used to think of Luke: 'Lose a love worse than death'

I personally think that there was no real reason for him to react so badly to Luke's betrayal other than this.

Okay, when I researched this by constantly rereading every Lukercy and Luke interaction or mention in TLT, I also came across another revelation.

This was one of the reasons why Percy was so determined not to fail Nico during TTC and BotL. He may have not known about Nico's crush on him but he definitely didn't want to be to Nico was Luke was to him.

[willthespy]

The Nico is extroverted and Will is introverted argument is both right and wrong depending on what your definition of both terms is and I have to talk about it. I agree mostly with the original post that claimed this, so just listen and bear with me.

Most people categorize extroverts as ‘social’ and introverts as less so, but in reality (depending on what theory) that is not really true. Because I do agree Nico was a social kid who still has the social skills, but has dampened it down because of his own insecurities and the insecurities he’s been fed due to his parentage. Then for Will, he’s got some solitude and gloominess in him for sure (another introvert stereotype), but shows himself as the (I don’t know what word I want to use for it, but I’ll go with) happy head counselor, because he ‘had to be.’

As for the definition I prefer to use, it’s in fact a bit different. Note that it isn’t a black or white thing, and that you can’t be 100% introverted or 100% extroverted. That’s the same as saying you’re 100% autistic, because all of these terms are all created and used to categorize, and you can’t perfectly fit a category. There’s no such thing as ‘perfection.’

Now, it’s been a while since I’ve properly read about cognitive functions, but as a Feeler type myself, I know most about the different types of ‘Feelers’ to say that Nico has dominant introverted feeling (Fi) and Will uses dominant extroverted feeling (Fe).

While Nico has shown to have social skills, he definitely looks to be a Fi user. He knows who he is (again, not 100% - it isn’t black or white) and what he wants and he doesn’t really base his values on others. I think why a lot of characters with Fi are ‘emo’ or ‘weird’ is because they’re authentic to themselves and don’t bend themselves to anyone else’s will that easily. Now, we all know Nico can be a stubborn prick, but we also can see that in PJO he corrects Minos on who he is. His whole thing there is him being ‘the Ghost King.’ He knows he is, he doesn’t need to be told he is that, he just does what feels real to him.

Also that one scene in ToA (I believe) where Nico is very blunt towards Lester/Apollo and where Will tells him he needs to work on his social skills or whatever? Yeah, that shows their differences in Fi vs Fe. Nico focuses on his inner needs and values (which actually aren’t selfish at all, but important to the entire universe in this case), while Will knows the bluntness isn’t socially acceptable (as far as he knows) and, albeit jokingly, tries to control his outer world to bring it to ‘harmony.’

Note that Nico also has had selfish inner values, wants, and needs. For example, trying to revive his sister. But Will was also selfish when he tried to keep Nico away from the Trogs for example. Fi and Fe aren’t inherently selfish, but their different types might make them make selfish decisions.

Will and Nico both are self-sacrificial, but in different ways. Nico does it for his own internal values and because he feels he’s not wanted anyway, and Will seems to do it because he seems to feel the need to be strong and have an image of himself up for everyone else, even if that means putting his own needs second to his own.

Will also showed some eagerness to absorb and ‘fix’ Nico’s negative emotions in a way. He’s a healer, it’s what he does, right? But meanwhile he struggles to accept or even acknowledge his own ‘darkness.’ (Yes, I’ll talk about this as long as I’ll live. I won’t stop. Ever.)

Also very important. Nico was way more accepting of the Troglodytes than Will. And you might say, “well, isn’t that an extroverted trait?” And I’d tell you: “that depends on your definition!” But in terms of Fi/Fe, it’s Nico who’s showing introverted feeling here. He doesn’t judge, as long as they (the Trogs) don’t go against his core values.

Will, my dumb, dumb, dumb son (note: I don’t actually think he’s dumb), whom I love very much, shows Fe here. He’s quicker to judge because of his sense and knowledge of social norms, but also because of his care for his loved ones. I don’t know, I think both are true arguments as to why he was against the idea of the Trogs.

Also this is why I think it wasn’t too out of character for Will to get all bitchy and negative about the Underworld. And also not why Nico got upset about it, because Will being against his ‘home’, went against his inner self. Boo! Fe vs Fe argument! Take that liberals! (joke)

In short:

Nico is the Fi user. He’s authentic, stubborn (in defense of his own values), actually attracts misfits - because he’s not as quick to judge people who go against social norms - as he doesn’t conform to social norms himself. He’s passionate and emotional (very emotion-driven). If I remember correctly, he also shows to solve problems by talking about it, rather than just cheering anyone up.

When he was ‘unhealthy’, he also retreated from society and went into solitude + lashed out. He also strictly followed his internal beliefs that he was unwanted and all that, while Will claimed that he was the only one thinking that.

Will is the Fe user. He is a healer and nurturer, but neglects his own inner self. He is externally friendly, but can be a bitch. (Sorry not sorry fellow Will lovers.) He can definitely be a bit controlling and less expressive for the sake of his outside world and is also more aware of what he thinks are social norms and cares about them more. (As is seen in ToA and TSATS).

I checked PDB (not the best source, but a source nonetheless) right after this, and people seem to agree. Nico is categorized as INFP (Fi > Ne > Ti > Se), while Will is voted to be ENFJ (Fe > Ni > Te > Si). Thank you for listening to my TED-talk.

[aficionadoenthusiast]

i could point out the beautiful parallels between nico's crush on percy, the crush he developed due to childhood trauma and intense hero worship and hung onto even after he thought his hero betrayed him, and annabeth's crush on luke, the crush she developed due to childhood trauma and hero worship and held onto even after her hero betrayed her, and how both of their crushes are commentary on their upbringings, nico's being how grief and internalized homophobia caused him to latch onto the beautiful hero that saved his life, annabeth's being how growing up neglected and unwanted caused her to latch onto the first person who showed her any attention and how that attachment only strengthened in their shared grief, and how those parallels extended to show how their respective attachments left them vulnerable to manipulation yet ended up not joining the dark side, ironically in part because of percy, either because of the crush (nico) or in spite of the crush (annabeth), and how those crushes contributed to their overall character arcs, nico's being to learn to let go: of grudges, grief, and his own self-hatred as a two part climax on that one page of boo and the cocoa puffs in tsats with will being the catalyst to making him see his own worth, annabeth's being to learn what real, healthy love looks like (a spot of irony: percy taught her this, which is contrasted with her typically being the person to teach him stuff) in contrast to what she ultimately got with luke which was manipulation, because luke, also being a neglected kid, never learned what healthy love looks like, but you guys are not ready to hear that so instead i'll just try not to cry at the hypocrisy of the pjo fandom's obsession with nico's crush on percy while refusing to see annabeth's crush on luke as anything more than a disgusting mistake

[squiggle3worm]

Nico telling Percy that he's not his type has less to do with his looks but more to do with his personality. This has bothered me for a while but especially now because Walker looks like Will Solace. It's a funny joke and everything but my problem is that people take it as the truth and not just a joke. On multiple posts I've seen people say that its more about Percy's personality and other people dismiss those comments.

There are multiple times in BoO that Nico alluded to his crush on Percy fading due to his personality:

When they're eating farturas in Portugal, Nico thought about what Percy would say about them. Nico then said, "The older Nico got, the more juvenile Percy seemed to him, though Percy was three years older. Nico found his sense of humor equal parts endearing and annoying. He decided to concentrate on the annoying." Nico realized how immature Percy is and doesn't appreciate his humor anymore. Nico reflected on how their personalities and senses of humor don't mesh as much because they have different levels of maturity. He's starting to grow up out of his crush on Percy.

During another scene in Portugal, Hades told Nico that one of the seven was going to die. Nico responded, "To his surprise, his thoughts didn't leap first to Percy. His primary concern was for Hazel, then for Jason, then for Percy..." Nico has other people in his life that he cares about. It seems wrong to assume that Nico didn't think of Percy first because he's not into his looks anymore. That assumption would make Nico seem shallow and Nico's known for being the opposite since he cares about people feeling included like with Hestia and Bob.

Nico got excited when Reyna said one of her ancestors was a pirate. He said, "Even before he got into Mythomagic, he'd been obsessed with pirates. Probably that was one reason he'd been so smitten with Percy, a son of the sea god." Nico liked the idea of Percy because he reminded him of his previous obsession of pirates. Nico liked the connection that Percy had with the sea. Since Nico was also obsessed with Mythomagic, Nico also liked the idea of Percy as a demigod. Percy being a son of Poseidon perfectly fit under two things Nico was fascinated with.

Right before Nico told Percy about his crush, he said, "Nico studied his face- his sea green eyes, his grin, his ruffled black hair. Somehow Percy Jackson seemed like a regular guy now, not a mythical figure. Not someone to idolize or crush on." While Nico does bring up Percy's looks, that's not the only reasoning for not crushing on him anymore. Percy's "mythical figure" status is more about how strong he is and the fact that he's one of the most powerful demigods that Nico knows. Nico looked up to Percy because he was the ideal demigod in Nico's eyes. If Nico idolized Percy only for his looks, it would go back to him being shallow.

Nico put Percy on a huge pedestal and was infatuated with him for years but that doesn't mean that Nico only liked him for his looks. Nico grew out of his crush after he stopped idolizing Percy as a person.

[sunflowergraves]

When Uncle Rick called Nico di Angelo and Will Solace soulmates, it made me think back to something written in BOO:

"Nico had once read a story from Plato, who claimed that in the ancient times all humans had been a combination of male and female. Each person had two heads, four arms, four legs. Supposedly, these combo-humans had been so powerful they made the gods uneasy, so Zeus split them in half – man and woman. Ever since, humans had felt incomplete. They spent their lives searching for their other halves.

And where does that leave me? Nico wondered.

It wasn’t his favourite story."

I think this is a really important connection. Rick didn't say what he did about Solangelo just to make shippers happy. He's answering Nico's question by saying he's worthy of love. There is someone out there for him despite what anyone says. And by doing so, he is also addressing every queer person out there who also doubts finding love and companionship in a world that so desperately wants to tear them down.

Not only did we get a book where the tragic main character gets a happy ending, but also one that validates every queer person out there. Anyway, that's my TED talk, thank you.

Edit:

Here is the quote that Rick Riordan made during an interview. I'll leave the link to the website in the comments!

[applecidersstuff]

The fact that Percy would've absolutely gone to Hades with Nico if he'd just asked, because Percy would've understood him, but Nico didn't think that Percy would help him.

It breaks me sometimes.

[graphx]

random percy and Jason thoughts

i know it’s kinda common, I’ve seen it around, that people don’t like Jason, he was introduced late, they gave him a weak tie in to why the Romans weren’t at the Battle Of Manhattan

and there are a lot of better quality posts/essays that discuss this topic way better than I do but I will say I really like him as a foil for Percy

Percy is progressively getting more and more fed up with the Gods and their bullshit by the end of HOO while Jason is swearing to make EVERY god a tribute/temple of some sort

while Percy gets bitter, Jason gets more sympathetic

It’s really ironic considering Jason has a lot of reasons to be upset since the gods have been manipulating him since birth even a bit more than Percy

He was taken from his abusive mother, loving sister and deprived of a normal life (that at least Percy got in some semblance with his mother) and he still has the capacity to love and care no matter the odds

i like that he kinda mirrors nico here too, who was friends with Hestia and both of them saw being a god isn’t as great as it seems

i do like that percy sometimes recognizes this but still doesn’t forgive them for their shit

and that’s really the end of my ode to Jason Grace and how my re-read has really opened my eyes to other aspects of his characters rather than picture perfect guy that struggles with expectations (which i also like that he mirrors that with Piper)

[aroaceleovaldez]

how Nico functions narratively as a character is always extremely funny to me because he has like, exactly 3 modes: exposition, damsel, and dues ex machina.

Exposition Mode is usually whenever Annabeth (#1 designated exposition character. #2 is Grover or insert mythological figure of the hour here. #3 is Nico) or someone else isn't around to exposition for the present cast. He has an excuse to somehow randomly know everything and everyone, no matter what, especially if it's relevant to the plot. He'll randomly develop new skills or personal arcs purely as an excuse to put him in situations where he can exposition, such as him being able to gain insight into the future/prophecies via ghosts (which is a thing in Greek mythology, but still). This is actually why it's extremely difficult for him to function as a POV character in a stand-alone story or first book of a series, because the way Riordanverse functions, the POV almost always only has as much information as the audience going into things and a secondary character explains information to them as they go along, unless it's later on into a series and it makes sense for the characters and/or audience to know that already. That's why Nico doesn't function well as a POV for TSATS but Will would work fine, because Nico's designated narrative role is Knowing Everything/Everyone, Somehow (particularly relating to the Underworld).

Damsel: he just gets kidnapped a ridiculous amount of times. Also that plus his penchant for passing out means there is ample opportunity for scenarios where Nico, despite being extremely powerful, needs to be rescued. Pairing this with how he's always off doing absolutely anything, absolutely anywhere, and somehow knows everybody, he's a perfect means to push the plot forward with an easy "oh no we need to rescue/protect Nico for the millionth time" side-quest or addition to stakes at hand. Or, similarly, if you need to take Nico out of the equation for a bit because he's too powerful and would fix it immediately: oops he passed out/needs to be protected/is kidnapped/etc.

And then as mentioned before - Deus ex machina, kinda literally. Nico is extremely overpowered for a reason; Because he's the catch-all solution to every problem. Just throw Nico at it. We can BS a new epic power for him that vaguely makes sense and yeah he's just that powerful and will pass out because of it probably. Yeah sure he can rip people's souls out and instakill things. Yeah he can teleport anything anywhere under essentially any circumstances. He'll just be a little sleepy. A lil eepy. He needs to take a lil nap. It's fine.

Basically. Solution to literally every situation in the Riordanverse: Throw Nico at it. Just throw Nico at it. It'll make sense. It'll work. Unless he's the primary POV in a stand-alone novel, short story, or first book in a series. Then it won't make any sense because you suddenly have to backtrack like 2/3 of Nico's entire narrative functions and suddenly he is Only A Damsel.

[nicodiangeloing]

hey dont threaten me i’ll make a fifty page long character analysis essay of nico di angelo from percy jackson and the olympians series by rick riordan exploring his relationships, how he expresses himself, how who he is shows through his actions, why he is the way that he is and how his past bleeds into his present and future, and his affect on young queer readers. don’t threaten me hey

[ilovewillsolace]

It's a very interesting topic for me to see how much Riordanvers' ru fandom differs from the eng fandom, how differently they see the characters and their relationships. I think in the Russian fandom, this view may be related to the average age of the members (20+ years, yes, we have few children and teenagers) and this leads to a more thoughtful view of things, I think?

especially the way the fandoms see Will in different ways. While eng fandom wants to mold him into a spineless, toxically positive, unproblematic character, rufandom sees him as much more callous, cold, cynical and inveterate. I have an assumption that this is due to the fact that in many ways his character is based on stereotypes about doctors, and our steoeotypes are radically different. Anyway, rufandom likes dark jokes about Will and loves dark, mature Will.

hence the attitude towards Nico and solangelo in general. Will is seen mature, closed and cold, Nico, on the contrary, is presented as a child, rufandom wants to give him back his lost childhood. therefore, solangelo is becoming less and less popular, because in this situation they stop working at all (but in rufandom another pairing is very popular, which engfd hates for very stupid reasons, lol)

Well, it seems to me that there would not be such a strong difference in vision if Rick had prescribed his characters properly. on the other hand, it is terribly interesting to observe and analyze such differences

[somewhereincairparavel]

Ok, but like I feel like I've never dove in how Jason was probably the youngest in the legion. Probably for a very, very long time. And imagine how it felt to watch as kids played in new Rome, and eventually joined you. And you could never join them as they played in new rome. Imagine all of the kids you know are older than you, and you can't make friends. Imagine having to lead quests of people way older than you that resent you for it because of your parentage. Imagine how happy he was when people his age finally started joining, and I wishing he could he them? Imagine basically being raised by a bunch of teenagers, many of whom dislike you? Would love to hear ur thoughts

honestly, i imagine all of the older members of the legion whispering behind Jason's back about how easy he has it in camp jupiter bc of his dad, about how he isnt "qualified" enough to lead missions, and how he has everything "handed" to him. i feel like he had a LOT to prove and only when his missions started getting successful, people actually accept that he is capable, but even then envious members of the cohort would say that he got lucky or only succeeded bc of jupiter's blessings or smth. could you imagine a baby jason going to the older members of the legion for advice and they just coolly shrug him off? i feel like in a realistic standpoint, they arent outright mean to him bc they are terrified of jupiter's anger but they arent friendly either.

They just let him sit in a corner. i feel like at some point, even when people his age start coming in, he still wouldnt feel loved, because they all would think jason is too scary or intimidating and would avoid him out of fear, also bc he doesnt understand their jokes bc he was brought up too serious. so he would be an outcast. he would be an outcast but not necessarily in a bad way, but like "he's too good for us" type of way which actually hurts jason way more. like when he comes in they all would give him a small bow or something and it gets on his NERVES.

overall i feel like there is too much jealousy surrounding him for him to have any comfortable conversation with people, especially because he is their "leader" even if he was a praetor very late, people still subconsciously saw him as one, even the old praetors consulted him before they came to a decision.

i feel like the moment people even remotely saw him as a human with feelings is when he joined the least reputed legion simply to popularize it. i feel like that was HIS moment where ppl were like "yep this guy is actually a living person with empathy!" but it reverted back to ppl seeing him as an unapproachable artifact

which is why im so upset that frank and hazel didnt have a closer relationship with him, i mean we did see jason and frank talking together on the deck of argo 2 after jason transferred his praetorship to frank, probably filling him in his position, but i wish their relationship ascended beyond just a mentor and his apprentice. because that concept with jason's character gets so old. literally everyone saw him as an advisor and leader that they could learn from, but who really saw something beyond that about him? only leo, nico, reyna, piper and percy tbh.

and in the end, reyna had a subtle fallout with him so they didnt talk, piper broke up with him so they were awkward and tense, leo "died" and never saw him again, the last time nico saw jason was probably during the strawberry field scene when nico told him he's staying at camp, and jason got too busy with his temple project to see anyone else. he was working to keep his promise till the very end, just like a true roman. honestly thanks to you i might actually expand on this in a separate post and tag you in it :)

[doevademe]

something that's always confused me in pjo fanfics is nico's age- in my fuzzy memory (haven't touched the books in over 10 years) I swear nico is mentioned to be ~4 years younger than percy and annabeth back when he first appears, but in most of the percico fics (even ones set in canon) I've read they're ~2 years apart? do you know where that came from?

I think I vaguely remember some pjo fans talking about rick fucking up nico's age/birthday in hoo (which I'll have to admit I haven't read) but when I tried googling for it I couldn't find anything

ps I swear I am not an anti, this is just something that's been a bit of a headscratcher to me and from the sounds of it you've been involved in the fandom for a lot longer than I have so I'm just curious whether you have more info on this

Oh boy... well, as a certified fandom oldie™ I can actually answer this question... but it will be very unsatisfactory.

Short answer: Math is hard, timelines are too, and Rick Riordan is not the best keeping them consistent. The latest canonical information is that Nico and Percy are ~2.5 years apart, meaning that Percy is 3 years older from his birthday until Nico's birthday. Afterwards they are 2 years apart. (as of the newer books, Nico is canonically 15 and Percy just turned 18)

Long answer: There has been a soft retcon regarding Nico's age, where originally he was 3.5 years younger than Percy, but starting with the side material between PJO and HoO he was aged one extra year, making him 2.5 years younger than Percy.

Riordan is notoriously bad at keeping up Nico's timeline consistent, to the point where he actually has two birthdays and even the year of birth doesn't add up with the text.

Nico, at the start of The Last Olympian was stated to be 12 while Percy was 15 going on 16, but in Heroes of Olympus, which takes place a year after TLO, Nico is suddenly 14, when he should be 13. In a since deleted instagram post Riordan stated that Percy got it wrong. PJO is narrated in first person, and the narration (Percy) states that Nico "looked 10" when they first met, not that he was actually 10. Percy just assumed that was correct and never really asked Nico his age, when he was actually 11 during the Titan's Curse. That is the in-universe explanation for the age discrepancy.

It's not just Percico shippers though. Everyone kind of goes along with the retcon because it's fairly minor, and making Nico older only helps writers when characterizing him as a teenager earlier on in canon, so it kind of stuck.

Nico is explicitly stated to be 2.5 years younger than Percy in all material after PJO, (16 out of 22 books), most of the time by omniscient narrators, so it makes it easier to accept since the change happened relatively early in the series.

[femmefangirl]

yeah. and this is why i really can't imagine this every happening within the context of toa. you really think apollo with all that redemption and shit is going to let Will who he considers to be one of his favorite kids into Tartarus? He'd forbid the guy from even stepping in the underworld. Apollo quite literally would die for his kids; he'd do something about this.