#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.

[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.

[princessofghosts-posts]

I've been thinking about Nico's sword lately and honestly? That weapon alone is extremely OP,even more than whatever other weapon we had in the books (that don't include magical artifacts,because those are part af a different category).

Riptide is made of celestial bronze,so it can harm demigods and monsters,and has a special feature of always returning with Percy no matter what because it's enchanted.

IVLIVS could always be with Jason because it was a golden coin that turned into a javelin,but it got destroyed pretty fast in the narrative so we don't know if it had some other frature. It was also made of imperial gold so again,could slay monsters and immortals.

Katoptris's original use wasn't for battle,since Helen used it as a mirror,but with Piper it mainly focus on its special feature: visions. It was quite useful for them but Piper hated it so we never got to know much about the dagger.

Backbiter is a modified version of Kronos's scythe (sick enough with just this,since Luke can open portals and travelable rips through space and time),but it's made of tempered steel and celestial bronze so it can kill mortals,demigods and monsters and sever their souls.

All of those swords have different feature that distinguish them from normal ones,but they are still made of typical materials for demigods: imperial gold and celestial bronze,while stygian iron is only used for one sword in the books. Luke's sword,in this list,is the only one that is similar to Nico's in term of powerfulness,but it's still quite different.

Stygian iron is a magical metal capable of absorbing or destroying the essence of: monsters,Gods,Titans,demigods and Giants. And,unlike imperial gold and celestial bronze,it can harm mortals,monsters and immortals alike,and prevent the souls of monsters from returning to Tartarus,and traps those of the people it touches.

Technically stygian iron is the strongest,of all the metals,in the books. And the only sword made of this material is Nico's. Only the children of the Underworld can touch the material,but the sword itself can only be touched by Nico,otherwise everyone else souls get trapped and things can get ugly.

Like,not even Percy or Luke had this much power in their weapons: Riptide is a "normal" sword,for how much "normal" its user is,and Backbiter had so much power because it got modified to be similar to Kronos's weapon,but originally it was just made of different metals. But Nico? Nico got a weapon of mass destruction and extermination of humanity in his hand every day. And we never talk about how much damage it can cause,and how much OP it is compared to the other swords.

It doesn't even have a name like the others,but people already know to not fuck with a black sword laying around,becuse they know it's Nico's. Because he is the only one to have,use and held that sword. That's just how iconic it is and how unique it is to everyone. And just like Riptide and IVLIVS (before it got destroyed),his sword is always with him since he can summon it from the shadows and the darkness.

That weapon is OP,literally the strongest of the whole main timeline (we are talking about more than almost 20 books) and we never gave it much more than a look.

This is just another moment of Rick "I don't want someone to overshadow Percy but I already added this....I'll just made sure to not use that too much so people will not give it much attention" regarding Nico.

I'll probably do a list for how many times it happens.

[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.

[bayetea]

I hate the "as a girl whose grandmother was a slave, can I just say not cool?" line from hazel in moa it's the worst line of dialogue rick has written in his life. But like what the fuck. what kind of insane lore drop is that. hazel's grandmother was an enslaved woman. marie levesque cast a spell to meet the god of riches so that she could finally know what it was like to live beyond the indigence and suffering of her mother. marie wanted to be a queen, not a slave like her predecessors. she wanted pluto to give her all the riches beneath the earth

and then the earth enslaved her body. gaea possessed her and through gaea's influence marie forced hazel for six months to overexert herself to the point of collapsing to raise and reanimate alcyoneus. gaea worked hazel like a slave

it's so explicit here. this is SLAVERY. gaea was using hazel's forced labor for material wealth and power. she was only 13. her grandmother was used and her mother was used and hazel herself was used, they were black women exploited for what their bodies could provide in service to the hideous intentions of monsters in power over them. hazel broke free from the cycle and saved the world all by herself by choosing death - it was the only way out

and even in her second chance at life she's actively fighting to die again. she's an instrument of the gods being used to achieve an end that is supposed to kill her. she was convinced that freeing thanatos would result in him taking her life. she didn't know throughout hoo if her father would kill her when the main quest succeeded. even nico didn't think hazel was going to live. she didn't WANT to die a second time. but she fought for the world and for her friends anyway

by the end of marie's life she was only skin and bones. gaea used her body until she didn't need it anymore. marie was the daughter of an enslaved woman who dreamed of being a queen and instead the earth goddess robbed of her life and dignity. and her soul would have been tortured further in the fields of punishment if not for hazel's unfathomable selflessness and bravery to negotiate for mutual asphodel. hazel never even saw marie again after that. what was it that doomed the levesque family? that marie asked the god of death and riches for too much? she deserved even more than what she asked for. I'm fucking sick no one talk to me

[wanderingmind867]

Rick Riordan puts a scene with Nico and Jason back to back with a scene starring Nico and Will. And these scenes sort of demonstrate why I prefer Jason x Nico to Nico x Will (don't ask where Jason x Leo fit in, since I love them too. Let's put that aside for now). Will and Nico first:

"You're so dense," Will noted. "I hope you got over that nonsense about leaving Camp Half-Blood." "I - yeah. I did. I mean, I'm staying." "Good. So you may be dense, but you're not an idiot." "How can you even talk to me like that? Don't you know I can summon zombies and skeletons and -" "Right now you couldn't summon a wishbone without melting into a puddle of darkness, di Angelo," Will said. "I told you, no more Underworld-y stuff, doctor's orders. You owe me at least three days of rest in the infirmary. Starting now."

Is this romantic? I mean… I've never actually felt romantic attraction in real life, but is calling someone dense and never using their first name a sign of love? And calling their idea to leave nonsense? This is love? I… I really don't think it is. This feels more like a condescending, argumentative relationship between two people who barely know each other. They feel like they'd become frenemies, not lovers. And I say that with all due respect to people who like Will Solace. I don't want to make enemies of his fans, since I don't actually hate him. Do I dislike 90% of his lines? Yeah. Do I hate him like I hated Luke? No. Oh, hells no. Will is okay. Not great, but okay. I just don't see romance between these two in the cards. It doesn't make much sense to me.

Now, here's Jason and Nico's scene:

"You've got a point." He straightened his glasses. "Look, Nico, the reason I wanted to you…I know what you said back at Auster's palace. I know you already turned down a place at Camp Jupiter. I-I probably can't change your mind about leaving Camp Half-Blood, but I have to -" "I'm staying." Jason blinked. "What?" "At Camp Half-Blood. The Hades Cabin needs a head counselor. Have you seen the decor? It's disgusting. I'll have to remodel. And someone needs to do the burial rites properly, since demigods insist on dying heroically." "That's - That's fantastic! Dude!" Jason opened his arms for a hug, then froze. "Right. No touching. Sorry." Nico grunted. "I suppose we can make an exception." Jason squeezed him so hard Nico thought his ribs would crack. "Oh, man," Jason said. "Wait till I tell Piper. Hey, since I'm all alone in my cabin too, you and I can share at table at the dining hall. We can team up for capture the flag and sing-along contests and -" "Are you trying to scare me away?" "Sorry. Sorry. Whatever you say Nico. I'm just glad." The funny thing was, Nico believed him.

There. Now, Isn't that way better? Hugs, respect for boundaries, two lonely people finally finding each other… there's so much in Jason and Nico's relationship that makes me feel happy. Rick Riordan may not have wanted them to be his same sex couple, but they're the ones that should've gotten together. Will should've been Nico's friend/friendly rival or something. But Jason and Nico have a bond beyond words. I… I legitimately can't describe it. But this type of romance works because it wasn't designed to be a romance. It's just…love. The fact that these two love each other so unconditionally… I want what they have. I don't feel ashamed of saying that. Because what they have is beautiful.

[love-byers]

i've seen a few anti-byler people say they view byler the same as percy and nico from percy jackson, meaning that both dynamics are just a tool to reveal one character's sexuality. and i think that's interesting because i've always thought the opposite

if you're not familiar with percy jackson, percy is of course the main character, and nico is a recurring side character introduced in the third book (there are 5 books total). in the sequel series, heroes of olympus, it is revealed in the fourth book (of five total) that nico once had a crush on percy.

nico's crush on percy was undoubtedly just a tool to reveal the fact that nico was gay. so let's go through the several differences between these two dynamics, because it's actually in byler's favor

first of all, percy and nico have a four year age gap. when they meet in book 3 nico is 10 and percy is 14, so this comparison is automatically garbage. will is literally 2 weeks older than mike. needed to get that out of the way at the beginning lol

aside from that, mike and will are best friends of 7 years when s1 begins. they became best friends on the first day of kindergarten, they are extremely close, they hang out every day. mike's entire arc in s1 is about finding will. we see how he defends will behind his back, how devastated he is when he thinks will is dead, how he clings to the first bit of proof that he may be alive even though no one believes him, how happy he is when will is found. he runs into will's hospital room and lays his head on will's chest. and we all know about s2 byler...

in the first pjo book, we have no idea nico exists, and neither does percy. percy bonds with annabeth (his love interest) for the entire story (as well as every book besides the third because she was kidnapped at the beginning, and percy's sole motivation was to save her. sounds familiar...).

pjo spoilers ahead (its been out for 20 years come on...)

in the third book, nico is absent for the majority of it because percy leaves camp on a quest with bianca, nico's older sister. bianca dies on the quest, and at the very end of the book percy tells him what happened. nico is devastated and blames percy for her death. the few times percy and nico interact in the 4th book, their arc is entirely centered around nico accepting bianca's death and the fact that it wasn't percy's fault. in the final book they briefly team up at the beginning and make peace, and nico fights on the good side in the final battle. percy and annabeth have their first kiss in the 4th book and start dating at the end of the 5th (looooong situationship)

nico doesn't appear in the first book of the sequel series. he does briefly appear at the beginning of the second, and then leaves to go off on his own business. he is absent for basically all of the third book because he was trapped in a jar by a titan (long story). but percy and the others save him at the end. in the fourth nico is a main character for the first time. he's present for the whole story (while percy and annabeth are stuck in tartarus) and heavily involved. this is the book where we find out nico had feelings for percy. nico and another charcter, jason, are attacked by cupid and cupid forces nico to admit that he had a crush on percy, therefore admitting that he is gay, outing himself to jason. then in the fifth and final book, nico narrates about a quarter of the chapters so we get his more insight on his thoughts and feelings. he feels like a mistake for being gay and feels like he'll be alone forever. when he had a crush on percy he viewed him basically as a superhero. percy was an older, stronger, powerful demigod that protected him, and nico idolized him. but at this point in the story nico is essentially over it. near the end of the book, nico teams up with a guy his age named will solace. and there's a scene in nico's last pov chapter after the final battle is over where nico tells percy that he used to have a crush on him, but that he's over it and percy isn't really his type anyway (lmfao). and then nico walks over to will who had been waiting for him, obviously symbolizing him moving on from percy and choosing will. and in the trials of apollo series we find out that nico and will are dating. (solangelo my bookies<333)

how is this in ANY way shape or form similar to byler??

percy and nico do not have the depth and backstory that mike and will do. percy does not give nico a tearful monologue about how asking nico to be his friend when they were children is the best decision he's ever made. percy and nico do not agree to go crazy together. percy does not tell nico that home isn't the same without him. percy doesn't emphasize that they are just friends. nico isn't the one to push percy into confessing his love to annabeth. nico and percy don't spend every single book attached at the hip. percy doesn't choose to stand with nico instead of following annabeth when the world is ending. percy and nico barely bond at all. their relationship is complicated. they are borderline enemies in the 4th and 5th books (the hate is one sided, but nico has also yet to earn percy's trust), but they become allies and friends in the end.

percy and nico are a good example of a character's feelings for another solely being a tool to reveal their sexuality. byler would be an awful attempt at that. there is unnecessary depth and development. mike and will's bond is a plot point every single season, which would be pointless if they don't end up together. nico had a crush on percy. a crush. it is only every referred to as a crush. will is in love with mike. deeply, devastatingly in love, and always will be. percy was not the only person capable of making nico not feel like a mistake. nico never said he needs percy. nico never says that he's lost without percy.

IF I EVER HEAR P*RNICO EQUATED TO BYLER AGAIN I WILL DRINK BLEACH ON INSTAGRAM LIVE FOR EVERYONE TO SEE AND I MEAN IT. miss me with that bullshit

[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

[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.

[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.

[princessofghosts-posts]

Nico's Powers and Rick way of writing them.

Honestly,I've been wainting to write this.

We all know Nico powers:

Can manipulate the shadows and travel in them (Umbra-kinesis);

Can sense someone's death and soul;

Can summon ghosts and talk to them;

Can summon skeletons that obey to his orders and fight for him;

Can use dreams to send messages;

Can unconsciously split the ground and create cracks or Underworld's openings;

Can turn someone into a ghost and make them forgot their life and ability to speak;

Can turn someone into a skeleton;

Has influence on the dead and can evade them when he has to;

Can create earthquakes (not major ones like Percy);

Technically has Geo-kinesis powers too (like Hazel);

Can summon zombies to serve him;

Can conditionate the CJ's lares speaking ability by forcing them to shut up;

Can influence the dead ones with his mood;

Death-touch;

(If I missed some feel free to add)

Other than this,you need to remember that his title as Ghost King give him some more leverage,and his sword is an uniqueness in the world that give him the ability to suck someone's soul in it.

By only this list you can tell that Nico is extremely powerful,and he is still younger than Percy,with a weak physical body (depression and ED do some wonders to you-) and wasn't never "officially trained" like him since he wasn't around camp much. But he still pulled insane acts even without being 100% ok most of the time.

Nico powers,differently from Percy and Thalia,are extremely versatile. While those two can use whatever source or form of water/lightning to fight,they can't do much outside of their fathers's domains. And then you have Nico. Nico that can use his powers to travel around the world and sending messages with a mental link,other than use them to fight. People always talks about Percy controll over all types of liquid (even poison or the Underworld's rivers),but there is still water in them,so it's normal for him to do so. Thalia can use lightnings because it's normal for her to do so since those are Zeus's main sources of power. But Nico's powers are more than just controlling the dead,he can manipulate dreams (something that only the Hypnos cabin can do if I remember correctly) and can use geo-kinesis too,even tho not as much good or frequent as Hazel (before she started to work with her mist affinity). He can do it all.

I'm not trying to pull the "Nico is more powerful than Percy" argument here,but more focusing on Nico's versatility usage of his powers. And Rick made a mistake here with him,that he realized later and tried to minimize.

You see,when you have a powerscaling system,you usually take the main character as the "default": it's from them that you start to build it so other people can understand where others characters stand,compared to the MC,on the scale. Most of the time,people want their MC to grow stronger after every fight,starting from the bottom,untill they are the most powerful character in the story. It's a format done everywhere (anime,movie,comics,fanfic,books,ecc...) and Rick Riordan also used it with Percy. And when you have as MC the "most powerful character ever" (in this case the most powerful demigod since Heracles times),you need to be careful with your side characters,especially when the author doesn't want them to outshine the MC. For this reason,most of the time,they are either weaker than them or have extremely excessive drowbacks. A good example of this is Jason: Rick introduced him to us as the roman counterpart for Percy,but made us understand that he wasn't never at Percy level of power. And when you have a "side" character as Nico,adding to the fact that he's most of the time the wild card for their victories and always know everything,you have a big problem.

Riordan made it clear that no one (for now) can surpass Percy in term of abilities. But he still went out of his way making Nico's powers more versatile than the others. Logically,he should have been stronger than Percy,especially because death cannot be stoped and it's part of everyone life,but canonically it wasn't going to happen since the MC is Percy. Riordan realized in a second moment that his powers were too much and decided to make sure Nico was always held back by something from going full out (like Jason).

Nico is the only child of the big 3 that,if he use so much of his powers,has extremely horrible drowbacks even when he shouldn't. I could understand during MoA-BoO events in HoO,he was either dying or disappearing into the shadows because of his kidnapping and Tartarus,and still had an extremely draining task to finish. But from HoO to ToA there is a big timeskip (I think 6 months or more but I'm not so sure) where he should had all the time in the world to heal and having back full controll over his powers. But he doesn't. Nico still faint after shadow-travelling,even tho after his trip with the statue he should have been stronger and not having problems for a normal trip. Which sucks,especially when Rick most of the time make him pull some jaw-dropping power-play that give you the full picture on how strong he really is.

I don't think Percy had so many downgrades with his powers,I never saw him almost fainting from controlling the waters. He get tired,yes,but that's it. Thalia has more restrictions because of her fear,but I also never saw her having so many problems after using her powers (after she went with the Hunters we never see her in general anymore). Neither did Hazel with her geo-kinesis powers (before Rick decided to make her learn mist manipulation). Jason is a whole mess because he faint every day when he gets hit by a brick,even when he isn't fighting or using his powers (Rick didn't do him justice either). It's only Nico that has so many negative effects.

And the fandom can explain it,in a canon logic,with: "He's s still young,he will have time to grow stronger." (I agree) ;"He wasn't never in a good physical condition so it's normal that he has this many negative effects." (Even dying he was still able to curse someone to literally becoming a ghost) ; "He was malnourished and depressed,since he didn't take care of himself before he still have problems,wait for him to be healthy." (Again,even in those conditions he still pulled insane stunts). But,outside of the narrative,Riordan totally nerfed him because he realized that he wrote his powers too powerful and useful compared to Percy's,and since he couldn't have his MC outshined,he made sure to slow Nico in any way possible.

In BotL and TLO there are 2 scenes that,for a long time,I thought I was the only one to ever have read them since no one talked about them.

In the end of BotL when Percy get out of the Labyrinth and went with Rachel to see the coffin,Nico created an earth barrier (or something closer to it) to help them escape form Kronos's attack. He never did that after it,and I never saw people acknowledge that scene so I legitimately thought that I was imaginating it. Which was strange since it came right after the famous "Did you just throw a blue brush in the eye of the Titan Lord?" scene,but no. It really happened and Nico did use the earth at his liking. After that Riordan decided to never bought it up and Nico never manipulated the earth in that way (he still split the ground a couple of times) again.

In TLO after Nico went to free Percy from the dungeons,they escaped the palace and went to the Styx. During their escaping Nico glared at the guards,while growing weaker and weaker with each one,and they ignored them. Again,since I never saw someone talk about it I genuinely thought I was remembering things wrong. Especially because it was part of the whole "Betrayal" plot that everyone know. But again,it wasn't the case,Rick just decided to never bring it up again. It was the only time Nico did something like that. Someone can say "Well,those are the royal guards and their boss is his dad they would never go against him." but the guards were against Nico,if he didn't do whatever the fuck he did,they were going to tell Hades about their escape. So,again,Rick realized he gave him a powerful trick and then hoped that one one would remember it after he used it one time.

All of this shows that,even if he is good at writing certain things,when it comes to others topics (like power-scaling,Tartarus's trauma and many more) he just can't write well and try to put patches on the holes,without having success. But that's for another post that I will do.

Rick lack of continuation in his work,and he needs to decide what the hell he is going to do with Nico,because the guy himself is a contradiction that needs to be solved. And if I see someone else say that he is weak because he continue to faint,I'm gonna crash out very very very bad since it's Rick's fault. Nico has grown enough in his power to stand tall and use them without having majors problems (if he abuse them,then of course he is in big troubles). He isn't anymore the 13 years old kid that was dying during a world-ending trip after days of being captive by the enemy,and Riordan needs to acknowledge it and move on from that.

[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 :)

[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.