My thought on Nico Di Angelo in Percy Jackson IV (Made September 25th)

 

    This is the fourth book in the Percy Jackson series so, of course, spoiler warning for future events. 

    Throughout the book a character named "Nico Di Angelo" or "Nico" is explored more than ever in the series, and although this is a book about the children of gods, I personally feel like Nico is really brought to life as the story continues. His backstory is that in book three, his older sister who has been taking care of him, passed away during a quest to save a place called "Camp Half Blood", which is a camp for the children of gods. At the start of the third book, Nico is portrayed as this happy twelve year-old who collects trading cards based on Greek mythology. 

    To make a long story short, Nico blames the main character, Percy Jackson, for his sister's death, and by the time of the fourth book, Nico ran away and now barely resembles his former self, no longer childlike in any sense of the word. This is especially clear when Percy has a vision of Nico, describing him as "No longer resembling the happy boy at camp". During the vision, Percy claims that he saw Nico burning his trading cards and figurines in a small campfire while muttering about it being "A children's game" Nico is a child of Hades, so using his power he tries to bring back his sister. What I feel makes him so real, is that the author shows that although Nico has become angry and hateful, it isn't completely his fault. Nico's sister was everything to him, and now that she is gone, Nico was left feeling angry and heartbroken, so he blamed Percy because Nico trusted him to keep his sister safe, and now Nico is doing everything he can to try and bring her back.

     Later on, it's shown that past the anger and Nico being the child of Hades, Nico feels like he doesn't belong anywhere saying that no one talks to him aside from the dead, and he claims that the only reason they talk to him is out of fear. This is further explored as there isn't even a cabin for children of Hades at Camp Half Blood. What brings him to life in my opinion is the fact that beyond his godlike powers, he's just a normal kid trying to cope with the loss of his sister. Around the middle of the book, Nico manages to summon his sister's spirit but ironically, his sister didn't want to be summoned, as after Nico asked why she hasn't been answering his prior attempts, she answers by saying "I hoped that you would give up". 

    This leaves Nico shocked since all this time his only goal was to at least try and talk to her. Nico's sister tells him that it's really herself that he is mad at, since she left Nico behind at camp and left him feeling abandoned with no one left. Nico refuses to believe that he could be upset at his sister, and this really explains why Nico was so mad at Percy: He couldn't accept that his sister, even unintentionally, could have hurt him, so he blamed Percy for what happened and Nico began to live inside of this story of denial. Nico later forgives Percy and realizes his mistake, but despite Nico's major character development, he still lives in a world where children of Hades are outcasts.

    And that's all I have for Nico Di Angelo in book four of the Percy Jackson series. Nico still has more to work towards in the fifth book, and his happy ending isn't here yet, but as of the fourth book, these were my thoughts on Nico Di Angelo and what I think makes him feel real