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For the umpteenth time, he lugged the responsibility of being a diplomat at 13, can manipulate people quite well, has demonstrated himself to be quick on the uptake and logical, is quick-witted enough to outsmart Lycaon and disable the onagers with spontaneous plans etc.

nico is just a different character in pjo than he is in hoo.

i love pjo!nico. the struggle of fantasy (mythomagic, nico's view of the demigod world) vs reality ('mythology,' the reality of being a demigod), the themes of death and coming to terms with death while having a certain amount of power over death. in a world where demigods are the people who don't belong, nico being a kid that doesn't belong even more (hades not having a cabin, the other campers' avoidance or fear of him). grief, forgiveness, friendship. nico pushing people away, especially percy, nico changing from hero worship to understand that even demigods are just human and mortal, and nico accepting other people (accepting percy's friendship) and being accepted himself...

in hoo and beyond i think his story just gets lost, like a lot of other characters do. hoo in general doesn't have the same strength that pjo does - not that every story has to have 'deep' or particularly 'meaningful' themes per se, but pjo grapples with power, mortality. the flaws of gods, humanity. and a lot more. i know we're going really broad, but hoo doesn't deal with any of that. as a consequence nico's character just falls flat for me, because i don't feel that hoo deals with him with the same complexity and interest pjo does.

also, nico being gay. hmm. i have a lot of thoughts about rick and representation (and a good few of them are not great, even if a lot of younger fans sing his praises), and solangelo. now i think nico being gay overall is fine. i think it could add another layer to him when examined through the lens of pjo, and there were plenty of people who thought that way in fandom. but what it felt like to me when written in canon was rick making the decision, and making pjo support the idea retroactively. of course, that is speculation bc i can't 100% confidently say that's true. i don't mean to say that nico shouldn't be gay, but i don't think it was written well.

solangelo also felt like a shoe-in. rick has this thing about pairing characters up for their happy endings. solangelo is a hot mess, it's not compelling, and if we do accept nico's feelings about percy it gets reduced to a joke. nico's character swings from repression and struggling with himself to skipping off with will. i make it no secret i don't like canon solangelo, and the relationship being lgbt doesn't mean it's good. it's flat and boring. also the resolution to nico's 'arc' in hoo doesn't have to be that he ends up in a relationship.

take what i said about the above with a little grain of salt. every person’s opinion is different, some people really love solangelo and that arc of nico’s. i don’t think it’s wrong to like it or that you shouldn’t. but i didn’t, myself. it could have been written a lot better lol

hoo also contradicts like... all of nico's character growth from pjo, and repeats conflicts that were previously resolved instead of expanding or continuing them in interesting ways, or creating new ones that actually make sense.

one of nico's conflicts in hoo was not being accepted and feeling like he doesn't belong anywhere. particularly because of the exclusion of children of pluto by camp jupiter and their fear of him. like i mentioned earlier this was already addressed in the original series. in botl, nico tells percy that he doesn't belong at camp, that people are afraid of him, and ultimately chooses to leave to find his own path. at the end of tlo, nico is welcomed by the other campers. he proves percy's point to the gods, and percy pushes for nico and hades to be accepted by the other gods and demigods.

“It hasn’t been easy, you know. Having only the dead for company. Knowing that I’ll never be accepted by the living. Only the dead respect me, and they only do that out of fear.” “You could be accepted,” I said. “You could have friends at camp.” He stared at me. “Do you really believe that, Percy?”

Nico and Percy, Battle of the Labyrinth, pg. 192

“This camp isn’t for me. There’s a reason they didn’t put a cabin to Hades here, Percy. He’s not welcome, anymore than he is on Olympus. I don’t belong. I have to go.”

Battle of the Labyrinth, pg. 223

"And Hades—" ... "...your children should not be left out. They should have a cabin at camp. Nico has proven that..."

The Last Olympian, pg. 353

Nico sat at the main table with Chiron and Mr. D, and nobody seemed to think this was out of place. Everybody was patting Nico on the back, complimenting him on his fighting. Even the Ares kids seemed to think he was pretty cool.

The Last Olympian, pg. 371

all of that aside, here is a core issue: nico, the doors of death, and his choices. when you really look at it, what happens in hoo is a "fuck you" to nico's character in pjo.

let's recap:

in son of neptune, it's revealed that hazel was brought back by nico. not just that, though... nico was searching for bianca, who he hoped he could bring back. the reason he didn't was because he couldn't - she chose to be reborn to avoid just that.

but nico wouldn't have done that. nico attempting to, and arguably nico bringing back hazel, goes against all of his growth and character in botl.

this isn't the first time nico tried bringing back bianca. his main goal in battle of the labyrinth was to find daedalus to trade his soul for bianca's.

“I was hoping you would give up.” “Give up?” [Nico] sounded heartbroken. “How can you say that? I’m trying to save you!” “You can’t, Nico. Don’t do this. Percy is right.” “No! He let you die! He’s not your friend.”

Nico and Bianca, Battle of the Labyrinth pg. 108

in the labyrinth, percy confronts nico and reveals nico is looking for daedalus to trade his soul for bianca's. but when they find daedalus, when daedalus accepts his own death... nico chooses not to.

“I will take what comes,” he said. “And trust in the justice of the Underworld, such as it is. That is all we can do, isn’t it?” He looked straight at Nico, and Nico’s face darkened. “Yes,” he said. “Will you take my soul for ransom, then?” Daedalus asked. “You could use it to reclaim your sister.” “No,” Nico said. “I will help you release your spirit. But Bianca has passed. She must stay where she is.”

Nico and Daedalus, Battle of the Labyrinth pg. 217

The shimmering form of Bianca di Angelo stood in the clearing, smiling at her brother. She said something to him and touched his face—or tried to. Then her image faded. Nico turned and saw me, but he didn’t look mad. “Saying good-bye,” he said hoarsely.

Nico and Percy, Battle of the Labyrinth pg. 223

OKay so I’m avoiding homework at the moment so I thought I would talk about something near and dear to my heart.

And that is: the BYRONIC HERO

So I have this head cannon that Nico is the PJO and HOO worlds Byronic Hero.

Now, let me explain:

This, is Lord Byron

The Byronic hero is defined as a kind of hero found in several of the works of Lord Byron. Like Byron himself, a Byronic hero is a melancholy and rebellious young man, distressed by a terrible wrong he committed in the past.

I feel that the characteristics of a Byronic Hero are more important to talk about in this case.

To start with isolation (typically as a wanderer or an exile)

It doesn’t really matter whether the isolation is self-imposed or it comes from an outside force. The main thing to consider is that the character is, in some form or another, isolated from what would be considered “normal society.” Nico definitely fits this description.

Part of his isolation from others IS self-imposed, since he makes the conscious choice to not be around other demigods. But he is also not wrong when he says that he is an outcast as a child of Hades. It is made plenty obvious in the novels that no one really likes Hades… and since no one wants much to do with him, then why should they want anything to do with his son? The first that comes to mind, but not the only, example is the death of Pan in the Battle of the Labyrinth. Who is the only demigod that gets ignored? Right. Exactly.

And then there is the fact that by nature, Byronic heroes are by nature moody or passionate about a specific issue.

Nico has been described as moody SO MANY times. If anything, this should be the most obvious characteristic. I’m not sure there is much explaining I have to do here, honestly.

Byronic heroes are also known to be pretty sensitive and self-conscious.

These too are a little bit more subtle and harder to figure out.

Nico does a pretty good job of hiding it, but as a reader, I get the feeling that Nico actually cares about what certain people think about him, and he can get pretty defensive when people try to talk to him about his personal life. Particularly in the House of Hades he gets pretty touchy when certain subjects concerning himself are brought up, like when he was in Italy as a kid or his won emotions (I think you all know what I’m talking about here ;) ).  The point is, Nico’s got a whole bunch of emotional baggage he doesn’t really care to let go of or even acknowledge.

So when you combine all of these characteristics (there are others, but not every Byronic hero posses them all) you get a Byronic Hero. Byronic Heroes are not “heroes” in the more traditional sense (like a Jason or a Percy). Byronic heroes are often actually figures which people are both repulsed yet fascinated by.

I think this makes sense when you consider basically EVERY character’s interaction with Nico who has taken any sort of interest in him. Take Frank for example. In the House of Hades. Nico kind of freaks him out,  (which was not the case in the Son of Neptune, but that’s a discussion for another time) but that does not mean by any circumstances that he’s isn’t nice to him or curious about him. There are other, similar, events with Jason and PJO Percy (not so much in Heroes of Olympus, with his amnesia and lack of interaction with Nico). And then you have the fans of the book, who, even as readers, typically feel pretty much the same way (we tend to be more on the fascinated spectrum though).

If none of this made any sense to you, then here are some examples of a Byronic Hero.

Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights

In the book, Heathcliff and his enemy, Linton, represent the two extremes of a Byronic Hero. Heathcliff is the worst extreme, with his obsession with Cathy, and his anger management issues among other things. Linton is the furthest thing from a Byronic Hero, since he’s a little bit of a wuss. If you are familiar with this book, it may be helpful to think of Byronic Heroes as on a scale from Heathcliff to Linton. (My English teacher taught us that and it helps a lot)

Severus Snape from Harry Potter

There are plenty of things that make Snape a Byronic Hero. If you want to go down the passionate route characteristic wise, he is STILL in love with Lily, even till his dying day. He’s got his own onslaught of emotional problems, and he can display an air of confidence (another trait). He is also not well liked by anyone, even his own Death Eaters.

The Creature from Frankenstein

I think this one is pretty obvious if you are familiar with the ORIGINAL story of Frankenstein and the Creature (FRANKENTIEN IS THE SCIENTIST BY THE WAY). The Creature wants nothing more than to have a family, and someone to love him. Victor, however, wants nothing to do with him, and therefore pushes him away. The Creature, despite his superior intellect, and love for humanity is pushed into being a social outcast and eventually even devolves into a murderer

(and feels guilty about it later).

More examples include:

JACK SPARROW

EDWARD SCISSORHANDS

EDWARD CULLEN (BOOK VERSION, TWILIGHT) He looses this in the last three books due to lack of character development or so my English teacher tells me.

PRICE ZUKO

a good man. loyal to a fatal fault. a loyal son, a loyal lover, a loyal friend. loyal to a cause.

a good man. submission to duty. strength and leadership. unflinching.

jason: i know this and i love you

will: you committed murder