Another problem I have with the newer Riordanverse books is that they take away the nuances from characters whose appeal lies in their complexity. I think a reason why Nico is such an interesting character is because of his ability to be both incredibly kind and cruel. He is an untraditional hero in the sense that he is willing to do morally weaker things when in pursuit of the greater good.
We see this when he gaslights Percy at Camp Jupiter. It was a pretty shitty thing to do especially considering how mentally vulnerable Percy was, but he understood the gravity of the war brewing and decided to let things play out on their own. Percy deserved to know what was going on, but Nico knew that if he told him it would distract Percy from doing a necessary quest, so he instead decided to leave him in the dark.
Another dark action is when he kills Bryce Lawrence. Now don’t get me wrong, Bryce was a sadistic piece of shit that deserved to die, but Nico did it in the darkest way possible. He sucked the life out of Bryce, stripped him of his identity, taunted him while doing it, then proceeded to feel no regret afterwards. He felt guilty about doing it in front of Reyna and Hedge, but not what he actually did—“But his anger wouldn’t materialize [towards Reyna & Hedge]. He still felt plenty of rage towards Bryce Lawrence…” I would argue that this is one of the darkest moments across the entire series.
Nico’s willingness to kill Octavian also shows his darker side, people forget he was about to assassinate Octavian himself before he was interrupted by Cecil, Will, and Lou Ellen. Then when he DOES let Octavian die, he thinks ‘Good riddance.’ Tsats then claims that Nico feels guilty about Octavian everyday, like why are we lying😭. He was fantasising about killing Octavian the ENTIRE book and feels no active regret in the chapters after the event, he worries about what it will make Will think of him, but not about actually doing it. Even if Nico DID feel guilty about Octavians death, I would find it strange that he doesn’t also feel guilt over brutally killing Bryce Lawrence, which Tsats doesn’t mention ONCE… Seriously, if you so desperately wanted Nico to feel guilty about a death how about make it the one he actively made happen?
There is also more morally grey/shady actions on Nico’s behalf, such as tricking Percy into talking with Hades, jumping between both camps secretly, and his overall ability to be incredibly manipulative when he wants to be.
The newer books takes away this aspect of his personality completely, trying to convey that he regrets so many of his more questionable actions, when his willingness to do these things separated him from other heroes, making him interesting. They also try to position him as a victim in situations where he wasn’t one. Tsats criticises Percy for apparently forgetting and disregarding Nico when throughout the entirety of BotL Percy was worrying about him. Now I’m definitely not saying Nico was not a victim ever, he was, in MANY situations, I’m also not denying that was mistreated by other demigods, but he did act as a perpetrator of harm at times. It’s so ironic because the apparent theme of Tsats is for both Will and Nico to accept the darker part of Nico’s personality, yet it completely takes away this aspect from him. Nico was a character that understood sometimes bad things must be done for the greater good, but the newer books try to position him as a morally perfect hero, erasing his very prominent flaws.
Flaws are what make characters interesting, Nico acts on his own moral compass which differs greatly from the average hero’s. He isn’t afraid to cause harm if thats what’s necessary. The way the newer books try to make it seem like he was a victim in all of his conflicts is ridiculous, he wasn’t. Yes he was traumatised, but that led to him making bad decisions which did cause harm. Trauma offers an explanation for bad actions, it doesn’t always justify them and reduce the damage they do. Richard stop trying to reduce characters into a one dimensional caricature of themselves, not every character has to be 100% good and that is OKAY. PLEASE stop this infantilisation of Nico in his books and using ‘He’s healing!’ as a justification.
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