☆|| Nico Di Angelo

Nico di Angelo was born in or around 1932 in Venice, Italy, before World War II (before Hades and his brothers took an oath to have no more demigod children) to Hades and Maria di Angelo, their second child together, the first being his older sister Bianca di Angelo. He was raised in a conservative catholic home.

Hades rarely made appearances in the household, in fear that the other gods would notice that he had a son and a daughter.

As a child, Nico was obsessed with pirates and the game Mythomagic, which caused him to find the knowledge of being a demigod very exciting. At around the age of six, Nico visited Diocletian's Palace in Split, Croatia.

Nico had a warm relationship with his mother, as he remembers her smiling down at him while they both walked by the Venetian Grand Canal.

In elementary school he studied Dante.

Relocation and Losing his Mother At some point near the beginning of World War II, Nico and his family left Italy for the United States, where they stayed at a fancy hotel in Washington, D.C.. Around the age of eight, shortly after arriving, Nico was playing Mythomagic with another boy his age, Henry Whittaker, and he mentioned that Ares was pretty. Henry said that was weird and they stopped hanging out.

One day, as Hades was begging Maria di Angelo to store Nico and Bianca somewhere safe as Zeus was planning to kill them. Shortly after, she died when Zeus struck the hotel they were staying in with lightning in an attempt to kill the siblings, since he thought they would be too dangerous. However, they were protected by Hades as he erected an impenetrable wall of black energy to shield them from Zeus' bolts, but Hades was not able to protect their mother in time.

Afterward, a devastated Hades ordered the Fury Alecto to take Nico and Bianca to the Underworld and bathe them in the River Lethe, in order to wipe away their memories, and told her to give their mother the Ancient rites. The lord of the dead also swore revenge on Zeus.

This later caused him to send monsters to attack and try to kill Thalia Grace, Zeus' daughter.

Washington D.C. and the Lotus Hotel and Casino In The Titan's Curse, Bianca says that she and Nico had no memories of their mortal parent and told by a lawyer (Alecto in disguise), in Washington D.C., that their parents were dead, and had left a bank trust for them. This "lawyer" would come by once in a while to check on both of them. During this time, Nico and Bianca were enrolled in a boarding school. Meanwhile, Bianca familiarized herself with the city's subway system. In The Blood of Olympus, Nico sees a brief flashback from this time - his sister Bianca, laughing as she pulled him across the National Mall. After some time had passed, Hades, hoping that one of his children might one day become the "child of the Eldest Gods" (referred to in the Great Prophecy), decided to place them in the Lotus Hotel and Casino, and tasked Alecto with the job. Once again disguised as a lawyer, Alecto had Nico and Bianca leave the boarding school, and took them all the way to the Lotus Hotel, in Las Vegas.

After what the siblings thought was a month in the Lotus Hotel (which turned out to be 70 years), they were taken out by Alecto, this time disguised as a different lawyer. Alecto drove Nico and Bianca back east, through D.C., and then up into Maine. They were brought to a military school called Westover Hall, paid for by Hades using what Nico and Bianca thought to be a trust fund left to them by their parents. At this point, Nico became obsessed with Mythomagic, a card game. It was later revealed that Nico had been obsessed with pirates even before he started collecting Mythomagic cards. Bianca mentioned that the summer before she left Westover Hall (during the events of The Sea of Monsters), she and Nico visited Washington D.C. once again, and were very surprised to see several subway stations that had not been there before. Bianca mentions that during their visit, several monsters

disguised as mortals) attempted to attack them in an alley. Nico also mentions seeing a bus driver (most likely a satyr in disguise) with ram's horns, though Bianca had not believed him at the time.

Nico eventually found the entrance to the Labyrinth and found Minos. Minos manipulated Nico and the two traveled together, with Nico barely eating at all. Nico became very depressed during this time and his anger only grew bigger, and he became convinced that he would never belong at Camp Half-Blood because he was a son of Hades. He even abandoned his Mythomagic cards. Nico became very strong during his months away, learning to summon ghosts. He also got his Stygian Iron sword. Nico also learned how to shadow travel but ended up in China many times. Nico and Minos would camp out in the Underworld where Minos would try to manipulate him into doing a soul for a soul to bring Bianca back.

Nico's appearance also changed. His hair grew to his shoulders and his skin went from olive to as white as snow. He also donned his signature outfit of his aviator's jacket, black jeans, and a skull shirt, with a sword on his side. He became very skinny and bony due to his meager diet.

While Nico was gone, Percy, Grover, and Annabeth searched for him the entire spring with no luck. Percy thought about Nico a lot and the crack he made, which, was still at the Dining Pavilion.

Nico is one of the three demigods along with Thalia and Percy who are summoned by his step-mother Persephone to find the Sword of Hades. When he is first summoned by Persephone he claims to have been at a graveyard in New Orleans, this could possibly be reference to Hazel. Naturally, Nico didn't take well to her welcome since she turned him into a dandelion when they last met. Percy thinks it's a bad idea but Nico is hoping to achieve recognition from his father Hades. He tells Thalia and Percy why they need to go on the quest. To Percy's irritation, he comes up with logical reasons. His knowledge of the Underworld and its occupants helps them complete their quest. He remains in the Underworld afterward to discuss the upcoming Titan War with his father. Before his friends leave, he reminds Percy of his idea to defeat the Titans.

Instead, Nico found his half-sister Hazel Levesque in the Fields of Asphodel and sensed she was a child of the Underworld, as, unlike the other souls in Asphodel, she remembered her life. Nico felt that she deserved another chance at being a hero and brought her to the overworld (Gaea said that he had selfish reasons for doing this, but it is unknown if he had any or for what selfish reasons did he do it for, maybe because he wanted a chance at having a sister again). Hades gives Nico directions on how to find Camp Jupiter, explains why the Olympians have kept both camps separated for centuries, and forbids him from telling anybody about it, as the time isn't right. Hades also advises his son to introduce himself to the Romans as a son of Pluto, telling Nico that it is important for him to make this connection.

Like most demigods, Nico possesses inborn supernatural battle reflexes and senses. Dyslexia: Nico's brain is "hard-wired" for divine Ancient Greek instead of modern languages. Fighting skills: Initially, Nico shows more skill with his powers than his fighting skills. However, this might have been due to his majority lack of formal combat training at Camp, but he shows great skills. As revealed in a flashback in The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure, Nico got overeager while first training with a sword, and scarred his own leg. In The Demigod Files, Nico showed decent combat skills when he was able to keep up with Percy and Thalia in a fight against a group of Keres. Not only did Nico emerge unscathed from the battle, but he easily defeated the Keres he fought, even quickly taking down the Keres who blitzed Percy. Later, Nico even fought the Titan Iapetus alongside Percy and Thalia (but he was quickly incapacitated). In The Last Olympian, Nico fights in the Battle of Manhattan, and emerges unscathed, implying excellent fighting skills, which impress even the Ares demigods. In The Son of Neptune, Hazel mentions being impressed the first time she saw him fight, suggesting that he honed his skills between the two series, possibly during his stays at either Camp Half-Blood or Camp Jupiter. Nico was even able to fight Gaea's army in Tartarus itself, though he was eventually overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. In The House of Hades, Nico fights the enormous monster army of Gaea, while holding the Scepter of Diocletian high, and emerges unscathed after the battle is won, implying excellent swordsmanship. During that battle, Nico single-handedly overwhelmed the entire group of mighty Earthborn, slashing them into mounds of wet clay with his sword. In The Blood of Olympus, though somewhat weakened from shadow-traveling, Nico is still able to single-handedly quickly overcome 6 Romans

Nico has shown great speed and reflexes, outpacing and taking down six trained Roman demigods in only ten seconds, while not aiming to kill and after being weakened from shadow travel. Nico also strikes first against Lycaon in The Blood of Olympus, while drained from summoning hundreds of bones, despite the Wolf King having caught an arrow in The Lost Hero, which Piper McLean couldn't see. In The Demigod Files, he quickly defeats a Keres who moved fast enough to strike Percy twice. Superhuman Strength: Despite his stature, Nico has shown to be unusually strong. In The House of Hades Jason notes that his arms are taught with muscles despite his eight days in the Twin Giants' jar. In The Blood of Olympus, when he fights the six Roman demigods, he kicks and strikes them with the pommel and flat of his blade with enough force to incapacitate them, despite their innate demigod durability and armor. Superhuman Durability: Nico has immense durability, able to take immense amounts of force and damage. In The House of Hades, when a boulder crashed into the foremast, Nico crashed to the deck under the spars and sails, but quickly shook it off. Later, when the Argo II is attacked by the Kerkopes and the ship lurches, he is launched out of his chair and slammed headfirst into the Celestial Bronze sideboard, causing a dozen plates and goblets to crash on him, only groaning from pain and later recovering. In The Tower of Nero, Nero, who has the fused power of Caligula and Commodus and later rivals Apollo in strength, backhands him twenty feet into a pillar, a strike he manages to go through despite being incapacitated.

Nico's knowledge of the card game is superb, as he had the rare Africanus Extreme expansion deck, and remembers each figure, as well as the number of attack and defense moves of each. This lets him recognize figures of Greek mythology, as he was able to identify Dionysus, a Manticore, and even a Katobleps. Ancient Greek: In The Battle of the Labyrinth, Nico is able to summon the dead by chanting in Ancient Greek. Italian: In The House of Hades, Nico shows that he's fluent in Italian, being Italian-born. As shown in The Blood of Olympus, Nico's knowledge of Italian helps him understand some other Romance languages, such as Spanish and Portuguese. In The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure it's revealed that Nico has memorized some passages of Dante's Divine Comedy in the original Italian. Willpower: Nico, apparently, has tremendous, seemingly indomitable willpower, since he was able to survive in Tartarus on his own, while seeing the place in all of its horror for the entire time he spent there alone. Percy, who found even moments of seeing it maddening, wondered how Nico had managed to stay sane. Pain Resilience: Nico was able to endure immense amounts of both physical and mental pain, notably scars inflicted by Lycaon which apparently "burned like acid", much to Reyna's amazement and respect as he carried through well in spite of it. As a son of Hades, Nico is an immensely powerful demigod. He is considerably more trained in using his powers than most children of the Big Three, such as Thalia and Percy, due to his time spent in the Underworld and he states that he trains with the dead. In The Son of Neptune, Hazel stated Nico was one of the most powerful demigods she'd ever seen (to the point that she compared his power to that of a nuclear bomb). Hazel also states that Nico could rival Jason Grace, who also feared he couldn't beat him. However, meeting Percy left Hazel unsure which of the two might be stronger. In The Blood of Olympus, Reyna mentions that

Nico has black hair that always looks like he just got out of bed (messy and shaggy) and olive skin. By The Battle of the Labyrinth, his skin has paled to white, and he takes to wearing black clothing with skeletal designs, a Stygian Iron sword and a silver skull ring (by the end of the book). By the time he meets Hazel Levesque, she describes his fingers as ghostly white, like their father's. Percy stated that Nico has his mother's eyes, but it has also been said that they have the wild glint of a madman in them, too, just like his father. According to Percy, Nico's hands are "as cold as ice."

Also has a skeleton ghost cat named Bob

Nico can control the earth, blackening into and controlling the black rock of the Underworld. Nico can open fissures in the earth that can swallow up creatures, rise flames, and trap them in the Underworld. He can cause earth tremors so powerful that they can shatter the pillars of a fortress and even vanish solid walls. He can also control the black walls of the Underworld, rising a jagged spire of rock the size of an eighteen-wheeler. His geokinetic abilities are only surpassed by his father, Hades, and rivaled by his half-sister Hazel Levesque. Necromancy: As a son of Hades, Nico has control over the dead, as well as many monsters of Hades, such as the Furies. Power Over the Undead: Nico can reanimate skeletons, summon Skeleton Warriors, put them to sleep, and destroy them. In The Battle of the Labyrinth, Nico was able to permanently banish Minos to the Underworld. In The Battle of the Labyrinth, he was able to summon over a dozen skeleton warriors all by himself. This is a powerful ability as it allows him to have an army anytime he wants. Summoning too many undead warriors at one time can cause fatigue, but by The House of Hades, he can summon a significant number without exhaustion. As shown in The Blood of Olympus, when he is angered enough, Nico can destroy even undead warriors that aren't under his control, which he does with Bryce Lawrence's zombie troops. Whenever he needs a personal chauffeur, Nico summons Jules-Albert, a loyal French zombie. In The Tower of Nero, Nico is able to control an undead Tauri Sylvestres. In The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure, Nico is able to control the undead in Tartarus to help fight Nyx and her monster army. Telepathy with the Dead: In The House of Hades, Nico warns the Lemures of Venice (angry spirits) to stay away from him, Hazel, and Frank by giving off a warning vibe.

Nico can sense death as it happens or when it is coming; when a person close to him dies, it comes as a ringing in the ears. In addition to that, he has a deep knowledge of the Underworld and knows when a person's life is being judged in the Underworld. Nico can also sense when an immortal is fading, as in the case of Pan in The Battle of the Labyrinth. His powers are so great he could even sense that Percy and Annabeth were close to the Doors of Death within Tartarus. When Leo Valdez died, Nico sensed it, but he also sensed that something seemed different about his death, likely because of Leo's resurrection by Festus with the Physician's Cure. Life Aura: Nico can sense someone's life aura such as when he sensed when Rachel Elizabeth Dare's life aura flickered in The Last Olympian, and he told her "I could see you dying.", and when Apollo became mortal in The Hidden Oracle Nico sensed an aura of death around him — "a thick possibility of death." Seeing the Power of the Doors of Death: Nico, Jason, and Hazel can see and feel the power of the Doors of Death. Power Over Ghosts: As the Ghost King, Nico can physically manipulate ghosts, such as taking hold of them by hand or forcing them to be silent with a gesture. Summoning Deceased Souls: As shown in The Battle of the Labyrinth, Nico can summon the souls of the deceased by digging a pit, and filling it with food (though animal blood can also be used), and chanting in Ancient Greek.

Summoning Deceased Souls: As shown in The Battle of the Labyrinth, Nico can summon the souls of the deceased by digging a pit, and filling it with food (though animal blood can also be used), and chanting in Ancient Greek. Releasing Souls: as shown in The Battle of the Labyrinth, Nico can release the souls of people that should have died but had somehow managed to cheat death, such as Daedalus. Ghost Transformation: As seen in The Blood of Olympus, Nico can kill mortals by turning them into ghosts, and forcing them into the Underworld for eternity. Nico has only ever done this to Bryce Lawrence. However, this takes away a lot of his strength and may cause him to fatigue as he did after he killed Bryce Lawrence. Skeleton Transformation: As seen in The Tower of Nero, Nico is able to kill others by transforming them into skeletons, similar to how he transformed Bryce Lawrence into a ghost. However, this takes a lot less power and effort with Nico causing a Germani to shrivel into a skeleton simply by touching his shoulder from behind. The skeleton was then under Nico's control until his distraction caused it to collapse into a pile of bones.