Just who I am... Easy for you to say. You're everybody's golden boy, the son of Jupiter. The only person who ever accepted me was Bianca, and she died! I didn't choose any of this. My father, my feelings... "

–Nico di Angelo to Jason Grace, in The House of Hades

" I am the son of Hades. I go where I wish. The darkness is my birthright "

–Nico di Angelo, in The Blood of Olympus

Nico di Angelo is a fourteen-year-old Greek demigod son of Hades and the mortal Maria di Angelo. He is also the younger brother of the late Bianca di Angelo and the half brother of Hazel Levesque. He is known in the Underworld as the "Ghost King" after taking the title from King Minos.

Abilities and Tools

ADHD: Like most demigods, Nico possesses inborn supernatural battle reflexes and senses that he uses to analyze the fighting style of his opponent.

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 lack of formal combat training at camp. In The Demigod Files, he did show decent combat skills when he was able to keep up with Percy and Thalia when they fought a group of Keres. Not only did Nico emerge unscathed from the battle, but he easily defeated the Keres he fought. Later, he 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 even impress 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 army with only one hand, and then emerges unscathed after the battle is won, implying excellent swordsmanship. During that battle, Nico single-handedly overwhelmed an entire group of mighty Earthborn, slashing them into mounds of wet clay with his sword.

Mythomagic: Nico's knowledge of the 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. Thus, he was able to identify Dionysus, a Manticore and even a Katoblepone.

Ancient Greek: In The Battle of the Labyrinth, Nico demonstrates his ability to summon the dead by chanting in Ancient Greek.

Italian: In The House of Hades, Nico shows that he can speak fluent Italian, as he is Italian by birth. As shown in The Blood of Olympus, Nico's knowledge of Italian helps him somewhat understand some other Romance languages, such as Spanish and Portuguese.

Will Power: Nico, apparently, has tremendous strength of will, since he was able to survive in Tartarus on his own, while seeing the place in all of its ineffable horror for the entire time he spent there. Percy, who found even a few moments of seeing it maddening wondered how Nico had managed to survive with his sanity.

Endurance: Nico was able to endure both physical and mental pain, much to Reyna's amazement and respect.

As a son of Hades, Nico is an extremely 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 the most powerful demigod she'd ever seen (to the point that she compared his power to that of a nuclear bomb), an impressive admiration given that she knew Jason Grace and dozens of other demigods (though meeting Percy caused her to question this judgment). In The Blood of Olympus, Reyna mentions that after being healed from his injuries by Hedge and resting for several days, Nico becomes significantly more powerful than before. Hazel once stated that she and Nico each controls an aspect of Hades/Pluto's powers: death (for Nico) and riches (for Hazel).

Geokinesis: He can control the earth - levitating rocks and making them deadly, black, and extremely sharp. Nico can open fissures in the earth that can swallow up creatures and trap them in the Underworld. He can cause earth tremors so powerful, they can shatter the pillars of a mountain fortress. He can also control the black walls of the Underworld. His geokinetic abilities are only surpassed by his half-sister, Hazel Levesque and his father, Hades.

Necromancy: as a son of Hades Nico has divine authority and control over the dead, as well as many monsters native to Hades' realm, 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 Last Olympian, he was able to summon a large army of undead soldiers all by himself. It is unknown how much he has increased in power since then. This is an extremely powerful ability as it literately allows him to have an army anytime he wants. However, summoning too many undead warriors at one time can cause him fatigue. 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.

Summoning Deceased Souls: as shown in The Battle of the Labyrinth, Nico can summon souls of the deceased by digging a pit, 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.

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.

Sensitivity to Death: 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.

Life Aura: Nico can sense someone's life aura (he sensed it when Rachel Elizabeth Dare's life aura flickered in The Last Olympian, and he told her, "I could see you dying.")

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.

Ghost Transformation: As seen in The Blood of Olympus, Nico can kill mortals, demigods and legacies by turning them into ghosts, and forcing them into the Underworld for eternity. Nico has only ever done this to Bryce Lawrence.

Osteokinesis: As seen in The Blood of Olympus, Nico is able summon and telekinetically to control bones. Prior to his fight with Lycaon in Évoria he could only summon a few bones and skulls. But during his encounter with the wolf king he was able to summon hundreds of bones, enough to trap Lycaon and his wolves for a few minutes.

Death Trance: In The Mark of Athena, when he is sealed in the Bronze Jar, Nico shows that he can go into a hibernation called a Death Trance using the seeds of Persephone, which can only be eaten by a child of Hades. The Death Trance induces him to essentially die for a day, meaning he consumes no oxygen and doesn't need any kind of food (besides the seeds).

Umbrakinesis: Nico has control over darkness and shadows for various uses such as solidifying it for attacks and to hide in it.

Shadow Travel: Nico can use shadows as a way of transportation; however, great distances tend to wear him out. The first time he shadow traveled, he passed out for a week. He has said that while learning to use it, he ran into walls and made accidental trips to China. He seems to have gotten better control over it because in The House of Hades, he implied he could use shadow travel to send the Argo II across a mountain range, but was too weak because of his time in Tartarus. When he recovers his strength by the end of the The House of Hades, he decides to transport the Athena Parthenos across the ocean by shadow-traveling about three hundred miles at a time. However, as revealed in The Blood of Olympus, overexertion of shadow travel can cause the user's molecular structure to begin to fall apart, gradually turning them into shadows and lose themselves. Due to Nico pushing himself to bring the Athena Parthenos to Camp Half-Blood, he began to lose himself, even entering a "shadow coma".

Shadow Absorption and Dissipation: as shown during his fight with Clytius in The House of Hades, Nico can also dissipate and absorb shadows with his sword, since he kept the Giant's dark aura from affecting his friends.

Cryokinesis (limited): as seen in The Blood of Olympus, when Nico is infuriated, he generates an aura of intense cold, making the temperature around him drop to freezing, with the ground around him and the massive cairn turning white with frost.

Hypnokinesis: as seen in The Blood of Olympus, Nico can navigate through "the dark dreamscape" of dreams better than most other demigods (and is only somewhat surpassed by demigod children of Hypnos, like Clovis), since he claims that dreams and death are "old friends of his." Hence, Nico has a higher degree on control over his dreams, the ability to astral project his consciousness, find and enter the dreams of other demigods. Reyna notes that Nico can have an extremely heavy sleep at times, to the point that he won't even budge if Coach Hedge does a goat-hoof tap dance around Nico's head. Later in the book, Nico puts several demigods to sleep by sending deep dreams their way.

Induced Fear: Nico radiates intense fear and death like his father, Hades, but to a much lesser degree. In The Last Olympian, this aura was so strong that Kronos's monsters initially backed away from him. In The House of Hades, he is shown to radiate death from nervousness, as when Cupid intimidates him, "the grass turned brown and wilted" at his feet, as if "poison were seeping from the soles of his shoes."

A Stygian iron sword. It is three feet long, and in The Last Olympian is described as being "black as a nightmare." It helps Nico to channel his power to control and summon the dead, and it can also drain souls to give the sword more power. Only Hades, his children and Clytius can use Stygian Iron for their weapons.

He is seen wearing black armor in The Last Olympian with a skull shaped visor.

A skull ring shown in The Battle of the Labyrinth, The Last Olympian, and The Son of Neptune. Twisting it makes the nearest dead restless. He usually uses it to relieve tension.

Mythomagic figurines and cards. He throws them into a fire in anger during The Battle of the Labyrinth.

In The Battle of the Labyrinth, he had a pair of Daedalus' wings, but after he used them, he threw it away in a trash can.

A red travel rose that he didn't use, given to him by Persephone, in The Sword of Hades.

Pomegranate Seeds-magical seeds from the Underworld. If he places them on his tongue, he can go into a death like trance that allows him to use less air and energy, in the event he is captured. This allows him to go into what is called a "Death Trance," which he uses to sustain himself during The Mark of Athena.

Diocletian's Scepter: Nico obtained the scepter after he confessed his feelings for Percy, the scepter allows him to summon zombie legionnaires to his aid- he can not control them however, as his is not a roman demigod or a roman officer. He summoned zombies at the Necromanteion and Pompeii to fend off Gaea's forces. It exploded after he summoned zombie to fight the souls of Pompeii.

Etymology

The name Nico is the diminutive form of Nicolò or Nicola, the Italian form of the Greek Nikolaos (Nicholas), meaning "victory of the people." It is most likely intended to evoke the prefix necro-, meaning dead. His surname is Italian for "of the angels" alluding to his role as the Lord of the Dead's son.

Nico is also a form of Nike, goddess of victory.

His surname, "di Angelo," means "the angel," in Italian.

The full meaning of his name is 'the Angel of the Dead'.

Trivia

The line "With great power...comes great need to take a nap." is an obvious reference to one of Spider-Man's most famous lines: "With great power, comes great responsibility", albeit a bit altered for comedic effect and to indicate that Nico's powers tire him greatly, prompting him to take naps every now and again to regain his strength, as he did at that moment in The Last Olympian.

Nico's physical description (pale olive skin, dark hair, brown eyes, black clothes, and an aura of death) also fits Rick Riordan's description of Anubis, the Egyptian god of funerals, in The Kane Chronicles trilogy.

The first time he met Mr D., he called him "The wine dude", which irritated the god, but he forgot about it soon after.

Nico has been to a New Orleans graveyard, though it is unknown why he went. Interestingly, this is one of the favorite hangouts of another death god (Anubis, the Egyptian god of funerals). It was also the place that his half-sister Hazel Levesque lived just before her death.

Nico and Jason Grace have similarities:

They both have older sisters, whom have both been/are Hunters of Artemis.

They have both been to Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter.

They have godly stepmothers (Persephone, Juno).

Both have lost their memory. Nico's because of being dipped in the River Lethe and Jason's was removed by Juno (though Jason's is temporary; in The House of Hades he seems to be recovering from his amnesia, much like Iapetus).

Hazel Levesque and Nico's mothers share similar first names: Marie Levesque and Maria di Angelo.

Nico's birthday is undecided. Rick Riordan has stated on two different occasions his birth-date: January 28th, 1924 and May 16th, 1924. However, the year would be way off since in The Son of Neptune, Hazel stated he was only a few years younger than her. Another contradiction comes from The House of Hades where in Nico mentioned that he was about six years old when he first visited Diocletian's private residence in "[nineteen] thirty-eight or so". This would put his date of birth at around the early 1930s.[2]

In the series, he is described as having long, shaggy black hair, but in his portrait he has short brown hair. Also, he seems to have green eyes instead of brown, and not as pale of skin.

He is the only child of the Big Three to never have gone on an official quest. However, he, Percy, and Thalia were given the task of retrieving the then unfinished sword of Hades, and succeeded. As well as aiding the seven in closing the Doors of Death and brought the Athena Parthenos to Camp Half-Blood to end the civil war.

Unlike his half sister Hazel, horses don't like Nico (as Porkpie, one of Blackjack's friend once stated: "He smells like dead people.")

Most animals don't like Nico due to him smelling like death, and the feeling is often mutual.

Nico speaks fluent Italian, as he is Italian by birth.[3]

Nico has the ability to control ghosts. However Melinoe is the goddess of ghosts, not Hades.

As of The Titan's Curse, Nico is the only known demigod that is confirmed to have watched Camp Half-Blood's Orientation Film.

As of The Last Olympian, Nico is the first demigod in many years known to have stopped by and spoken to Hestia, who is usually ignored when she visits Camp Half-Blood.

As of The Son of Neptune, Nico is the first known Greek demigod since the First Demigod Civil War to learn about the existence of Roman demigods, and to visit Camp Jupiter.

Nico is the only known Senator at Camp Jupiter that was neither a Centurion nor a Praetor, instead serving as the Ambassador of Pluto.

As of The Mark of Athena, Nico is the first known demigod ever to have returned from Tartarus alive but even as a son of Hades, his stay in Tartarus left him shattered and more withdrawn.

Percy speculates, when on the verge of death and seeing Tartarus as it really is, that Nico had seen it that way the whole time, and that even a few moments of seeing it was maddening. He wonders how Nico had survived with his sanity.

As of The House of Hades, Nico is the only known demigod that Leo, Frank and Jason are afraid of.

Nico has been transformed into plants twice in the series: into a dandelion by Persephone during a "family spat" shortly before the The Demigod Files, and into a corn plant by Triptolemus in The House of Hades.

As of The House of Hades, Nico, is the only confirmed homosexual demigod, something he has been trying to hide for years. The only blatant clue is in The Titan's Curse, when he asks Percy if Annabeth is his girlfriend.

As of The Blood of Olympus, Nico is the only known hypnokinesis user that is not a child of Hypnos.

In both the Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the The Heroes of Olympus series, Nico ensures the fulfillment of the Great Prophecies: Nico helps Percy gain the Curse of Achilles, which enables both Percy and Luke to defeat Kronos ("the hero's soul cursed blade shall reap"), and Nico tells Iapetus that Percy is a friend, which induces him to follow Percy and Annabeth to the Doors of Death ("foes bear arms to the Doors of Death").

Hades once gave Nico a French zombie chauffeur, Jules-Albert, for his birthday.

When he was little (even before he became interested in Mythomagic), Nico was obsessed with pirates.

Near the end of The Blood of Olympus, Will gives various hints that he interested in Nico. When Nico confesses his crush to Percy, he then walks away to join Will. This can be interpreted as Nico choosing Will over Percy.