Board Thread:Percy Jackson & the Olympians/@comment-39214247-20190515230242/@comment-43548688-20190818200956

I'm not sure if this was brought up in this whole discussion. But I'll add it. But before, I'll admit, I was already biased in my opinion. A white, skinny boy with straight dark hair. Well, when a character looks like me I feel eager to relate, even if that's kind of silly. Then the fact that he is a kid and all, I have soft spot for kids. And although it felt exaggerated at times, I get the way he acted towards his socializing issues; specially the ideas of distrust, which are constantly shifting, most notably about his sister Bianca, who he felt betrayed by, but still looked fondly upon in his memories, because she was one of the few who ever understood him, one of the few who cared for him, she was family. Had similar experiences with family, so I couldn't help but feel a connection. Then there is the gay stuff, which only complemented just how much I related to him. Felt more like a bonus really. Even before that I was already sold on the idea of joining my fellow masses and liking a popular character for once.

Anyway. I think the most important thing when comparing Nico's story to the rest of the character's as you did, and why I think people were so invested in his story, is the fact that the major narrative follows to what feels like a backstory for him. What I mean by that is, like, when we get to know Hazel, Annabeth, Frank, Leo, basically everyone aside from maybe Percy. Their personality, traits, who they were, was but results of backstories. The story introduces us their shapes and THEN show us what has shaped them that way -note that I'm not saying it's a bad narrative structure by any means-. Meanwhile, what we get from Nico is different. We get to actually see what was happening to him, what was creating the person he would eventually be, being unsure what the results would be, let alone how or when will it'd end. He was introduced as a minor character that seemed unimportant and untroubled and slowly turned into sort of a major one.

Sure there is the thing about being from the late thirties and the Lotus hotel and all, but that hardly seems to have that much of an effect him (or at least not as much as it did to Hazel and even slightly to Bianca), not even the death of his mother seems to bother him that much, narrative-wise, it was just a reason for why Hades was mad, and the Lotus was a reason for him to have children without feeling too pushy.

Now, every hero has had their arcs, they developed, they grew. But I think Nico was the only one who wasn't made ready to do so, he wasn't a finished piece, he needed an arc just to begin his entrance to the story in a way, we saw his backstory being made in real time, only to then jump into the part where he starts to get better. ​So, you could say the difference is that...he went from "Zero to Hero"! hah!

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