Who is Nico Di Angelo?

Nico di Angelo is a demigod (half human half son of an immortal Greek god), his father is Hades, God of the Underworld. He is also:

•  a gay teenage character in a series of books written not just for young adults but also primary school children, aged approx 9 or 10+.
•  a positive representation of a gay person in fiction.
•  one of the most central, important and powerful heroes in the stories.
•  one of the most popular characters among readers.

Nico's Character:

In the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus books he is the son of Hades and three years younger than Percy Jackson.  He is arguably one of the powerful if not the most powerful demigod of them all.

Nico is powerful (move the earth, raise the dead and command ghostly servants or armies, survived Tartarus alone) but he has many other strengths.  He is very knowledgeable about  the Greek and Roman worlds and gods.  He is a strategist: it was his plan that was put into action in The Last Olympian.  Clearly he has a mind to rival clever girl Annabeth, daughter of Athena the goddess of wisdom.

Nico is also caring.  He wants to please his father and he cares for his sisters.  He took the time to check on Bob the Titan and we see him taking an interest in the well-being of a number of characters in the books.

Most of his fictional peers find him strange, creepy or even frightening (being the son of the death god).  He has few demigod friends.  Only Percy, Hazel and Frank could be thought of as possibly his friends among the demigods.

Nico is a one of a kind loner and this can also be a strength.  He has chosen to go his own way rather than join a camp.  Alone, using his own resources he found the help and knowledge that he has required to forge his path from 10 to 14 years of age.

Nico in the Percy Jackson Books by Rick Riodhan:

His character was introduced in the third book (Titan's Curse) as a 10 year old child.  Nico was celebrated as a great hero at the end of the fourth and fifth books (Labrynth and Last Olympian).

Nico was absent in the sixth book (Lost Hero).  He appears in the seventh (Son of Neptune) where he clearly likes Percy, though this could be as a friend or through admiration and respect for a powerful demigod.  Nico appears only briefly in Mark of Athena but has a huge role throughout the ninth book, House of Hades, where his sexuality is revealed to the reader and one of the demigods, Jason.  In House of Hades Nico's behaviour suggests he is currently in love with Percy.

The story is left unfinished and the tenth book is due Oct 2014.