#yes that’s a reference to akhlys. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sashi-ya · 1 year

Text

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐋𝐚𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐒𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫? [a theory]

⬦ So, as many asked here is my theory! I've been thinking of this since i read Punk Hazard. Law has never been a pirate for me, nor a marine... so there had to be something in the middle and that is SWORD! Let's discuss the reasons! (Also please, be careful this theory is full of spoilers since I added the last pieces of info given in ch. 1080).

⬦ Disclaimer: Please, if you don't agree with any of the points stated we can discuss them but only if you do it respectfully and calmly. This is just my POV and take on the story. I might be wrong, or not. It doesn't matter, it's just a theory!. If you are gonna use this theory anywhere please ask me first. I'm tired of seeing my stuff on twitter gain endless likes for other to take the credit. Also, any other info you can share that you think I might have forgotter will be welcomed! ⬦ tagging: @thepoisonpoison ; @husband-in-law ; @akhlys-san ; @ruby-white-rabbit sorry for the delay! but here it is! :3

So! As I was waiting for the official release of ch. 1080 I didn’t write the theory sooner! I wanted to check if they had change something, especially the Rocky Port incident part! Apparently is all correct so here we go with my reasons for thinking Law is either a marine or a collaborator from SWORD!

Law was saved by a marine. This seems like a stupid and obvious point BUT is by far deeper than it seems; Cora lied to Law about being a marine because little Law was basically angry at them -but honestly, at everyone and everything in this world, too-. Now, we should recall properly who exactly was the real bastard that let the inhabitants of Flevance get sick and ultimately killed them: THE WORLD GOVERNMENT. Sure, the WG sent presumably marines to destroy the city; but… have you seen them? Cause I honestly we only saw people wearing the masks and suspiciously similar attires (not exactly the same) the guards of Punk Hazard wore (where do we see Law after the time skip? YES, PH. Remember there are no coincidences when it comes to ODA).

But, why did the WG sent those “marines” to destroy the city? Well, they couldn’t take the blame for exploiting the island for the amber lead KNOWING the people were getting sick because of it. But who cares about Flevance’s lives when such metal is used for… for… FOR WHAT, EXACTLY? Isn’t it toxic to touch? Then why the fuck do you need such metal? Ah… WEAPONS! But… who uses such weapons? For what?. All in all, who is the real bad guy here? the marines or the WG? Yes. Law is by far more intelligent than most of the OP characters, he can understand who to blame. And because of it there is another reason WHY Law would prefer being part of SWORD and it is because -as Kuzan says: Sword members are marines who give up their marine code and do not have to follow protocols nor -this is the most important one- they DO NOT respond to the WG. SWORD is the perfect alternative to both uphold the law while being against the fucking bastards at the same time. (refer to ch. 1080 during the mini flashback of Koby being in front of BB).

Also, Cora-san wasn’t probably part of sword (maybe it didn’t exist back then, this is my guess. In fact I believe it was formed right after Marineford) because he still used his marine code (01746). HOWEVER… DID HE GIVE A FUCK ABOUT THE PROTOCOLS? NOPE, HE DIDN’T CARE, HE WENT AND STOLE THE OPE OPE NO MI FOR LAW! Law has learnt a great example of real justice from a very young age.

2. The relationship with Koby and the Rocky Port Incident. What the actual fuck happened at the “Rocky Port”? we don’t know exactly, but Oda has given us 3 important pieces of information: 1. Law was the mastermind behind the RPI. 2. Koby became a marine hero after such incident. 3. Law became a Shichibukai after (do you believe in this? I don’t, exactly) giving 100 hearts from pirates to the marine. Who the fu- why? So, there is for sure a previous encounter -or a connection at least- in between Koby and Law. Koby, is with no doubt part of SWORD. Keep this in mind for later, we are gonna go back at this point but first let’s start back at Sabaody, please! Let’s go to point 3:

3. The relationship Law has with X-DRAKE (past and present) Who else connects with Koby? Yes, X-DRAKE!. Now, let’s go a little bit deeper (I know you, stop) about X-Drake and Law’s rs. If we go back in time to Vol. 51, chapter 498 “The Eleven Supernova” where we got introduced to them officially. First panel we see with Law:

So the first time we saw Law he is directly referring to Drake who -as many believe- he has left his spot at the Marine to become a Pirate. Interesting how Oda decided to introduce such important characters this way, right? Is not exactly that he is trying to portray a connection between them… 🤭

Good, good! Let’s go a little bit back in time now. Do you remember who Cora stole the Ope Ope no mi from? X-DRAKE’S DAD. Who at the time was the captain of a stupid ass pirate crew (Barrels pirates) that decided to sell the Ope Ope no mi to the Marine.

Uhum… yes. So, after the raid, both Cora and Doffy made a little bit of ruckus and ultimately the Donquixote family ended with Drake dad’s life. Little dino daddy (aka Drake) was able to scape just in time so he saved his life. AND Law’s life, too. Why? Because he was the kid Tsuru found and that was what the DQF heard through the radio! “a Kid had been found crying by the Marine” so, while Law was able to scape thanks to the sacrifice of Cora, he also got lucky that they found another kid. But, if it had been Law the one found by the marine… he would have been raised as one (as happened to Drake).

So, maybe at this point Drake didn’t know exactly who the other kid was, but, since he was raised by Sengoku and Tsuru* (*who now we know has a grandaughter that’s part of SWORD too) he probably learnt the real identity of Law back (or even before the introduction Oda give us at Sabaody).

UGH THERE IS A LOT, BUT WAIT WAIT, THERE IS MORE. And this is the main point: their interaction at Wano: WHEN DID LAW AND DRAKE SPOKE WHEN LAW WAS SENT TO JAIL TO TRADE HIS LIFE FOR BEPO, PEN AND SHACH’S LIFE WITH HAWKINS? Because BOTH fooled Hawkins into thinking Law was going to be in jail with no way of scaping. MANGA DOESN’T SHOW IT. ANIME EITHER. There is something previous hidden that has to be shown at some point! In Wano we have confirmation that Drake is no other than Koby’s superior in SWORD. Do I have to explain ANY FURTHER?

(also, I love Law but it was hella funny how XDrake to keep with the act hit the hell out of our poor doctor. We can say he is finally relieved of punching Law after what happened in the past)

4. Now, back to the Rocky Port Incident: IT HAPPENED AT DAMN HACHINOSU. This was only shown 3 days ago! While I was reading I passed the page and had to come back like WAIT… WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK? Cause LORD! Can you see the relationship? It’s crazy! For how long has Oda been cooking this? Isn’t a LOT of coincidences that Law didn’t know anything and was a simple pirate when he planned the “incident”?? which at this point -in my opinion- is no other than a lie they decided to show the world to undercover such growing Supernova! I strongly believe that Law had been contacted by either Drake or someone close to him to be part of SWORD and together they worked to bring the RPI alive. Now, we can either think 2 possibilities: 1. Law has already been at the New World (even before Luffy) because Hachinosu is there (and pretty close to Laugh Tale I might say) or 2. Because it is only stated as “the masterMIND of the RPI” he wasn’t there, but, he had planned it from somewhere else. I think both are interesting, both in any case had to be done with the help of others; aka SWORD or Marine. This has yet to be shown by Oda at some point for sure.

I’m sorry I can’t give more info about what exactly happened there because there isn’t any more than what I’ve already discussed.

5. PUNK HAZARD, Smoker and Aokiji.

Do you remember when Luffy was getting closer to PH that they received a call from marines asking for help? Do we have that clarify? Who the fuck called the Sunny? We don’t exactly know. And you won’t know until Law’s true nature is shown. What a coincidence… right? Law encountered Luffy and proposed an alliance right in the island where he was staying and to where Luffy was called in the middle of their route by random marines… 👀👀 INTERESTING, a shichibukai on an island that belong to the WG… Sure, he was there to start his plan to avenge Doffy, that’s clear. But I think there is more than we can already tell.

For me PH is no other than the first clear showing of the cooperation of 3 main forces in the universe of one piece (that sets precedent for future wars): MARINES (smoker), PIRATES (Luffy) AND… LAW’S SIDE: SOMETHING THAT’S IN BETWEEN: at that point he wasn’t a marine, but he was a pirate protected by the marine. Sounds familiar? Yes, pretty similar to SWORD. ➡ this is pure personal analysis of Oda’s writing style.

Please don’t forget Law telling Smoker about Green Bit! – this leads us to a new probable member of SWORD too! Smoker is a vice admiral who is kinda rebellious if you think about it! He wants to uphold the law and always be on the justice side… but is the WG always the “justice” side? Nope. (Smoker worked with Luffy twice)

The appearance of Kuzan – he was the one who saved Smoker from the sharp threads of Doffy’s attack. And Kuzan has been a repetitive character that’s -at least for me- appeared in very important moments of the story. Is not a coincidence that he appears at PH after Law tells Luffy to hurry the fuck up with the banquet.

And it’s not a coincidence that he has left the marine because of fighting against Akainu. WHY DID THEY FIGHT? Because IT’S CLEAR that both have different visions of justice. While Akainu believes justice is to be purely with the WG and hate pirates, Kuzan probably believes that justice is not about who you have on your side but to do the right thing. (Garp, KNOWN now as a member of SWORD did exactly that during God Valley)

This being said, let’s go for the next point:

6. Is Kuzan really a member of Kurohige’s crew? Is he a double agent?

Isn’t it quite sus that Kuzan is part of the BB crew and SOMEHOW Law encountered BB on the route he chose? (YES, LAW CHOSE THAT ROUTE. He used the lack of neurons of Kid and Luffy to make them pick the other two routes. Now, the fact that Kid encounter Shanks and it wasn’t Luffy is just for the sake of the plot, we know it Oda)

My guess is that Aokiji is a double agent from SWORD acting like Cora with Doffy. BB is a stupid guy, he doesn’t even know shit about what sword is, so I strongly believe he doesn’t suspect anything. So, maybe, the plan was simple (sounds simpler than it’s done): Kuzan informed SWORD about BB setting sail with some of his generals from Hachinosu, leaving the island alone with a couple of them (Vasco shot, Shirui, Pizarro); Law will encounter BB and fight while Garp and part of Sword goes to rescue Koby at Hachinosu. (Don’t underestimate Law, so many people downgrade his powers when it’s not the case at all) – this is pure theory, of course.

7. DRESSROSA & SENGOKU. Besides the emotional panel of Sengoku teaching Law not to look for more reasons for love but just love, I am sure there has to be something else hidden. In any case, it is super important to address the way Law acts towards Sengoku (in manga, not so much in the anime); he is being absolutely respectful (and not “mean” like he is used to be with anyone) and I believe Law wanted to search for Sengoku for 2 reasons: one, the one we explicitly read: asking about the “D”. And, 2, to tell this man, who represented a paternal figure for Cora, about how and why Law’s saviour died. However… Why and how does Law know Sengoku was like a dad for Cora? HERE is the key. Who told Law such information? Law didn’t know exactly who was the man Cora spoke to through the den den mushi before going to find the ope ope no mi. (He only knew it was a marine, cause baby Law was pretty intelligent). Perhaps is a very VERY small detail, BUT, what if he knew because of Koby and SWORD? Wouldn’t be surprising, Law needs information and he gets it from somewhere we haven’t seen yet where.

8. Law’s character and backstory. This last point is more of a personal analysis about his personality and real intentions:

Law hates, despises chaos. He upholds the Law. (not a coincidence he is called this way)

Law never EVER shown desires to find the One Piece. Not even when he first set sail. In One Piece Novel: Law (canon) he states the purpose of his journey: avenge Cora-san. Law couldn’t stand staying at Mr. Wolff’s home without doing nothing to end with Doffy. When his trauma had been resolved (but not over) and he started trusting people again, he began learning more about surgery while gathering money and resources with Shachi, Penguin and Bepo at the city. Once he turned 15, Mr. Wolff gave him not only Kikoku, but also the Polar Tang…

The Polar Tang: NOT A PIRATE SHIP. HIS JOLLY ROGER HAS NO SKULL! Law is not a pirate like the rest, he is not ruled by piracy aesthetics.

His name has had already a lot of hints, let me show you: TRAFALGAR – Battle of Trafalgar: Britain vs Spain. SPAIN LOST – dressrosa/doffy lost. WATER LAW / WATERLOO – battle of Waterloo: last battle of NAPOLEON – Napoleon is Big Mom’s sword – who won against BM? Law (and Kid). WATER’S LAW – Who are the ones who uphold the law in the seas (waters)? Yes. Marines.

Bepo, Shach and Pen’s way of referring to Law: CAPTAIN! *use the marine sign* *all of them wear hats like marines* *all of them wear uniforms like marines*

Law’s “disgust towards pirates” in Wano, after stealing food for the people of Okobore town he says: “Pirates shouldn’t do such a good deed!” BUT LAW… YOU ARE A PIRATE, YOU ARE A DOCTOR, YOU HELP PEOPLE!

And, maybe, a lot more that we might have missed or aren’t still fully shown! I will add them here! :3

But all in all, I do believe he is in the middle; not a marine, not a pirate either. That’s why I think SWORD fits him best. We will see what Oda has in store for the next few years! I hope that it’s even more exciting than this theory!

275 notes · View notes

mvndrvke-archive · 5 years

Photo

ON NICO’S CANON DIVERGENCE....

so while writing up nico’s bio and about page, i realized how much i changed around in his life and personality from the books, etc. when it comes to little things that at least in my interpretation significantly shape nico as a person. SO this is basically a list of things that i’ve changed or brought more attention to. feel free to read it if you’d like, i’m going to link this on his about page for reference, but it’s also terrifyingly long so by no means feel obligated to read it. it’s split into five sections-- nico’s timeline, nico’s motivations, nico’s fears, nico’s powers, and the rules of mythomagic. see tags for triggers.

i’ve also put it under a read more because it’s so freakin long. oops.

NICO’S NEGLECTED TIMELINE.

i. CHILDHOOD IN ITALY and AMERICA : nico is italian. he grew up in italy. his first language is italian. until he was about nine years old, he lived in italy with his mother and bianca, and hades was actually a semi-present person in his life in his very young years at least. he gets his memories wiped in the river lethe, though some things seem to have remained. the fact that hades has nico and bianca’s memories wiped really, REALLY upsets nico when he finds out what’s happened, and threatens his relationship to hades severely. especially when he finds out what happened to maria ( aka zeus killed her when he was trying to kill bianca and nico, and hades was unable to save both maria and his children ), it becomes incredibly important to him to find a way to remember as much as he can about his history, or at least learn about it. hades fills in some of the gaps, and a fair chunk of his memories are restored, and the rest is partially filled in by doing old fashioned research. discovering more about his family and reconnecting himself to his italian roots is incredibly important to nico-- he’s lost his mother and bianca already at this point, so this is the closest he can get to feeling close to them again.

ii. TIME IN THE LABYRINTH : nico learns a lot in the labyrinth from king minos, and that’s kind of the problem. nico is a really, really young kid at this point ( bianca died at i think 12 years old, so nico is probably in the 10-11 years old range at the time. rick’s given some conflicting reports about nico’s specific age, which makes it really hard to figure out exactly how old he is. we just know he’s the same age as will solace in modern time-- in my canon, nico is 12ish. see my post about his timeline here. ) and all of a sudden he finds himself lost in the labyrinth where his only guide is minos. that’s it. no one else. minos teaches him how to shadow travel, and nico’s pretty much locked in the labyrinth with nothing else to do but work on understanding and strengthening his powers. by the time he’s reunited with percy in daedalus’ workshop, his powers are pretty strong. he’s able to create enough of a distraction that they can escape kronos briefly, so he’s pretty powerful even for a kid his age.

the time in the labyrinth is critical to his growth, but also really disturbing. minos encourages nico’s obsession with strengthening his powers, and that mentality really sticks with nico for an uncomfortably long time after he’s left the labyrinth. he then makes the choice to go back into the labyrinth multiple times. the fact that he’s more comfortable wandering around the labyrinth than staying at camp speaks volumes about who nico is as a person, and can’t be emphasized enough in its importance when it comes to the growth of nico’s powers and the increase in his desire for isolation.

iii. TIME IN TARTARUS : long story short, nico’s time in tartarus fucks him up. a constant barrage of psychological, mental, and emotional torment knocks him back to a point where he’s just about lost his mind completely by the time he’s captured and removed from tartarus. in my version of nico, at least, he’s barely got a grasp on who he is by the time gaea’s forces catch him. his time in tartarus drags all of his bad memories and losses right up to the front of his mind, and he really goes above and beyond the extreme to stay alive. the greatly debated timeline of events for the pjo/hoo series says that nico is in tartarus for about twelve days before being put in the jar for three. however, i disagree with this estimate strongly. percy and annabeth are trapped in tartarus for eighteen days according to the timeline, and while yes, them being in tartarus together rather than alone allows them to keep their sanity longer than it would if they were just on their own, it’s stated that as a child of hades, nico is probably more resilient when it comes to the effects of tartarus. we also know from his interaction with akhlys that some of tartarus’ “foes” don’t have as much of an effect on nico as they do on others. akhlys says there’s not much she can do to him when she meets him, because he’s already so miserable, her powers are limited in their usefulness. so my guess is that nico was in there for about a month or so before being removed by gaea’s sons and placed in the bronze jar. but point is that nico’s time in tartarus is wildly disturbing and contributes to a lot of his fears, which are touched on below. nico’s time in tartarus is central to who he is as a character the way i write him, and while he hates talking about it, it’s something he thinks about a lot everyday.

NICO’S MOTIVATIONS.

i. TRAUMA OVER LOSING BIANCA : i haven’t changed much from canon for this but i will say this one thing-- bianca was the last person for years to say that she loved nico. no one told him, no one said anything, no one expressed that they really truly cared about him for a disturbingly long time. i touch on how this impacts nico’s feelings towards percy below but in my interpretation, nico kind of just.... forgets that people can/do love him. at least in my verse of things, probably the first person that’s told him that they love him since before bianca died was will solace, and the realization that since bianca, there hasn’t been a single person alive that loved him really seriously rattles and damages him. it’s bittersweet being told that people love him, because while it’s important to him, it’s also jarring to look back and think that for a long time, no one did at all.

ii. FEELINGS FOR PERCY : yes, a lot of nico’s actions are driven by his complicated feelings for percy. rick definitely touched on that a lot more in the later books after we find out that nico is gay, and we saw a lot of reasoning for nico’s actions come into focus in this new lens when it came to looking at who nico is as a person. there’s the really great ( for showing nico’s feelings, the scene itself is horrific and terrible ) scene in house of hades that i’m gonna quote even though it’s long, but--

Images flashed through [ Jason’s ] mind. He saw Nico and his sister on a snowy cliff in Maine, Percy Jackson protecting them from a manticore. Percy’s sword gleamed in the dark. He’d been the first demigod Nico had ever seen in action. Later, at Camp Half-Blood, Percy took Nico by the arm, promising to keep his sister Bianca safe. Nico believed him. Nico looked into his sea-green eyes and thought, How can he possibly fail? This is a real hero. He was Nico’s favorite game, Mythomagic, brought to life. Jason saw the moment when Percy returned and told Nico that Bianca was dead. Nico had screamed and called him a liar. He’d felt betrayed, but still... when the skeleton warriors attacked, he couldn’t let them harm Percy. Nico had called on the earth to swallow them up, and then he’d run away-- terrified of his own powers, and his own emotions.

- The House of Hades

we can see really clearly nico’s crush on percy forming during even his earliest interactions with percy, and while i strongly disagree that nico understood his feelings when he first ran from camp ( see below section about nico’s sexuality ), he does come to understand them later on, and responds to those feelings by avoiding getting emotionally attached or reliant on anyone, including the rest of campers at chb, the main gang, etc. it’s true that his feelings for percy dictate a lot of his actions, both in service of percy’s causes and in relation to how he acts around percy and those close to him ( like annabeth ). however, i cannot stress enough that NONE OF NICO’S ACTIONS IN MY VERSION OF HIM ARE DRIVEN BY HIS DESIRE TO GET PERCY TO LOVE HIM BACK. canon says these are his motivations outright with the quote :

“An idea came to him-- possibly the stupidest, craziest idea he’d had since he thought, hey, I’ll get Percy to swim in the River Styx! He’ll love me for that!”

- The Blood of Olympus

i think this does nico a huge disservice. while yes, i maintain that nico’s feelings for percy influenced a lot of his behavior and played a major role in his actions, none of the things he did were done with the hopes of getting percy to love him back. nico is mad at percy and blames him for bianca’s death-- he’s not going to be trying to show percy that he’s worth loving. he’s got nothing to make up for or prove. him trying to show off repeatedly by nearly killing himself on multiple occasions overexerting himself while using his powers to help or protect percy-- getting percy to bathe in the river styx, coming to his aid at multiple battles, trying to save him from falling into tartarus-- don’t scream “please love me back” to me.

in fact, i think it’s really fucked up to put that on nico and his relationship to percy. i’ll probably do a whole meta on this at some point too because i’m really mad about this in the books but the way that rick set up nico’s relation to percy with him trying to get percy to love him back is so wildly unhealthy that it’s disturbing. no. it weakens nico as a person and as a character and makes him seem pathetic, just sadly trailing along after percy and doing whatever percy wants / needs because he just wants him to like him back. nope. i ain’t playin this shit, and let me tell you what the better narrative is--

people do crazy things to protect the people that they love, and nico’s reasoning for all of the crazy stuff he did to protect percy was based on his feelings for him and wanting to keep him safe, even if he is with someone else. that doesn’t stop him from being jealous and even a little resentful of percy’s relationship with annabeth, but he’s not running around trying to get rid of annabeth so he can win percy. that’s not who he is, and that’s never been who he is. so again, i’m gonna stress that nico is NOT motivated by his desire to get percy to love him back, but rather by the fact that he loves percy enough to put his life and safety on the line for him.

iii. ANXIETY : my version of nico focuses A LOT on anxiety. nico’s life has, to put it simply, been a nightmare and a half, which ultimately leads to him having a lot of issues with things like self image, his ability to connect with other people, etc. so my version of nico really runs with that, especially in just his day-to-day life.

now, he’s clearly fucking around in this scene, but--

“Nico,” I said at last, “shouldn’t you be sitting at the Hades table?” He shrugged. “Technically, yes. But if I sit alone at my table, strange things happen. Cracks open in the floor. Zombies crawl out and start roaming around. It’s a mood disorder. I can’t control it. That’s what I told Chiron.” “And is it true?” I asked. Nico smiled thinly. “I have a note from my doctor.” Will raised his hand. “I’m his doctor.”

- The Hidden Oracle

now this is a cute giggle scene that i’ll call back to in the next section for other reasons, but nico has up to this point been a hardcore loner. being at camp and around other campers has consistently made him uncomfortable up until blood of olympus, so him making not just a little effort but a whole thing out of it so he doesn’t have to sit alone is what i’m focused on, and why the thought of people disliking him, etc. fuels a lot of his behavior. he’s working on getting over it in the hidden oracle, but he’s still got a long way to go.

in my version of nico, his anxiety is more heavily connected to his phobikinesis, aka his ability to radiate the feelings of fear and death, which is something he inherited from hades. nico frequently uses this in battle as we see, but in just normal life, it shows up a lot more. one of nico’s powers basically lets him kill plant life around him, but when he is especially anxious, angry, or upset, the same happens. a large chunk of people being freaked out by him in the earlier days is because he’s, well, the son of hades, but it’s also his own anxieties getting literally projected onto other people, who then show the same discomfort he’s afraid of them showing. while he’s clearly using this as an excuse to get what he wants in the hidden oracle segment, it is a genuine problem for him, and i don’t think chiron would’ve allowed it if he thought nico was just fucking around. there’s something real behind it that i don’t think we should ignore, so for my version of nico, at least, it’s very real and has seriously changed his life because of how people see him and behave around him.

nico’s anxiety plays into some of his other powers as well. i touch on this later with nico’s “mood disorder”, as he calls it, which he uses to get it so chiron will let him sit at the apollo table during meals, but nico is able to kill things around him with pure anxiety. in house of hades--

Nico braced himself against a column, his legs trembling visibly. “Hey, man...” Jason stepped toward him, but Nico waved him off. At Nico’s feet, the grass turned brown and wilted. The dead patch spread outward, as if poison were seeping from the soles of his shoes.

- The House of Hades

i talk more about this scene later on when it comes to nico’s fears, but nico’s nervousness, shame, sadness, anger, and fear are all connected to how this power manifests itself, and it’s a serious problem for him that he’s never really had to get under control until he starts spending time with more people, i.e. after blood of olympus.

iv. JEALOUSY : i’m not going to expand on this much but nico is a wildly jealous person, which we see multiple times throughout the series. he’s petty and jealous, that’s about it. i don’t think it gets emphasized enough that he feels these emotions, especially as strongly as he does.

NICO’S WORST FEARS.

i. THE DARK : nico spent a disturbingly long amount of time in tartarus. as a child of hades, he claims that darkness never bothered him before--

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

- The Blood of Olympus

--but i disagree when he says this doesn’t bother him at all. not only is nico an incredibly proud individual, he’s kind of an Extra kid that puts on a tough face whenever he feels even vaguely doubted or threatened. he could easily just be bullshitting here so he can do what he wants rather than admitting he’s afraid. my interpretation of nico’s fear of the dark comes initially from the lines--

This did not seem to reassure Nico. “I don’t like being in the dark,” he muttered. An odd complaint for a child of Hades, but I understood...

- The Hidden Oracle

while he’s admittedly not talking specifically about nico’s fear of the dark, the fact that apollo finds it weird for a child of hades to complain about the dark when nico said literally one book ago that the darkness is his “birthright” sparked the idea. especially when it comes to not just nico’s time in tartarus, but the time he was trapped in the jar by gaea’s sons, it’s not an illogical conclusion to say that he has at least an acute phobia of the dark.

ii. CONFINED SPACES : like his fear of the dark, nico’s fear of confined spaces comes from his time in the bronze jar. once he’s captured by gaea’s forces, they drop him in the jar and take him out of tartarus. he’s got limited oxygen in there and needs to go into a death trance just to keep himself alive. at this point, he’s been in the dark for so long, being trapped in pretty much complete darkness in a closed space where he’s slowly running out of oxygen isn’t exactly relaxing, especially after he’s been stumbling around in tartarus and then captured. this basically just means that he gets antsy in closed spaces and big crowds where he doesn’t have his own personal space. he likes hades cabin because he’s usually the only one there, and he can keep it however he wants. i fully believe that after returning to and deciding to officially stay at camp, he gets a little more light in there, changes up his little coffin bed, and keeps lights on at pretty much all times, even if it’s just greek fire or something. complete darkness is something nico only does when it comes to shadow travel.

iii. HIS SEXUALITY / BEING OUTED : cupid pretty much making nico admit that he’s gay in front of jason nearly breaks nico. we see him when he’s trying to still keep his feelings for percy private, he goes so far to try and keep that to himself. we also need to consider how angry/upset nico gets when cupid tries to out him. i mentioned him killing the grass in my section about nico’s anxiety, but nico shows off the full force of his power. i’m gonna quote a few chunks of this part from house of hades, but--

“Nico,” [ Jason ] called, “what does this guy want from you?” ‘Tell him, Nico di Angelo,’ Cupid said. ‘Tell him the real reason you ran from Camp Half-Blood, and why you are always alone.’ Nico let loose a guttural scream. The ground at his feet split open and skeletons crawled forth-- dead Romans with missing hands and caved-in skulls, cracked ribs, and jaws unhinged [ ... ] ‘Will you hide among the dead, as you always do?’ Cupid taunted. Waves of darkness rolled off the son of Hades. When they hit Jason, he almost lost consciousness-- overwhelmed by hatred and fear and shame...

- House of Hades

nico legit summons a mini army of the dead to attack cupid so he can try to avoid admitting he’s in love with percy ( or was, he claims that he’s over it later in the chapter, but personally i don’t think it is ), and if that ain’t an overreaction to someone trying to get you to admit you’ve got a crush, i don’t know what is. then, when we get to the part where nico ACTUALLY admits it, he’s overwhelmed with a wide variety of negative emotions. one more time--

'Stop hiding,’ Cupid said [ ... ] ‘You do not have the strength.’ “Nico,” Jason managed to say, “it’s okay. I get it.” Nico glanced over, pain and misery washing across his face. “No, you don’t,” he said. “There’s no way you can understand.” ‘And so you run away again,’ Cupid chihded. ‘From your friends, from yourself.’ “I don’t have friends!” Nico yelled. “I left Camp Half-Blood because I didn’t belong! I’ll never belong!”

[ ... ] Nico’s voice was like broken glass. “I--I wasn’t in love with Annabeth.” “You were jealous of her,” Jason said. “That’s why you didn’t want to be around her. Especially why you didn’t want to be around... him. It makes total sense.” All the fight and denial seemed to go out of Nico at once. The darkness subsided. The Roman dead collapsed into bones and crumbled to dust. “I hated myself,” Nico said. “I hated Percy Jackson.”

[ ... ]

“I had a crush on Percy,” Nico spat. “That’s the truth. That’s the big secret.” He glared at Cupid. “Happy now?”

- The House of Hades

he’s embarrassed, and ashamed, and when jason tells him it’s fine, he snaps at him--

"Just who I am... Easy for you to say. [ ... ] The only person who ever accepted me was Bianca, and she died! I didn't choose any of this. My father, my feelings..."

i fully believe that part of nico’s fear of coming out is based on the era he was raised in as a child. it’s not clear ( though it’s at least somewhat implied in the above lines ) that he ever got a chance to come out to bianca, but i don’t think he did. while nico’s friends are all cool with it when he does come out to them, the 1930s-1940s were a tense time with the rise of italian fascism and the lead up to world war ii, but all in all, it didn’t create a super safe environment for nico to even consider his sexuality in. especially once italy allied itself with nazi germany, nico’s sexuality would’ve been not only something he considered shameful, but something that he could’ve gotten killed for under the mussolini regime in italy. though he and his family left italy in the 1940s and came to america, at that point, the mentality had sunk in. not everyone struggling with understanding their sexuality knows from a very young age that they’re not straight, and i think that nico would be discouraged from even beginning to understand that side of himself until after bianca died. having missed that opportunity to come out to his family ( with the exception of hades, who’s just kinda “i’m fine with it as long as you stop talking to me about percy jackson and how cool he is” about it ) made him reluctant to share his secret with anyone else, especially when he’s been raised in an environment where that was shameful. one more quote from house of hades, but--

Nico [ ... ] regarded Jason, as if waiting for an attack. “If the others found out--” “If the others found out,” Jason said, “you’d have that many more people to back you up [ ... ].” Nico scowled. Jason still felt the resentment and anger rippling off of him. [ ... ] “I don’t feel that way anymore,” Nico muttered. “I mean, I gave up on Percy. I was young and impressionable, and I-- I don’t...” His voice cracked, and Jason could tell the guy was about to get teary-eyed. Whether Nico had really given up on Percy or not, Jason couldn’t imagine what it had been like for Nico all those years, keeping a secret that would’ve been unthinkable to share in the 1940s, denying who he was, feeling completely alone-- even more isolated than other demigods.

- The House of Hades

nico panics and almost bursts into tears at the thought of jason telling anyone. jason ultimately keeps his secret until nico’s ready to come out ( though it’s my firm belief that nico doesn’t come out to more than a few people; see below ), but nico lives in constant fear of being outed until, at least, he admits to percy that he had a crush on him, which he eventually does in blood of olympus. ( you can read my full analysis of this scene here )

but that’s a huge detour from why i’m talking about this. my main point is that nico’s fear of coming out is centered widely around his own self-consciousness when it comes to the subject and the mindset in which he was raised. it’s not until jason supporting him ( and keeping his secret until he was ready to talk about it to others ) and meeting will solace that he actually becomes more secure with this part of his identity, though he’s still not entirely comfortable with it. i’ve harped on this a lot, and i’ll move on soon, but nico’s discomfort--

Will turned to me. “I apologize for my boyfriend.” Nico rolled his eyes. “Could you not--” “Would you prefer special guy?” Will asked. “Or significant other?” “Significant annoyance, in your case,” Nico grumbled. “Oh, I’ll get you for that.” Meg wiped her dripping nose. “You guys fight a lot.”

- The Hidden Oracle

yes, this is kinda just passed off as a funny little exchange between the two of them, and part of their relationship. nico and will exchange witty banter through a lot of the book, and i’ll point to another little exchange not long after--

“In the meantime, no one else should roam the camp alone. Use the buddy system.” “Understood.” Will looked at Nico. “Will you be my buddy?” “You are a dork,” Nico announced. The two of them strolled off bickering.

- The Hidden Oracle

will and nico are clearly affectionate towards each other throughout the book, and nico is a lot more relaxed around will later on, like when they’re all eating dinner together at apollo’s table ( see the “I have a note from my doctor.” exchange ), but immediately gets cranky when will starts calling him by romantic partner nicknames. it’s not just friendly bickering, it’s discomfort, especially in front of will’s father ( shoutout to apollo ) who could EASILY disapprove of him as will’s partner.

NICO’S POWERS.

there’s a full list of all of nico’s powers and abilities on his about page (here), i’m just going to toss in here that a lot of the specifics fo his abilities i’ve taken some creative liberties with. since he’s got so many and they’re not all touched on that much except for once or twice, i’ve made the executive decision to make my own rules a bit.

feel free to ask questions about this if you’ve got any, he’s got a lot of powers and it gets confusing easily.

MYTHOMAGIC.

this section isn’t anything important it’s more just a disclaimer that i’ve made up all the rules for mythomagic because there are no rules in canon. i’m bullshitting my way through that game and everyone should know it. i’ve based my concept on it on the game stratego, and morphed it into kind of a weird combo of that and d&d. personally i’ve never been part of a d&d campaign, but i’m a champion at stratego, so that’s why i picked that game as the basis for my mythomagic rules.

if you’ve read through to the end honestly congrats i’m impressed. please accept this gif of nico giggling like a moron as your prize

#nda headcanons #( i think i’m running out of time || musings; nico di angelo )#anxiety tw #death tw #ptsd tw #just in case #i know this is long as hell and no one has to read it it's just important to me that i toss it out there #mostly for my own reference but i realized i changed a lot of stuff when it comes to just like. smaller details.#sO #this is a full overview of my precious boy #thanks for your time #please don't reblog #graphic template under the tag #psd made by me #homophobia tw #nazism tw #nazis tw #nda || verse info #mine

11 notes · View notes