Niko Bellic

"It was before that, two things. You remember, during the war, we did some bad things and bad things happened to us. War is where the young and stupid are tricked by the old and bitter into killing each other. I was very young, and very angry. Maybe that is no excuse."

- Niko Bellic

Niko Bellic (in Serbian: Нико Белић) is a main character from the Grand Theft Auto 's franchise, appearing as the protagonist of Grand Theft Auto IV, a supporting character/unseen antagonist in its extension The Lost and Damned, a secondary antagonist in its extension The ballad of Gay Tony, and is mentionned by both Lester Crest and Packie in GTA V.

Althought having committed many villainous deeds, Niko is shown to be very protective and nice towards his family and friends, and is one of the most kind GTA's protagonist. Aside his "jobs", he displays a nicer behavior, helping poor NPC's for instance.

Appareance
Niko is a quite tall caucasian male in his thirties. He has dark-brown hairs, brown eyes and a tiny bear. He usually sport a stern, emotionless look.

His casual outfit is a brown jacket, dark-grey trousers and brown shoes. However the player has access to several outfits as he/she progress: a medical outfit (which Niko use to kill Anthony Corrado), an expensive suit (which Niko use during official events such as the Roman's wedding), an outfit from the "Statue of Happiness" or even Claude's outfit (from the hero of Grand Theft Auto III). He also can wear a bataclava (from the bank robbery).

Personality
At first, Niko appears to be a humble, but very cold assassin, who take most orders without the slighest redundancy. Most of times, he seems emotionless, only expressing anger whenever he faces his enemies. Despite his coldness behavior, he can be friendly and a loving individual (such as with Kate). He's incredily protective towards his relatives, espetially his cousin Roman, whom he saved his life more than one time during the storlyline. He frequently enters in a terrible anger whenever his cousin or close friends are threaten by somebody (usually criminals), and once this happens, he becomes a reckless, determined and merciless killer. Unlike most GTA's protagonists Niko is not greedy by nature, and do not seek money.

Niko's biggest weakness is his inability to let go of the past - which causes him much aggression when the issue of finding his betrayers comes up; Niko is criticized by many of his friends and most notably Roman, for this weakness. However, Packie knew his feelings and often show compassion, as well as Kate. Additionnally, one of his main traits is his cynicism and nihilism, which he acquired from the Yougoslavian's war. He dislikes politics and the greedy mannerisms of Roman (saying for instance "capitalism is a dirty business" after saving the latter from the Albanians), as well as the american society, which he finds hypocrite and extremely materialistic. However, he does not wish to return to Serbia due to the extreme state of disrepair of his homecountry.

Deep down, Niko is an insecure and confuse man who just seek affection from his relative and peace in his life, as he just want "Roman back" if the latter die after the Deal. Neverthless, Niko can be very bloodthirsty as, like every GTA's protagonist he can kill dozens of people without the slighest remorse, but is definitely not a barbarian. However, he has absolutely any fear as he is willing to confront dozens of armed henchmen to save Roman or fighting highly trained NOOSE's agents to defend the crew during the robbery. In fact, he's very wrathful, and is willing to kill those he consider as betrayers, threats, arrogant dimwits (such as Vlad Glebov), or anyone who stand in his way, including "innocent" police officers; there is a few characters, however, that the player can spare but also kill as well, like Darko Brevic. He doesn't like to liar, but is sometimes willing to keep the truth for himself, even if such attitude unfortunately lead to hypocrisy, which he ironically finds repulsive.

Like many in-game's characters he has sociopathic tendencies as he does not show remorses for the people he smuggled, sold or killed at the end of the storyline (and during free roam), but is genuinely sorry for Packie if his sister is killed during the wedding. He's also far less psychotic than Claude Speed or Trevor Philips.

Interestly, Niko almost always refuses alcohol when it is offered to him (he asks for water in the mission Ivan The Not So Terrible) except for the mission The Holland Play where Playboy X pours him a glass. Niko goes to drink it, but changes his mind and puts the glass on a table. There is a scene where Niko does drink a glass of vodka (on the rocks) in the mission One Last Thing, while talking to Jimmy Pegorino, but this is understandable considering what he had just been through.

At the end of the game he definitly left his criminal's lifestyle, and now just officially work as the manager of the Bellic's Cab company (co-manager if Roman is alive). Despite this, some of his internal wounds have not healed and some of his deeds and atrocities that he witnesses continues to haunt him, even if he successfully got away from his troubled past.

Skills/Power

 * Military Training: Niko spent years in the army, and therefore has a very high level of military training as well as an excellent body condition.
 * Survival skills: his military training allow him to survive in the most hostile environment, including urban areas, which is very useful in the concreted Liberty City and its large buildings.
 * Nigh-infinite stamina: Niko is one of the few characters, alongside Luis Fernando Lopez and Johnny Klebitz, who can indefinitly run, no matter what weapon he's carrying. This allow him to outrun most of enemies as well as most cops who are in bad physical condition. Niko can also swim for several in-game hours (i.e. several real-life minutes), althought he'll drown if he swim for too long.
 * Speed: althought not the fastest character from the Grand Theft Auto 's franchise, he's still faster than most of characters (including Johnny Klebitz).
 * Durability: he has a high level of tolerance for pain and therefore can sustain several shots before dying.
 * Strenght: althought not the strongest character from the Grand Theft Auto 's franchise, Niko has a significant amount of strenght, superior to most of characters.
 * Reflexes of steal: he has fast reflexes. For instance, he manages to dodge Eddie Low's hit when the latter tried to slay him. However, his reflexes are not flawless, as Andrei successfully manages to knock out both Niko and Roman. (Although Andrei is the only character to have successfully did this.)
 * Deadly hand-to-hand fighter: he's a formidable fighter.
 * Enhanced equilibrium: Niko has an enhanced equilibrium, which allow him to stay in place and aiming even if getting shot. Only a few selected characters in the GTA IV-era (including very few NPC encountered during the game and the others protagonists Luis Lopez and Johnny Klebitz) have this ability.
 * Marksmanship: Niko is a deadly shooter. He knows how to use every guns of the game and can defeat countless of armed thugs or even highly trained forces such as NOOSE's teams with slight efforts.
 * Commandment: Niko has an intense charisma which allow him to command his allies even in the worst of cases. For instance, he convinces the team during the Liberty City Bank's robbing to go into the subway in order to lose the police. However, he's not a control freak, and often refer to his bosses or allies.
 * Enhanced driving/piloting skills: he can drive every kind of vehicles, boats and even helicopters, and also do drive-by while doing so.
 * Persuasion, deception and manipulation: even if he doesn't like this (unlike his nemesis Dimitri), Niko is a master manipulator and can trick his enemies in order to kill them easily. An instance is when he kills Francis/Derrick, and then hide the truth to Packie (and the McReary's family).
 * Robbing skills: during the robbery, he was a precise, very efficient and cold-blooded raider.
 * Fearlessness: Niko has pretty much fear of nobody. The only person he fears could be the serial killer Eddie Low.

During Free Roam

 * Gives homeless people moneys for begging to get money.
 * Make taxi rides for Roman. (Niko can no longer do this after Roman's Sorrow)
 * Kill criminals (debatably).

During the Storyline

 * In the mission Bleed out, he saves Roman from being beating out by Loan sharks.
 * In the mission Jamaican Heat, he watch over Little Jacob's meeting and protect Little Jacob from being attacked during the ambush in the meeting
 * In the mission Luck of The Irish, he protects Packie and his friends from the ambush at the meeting with Sniper Rifle.
 * In the mission Hostile Negotiation, he saves Roman from his kidnapper.
 * In the mission Meltdown, he retrives back the diamonds to Ray that were stealed by Luca's crew
 * In the mission Babysitting, he protects Kim Young-Guk from boats and helicopters that attack him.
 * However, this can be considered as futile, as he kills Young-Guk on the next mission.
 * In the mission Hating The Haters, he wipes out Bernie Crane's homophobic stalker
 * In the mission Entourage, he protects Bobby Jefferson from the ambush and later escort him safely to City Hall.
 * In the mission Pegorino's Pride, he protects Jimmy Pegorino and his bodyguard from the ambush caused by Pavano Family.
 * He wiped out of the worst crime syndicate- the Rascalov's one - which can be considered to be heroic.
 * In the random encounter with Eddie Low, he wipes out the serial killer Eddie Low (who is belived to be killed 10 people in Liberty City over last month)
 * In the random encounter with Cherise Glover, he protects her from her abusive boyfriend by beating him up.
 * In the random encounter with Hossan Ramzy, he helps him get his money back from his employer who refused to pay him due to him being an immigrant.
 * In the random encounter with Marnie Allen, he drives her to the terminal so she can return to her family in the midwest and gives her $500 to help her.

Family
Nico's father: it is mentioned that Niko's father was an alcoholic and very abusive father.

Milica Brevic: Nico's does love his mother. One proof is that even if the player chooses to respond negatively to her e-mails, Niko will send a positive response to her, which shows that he genuinely cares for his mother and does not want to upset her.

Roman Bellic: Roman is like a brother for Niko, and the latter is very protective towards his cousin, despite all his lies. After Hostile Negotiation, their relationship knew a drift but they remain good friends. If Roman die, Niko will regret the good times with his cousin.

Friends
Little Jacob: Little Jacob is the best friend of Niko. The two are very protective each others, and Little Jacob is always willing to help Niko on missions, as well as the reverse. The two does not talk about their past deeds but usually philosophical topics. Several times, Little Jacob offered Niko drugs but the latter always decline. If their friendship reach 70%, Jacob will sell low price weapons for Niko.

Brucie Kibbutz: Niko doesn't really like Brucie Kibbutz, which he assimilate, at least in the beginning, as an idiotic dimwit. Despite this, Brucie consider Niko as a "true friend" and the two remain friends. If their friendship reach 70%, Niko can do races for Brucie.

Packie: the two doesn't get along very well at the beginning, but eventually became very good friends after Niko save his lifes several times and did a good job at the robbery; however Packie doens't assist Niko at the end of the story. If Kate died, Packie will call Niko, crying over his sister's death. If their friendship reach 70%, Niko can call Packie to get a bomb.

Dwayne Johnson (determinant): if Niko choice to kill Playboy X and hanging out with Dwayne Johnson, they will become very good friends. Unlike Little Jacob, Dwayne often talk about his past; Niko often relate, as the two were poor since their young and had horrible fathers. Dwayne doesn't assist Niko in his side missions but he can send two henchmen as backup for Niko once their friendship has reached 70%.

Enemies
Dimitri Rascalov: at first, Dimitri seemed to be a good and friendly guy, althought cold and unpredictable, so Niko started to befriend him. Even after his betrayal, Niko tried to be compassionate, as he knew that Dimitri suffered for years within Mikhail's influence. However, once Rascalov kidnapped Roman, Niko realizes his greedy and treacherous nature, and sworned that he will "cut off" his face and destroy his gang. He expresses absoluteny any remorses towards his nemesis when the latter beg for his life, if the player chose to cut the deal out and hunt Rascalov on his boat.

Jimmy Pegorino: at first, Niko treated the Pegorino's don with respect, althought he quickly finds him egomaniacal and obnoxious; but when Jimmy betrayed Niko, the serbian chased him until until he either kills him or witnesses him being executed by Rascalov (in the Deal's ending).

Ray Boccino: Niko instantly disliked Boccino, as the mafioso literally called him "a punk" and treats him as a mere subordinate.

Reception
Niko quickly becomes one of Grand Theft Auto 's mascot and one of the most appreciated and beloved protagonist of the franchise. His dark, gritty past, combined to his sad ending appear as a stark contrast to the happy ending from the previous opus Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas; as such, Niko is often qualified as the symbol of the renewal and maturity of the franchise.

Trivia

 * Like every Grand Theft Auto the player can kill innocent people if he/she wants, making Niko a brutal killer with very little heroic qualities and close to be Pure Evil. However, those kills are not considered canon.
 * He was voiced by Michael Hollick.
 * Unfortunately his voice gave up, so it is unlikely that Niko make a come back in future games.


 * Niko Bellic is one of the deadliest protagonist of GTA, having killed over a hundred foes and almost all of his mission-givers (other criminals such as Eddie Low, policemen and agents from the NOOSE and FIB not included).
 * Ironically, Nico stated that he doesn't like to kill and is one of the less ruthless GTA's protagonist.


 * Niko had a childhood crush on a girl from his village, named Mila Tadic. Roman will confirm this during friend activities.
 * He may be sadomasochist, as Alexandra Chilton comment that Niko did "kinky" things with her (if Niko dated her).
 * Without player control he never hurt women while carjacking them.

Similar heroes
IMPORTANT: for the readabilty of the article, please do not add more instances.
 * He is very similar to another GTA's protagonist, Carl Johnson:
 * Both are redeemed villains.
 * Both are the protagonists of their game.
 * Both were betrayed by two of their mission givers, which eventually become their nemesis (Big Smoke and Ryder for CJ; Dimitri Rascalov and Jimmy Pegorino for Niko).
 * Both have sociopathic tendencies, but (sometimes) feel remorses.
 * Both are heroes by proxy.
 * Both entirely wiped out two gangs (the Ballas and the Vagos for CJ; the Rascalov's mafia and the Pegorino's family for Niko).
 * Both left a large imprint to the criminal underworld of their settings.
 * Bother are the strongest characters of their world.
 * However CJ continued to lead his gang, while Niko gave up his lifestyle.
 * Neverthless, both remains fugitives who were never get caught.
 * Both killed (nearly) all of their foes.


 * Surprisingly, he is similar to Akame from the anime Akame ga Kill:
 * Both are redeemed villains.
 * Both had a very difficult childhood, and eventually became criminals and assassins.
 * Both are expert fighters. Akame usually rely on her swords and mystical weapons known as "Taigu", while Niko usually use his guns.
 * Both are the archenemy of the most corrupt enemy of their story, the Prime Minister for Akame and Dimitri Rascalov for Niko.
 * Both are very protective towards their family and friends but show nearly absolutely no mercy for their enemies.
 * Both are wanted by the police's forces of their country.
 * Both are successful, but lost many of their relatives at the end, including someone they've cared a lot about (Roman/Kate for Niko and Tatsumi for Akame, although only on the anime).
 * Both gave up their criminal's lifestyle at the end of the story.
 * However there is major difference between the two. While Akame fought to destroy the Empire, Niko didn't seek to overthrow the government, but simply worked for money. Also, while the highest form of legal autority from Akame ga kill, Prime Minister Honest, is the Big Bad of the story, the highest form of legal autority from Grand Theft Auto IV, the mayor, isn't an enemy of Niko Bellic nor the Bellic's family.
 * Also Akame has way more strenght, acceleration and durability than Niko, as she had demonic powers from her Teigu, while Niko is "just" a normal badass.


 * He is similar to Agent 47:
 * Both are hitmans.
 * Both are sociopaths.
 * Both are heroes by proxy.
 * Both are rather cold but have a sensitive side.

External link

 * Niko Bellic on the Grand Theft Auto Wiki.