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's NPC for instance.

Appareance
Niko is a tall caucasian male in his thirties. He has dark-brown hairs, and brown eyes. He usually sport a stern look (or angry when facing enemies), but rarely show happiness, only on a few moments.

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).

Personnality
At first, Niko appears to be a humble, but very cold assassin. He is one of the less ruthless protagonists (of course, when compared to Tommy Vercetti, who is far more evil). He's friendly to pretty much anyone, unless of course his sworn enemies. However, he frequently enters in a terrible anger whenever his cousin or close friends are threaten by somebody (usually criminals), and once this happens, he become a reckless, determined and merciless killer. 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.

Niko isn't bloodthirsty and doesn't like killing persons who did nothing to him, such as Tom Goldberg. He only does "jobs" to find money or protect Roman from his loan sharks or blackmailers.

Despite this, he's very wrathful, and don't hesitate to kill those he consider as betrayers, threats or even arrogant dimwits (such as Vlad Glebov); there is a few characters, however, that the player can spare but also kill as well, like Darko Brevic. He has sociopathic tendencies as he does not show remorses for the people he smuggled, sold or killed at the end of the storyline, but is sorry for Packie if his sister is killed during the wedding. He's also far less psychotic than Claude Speed or Trevor Philips.

One of his main traits is his cynicism, 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. However, he does not wish to return to Serbia.

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.
 * 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 characters in the GTA IV-era (including very few NPC encountered during the game, the others protagonists Luis Lopez and Johnny Klebitz) have this ability.
 * Marksmanship: Niko is a real pinpoint crackshot, and can easily defeat countless goons or policemen without the slighest effort and with the worst gun.
 * 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.
 * Robbing skills: during the robbery, he was a precise, 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.
 * Kill criminals (if the player plays the side-missions).

Druing the Storyline

 * In the mission Bleed out, he saves Roman from being beating out by Loan sharks.
 * 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 Babysitting, he protects Kim Young-Guk from boats and helicopters that attack him.
 * 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 and the ambush caused by Pavano Family.
 * He wiped out of the worst crime family - the Rascalov's one - which can be considered to be heroic.

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. Though the game, russian's attacks will consolidate their relationship. At the end of the game, if Roman is still alive, they frequently hang out together.

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.

Brucie Kibbutz: Niko doesn't really like Brucie Kibbutz, which he assimilate as an idiotic dimwit. Despite this, Brucie consider Niko as a "true friend" and the two remain friends.

Trivia

 * 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.

Similar heroes

 * He is similar to Carl Johnson:
 * 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 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.
 * However CJ continued to lead his gang, while Niko gave up his lifestyle.
 * Both fates' are unknown, but it is supposed that they continued to live after the events of their games.


 * Surprisingly, he is similar to Akame from Akame ga Kill:
 * Both had a very difficult childhood, and eventually became criminals and assassins.
 * Both are expert fighters, although 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 very little to no mercy for their enemies.
 * Both are wanted by the police's forces of their country.
 * Both are successful, but lost many of their family's members at the end.
 * 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.