What Made Niko Bellic a Great Character

Niko Bellic is a horrible human, but he’s also a great character. In this video, DeVante breaks down what makes Niko so good even in a post-GTA 5 world.
#Gaming #GTA #grandtheftauto

The poor guy was on a steady losing streak that didn’t get much better after the war. Unable to find a job, Niko fell into human trafficking work in order to get by.

And I know, only monsters would smuggle and sell other human beings, so that last part may not seem like it's helping me sell him as a great character. But stick with me because I believe it's deep flaws like that one that help make him believable. We’ll get to that in a second.

Following a botched smuggling run, Niko joined the merchant navy to escape Russian crime boss Ray Bulgarin. This in turn led to his decision to head to America where he thought he could start fresh with his wealthy cousin Roman. In reality, Roman was broker than the district he lived in, and America proved to be just as crime infested as other places in the world.

Niko played the cards he was dealt, tried to reshuffle, but ended up with the same hand in a new city. Rockstar made a deeply flawed character with a troubled past and made me believe that he was a guy down on his luck looking for a change. I wanted so badly for him to have at least one win, even if he technically didn’t deserve it. Because deep down we all want to believe in second chances.

Unfortunately for Niko, that second chance was harder to achieve thanks to three of his key motivating factors: money, family / loyalty and revenge. Each time Niko accepts a new mission throughout the story, one or more of these factors lie behind his decision to say yes. And just like his flaws that I hinted at earlier, knowing Niko’s ‘Why’ is another way Rockstar makes him believable.