comet asked Rick Riordan:

ello ello! big nico fan here :D. my question is, i was re-reading battle of the labryinth recently and nicos character in that book was very queer-coded. my question is, was that intentional or an accsident? and did you realise this while you were writing it or did a fan tell you and you were like "oh, yeah your right!... hu? guess hes gay now!" thats all! love your work! very excited for TCOTD :]

Rick Riordan That's a great question. My own observation as a reader has been that we all tend to look at characters through the lens of our own experience. So when we talk about something being "coded," often it's not so much about what the author intended, but about how we as readers subjectively respond to the character. It's like when your literature teacher points out a metaphor in a book and says, "See, the author intended us to see this thing as a symbol of blah, blah, blah." Speaking as an author, I can promise you that 99% of the time, the author had no such intention. It just happened. I didn't consciously say to myself, 'ha, ha, I will cleverly hide small details about Nico in my books and then, in book nine, suddenly spring the truth upon my unsuspecting readers that he is gay!' No, but his character grew and developed over time as I wrote more about him, until it dawned on me -- even ME, a clueless old straight dude -- that he was gay. At which point, it was my responsibility to write him the way that felt true.

flag