Niko Bellic
Niko Bellic (born 1978 in Yugoslavia) is the protagonist of Grand Theft Auto IV. He has a strong Eastern European accent and is of Serbian descent. He was voiced by Michael Hollick.
Early Life
Niko was born in Yugoslavia and grew up in Bosnia. His father was a bully who never believed in whilst his mother, Milica, was unhappy that her son grew up in such a harsh place. He had a brother who was killed, although it is not stated how or when. He had wanted to be an astronaut but in the war-torn Bosnia this was impossible.
Bosnian War
He fought during the Bosnian War as an "angry" teenager, where he witnessing and committing numerous atrocities, leading to his cynical view on life. Niko was almost killed in 1998 when the fifteen man unit he was in were ambushed, with twelve of his friends killed in the attack. Only he, Florian Cravic and Darko Brevic, who had betrayed the unit, survived. He knew that he was not the betrayer, so the only two options were Darko and Florian.
Post War Life
Work was hard to come by following the war, although Niko did not leave, working in the criminal underworld for the next ten years. He also continued his search to discover who ambushed his army unit, until his arrest. After being released from prison, he began working for a human trafficking ring under the orders of Rodislav Bulgarin. When a boat sank in the Adriatic during one smuggling run into Italy, Niko managed to swim to safety, although everything else was lost. Rodislav Bulgarin blamed the sinking on Niko, stating he had sunk the ship intentionally to escape with the money. Bulgarin was too powerful to fight back against and so he joined the merchant navy.
Life in Liberty City
He spent seven months at sea on the Platypus ship, heading for Liberty City, where his cousin Roman lived. Niko also knew that Florian Cravic had moved to the city. He arrives in Liberty City in 2008 and realises that Roman's tales of success are lies as Roman only owns a small flat, a taxi depot and has large gambling debts. Niko ends up working for Roman, protecting his cousin from the loan sharks that keep harassing him. Roman soon loans Niko's services to friends and enemies alike, which angers Niko although he needs the money, and sets in motion the events of the game.
Niko's view of American culture is one of confusion and mild disgust. The rampant materialism annoys him and he has trouble relating to Roman's fascination with the country. Plus, after working for so many criminals, he feels that everyone in Liberty City is a crook.
Murders commited by Niko
- Bledar Morina, Kalem Petrela, Dardan Petrela (Niko Beats them to death)
- Ivan Bytchkov (Niko can choose to kill Ivan by Mikhail's orders through Vlad)
- Vladimir "Vlad" Glebov (Niko kills him for Sleeping with Mallorie and Upsetting Roman)
- Lenny Petrovic (Niko kills him for suspicion of Betraying Mikhail)
- Mikhail Faustin (Niko executes on the orders of Dimitri)
- Lyle Rivas (Niko kills him on orders of Brucie)
- French Tom (Niko kills him on orders of Brucie)
- Cherise Glover (Niko can choose to kill her on orders of Dwayne)
- Jayvon (Niko kills him on orders of Dwayne)
- Oleg Minkov (Niko kills him on orders of U.L. Paper)
- Dwayne Forge (Niko can choose to kill Dwayne)
- Playboy X (Niko can choose to kill Playboy X)
- Adam Dimayev (Niko kills Adam on orders of UL Paper
- Tom Goldberg (Niko kills Tom on ordes of Francis)
- Clarence Little (Niko can choose to kill Little on orders of Francis but he is killed on the streets as a random character anyway)
- Teddy (Niko kills Teddy on orders of Ray)
- Isaac Roth (Niko assassinates Roth on orders of Ray for trying to kill him)
- Frankie Garone (Niko kills Garone on orders of Gerry McReary)
- Bucky Sligo (Niko kills Bucky on orders of Derrick for threatening to kill him and his family)
- Aiden O'Malley (Niko kills O'Malley on orders of Derrick)
- Francis McReary (Niko can choose to kill McReary on orders of Derrick)
- Derrick McReary (Niko can choose to kill Derrick on orders of McReary)
- Chubby Charlie (Niko kills Charlie on orders of Phil)
- Anthony Carrado (Niko turns off his life supplie to make him die and Niko does this on orders Jimmy)
- Ray Boccino (Niko kills Ray on orders of Jimmy, whom he thinks he is a rat)
- Young-Guk Kim (Niko kills Kim on orders of UL Paper and Jon Gravelli)
- Darko Brevic (Niko can choose to kills Brevic for betraying his unit)
- Dimitri Rascalov (Niko kills him on Revenge storyline or kills him in the Deal Storyline for sending the hitman to kill him and accidently shooting Roman in the struggle)
- Sergei (Niko kills him only in the Deal Storyline for shooting Roman while struggling to stop him for shooting Niko)
- Jimmy Pegorino (Niko kills him on Revenge storyline only for revenge of killing Kate)