Niko Bellic
dark and gritty protagonist of the 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV
Niko Bellic (NEE-koh BEL-ək) is a fictional character and the playable protagonist of Rockstar North's video game Grand Theft Auto IV (2008), the sixth main entry in Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto series. He also makes non-playable appearances in the game's episodic content The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, both released in 2009. Michael Hollick provided the character's voice and motion capture.
Within the game's storyline, Niko is an ex-soldier from Eastern Europe, who was shaped by his experiences fighting in an unspecified war, developing a very cynical view on life. After becoming involved with a Russian crime syndicate and discovering that his unit was sold out to enemy forces, he decides to move to Liberty City to pursue the American Dream, inspired by his cousin Roman's personal tales of luxury and riches. However, upon his arrival, he quickly discovers that those stories were greatly exaggerated, and attempts to improve his and Roman's financial situation by becoming involved with the local criminal underworld. As the game's story progresses, Niko works for various prominent crime figures in the hopes of finding the traitor who betrayed his unit during the war, while slowly learning to let go of his past and quest for revenge and attempting to distance himself from the criminal lifestyle.
Niko's character received critical acclaim for his maturity, moral ambiguity, and personal growth, and has been called one of the best protagonists in the series. For his role, Hollick won Best Performance by a Human Male at the 2008 Spike Video Game Awards.
Conception and development
Writer Dan Houser described Niko Bellic as "a more rounded character" than those in previous games.
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