what country do you think Niko is from

[Brotha]

Guys, I cannot get why people hasn´t settled this down. I hopes this gives everyone a conclusion.

Dan Houser humself said a couple of weeks ago that Niko is created by R* after watching some movies that involved Yugoslavians and Chechen people, along with the studio´s "love" for tracksuits, they created Niko after some tries. Either way, I guess his language will give it away in the game, when he swears in his mothertounge.

[mutu]

I think he's home country will be known in one of the first cut-scenes in the game. Maybe Roman ask how it's going in Niko's home country or something like that.

[LDoubleU]

does it relly matter to be honest? i mean i think that his nationality is pretty much obsolete as it is not where he is from that matters but where we are going to take him

[STL67]

does it relly matter to be honest? i mean i think that his nationality is pretty much obsolete as it is not where he is from that matters but where we are going to take him

wow, that sounded awesome reading that , "As it is not where he is from that matters but where we are going to take him." sounds like a really famous quote

but anyways, True say my friend

[LDoubleU]

thanks thought it up on the spot, and if it is a famous quote then meh... i claim it first

[Victor_Vance]

The topic does say what country do you think Niko is from..

[vatreni]

Uh, he's Caucasian (or whatever), it's on the wanted posters.

lol caucasion is not a country

caucasion is the colour of the skin or somethin

i think hes croation

he is definitely not croatian. there is a distinct difference between accents which only locals can pick up on. i grew up in croatia and can tell that he definitely has a far eastern european accent (bulgaria, ukraine, most likely chechnya). rockstar has thown in many things which contradict what nationality he is. first of all, niko clearly has a russian/chechnyan accent. although many of the words he says do translate into croatian/bosnian/serbian (all very similar, main difference is dialects), niko speaks words such as "bracoru", for which the direct croatian/bosnian/serbian translation is "brat", or "braco". bracoru does not originate from the croatian/bosnian/serbian region. However, it is understandable that there are similarities between russian and serbian accents, as they were allies during WW2 (at a time when chechnya was under Russia's control) - note that both countries are familiar with cyrillic.

another thought - when niko buys clothes for the first time, he says something along the lines of "these look like theyre from back home". the store and the clothes are not necessarily Russia-related, but definitely USSR related (USSR included russia, chechnya, siberia, kazakstan... back during WW2)

from a few threads, i have read that niko is predicted to be around 28-32 years old. from the storyline, he says he did bad things after the war when he was very young (age 14-16?). the only open conflict war at such a time was the 1994 Russia-Chechnya war. (of course, this is all assuming that gta iv is set in 2008).

Then of course there is the comments made by roman about niko's serbian tongue. i think this is one of the things rockstar has thrown in to avoid labelling niko to a specific nationality.

all of nikos past affiliates are russian/bulgarian, etc. also, some of the words niko speaks are not in either the cro/serb language.

but as someone said earlier in this thread, rockstar purposely didnt give him a specific background to avoid political debates as to the representation of the character.

my best guess is that the war which is refered to in the storyline is the 1994 Russian - Chechnyan war, and that niko is from USSR (russian/chechnya/siberia...), and not serbia or bosnia. definitely not croatia i can guarantee you that much.

[the_dude420]

He is 100% NOT Russian. Theres a bit of dialogue in the game, where he himself says He is NOT Russian. I'm just gunna throw out Bratislava.

But the bottom line is R* just wants us to think hes from a Soviet nation.

Edited April 30, 2008 by the_dude420

[Swifty]

He is 100% NOT Russian. Theres a bit of dialogue in the game, where he himself says He is NOT Russian. I'm just gunna throw out Bratislava.

But the bottom line is R* just wants us to think hes from a Soviet nation.

You know that that's a city right?

[the_dude420]

I did not. What country is it in? Just heard of it in History/ Geography and Eurotrip.

[Swifty]

It's in Slovakia, they go there in Hostel. Would explain why Niko felt he had to get away, but I don't think it's as War torn as Serbia or Chechnya. I still believe R* have not given him a specific nationality. Perhaps you could find out the nationality of the voice actor & that would give you Niko's nationality by proxy.

[coffin dealer]

It' s obvious that Niko is from Russia,Niko is short for Nikolai.He also says some stuff in Russian ,like ' nahui' , ' biztets' ,you can also hear Russian in the cutscenes.

[DANNYELL]

well i think russian!!!

[the_dude420]

I already said this guys.. play the game more and you will hear it. HE SAYS HE IS NOT RUSSIAN IN THE GAME.

[vatreni]

It's in Slovakia, they go there in Hostel. Would explain why Niko felt he had to get away, but I don't think it's as War torn as Serbia or Chechnya. I still believe R* have not given him a specific nationality. Perhaps you could find out the nationality of the voice actor & that would give you Niko's nationality by proxy.

i doubt niko is from serbia because serbia is not war torn. during the 1991 Independance war of croatia, serbia were the aggressors, attacking croatia, bosnia and slovenia - those are the war torn countries. this might help people understand why croatians get angry and offended when you call them serb, it is not the same thing.

It' s obvious that Niko is from Russia,Niko is short for Nikolai.He also says some stuff in Russian ,like ' nahui' , ' biztets' ,you can also hear Russian in the cutscenes.

theres a difference between saying niko is from russia, and saying niko is from USSR.

i dont think niko is russian, however, i do think he is from one of the former countries in the USSR; Chechnya. this is why i think you are finding similarities with some of the words; chechnya and russia used to be the same country. do some quick google research on chechnya independance battles in the 90's, and i think you will find timeline connections with niko's background (This link might be helpful - http://www.infoplease.com/spot/chechnyatime1.html).

[Chris]

I'm closing this topic because otherwise you'll never stop arguing.

Play the game. Niko is Serbian, it is mentioned several times in cutscenes (turn subtitles on), Niko swears in Serbian on certain missions,

Niko's mother emails in Serbian

.

He is referred to in game as a Russian and says "I'm not Russian" and also a "Polski", he makes a comment everytime someone gets his nationality wrong, listen out for them.