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A character in War and Peace

Nicholas Rostov

Natasha's elder brother, a cheerful hussar officer who loses a fortune at cards, and later saves the family estate.

What they want

He wants to do his duty and be liked, and later to get his family out of debt.

The book

War and PeaceLeo Tolstoy, 1869

Three young Russians grow up while Napoleon's armies march from Austerlitz to a burning Moscow and back out again.

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Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Nicholas is brave, honest and not very thoughtful. He loves the army, the Tsar and his horse, and he is half engaged to his cousin Sonya for most of the book.

How Nicholas Rostov Is Portrayed

Appearance, manner, and tone — as the book sketches them, in our words.

  • His first actionIn Book II, Chapter XIX, at Schöngraben, he faces a charging Frenchman, throws his pistol at him instead of firing, and runs for the bushes.
  • Forty-three thousand roublesIn Book IV, Dolokhov wins forty-three thousand roubles from him at cards in one night, and Nicholas has to ask his father for it.
  • The wolf huntIn Book VII, Chapters III and IV, he leads the family's wolf hunt at Otradnoe, with his uncle and Natasha riding along.
  • Paris, 1814In the first epilogue, Chapter V, he is with the Russian army in Paris when news comes that his father has died.
Their ending, and the commentary — spoilers aheadHow the book leaves them, what happened after, and what the record says. Open when you're ready.

Nicholas refuses to turn down his father's debts, leaves the army, and works to pay them. He marries Princess Mary and becomes a careful landowner at Bald Hills.

If you like War and Peace

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If you like Leo Tolstoy

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    American novelist and composer whose expatriate fiction explores dislocation, unstable intimacy, fatalism, and North Africa.

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    Henry Miller

    The Brooklyn dropout who arrived in Paris broke at thirty-eight and wrote the exuberant, banned books that ended American censorship.

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