View source for Nikolai Rostov

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{{Infobox character
| name = Nikolai Rostov
| series = [[War and Peace]] {{&}} [[A Gentleman In Moscow]]
| image = 
| caption = 
| first = 
| last = 
| creator = [[Leo Tolstoy]]
| portrayer = [[Jeremy Brett]]<br />[[Oleg Tabakov]]<br />[[Sylvester Morand]]<br />[[Jack Lowden]]
| full_name = Nikolai Ilyich Rostov
| nickname = 
| alias = 
| gender = Male
| occupation = Soldier first. Then quits the army and becomes a farmer.
| title = Count
| family = Ilya Rostov (father)<br />Natalia Rostova (mother)<br />Vera Rostova,<br/ >[[Natasha Rostova]] (sisters)<br />[[Petya Rostov]] (brother)<br />[[Sonya Rostova]] (cousin)
| spouse = [[Maria Bolkonskaya]]
| significant_other = 
| children = Andrei, Mitya, and Natalia
| relatives = 
| religion = 
| nationality = Russian
}}

'''Count Nikolai Ilyich Rostov''' ({{langx|ru|Николай Ильич Ростов}}) is a character in [[Leo Tolstoy]]'s 1869 novel ''[[War and Peace]]''.

Count Nikolai is the brother of Vera Rostova, [[Natasha Rostova]] and [[Petya Rostov]]. At the start of the novel, Nikolai is aged 20 and a university student. He gives up his studies in a zealous desire to serve his country as a [[Hussar]] in the fight against [[Napoleon]]'s French invading forces.<ref name="Part I Chapter 8">{{cite book |last1=Tolstoy |first1=Leo |title=War and Peace |date=1869 |location=Part I Chapter 8}}</ref> He dreams of manly success and glory in battle, although these dreams are somewhat undermined after he falls and is injured in the Battle of Schöngrabern. Nikolai is initially easily influenced and acts out of emotional responses; unlike his childhood friend, the social climber Boris Drubetskoy, who writer [[Dimitri Pisarev]] regarded "as the complete antithesis".<ref>A. V. Knowles, ''Leo Tolstoy: The Critical Heritage'' (Routledge, 1997), [https://books.google.com/books?id=07UoMt7lyZcC&pg=PA114&dq=%22Nikolay+Rostov%22&lr=&ei=gSIqSfrwK4jWNrXsxMAK 114].</ref>

He refuses to use his family's contacts to improve his rank in the army, and comes under the influence of the libertine Dolokhov, losing large amounts of money to him at cards. Nikolai promises to marry his cousin Sonya but on his first leave home he pays no attention to her, and regularly goes to visit a [[courtesan]]. When Nikolai's friend Dolokhov proposes to Sonya and is rejected, Nikolai is easily led to financial ruin and social humiliation by Dolokhov, who manipulates him into again losing 43,000 Rubles at cards. Later, Sonya releases Nikolai from his promise to marry her. The book ends with his successful marriage to Maria Bolkonskaya and the couple's close friendship with Natasha and Pierre Bezukhov. Also, Nikolai's mother and Sonya live with him and his family at Bald Hills.

== See also ==
*[[List of characters in War and Peace|List of characters in ''War and Peace'']]

==References==
{{Reflist}}3.| ((SHOWTIME™)) (April-May, 2024) A "'''Gentleman In Moscow'''" Series Episodes 

==External links==
*"[https://www.imdb.com/character/ch0045232/ Nikolai Rostov (Character) from ''War and Peace'' (1956)]," ''The Internet Movie Database''

{{War and Peace}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rostov, Nikolai Ilyich}}
[[Category:Fictional counts and countesses]]
[[Category:Characters in War and Peace]]
[[Category:Fictional Russian people in literature]]
[[Category:Male characters in literature]]
[[Category:Literary characters introduced in 1869]]
[[Category:Hussars]]