Father Niccolo Paladina — World of Shadows

Father Niccolo Paladina

Protagonist — World of Shadows

Father Paladina didn't sign up to be a warrior. He signed up to be a priest. To serve, to counsel, to stand between his congregation and the ordinary sorrows of the world. What comes to Everett is not an ordinary sorrow.

About Father Paladina

Niccolo Paladina is a Catholic priest in his thirties or forties — the exact age depends on where in the series you find him — working an ordinary parish in Everett when the supernatural arrives with none of the subtlety you'd hope for.

He's not a Hunter. He doesn't have combat training or exorcism expertise or the thick-skinned certainty that comes from years of facing the worst things the dark side of the world offers. What he has is faith — and the pressing question of what that faith is actually worth when something genuinely monstrous is standing in front of you.

That's the question that defines him.

Personality

Paladina starts afraid. That's not a criticism — fear is the correct response to what he encounters. He's faithful, devoted, a man who has built his life around the idea that God is present and that presence means something. The crisis in Everett doesn't destroy that faith. It tests it in ways he couldn't have prepared for, and what emerges from that test is stronger than what went in.

The courage he develops isn't the kind that doesn't feel fear. It's the kind that moves forward anyway, because the alternative is abandoning the people who need him. That's harder, actually. That takes more.

Character Arc

Paladina's arc is a faith-tested-and-strengthened story, which sounds straightforward until you're in the middle of it with him and realize how much it actually costs. From terrified priest to faithful warrior isn't a comfortable journey. It's earned alongside Arthur Vangeest and Abigail — people who see what he's capable of before he does.

He appears across all three World of Shadows books, and his role deepens as the larger conspiracy surrounding the Church comes into focus. What he discovers about the institution he serves is not always easy to sit with.

Books Featuring Father Paladina

The Everett Exorcism (Book 1)

The supernatural comes to Everett and Father Paladina finds himself on the front lines of something he was never trained for. His faith is his only real weapon. Let's see if it's enough.

Start Reading The Everett Exorcism →

The Vatican Children (Book 2)

The conspiracy reaches higher than a small-town exorcism. Father Paladina gets pulled into something that implicates the Church itself.

Start Reading The Vatican Children →

The Bishop's Legacy (Book 3)

The endgame. What the Church has been hiding comes into the light, and Father Paladina has to decide how far his faith — and his loyalty — actually extends.

Start Reading The Bishop's Legacy →

The World of Shadows books are part of Lincoln Cole's connected fiction universe — five series that share characters and lore.

Father Niccolo Paladina is a character in the World of Shadows series by Lincoln Cole.

Wish you could get paper copies of my books? Find great deals on My Books Here.