Niko Hamada

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## General Information

### **Residence**

* Hilltowne, Michigan
* Lakeview, Michigan (formerly)

### **Occupation**

* Homicide Detective (in the original timeline)
* Private Investigator

### **Workplace**

Hilltowne Police Department (in the original timeline)

## Relationships

### **Romances**

* Mel Vera (ex-girlfriend)
* Greta (fiancée)

### **Friends**

Trip Bailey † (in the original timeline; erased)

### **Affiliations**

Hilltowne Police Department (in the original timeline)

## Production

### **Portrayed by**

Ellen Tamaki

**Niko Hamada** is a private investigator whose life was altered by the Vera-Vaughn Charmed Ones. Originally, she was a homicide detective for the Hilltowne Police Department and was in a relationship with Charmed One, Mel Vera, whom she left her fiancée Greta to be with. Niko's past was rewritten as so that her and Mel never met to keep her safe from the demon, Hunter Caine.

In the new timeline, she quit her job and became a private investigator instead. Due to having never met Mel, Niko is still engaged to Greta and presumably married her.

## History

### Early Life

#### Original Timeline

Niko trained to become a police officer before being promoted to a detective. She was stationed in Lakeview, Michigan and was engaged to a woman named Greta. However, after meeting Mel Vera, Niko decided to leave Greta and move to Hilltowne to be with Mel. After joining the Hilltowne Police Department, she was partnered with Trip Bailey, someone she would become friends with.

Mel and Niko continued their relationship for two years, until the tragic death of Mel's mother, Marisol Vera, drifted them apart and caused them to split up.

#### A New Timeline

After having her history rewritten by the Charmed Ones, Niko felt compelled to make a change in her life. Even though she was on the verge of making detective, she decided to quit her job and become a private investigator instead. However, she confided in Mel that being on the force almost gave her a nervous breakdown, leading her to never meet Mel and staying with Greta.

### Throughout the Series

* Season 1

In "*Pilot*", Niko and Mel were spending the night together when Mel received a text from her mother to come home. That same night, Mel and Maggie come home to find their mother dead, having been plunged from the attic window.

Three months later, it was revealed that Niko and Mel had broken up. After Mel assaults an ignorant student, Mel's now ex-girlfriend and partner Detective Trip Bailey arrive at Vera Manor later to talk to Mel about her assault and agree to talk the student out of pressing charges against her. The next day, Mel is meeting with Niko at the local café and learns she can freeze time when she stops a barista from accidentally dropping coffee on her. Unable to control her awakening power and freaked out by what transpired, Mel heads out. Later, Niko visits Mel at the house, where Mel finally learns to master her power. While in the woods, Maggie runs into a demonic dog and makes a run back to the house, looking for Mel. Mel tells her to be quiet as she is with Niko, and Maggie quickly makes a lie.

In "*Let This Mother Out*", Mel is on the phone with Niko suggesting that they meet for a lunch date. Later, the Vera-Vaughn sisters are interrupted by Niko who has arrived with lunch and they quickly hide the Book of Shadows. As she leaves, Niko accidentally takes the container holding the truth serum that the sisters had made for Harry, instead of her tea.

During an interrogation, Niko slips up and tells a perp and his lawyer that they have no case. Niko then calls Mel, revealing she loves her very deeply and she is a terrible driver. Mel suddenly realizes that she took the wrong drink to work and rushes to get her out of the station to stop the disaster that has now occurred. Niko also reveals to Mel that she bought her the Cure album as a guilt gift because she cheated on her last week with her ex-fiance Greta. Later, Mel gives Niko a call, saying she loves her very much and will see her soon.

In "*Sweet Tooth*", after a training simulation, Mel is interrupted in the attic and nearly caught with the Book of Shadows by Niko. The next morning, Niko nearly catches Macy using her powers to move eggs in the kitchen. When Niko leaves, Mel tells Macy that they need to take matters into their own hands at finding the vessel for the Harbinger of Hell.

Later, in the dorms, Mel runs into Niko, who is investigating a missing student. Niko suspects something is up with Mel and she is hiding something. Mel frustrated by being unable to tell her the truth freezes the hallway and explains everything to Niko. The use of magic alerts Harry, who reminds Mel against spilling the beans on her powers.

Niko later attends the Halloween party, but ends up getting called from the party to investigate three dead bodies that have been found on campus, all murdered by the Harbinger of course. While preparing a protection spell, Mel and Harry continue to disagree and have a tense conversation. Mel hates that she has to hide from Niko, explaining that she never had to hide who she was because she grew up in such an accepting environment after she came out gay. She feels that being forced to keep this secret makes her feel like she's trapped in the closet again.

After temporarily defeating the Harbinger, Mel and Harry have a bit of a breakthrough in their disagreement. Harry promises her that once the danger they're currently facing is gone, he'll try to help her get permission from the Elders to tell Niko the truth.

In "*Exorcise Your Demons*", while the Vera-Vaughn sisters have the Harbinger restrained in the attic, Niko and her partner Trip drop by the Vera Manor for a surprise visit as part of their investigation into the disappearance of Angela Wu (the Harbinger's human vessel). Mel, Macy, and Maggie attempt to convince the detectives that they know nothing. However, when strange noises are heard coming from their attic, it leaves them, especially Trip more suspicious. Luckily, just in time, Elder Charity Callahan shows up to help cover the sisters' tracks.

Later that evening, while performing a ritual to exorcise the Harbinger from Angela Wu's body, Trip, who had been trailing Mel and Maggie, stumbles on the scene and is killed after being struck by a pole caught up in the whirlwind for the spell to save Angela. Trip's death deeply affects Mel, who feels responsible for having not kept him away. Niko arrives later at the Vera Manor and is devastated over the loss of her partner and close friend.

In "*Other Women*", still devastated by the death of her partner Trip, Niko's having a hard time believing that he's actually responsible for the murders being pinned on him. Mel, very reluctantly going along with the Elders' "handling" of his death, is delicately encouraging Niko to move on. However, the detective can't help but feel like something's off and won't let it go. She reveals to Mel that Trip was secretly investigating Marisol's death and apparently he was a pretty good detective as he'd managed to connect it to two other mysterious recent deaths. Just before his death, he left Niko a voicemail cluing her in on his investigation, and now she's determined to pick up where he left off, hoping to clear his name in the process. However, the case files and his notes are all missing. Knowing Niko is playing with fire (and magic) by investigating the deaths of three Elder witches, Mel attempts to dissuade her from moving forward but inadvertently leads her to the notes.

At Trip's secret fishing cabin, Niko finds all the notes that she's been looking for. However, unbeknownst to her, she's being followed by an "FBI agent" she interviewed with earlier — who also happens to be a demonic Shapeshifter. By shapeshifting into Trip, the demon confronts a very confused Niko, who hands over the DNA he's been after. He knocks Niko out and sets the cabin on fire using hellflame, a green flame that Mel's powers don’t work on. Luckily, she arrives in time and is still able to save Niko without magical intervention. Later, in the hospital, Mel and Harry thwart the demon when he makes a second attempt at Niko's life.

Despite being the first sister to go all-in on being a witch, the consequences of their new lives seem to be hitting Mel the hardest. Feeling responsible for Trip's death and putting Niko's life in danger, Mel is desperate to protect her... even if it means sacrificing their relationship. Noting Niko only transferred to Hilltowne for her, Mel asks Harry for a spell that'll rewrite history so that she and Niko never met, erasing the sequence of events leading to the danger Niko currently faces. A reluctant Harry is able to procure the Book of Shadows from the Elders, however, the powerful spell requires the Power of Three, prompting Mel to ask her sisters for their help. Harry wants the sisters to be absolutely sure this is what they want to do. Still desperate to save Niko at all costs, Mel pushes forward. Later, while Macy and Maggie perform the spell, Mel says a tearful goodbye to Niko who disappears before her as the timeline is rewritten.

The next morning, the Vera-Vaughn sisters reconvene over a full English breakfast, courtesy of Harry. A heartbroken Mel cyberstalks Niko on her phone, who in this new timeline, is still a detective in Lakeview. However, rewritten history has personal consequences for Mel as it costs her the TA job she had in the original timeline, due to Niko not being there to wake her up for her interview.

In "*Kappa Spirit*", a heartbroken Mel locks herself in her bed until her sisters pull her out. At the end of the episode, Maggie asks Mel to change out of her shirt. She then explains that it was the shirt she wore the day she met Niko, but she must now let her go.

In "*Out of Scythe*", **TBA**

In "*Bug a Boo*", when Mel, Maggie and Harry barge into AptitudeMatch Headquarters to save Macy, the first person who sees them immediately begins her speech about finding matches for them. Mel immediately freezes the entire room, saying she is "still getting over her ex".

At the end of "*Keep Calm and Harry On*", Niko returns to Hilltowne as a private investigator. She is currently hired by Jada Shields's parents who are concerned that she might be involved in a dangerous cult.

She officially introduces herself to Mel in "*Witch Perfect.*" It turns out that she was truly hired by a couple of witch hunters who were after Jada, eventually resulting in their arrests in "*Touched by a Demon*".

In "*The Replacement*", Mel tells Niko that she is a witch, and in "*Source Material*", she gives Niko a ring to protect her from all magic, thus making her the only non-magical mortal still able to move around when Mel freezes time.

In "Ambush", Niko confesses her feelings to Mel and they share a kiss. Mel reveals that she rewrote history to protect Niko. However, Niko goes off on her for changing her life without consent, and shortly thereafter, she collapsed with her nose bleeding severely.

In "*Red Rain*", Niko was found at the hospital but was not affected by the Harbinger, as the other patients were. Instead, she was affected by her memories flooding through her brain, which happened when Mel told her everything from her past history. When Greta, Niko's fiancée, came to see her, she took off the ring that Mel gave her, thus making her susceptible to the Harbinger, and she was eventually affected by it. She was eventually healed when Galvin Burdette sacrificed himself to heal all who were infected by the virus.

In "*The Source Awakens*", Niko's last known location was at a cafe, and Mel went there to say one final goodbye to her. She froze time, and Niko, wearing the spell blocker ring, was immune to the effects. She waved hello to Mel, but when Mel unfroze time, a minivan drove between them, and when it left, Mel had disappeared.

## Personality

Headstrong and brave in the face of danger, even if it meant the danger was supernatural. When she was on a case, she would pursue the matter despite the cost. She was also known to be very passionate.

## Physical Appearance

Niko is an Asian woman that has dark brown hair that reaches her neck. She wears the typical outfit of a tomboy detective, generally striped shirts, jeans, and heel boots. She used to wear thick glasses though she wasn't near-sighted.

## Abilities

* **Police Training:** In the original timeline, Niko was a police detective and received training in order to do her job efficiently. In the altered timeline, Niko quit before making detective and pursued a career as a private investigator.
	+ **Investigation Skills**: Niko is a skilled investigator and looks into all of her cases very thoroughly.

## Equipment

* **Spell Blocker:** An enchanted, rosewood ring given to Niko by Mel to grant her immunity from spells and powers.

## Relationships

### Friendships

* **Niko and Trip Bailey:** Niko and Trip were partners and friends. The two worked well together but had differences when Trip started to become suspicious of Mel and her sisters. When Trip died, Niko was devastated from losing her friend but was even more upset by the fact that he was linked to the Halloween murders, framed by Charity Callahan. When Mel and her sisters rewrote history, Niko and Trip never became friends and Trip died of other means.

### Romantic Life

* **Niko and Mel:** Niko had a long history with Mel, having left her fiancée, Greta, to be with her. The two were together until Mel's mother died, putting a strain on their relationship and forcing Niko to break up with Mel. The two got back together after Mel discovered that she was a witch and Niko saw a change in Mel's attitude and general demeanor. But their relationship and history were erased by a spell cast by Mel, wanting to keep Niko safe from the world of magic.

* **Niko and Greta:** Niko and Greta were engaged but Niko ended the engagement to be with Mel. The two did hook up while Niko and Mel were broken up for some time but Niko regretted it and felt guilty about the situation. Since Mel changed history, they remained together.

## Trivia

* Niko serves a role similar to that of Andy Trudeau's in the original series.
* She is a lesbian and is the second LGBT+ character shown within the series.
* Niko is Japanese-American just like her portrayer.
* According to Joey Falco on Twitter, it would have been revealed in Season 5 that Choochi, Ray Vera's friend, was actually Niko. However, as this never came to pass in-universe, this information is rendered non-canon.
	+ In this regard, it looks like she was going to be one of Mel's exes who would have to confront her new relationship with Roxie.