Without exaggerating
and as I’ve proven in other posts, the nations suffer from a lot of things; to
name a few, anxiety, depression, and PTSD. One thing that they don’t have and
have never suffered from is Stockholm Syndrome.

Of course, the whole unequal power dynamic between the conquered country and
their conqueror makes for an unhealthy relationship, no doubt. However, it’s
within these relations, problematic as they may be, that the conquered
countries are able to form better personal relationships with their ruling
country.

What needs to be
differentiated here is that the nations have a persona as well as a person. Put
another way, they relate to each other both politically and on a personal
level. This is why you’ll see nations fight over one seeking to obtain sovereignty
and yet still attempt to befriend each other despite their hostile political
relations.

Ex: America wanting
to visit a sick England after the American Revolution.

Regardless if the
nation is conquered and ruled over, what I’ll argue is that they’re still able to
exercise agency and free will. Not only that, but they don’t wholeheartedly
comply, have their own opinions, and their survival is never threatened should
they oppose their ruling nation. It’s for this reason that Stockholm Syndrome
doesn’t compare to what we see in Hetalia.

There are many
problems with the characterization in these earlier strips [x]. Stockholm Syndrome
isn’t one of them.

What is Stockholm Syndrome?:

Stockholm Syndrome
occurs when a hostage forms an emotional bond with their captor. This, in turn,
is at first a survival response that eventually becomes internalized and warped
into an unhealthy attachment. [x]

The victim’s response
occurs in four stages; shock, denial, traumatic depression and recrimination,
and resolution and integration.

The shock stage
occurs when the victim realizes that their life is in danger. On a surface
level, their behaviour appears to be cooperative and friendly when they abide
by their captor. In reality, they’re only trying to stay alive.

The denial stage occurs
as this cooperative rationality further moulds itself into the victim’s
thinking. The victim minimizes and dismisses the abuse committed by their
captor as they spend more time with them.

The traumatic
depression and recrimination stage occurs when the victim begins to see their
captor more and more as a provider. This is called traumatic infantilism, which
entails the victim’s becoming increasingly compliant, obedient, submissive, and
more sympathetic toward their captor. It’s a survival tactic whereby children
are engrained to cling to their caregivers for protection.

The last stage, resolution
and integration, occurs when the victim loses their agency [identity] and
identifies with their captor. In their eyes, their captor gives them life. This
is especially in cases where the victim’s life is saved by the captor.

The attachment grows
so strong that being released from their captor is now seen as the danger
rather than being with them. Again, it’s like a child being separated from
their parent. The trauma causes the victim to develop an infantized mentality. They cling to the figure with the most power, someone who can offer the most protection.

That said, let’s tie
this back to the strips.

Why Italy didn’t have Stockholme Syndrome:

Don’t get me wrong.

The trauma that both
Italy brothers went through in being conquered and fought over by other
countries is not healthy at all.

Holy Rome attempting
to drag Chibitalia against his will is not healthy.

Austria’s harsh
punishments of Chibitalia are not healthy.

Despite all this,
Chibitalia does not have Stockholm Syndrome.

I’ve said this
before, but a lot of the older characterizations of the nations are cruder,
more exaggerated, and not up to par as they are now. Hima’s grown as a
content creator, and it’s important to recognize that. 

I acknowledge the
problems of these earlier storylines. All I’m aiming to do is prove that
Chibitalia isn’t a victim of Stockholm Syndrome.

Chibitalia’s life isn’t
ever in danger, unlike a victim of Stockholm Syndrome. Although, he is
a hostage in that he has no choice but to live in Austria’s house.

It’s bullying that
Chibitalia fears, not a fear for his life.

The boss and house
system that the series depicts involves the conquered nations acting as a
servant to the ruling nation.

Despite this power differential, they live together and have been seen
to treat each other as family members.

Chibitalia still
exercises agency and opposes Austria and Holy Rome on several occasions.

If Chibitalia’s life
was truly in danger, he wouldn’t have drawn a mustache on Austria’s portrait.

Nor would he have painted,
dressed up in costumes, or spent more time with Holy Rome than he absolutely
had to. Politics and nationhood personas aside, they’re people living in one
house, dysfunctional as the reason that brought them all together was.

Not to mention that
Chibitalia refuses to form an empire with Holy Rome. 

However little power that
he had, Chibitalia wasn’t wholeheartedly complying to demands in order to
survive. He didn’t sympathize or adopt Holy Rome/ Austria’s perspective as his
own. Instead, he maintained his individuality and held firm on his opinions.

If anything, Holy
Rome learns from Chibitalia and apologizes for all that he’s done before he leaves for war.

Admittedly, there is
one moment where Italy is taken hostage by Spain in the Maria Theresa Series. When given a choice between
the two, Italy chooses to stay with Austria. This is the closest that we come
to an aspect of Stockholm Syndrome, and yet, it’s distinctly not the same.

Just imagine it.
Italy loses his grandfather, his security blanket and protector, and is living in
a new house with big, scary adult nations. Eventually, they warm up to them and
he grows accustomed to the new niche he’s found. Being conquered and having to
move again would disrupt that environment – his comfort zone.

That’s why I believe
that Italy chose Austria. It didn’t have to do with survival. Spain would have
taken good care of him, probably even better than Austria in terms of emotional availbility. Italy
simply wanted to stick with what he was familiar with, with those whom he had
formed a close personal bond.

It’s also important to mention that Italy is still a child in this strip. He’s
terrified and respectively clings to Austria because that’s who he’s been
raised by ever since Rome’s passing.

Lastly, when he’s not
forced to choose between who he’s ruled by, Italy doesn’t perceive his freedom
from Austria to be dangerous, as would someone with Stockholm Syndrome. He
zealously fights for his autonomy.

In sum, while many
aspects of the older strips are questionable and problematic, applying a label as severe as
Stockholm Syndrome is not warranted. It actually detracts from the discussion
acknowledging how the series has evolved for the better…

There’s nothing wrong with
acknowledging past mishaps of a content creator if they’ve already proven to
have learned from these mistakes.