Note: This theory
makes the assumption that Germany was reincarnated from Holy Rome.

A lot of people seem to be confused about why it is that
Germany can be seemingly emotionless at times, or rather, too logical and
rational. This is especially true in Buon San Valentino, as Germany is noted to
experience emotions like shame, confusion, and heartbeat (presumably love) for the first time.

From the point of a psychoanalyst, however, they would understand
this perfectly, as Hima consistently adopts Freud’s ideas into his craft. It’s
not so much that Germany is emotionless; it’s more like he’s repressed traumatic
memories where these emotions have been experienced.

This puts the person in an emotionally-stunted and subdued
state. The emotions are subdued because experiencing them can trigger the
recollection of these traumatic memories.

Now, it’s not directly said that Freud’s ideas are used, but
both Germany and Austria have been shown to read psychology books. As the most
famous psychologist and being an Austrian himself, it wouldn’t be a farfetched
guess to assume that Germany and Austria have read some of Freud’s work.

Terminology I’ll go
over: Defense mechanisms, repression, the unconscious mind, catharsis.

Bear with me here. I’m slowly going to go through some
concepts before tying this all back to the strips.

For Freud, anxiety is something that we all experience the
moment you exit the womb. You’re in an unfamiliar environment, and anxiety is
there to warn you of impending danger. Basically, because it’s so uncomfortable
to experience, anxiety controls your behaviour by causing you to avoid
threatening environments or situations.

However, if it’s a certain reality you can’t cope with, a
person will employ defense mechanisms to
avoid confronting it.

Repression is one
of those mechanisms, whereby the person is either unable to reflect upon or
remember an event in their conscious mind. The memories are no longer accessible
to them, hence repression; the burying away of emotions.

The unconscious part
of our mind extends beyond our conscious awareness. It’s where all our
repressed memories, emotions, instincts, and biological urges are stored.

All right, not so bad I hope? Let’s tie this all together.

Holy Rome’s dissolution ended a brutal series of wars. That
said, if Germany is his reincarnate, wouldn’t it make sense to repress these
memories? How nice would it be
to be born, only to have a wave of pain and heartbreak immediately hit you?

It would be too hard for the recently-born nation to handle.
That’s why I believe Holy Rome’s memories were repressed before Germany was
even born. Again, it acted as a safe guard to protect him from the trauma Holy
Rome endured beforehand.

There’s even a small hint that Germany has amnesia and has
possibly repressed his memories. Once born, Prussia reminds Germany that it’s
okay to refer to him as a brother several hundred times. To me, that seems like
Prussia may be attempting to trigger Germany’s memory, only to realize that
Germany doesn’t remember anything from his past.

Last term, I promise.

The job of a psychoanalyst is to bring these unconscious
memories or thoughts to their patient’s conscious mind. In this case, it would
allow Germany to remember the past he’s repressed. The goal of psychotherapy is
to achieve catharsis – emotional relief.
When a patient goes through catharsis and their unconscious conflicts are
resolved, they’re able to healthily experience all emotions again.

As I’ve said before, patients who have repressed traumatic memories
to their unconscious minds are subdued emotionally. Because they are unable to
confront these emotions, they have trouble expressing them, or in the most
extreme cases, don’t express them at all.

You see this with Germany too. He’s emotionally-stunted, not
only from his past, but also as a result of his early life. He was immediately
thrust into wars and likely missed out on learning how to form healthy
relationships with the other nations.

For Freud, what you experience in childhood determines your
personality. So, basically, Germany not being good at socializing and
expressing his emotions is a product of his childhood. Now combine that with
repressed memories from a previous life and you have some serious emotional stunting
at play here.

Repeatedly throughout the series, he’s stated to have trouble
smiling.

Likewise, he also has a habit of improperly expressing his
emotions, coming off as angry and scary to other people.

In summary…

The reason Germany has trouble with his emotions is that he’s
likely repressing memories that prevent him from expressing these emotions
freely. If he does, then it puts him at risk of remembering the trauma from his
past. It’s not a conscious decision to not remember things either, it’s something
he can’t control.

In other words, Germany does experience emotions, but some
of them he may not experience fully or properly. He’s emotionally stuck from
this repression, and his troubled childhood only adds more fuel to the fire.

For Freud, if Germany wanted to be able to smile and express
his emotions more freely, then he would have to confront his past. Until Germany
goes through the emotional relief brought on by catharsis, then he won’t be
able to overcome the present hurdles he faces in forming healthy relationships
with the other nations.