The purpose of this post is to delineate the fact that
nations that have cultural influences on each other are not biologically
related. While the influencee may adopt traits from the influencer in some
cases, it doesn’t always constitute a biological relation. What’s even more
confusing is that there are specific adopted traits that the nations use to
mark a biological relation.

I know this sounds obscure, but it’ll make sense when I go
through some examples.

Romania and Bulgaria
vs Romano and Veneziano:

A gag with Romania in the series is that he claims that he’s
a descendant of Rome, and, therefore, an Italy brother.

However, even though Rome did, in fact, instill significant
cultural influence in Romania, Romano is quick to reject this claim. He
identifies the presence of a curl as proof of biological lineage from Rome.
Remember that Rome is said to have had many grandchildren and adopted
grandchildren.

Source: Hetascanlations, World Stars Chapter 163 + Hetarchive (Bamboo Thicket, eng trans., October 30th, 2014).

Later, we see the same rejection occur with Bulgaria, who
has Roman ruins.

Source: Hetarchive (Bamboo Thicket, eng trans., Oct 22nd, 2014).

England, America,
Finland, and France: (+ more)

As I’ve stated before, England and America are not
biologically related. England is stated to be the fourth and youngest sibling
in his family, consisting of Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.

Source: Hetarchive (Bamboo Thicket, eng trans., Aug 4th 2010).

In the Battle for America, it’s explicitly stated that
England becomes America’s brother. We also learn that because America was a
“melting pot” of several cultures at the time, he inherited certain physical
traits from his colonizers.

Source: Hetarchive, The Battle of America.

For example, in the trio’s feud to make America their little
brother, Finland notices that America looks like him.

The distinction between cultural influence and blood
relation is necessary otherwise it would lead to a slippery slope where all
nations are related to each other. So, unless explicitly confirmed by Himaruya,
nations aren’t related to each other regardless of their histories. Arbitrary
as the biological relations may be, you work with what’s given to you.

Lastly, I’ve seen people comment that there’s a confirmed
biological relation between America and Finland. That’s not the case. Finland says that America has some genes from his people. Remember that America emerged as a personification representing several cultures. The genes are the traits, but because America has so many cultural influences, they don’t consider each other to be blood-related.

The fact that America didn’t identify with Finland as a
family member in the first place is telling of this cultural influence, as well
as the fact that Finland offers to become a father figure for America, who in
the context of the strip had been feeling jealous of kids who get presents from their fathers on Christmas.

Source: Hetarchive, Christmas 2010 Event.

France and Canada:

Similar to the situation with England and America, Canada
inherits France’s hair.

Source: Hetascanlations, World Stars Chapter 192.

France, America, Canada, and Seychelles vs England, Hong
Kong, India, Australia, New Zealand, Hutt River, Sealand, and Wy:

We learn that France’s cultural influence is a dominant trait
that prevents America, Canada, and Seychelles from inheriting England’s bushy
brows. Although, interestingly enough, Seychelles had initially been designed
to have one thick eyebrow and one bushy one to represent English and French influence.

Source: Hetarchive, Seychelles profile.

Meanwhile, without French influence, Hong Kong, Australia,
New Zealand, Hutt River, Sealand, & Wy inherited the bushy brows.

Source: Hetarchive (Bamboo Thicket, eng trans.,Nov 12th 2013) + Hetascanlations, World Stars Chapter 269.

Of most importance and what I can’t stress enough is the
example of Hong Kong. It proves, with the most clarity, that cultural influence
does not have a causal relationship with biological relation.

After becoming English territory, Hong Kong’s eyebrows grow
bushy from the resulting English influence on his culture.

Source: Volume 6, A wise man has no specialty.

It’s said that England put a curse on him to have his eyebrows become so thick, but you also have to remember that England’s eyebrows themselves are cursed. The implications would be that his influence caused the curse to pass on.

Source: Volume 5, Special Booklet.

Point is, as far as Himaruya’s concerned with his
characterizations:

Cultural influence ≠ biological relation.

Me: I’m not a violent person.

Also me:

What is your favourite Au or series in Hetalia?

Probably the annoyed Romano series. [x] [x] [x]

Q & A

Thank you 😀

Most canon? I’m not sure
what you mean by that, but this is Okinawa’s character [x].

Do you think Czechoslovakia could be considered canon? I
mean, they were married and all and the split was called a divorce, so…

While it is hinted that they miss living with each
other, (i.e., Czechia not having Slovakia to hand her a towel when she takes a
shower and Slovakia realizing that Czechia makes better toast), as well as the
fact that they both get flustered and embarrassed whenever this topic arises,
they haven’t explicitly confirmed feelings for each other. Therefore, it’s not
canon [x].

Additionally something I’ve noticed, in the post where
America grumbles that England didn’t give him any chocolate: Not only was
America eating it in a gluttonous seeming manner to show England he didn’t
care, he had a whole bucket of it. That kind of ideology ‘if i have much more
of ___ then i can be happier and better than other people’ seems excessively
America-esque.

The strip [x]:

It is very much “America-esque!” It’s part of his
characterization. He hoards things in bulk due to being poor and not having had a
lot of possessions when he was younger—notice the link with the chocolate again! [x].

If you want to analyze this psychologically, he filled the void of his loneliness with material objects that would only fulfill him temporarily. It didn’t adress his lacking interpersonal life.

Is there a reason
for why a nation’s immortality can spread to other living beings?

Not that I can recall. My guess is that because time functions differently for them, an
invisible forcefield envelops around their body. Humans or pets that get close
to the nation and the different pace of this time forcefield for prolonged
periods of time subsequently causes them to experience time differently too.

I also forgot to mention something! We do have an instance
of a nation’s immortality rubbing off on a human: Howard the Spy from volume 3 [x].

Himaruya notes that while England took precautions not to spend
too much time with Howard, it’s possible that he may have lived and stayed
youthful longer than the average human [x].

Hey, do you remember the time where himaruya
promised that the story of chibitalia and holy rome will have a happy ending?
What do you think about that?

I’ve done a longer post on this, but I’m 90% sure that the
Chibitalia storyline mimics Disney’s version of Cinderella [x].

Making the unconfirmed assumption that Holy Rome is, in
fact, Germany, I think the big reveal is going to pan out with Germany finding
the old pair of panties that Chibitalia gave to Holy Rome as a parting gift [x].

Since objects in the manga have proven to trigger repressed
memories [x], I think that’s how Germany’s officially going to find out/ not
being able to deny anymore that he’s Holy Rome.

I mean, how else would they have a happy ending if Holy Rome isn’t alive?

Over the course of the series, I’ve
found several clever ways that Himaruya uses the nations physical bodies and
interactions to reflect wider historical, social, and political circumstances.

Political pressure and suppression:

Typically, I’ve noticed that the
use of physical force between a dominant and subordinate nation reflects
political pressure and suppression. Russia is a prime example of this. You’ll
often see him squeezing, bending, and pressing down on other nations—obliviously,
of course. Remember that he’s unaware of his cruelty [x].

Ex: I’ve speculated before that
the reason Latvia is so short is a symbolic representation of how he has been
politically marginalized and controlled for a significant part of his history [x].

In other words, he lacked the
independence and autonomy that would have allowed him to achieve growth and
flourish on his own. His growth was stunted by virtue of him being pushed down
into submission.

Latvia citing the reason for his
shortness as a result of Russia pushing down on his head, to me, acts as a
wider metaphor for political suppression.

Ex: Russia squeezes and hugs Czechia and Slovakia to end
their dispute over whether they should include a hyphen in their name. In this
context, the hug is Russia asserting pressure over not what he thinks should be
their name but rather what their name will be [x].

Ex: Russia hugs Bulgaria from behind [x].

Ex: In the strips depicting the Baltics path to independence
from the USSR, Russia squeezes Lithuania’s shoulders [x].

Conflicts:

Wars and battles can also be depicted in seemingly trivial
interactions between nations. The battles occur literally but are repeated figuratively
in these interactions.

Ex: To symbolize how France picked at the remains of some of
Austria’s lost territories after the War of Austrian Succession, France also
loots from Austria directly [x].

Servility and Class:

Different classes and social status are reflected in the
clothing that dominant and subordinate nations wear. Nations who are
conquered, annexed, or made to be under the control of another nation are
adorned in servants’/ maids’ clothing.

Ex: Chibitalia becomes a servant to Austria after being
conquered [x].