Disclaimer: This
post will strictly explore Germany’s character in canon. It does not explore
nor make the Holy Rome = Germany assumption.

Misconception: He’s
gruff, mean, stand-offish, and curt to the point of being rude.

Reality: He’s
sweet and considerate but is very poor at expressing himself. He lacks
socialization skills and can also come off as too formal.

Germany’s main complex is that he comes off as angry to
others when he actually isn’t.

Source: Hetascanlations, World Stars Chapter 1.

Ex: He asks out
Italy for drinks after a training session, and Italy interprets him as being
angry.

Source: Hetarchive, Comic Diary 4.

Ex: He has trouble
smiling. The consequence of this is that others are afraid of his domineering appearance.

Source: Hetarchive, Christmas 2010 Event.

However, he’s able to smile when he’s drunk.

Source: Hetascanlations, World Stars Chapter 1.

Ex: He’s so poor
at socializing that he needs to rely on manuals for things such as friendship,
romance, and even how to smile.

Source: Hetascanlations, World Stars Chapter 7 + Hetarchive, Buon San Valentino Series (mentioned).

Ex: He absolutely
loves dogs.

Source: Volume 5.

Ex: He loves
baking, especially with his friends. He has an entire character song dedicated
to this, titled “Ich liebe…”

Source: Hetascanlatoins, World Stars Chapter 33.

Misconception: He
was a Nazi and rooted himself in the fascist cause.

Reality: It’s
complicated…

I know this sounds bad, but something I always want to
emphasize is the need for contextualization.

I’ll be upfront by saying that technically Germany was a
Nazi but superficially and through force. Addressing the second part, he did
not support the fascist regime at all.

Let’s unpack this.

For one thing, nations in the series are obligated to adhere
to their bosses’ orders.

Source: Hetascanlations, World Stars Chapter 97.

Ex: Germany is
sent all over as Hitler’s lapdog and seems to be used to being screamed at.

Source: Hetarchive, Hetare 4: Pact of Steel.

The series doesn’t explicitly name Hitler,
instead describing his as strange in a euphemistic manner; he’s also said to be suffering from boss troubles—remember that the
series’ satirical and comedic genre constrains what historical material it can
cover.

Source: Hetarchive, Hetare 5: Lietuvis.

Ex: Although
Finland is joking in the strip, it’s hinted that Hitler would have been capable
of imprisoning Germany should he have disobeyed his orders.

Source: Ibid.

Things get complicated when Germany is asked to annex
Austria. He vehemently opposes but is threatened into doing so. We then see him
holding up propaganda at a booth with Nazi insignia that promotes the annexation.

Source: The Austrian Anschluus + Comic Diary 7 (mentioned).

This anti-fascist narrative is further elaborated on when
Germany describes his daily life as torture and equates torture in a POW camp
to a mere mosquito bite. In other words, Germany’s daily life in Nazi Germany
isn’t glorified; it’s instead equated to a living hell for him. He’s respectively said to be tolerating his days through pain.

Source: Volume 1, Hetarchive, Hetare 5: Lietuvis.

Not only that, but Hetalia is also anti-war.

Ex: Germany is
shown reflecting on how miserable he is at war. He then later agrees to a
temporary truce with England on Christmas Eve, where the two play soccer.

Source: Volume 3.

For longer posts with more extensive evidence on how Hetalia
as a series is anti-war and anti-imperialist, please go here [x] [x] [x].

Misconception: He’s
so straight-laced that he can’t take a break.

Reality: He’s so
straight-laced that he schedules his breaks.

Ex: Germany
actually loves vacations and is more than capable of taking breaks.

Source: Hetascanlations Chapter 7 & 216 + Vollume 6.

Bonus facts:

The greatest hint of the Holy Rome = Germany connection lies
in the Buon San Valentino strips. Germany blacks out and appears to recollect a
fuzzy image of Chibitalia, suggesting that it might, in fact, be a repressed memory
of his.

Source: Hetarchive, Buon San Valentino pt 3.

He’s a germaphobe and neat freak.

Source: Volume 1.

He first meets Italy during WW1.

Source: Volume 1.

He was originally based off a German acquaintance of
Himaruya.

Q & A

hi! I am brand new
to the fandom (weird for 2018, I know haha) but I would like to start off by
saying thank you for what you do! Anyways, my question was, so I see a lot of
fan art for different ships and whatnot. I have only watched the anime not read
the comic yet (but I plan to!) and I was wondering if there are actually any
ships that are/were canon and if there’s not any, what are the most popular
fanon ones? I am trying to be wary of ship wars haha.

Not weird at all. People still join all the time! No need to thank
me, but you’re welcome 😀

No ships are canon, other than Chibitalia x Holy Rome. Even Aushun,
who were married, are not outright confirmed to have romantic feelings for each
other. There are a lot of hints, though. If you’d like to explore ships on this
blog, plug in the tag “Shipping Series.”

Some pairings where there are canon hints of romance are
FrUk, AusHun, SpaAus, SpaIta and Spamano. I use comic material and provide sources for
you to look at, so I’m not just pulling it out of nowhere lol.

kind of new to the fandom haha but I have heard
it has quite a few ‘gay undertones’, but I was wondering there is actually any
characters confirmed to be LGBTQ+?

Oh! Another new member! Welcome!

Hetalia is very gay.

Here are some posts to
corroborate that: [x] [x] [x] [x].

I know you’ve already lengthy talked about it,
but could you please make some clarifications about ‘nyotalia’? I still see
many people in the fandom being confused about the concept(i.e.
misunderstanding them as genderbents, considering heta/nyo verses of the
original ‘couples’, for example spanyo!mano being spamano het verse). Sorry to
bother

You’re not bothering me.
It’s just, there’s nothing more to really talk about. Like you’ve said, I’ve
already covered those misconceptions. It would be redundant to make another
post.

However, I would be more
than happy to link the post again for you [x].

So what is your opinion on the *whispers* movie
??

*googles synonym for
clusterfuck*

I mean the re-used
material thing is nothing new to Hetalia. Himaruya is notorious for re-using,
re-drawing, and re-printing old material.

Do think that Estonia wants to join the Nordics
because they give a sense of community that he just doesn’t get with the
Baltics. I mean the Nordics are this really close bunch and the Baltics are
just there.

No. It’s just a reference to
how Estonia is being increasingly grouped with the Nordics in the present
political sphere. There’s an increasing sentiment that looks at the similarities
between Finnish and Estonian language and culture.

Sources: Hetarchive, Volume 6, the Meeting of the Nordics & Volume 6, The Nordic Five.

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.

Q & A

Ok I’ve been thinking about this for a few
days. What do you think about the height’s of the characters? First I started
with the mindset of “I’m just gonna add ten cm to all Caucasian characters
this seems very unrealistic.” But then I remembered that Europeans used to
be like 20cm shorter only a few hundred years ago so now I don’t know…

I’ve already done a few
posts on this [x] [x] [x]

Based on precedent, the
height is dependent on the political and economic development of the country
and if the latter two are strong only then is the national average taken
into consideration. Aside from Prussia’s height, which is smaller due to
malnutrition, I do agree with you. I think a lot of the heights of the adult
nations we see depicted are based on modern figures.

Ella, do you happen to know what’s with the
“be the piano” thing? Is it from cookies-hetaoni? I mean, i’m afraid
to play the game so I don’t what it means. Have you played it?

I haven’t had the privilege
of accessing a copy (I’ve only watched playthroughs), but the “be the piano” thing is from the original version.
Canada tries to pretend to be a piano when he encounters one of the “Steves.”

Was Sweden ever confirmed as gay or was it just gay
for Finland? I’ve seen some debates about it and I’m just confused.

It’s complicated. Sweden was confirmed to be gay only for Finland in a 2007 blog post that has since been deleted. Most consider it be canon, especially because of Sweden’s continued and favoured interest in Finland (not as prominent post 2010).

Do what you will with the information. Unfortunately, it’s not a black and white answer [x].

Could you make a post explaining why PruCan
(Prussia x Canada) is a crack ship? No bashing though, it just kinda is, isn’t
it? Or maybe you will need to make a post explaining to me that it isn’t truly
a crack ship after all lol

I already did a shipping
post on that here [x].

I’m not a fan of the
word “crack” ship. It assumes that there’s a hierarchy where people are
obligated to justify their ships according to plausibility. Prussia and Canada
do have a canon interaction. I’ve noticed that it’s often been used as the basis for
the ship.

Just wonderin’ why is America
so reluctant to not to be England’s little brother. Is it because he’s
resentful? Whats your opinion?

Again, not really a clear-cut answer, but this is my take on it. America refers to England as “onii-chan”, a title used to devote affection and adoration. England became America’s de-facto older brother figure.

America later rejected the label because he was tired of being infantilized and bossed around by England. He wanted freedom and considering England as a brother figure was associated with this lack of autonomy. I believe his rejection of the label ultimately boils down to the fact that he didn’t want to be seen as a child.

Source: Hetarchive, Cleaning out the Storage Closet.

Q & A

Are Seborga
and Genoa related to anc.Rome too? Since They have the curl.

(The Italy brothers use a curl as proof of a
blood relation to Rome [x].)

By the logic vested in the manga, I would say
so. It’s similar to how Himaruya approached the German states. They were all
considered to be brothers.

In your opinion,
are there any secret/low-key stoner characters?

No one is confirmed to be a stoner lol. However,
Canada has smoked pot once.

Source: Christmas 2010 Event, page 5.

Although he’s never been shown to smoke pot in
canon (therefore it’s not canon), Netherlands would be another contender. There’s
a panel even depicting how some “coffee shops” in his country sell it.

Source: Bamboo Thicket (Eng trans., Hetarchive, February 24, 2015).

Is there
enough evidence to say that Prussia is an albino? Or Iceland or someone else in
the series for that matter

This is actually a mistake I’ve made in the
past in my own fics. Pale eyes and hair doesn’t automatically make someone an
albino, even though Prussia is sometimes depicted with characteristic red eyes—point is, it doesn’t automatically make him an albino.

Source: Christmas 2007, Hetarchive, page 5.

Canon evidence has actually pointed otherwise since
Prussia’s color scheme varies. He’s had blond hair and blue eyes, and his eye
color can range from hues of red, blue, and purple.

Edit: I’m aware that albinos can have blue/ purple eyes, but the fact still remains that Prussia hasn’t been confirmed as one.

Source: Bamboo Thicket (Eng trans., Hetarchive, Nov 22nd, 2011).

slightly
personal question for mun: what do u think the most endearing trait of your
favorite character is?

I don’t have a favourite character!

…The first character that comes to mind is
Finland.

He’s just a genuinely wholesome person that can
cheer up anyone [x].

Where did the
Netherlands and Taiwan ship come from? Is there any interaction between them in
canon?

There is no interaction between them.

I’m not favourable of the “they must have an
interaction in order to be shipped” mentality, though. People are free to ship
what they want, and they shouldn’t have to justify it based on canon material,
ya know?

Q & A

I strictly base my
opinions on the information presented in the manga [x].

From what we’ve seen,
Norway can see and communicate with fairies (including England’s fairy friends), and Iceland can see these creatures but chooses not to let people
know this to avoid being seen as childish and weird [x].

There’s no indication
that they can perform magic, unlike Romania and England who are in the magic
club in the Gakuen AU and are depicted with spell/fortune books in other blog updates [x] [x]

Given the legends, it’s
possible that Himaruya will decide to give them the ability to cast spells, but for now,
no. That doesn’t mean you can’t headcanon this, though!

Russia and America are distinctly
singled out as the strongest as the nations, but Germany is noted to possess
significant strength and muscles too [x].

This doesn’t go to say that
Germany wasn’t strong enough to defeat America or Russia in different battles (obviously), but
Himaruya has been consistent in elevating Russia and America’s strength above
other nations [x].

As a title of endearment, yes [x].

Do you have some favorite Finland strips?

The fact that he cuts Iceland’s hair [x] and his love for nature [x].

Which Hetalia mochi or
cat would you keep as a pet?

No mochis
for me. Too much of a hassle.

I like
Spain cat because he’s super cute and Franchat, mainly because of the pun.

Getting excited and ambushing someone when they mention your
favourite show

Do you have any hetalia headcanons for any characters? You’re always pointing out canon facts(thank you so much for that, btw), and it would be cool to see your own ideas and impressions on the characters :D

I’m not particularly big on headcanons, but I sometimes do charts like this 😀

Most insecure nations

–

America, Canada, England, Germany, Italy,
Romano, and Poland.

Loneliest nations

–

America, England, Iceland, Prussia, and Russia.

Happiest nations

–

Denmark, Finland, Seychelles, and Sweden.

Most sarcastic nations

–

England, France, Norway, and Romano.

Nations we need more of

–

Belgium, Belarus, India, and Vietnam.

Q & A

Q: Why are there so many cats? Like not just Nekotalia, but all
the random cats everywhere. Is there some deep meaning to them or does Hima
just really like cats?

A: He just really likes cats lol.

Q: Absolutely no idea if you touched on this
topic before. But do you have a theory on why there is an Ancient Greece and
Egypt and current Greece and Egypt. If it’s because of cultural difference,
shouldn’t other nations be in a similar situation? A example could be the
Nordics. I don’t know, I just thought it was curious. (By the way, huge fan!)

A: I haven’t, no worries! Anyways, it’s simpler
than you think. They perished because the culture and organization of people they represented was
taken over and replaced. In this case, they were conquered by Rome. Greece and
Egypt represent the inherited relics of their mothers’ cultures. It’s all in the name, really. Ex: Ancient Greece represented Ancient Greek civilization.

As for the
Nordics, I can see where you’re coming from. However, so far, no Scandinavian
Ancient has been created. It would make perfect sense, though.

Q: For South Korea’s and Seychelles’ profiles
it mentions that korea likes studying abroad and Seychelles is a model student
. Does that mean some nations go to school or college ?

A: As stated in one of South Korea’s character
notes, it is possible for them to attend school on their own volition [x].

What people often confuse and take literally is
the World Academy. It’s an AU within canon. It’s not a legitimate school that
the nations attend.

Lastly, when nations are referred to as model/honour
students, it’s most often a figure of speech. For example, because Finland is
so successful in the EU, he’s referred to as an honour student [x].

In Seychelles’ case, she’s an honour student in
Africa in the sense that she’s economically successful in her tourism and
fishing industries. She’s better off in comparison to other African nations.

Q: You know how Norway and Iceland knew they were
brothers and could sense each other’s presence. And how Iceland could feel 🇸🇨(sorry I forgot how to spell her
name) relating to him. Can all countries do this? Can they also feel their
fates a-line with other countries who they end up in “marriages” with? Do you
know the answer or have hypothesis for this?

A: *Seychelles.

There’s no canon evidence about the marriage part,
but…

Nations can sense each other and distinguish
themselves from humans.

Ex: Colonizing nations knew that America was one of
them [x].

Ex: When he’s born, Iceland instinctively knows that
he’s not human [x].

Q: Where can I find a list of the human names?

A: I try to be patient with this question, I
really do, but google is your friend!

All you
have to do is search up a Hetalia country and a Hetarchive Wiki page pops up in the first
few results. The mods at Hetarchive have put a lot of time and effort to make a ton of information about the characters accessible. Don’t let their years
of hard work be in vain.

That said, the original post including the
nations’ human names was taken down from Kitayume, so some people don’t take
them as canon.

To make things easier, there’s this page here
with character profiles should you want to look up their human names
[x].

Q & A

Q: i read on one of the hetawikis that italys curl was added as a last
minute thing to make him cuter, but himaruya said that now the curl is
“important.” any thoughts?

A: There’s one character note that states that the curl represents “the
sexual something of the Italians” [x].

Q: Your post on how fascism isn’t promoted in the manga was
extremely helpful, so thank you. Just wondering. Is there any strips that
depict how the people react to the war?

A: Disclaimer: This is
coming from someone who’s half Jewish. I shouldn’t have to say this, but
knowing the internet…

All that’s shown is how hopeful the people are [x].
You have to situate the context and realize that the German people had just
come out of a massive economic recession. The war promised them a solution. (Unfortunately, this solution and the many years leading up to it involved scapegoating, unjust persecution, assaults, and discrimination).

Point is, Hetalia never promoted Fascism. As
discussed in this post [x], all it does it situate the reason why the Germans
went to war – namely because of how stringent the compensation mandated by the
Treaty of Versailles was. It doesn’t tackle anything past that. Given the young targeted demographic, the atrocities committed during WW2 aren’t covered or touched on.

Again, there’s a difference between situating a
historical context vs promoting a horrible political ideology.

A: Thank you! I’m by no means a gun expert, but in one
of the first original web comics, he does appear to be holding a sniper rifle [x].

There’s also the famous Finnish sniper Simo Häyhä “White Death” from WW2 that might have made such a headcanon
to be taken as fact. Other than that, you’re right. I don’t recall any of his
character notes mentioning this ability. Most of them can be found here [x].

Q: What’s your favorite time Germany
wasn’t being “strict follow the rules never smiles” in the manga. ( I just saw
a picture of Germany putting on a puppet show for America and Russia and he
said “don’t nuke it out, hug it out” and I was like man I need more of this
side of Germany).

A: Chapter 20 of World Stars! Italy asks Germany
to help him clean Romano’s messy room. Germany seems looser here and even
returns some of Romano’s snark, although still being up to the challenge [x].