I’m still not too sure about this one, but since this is
also another thing that’s been heavily requested, I have no problem explaining
what little I do understand from it. That is, if there is even any thing to
make sense of…
We’ve seen that the nations can transport or travel across
borders in a short period of time. The first thing I’ve noticed about this
ability is that it requires some sort of connection. In the “We’re Shipwrecked”
strip, since China has villas – China towns – all over the world, he’s able to
use them as a method of transport, travelling as far as the island of
Seychelles.
In the Christmas 2011 Event, this idea of connection comes
up again as Russia proposes to Japan that they build a bridge in order to
connect their houses, making it easier to travel.
However, there are times when transporting is difficult for
the nations. In my opinion, I think distance is the key factor here. For
example, we see that Italy travels to Germany by crossing over through
Switzerland on foot.
In the 2010 Christmas Event, we also see Finland travelling
to Sweden’s and Germany’s houses without any difficulties. On the other hand,
when asked to interview Seychelles and Greece, Finland either mails or texts
them.
For Seychelles, Finland states that “her land is a bit far.”
You also likely have to factor in the obstacles of water (or mountain ranges,
deserts etc.) in travelling, as not all countries are connected by land, or if
they are, it’s not always flat and easy to travel across.
It seems that distance and connections between landmasses is
what allows and/or inhibits the nations to travel on foot, as opposed to more standard
means.
And the friendliest people you’ll ever meet, the Nordics.
Beware, they used to be Vikings.
AU Finished! 10/10
Due to popular request, I’ll be starting to analyze the several instances in the series where it’s alluded that Germany is Holy Rome in some way or another. There’s too many of them to include all in one post, so welcome to yet another new sub-series!
You’ll notice how subtle these hints are, as well as how uncomfortable they make the nations feel as they recall certain memories. Without further ado, let’s get started.
First, there’s England. In the “About why there is Italian architecture in England” strip, France shows surprise at the sight of an Italian-styled house in England and even praises it. England then has a flashback of when Holy Rome gave him this house as a gift, despite it not being suitable for the harsher English climate.
Note the expression on England’s face once the flashback ends. Sure, the reminder of Holy Rome’s legacy must be painful to relive, but why become so nervous and uncomfortable? If he was sad, I could understand, but the former two emotions make me think that something is still unresolved in the present; that is, England is reminded of how HRE is still around today except in the more modern form of Germany.
It almost seems as if the nations are aware of Holy Rome’s reincarnation/rebirth/ revival (whatever you want to call it) but don’t have the courage to tell Germany about his past. It’s not really their place anyway.
Then, you have France. We already know from the Napoleonic Wars, the first world war, as well as the German military occupation of France in WW2, that France has every reason to hate Germany, and is even depicted stating so.
In modern times, he still shows an evident aversion to Germany. Call this a stretch if you want, but I interpret a lot of this aversion more so in terms of guilt. Napoleon’s army ended the Holy Roman empire, after all.
However, it’s also important to note that recently France has slowly been starting to spend more time with Germany and is noted to no longer hate him.
In the “Germany’s playing an impossible game” strip, France is shown to be secretly backing Germany, referring to himself as the latter’s Big Brother. (Yes, I’m aware that France considers himself the Big Brother of the world).
What makes me suspicious is that in a few panels below, Hima mentions how France and Germany’s economic relations in the EU isn’t always agreeable and that they don’t see eye-to-eye in a lot of matters.
Why am I mentioning this? Well, flip back to when Holy Rome and France lived in Rome’s house. They used to refer to each other as brothers then too – they’re not actual brothers, it’s just a form of endearment.
Historically speaking, I can understand France’s grudge towards Germany after the Napoleonic wars. What I’m curious about is that even in modern times, well after WW2, France still appears to be hesitant/ walking on egg-shells around Germany.
That’s why I believe France is not completely open in his support for Germany. Again, I think he still feels guilt for causing the Holy Roman Empire’s demise and doesn’t know how to compensate for this.
Lastly, as I couldn’t possibly leave him out of this, there’s Prussia. Prussia is the one who tells Germany all about his past, being his older brother/ father figure. I say father figure sarcastically, because Prussia is lame enough to be wearing a Dad shirt in the 2011 Christmas event.
Anyways, in that same event, Japan and Italy reminisce about how Prussia, as the Teutonic knights, used to be. Germany expresses his confusion towards these stories by shouting, “What is that brother of mine doing?!”
We then get a brief bit of inner dialogue from Japan, who also seems confused over the fact that Germany believes everything that Prussia tells him about his past. Perhaps Prussia is purposefully fabricating parts of Germany’s birth to spare him from the pain of remembering how he had died before.
More notably, Germany remarks that he’s going to cross-examine Prussia, which may mean that the truth (whatever it is) is going to be revealed to him. Now that’s exciting.
On that note, there’s one last thing I want to talk about. In “The Guns of Italy and Germany”, Germany is completely bewildered by the shoddy guns Italy makes, all for the sake of making them easier to clean. When he asks Prussia if Italy has always been like this, Prussia ominously stares off into the distance and tells him this:
Hmmm. Another potential hint that just like Holy Rome had an ‘appreciation’ for Italy, Germany will eventually develop one too? Questions, questions. So many strips and not nearly enough confirmations…
“That’s why his scarf is so long! It’s full of secrets.”
“Oscar the Grouch! I love your work!”
“He asked me how to spell Europe.”
The answer to the title is no, by the way. To
elaborate on why I believe this is, it’s important to understand that the modern
definition of a nation-state is much different now than what it was centuries
ago. People often organized themselves in terms of city-states, kingdoms,
principalities, or small territories.
That said, during the Renaissance era, Italy
consisted mostly of small city-states. This would explain Italy’s full name,
Italy Veneziano, an obvious reference to the city of Venice. This fragmentation
was due to the larger foreign powers of Austria, Spain, France, and the Holy
Roman Empire coming in and taking land for themselves.
However, as I just said, Italy Veneziano is
repetitively referred to as North Italy, which simply includes Venice. He
doesn’t only represent Venice. I
don’t mean to say that North Italy wasn’t born
to represent Venice, though. That certainly seems to be the case. What I am
saying is that as the concept of a nation changed, so did Italy. He likely absorbed
the entire northern region. I mean, we’ve already seen this multiple times in
the series where nations adopt new lands and titles. Take the Teutonic Knights
and Prussia for example.
Now, this wouldn’t be a theory if I didn’t have any evidence, so here.
Then, at the end of the strip, North Italy mentions
that parts of his house were taken. We already know that a nation’s house, or
rather, an empire to be more applicable to the time period, consisted of other
nations under their rule. However, in Italy’s case, his house consisted of the
many different sovereign city-states of northern Italy.
So no, I wouldn’t worry about Italy Veneziano
disappearing anytime soon just because Venice is likely to sink in the coming
years. He’s got the whole rest of northern Italy to embody.
Further, and as I’ll get into with a much, much larger post, there is no dominant
Italy – between the two Italian brothers, I mean. The south and north are different
enough for them both to personify the land, and Hima makes sure to mention this
countless times.
France: *exists*
Drunk England: Stop seducing me, you sparkly thot.
Yup! There’s a few hints here and there that I’ve got marked down in my notes. It’s not just FrUK either. Both France and England are hinted at sharing romantic feelings for other nations. They’re very subtle though, so I wouldn’t jump the gun on them.
Anyways, the most obvious hint of FrUk for me is when France proposes to England by asking him to merge their countries; this being a result of the Suez Canal Crisis.
I know the picture’s resolution isn’t great (it’s the best I could do), but in the far left of the second panel, England says:
“I don’t want to get married for this lame reason.”
I don’t know about you, but if I was vehemently opposed to marrying someone, I wouldn’t need a reason to reject them other than simply not liking them. It doesn’t seem like England is completely against the idea of marrying France. I don’t find this too hard to believe, as we’ve already seen male countries marry each other before.
It’s definitely possible, I’m not ruling it out. I’m just not so sure if we’ll ever be blessed with an obvious enough confirmation.
Ellawritesficssometimes 