What this post will explore is
how other nations – to lesser degrees – are able to possess greater physical
strength than the average human. While it’s not necessarily the extreme strength
that we see with America and Russia, the
additional strength gained by nations at different points in history is still
very much present.

The Rules:

As stated by Finland, America and
Russia are super humans, whereas the rest of the other nations aren’t so
different from regular humans in terms of their physiology – aside from the obvious facts
that they’re immortal, don’t age and heal faster. After all, they are referred
to as “strange” and “odd” beings [x]. Some things about them are abnormal.

How I’ve interpreted the panel with
Finland before is that the superhuman
phrase is a reference and pun for the Cold War, where America and Russia emerged
as economic and political superpowers.
They were the two most powerful nations during this period.

The rules for this are laid out
in the strip titled “In just two minutes you can grasp the exterior of the European
economy.”

There, it states that when a
nation experiences political strife/ economic recessions, their health worsens
and they develop a cold. It would follow, then, that if a nation’s politics are
stable and their economy is performing abundantly well, they become stronger –
literally.

“In this manga, a nation having a cold = something like a recession. By the way, when they’re physically unwell, the nation’s politics or economy is having problems.” [x]

That’s why young America
initially gained his super strength. His economy was doing exceptionally well [x].

As such, this
would also explain why during times where America’s economy is strained and his
political affairs at home aren’t stable, he loses some of this strength and
appears to be weak. (Longer post on that here [x]).

Ex: The Great Depression – one of
the largest economic recessions to date.

Likewise, as a result of the Soviet
Union gaining steam [and territory], Russia had already acquired super strength
during WW2.

Ex: Russia was able to stop a
tank with his body.

The reason that America and
Russia’s strength is so extreme is that their power was globalized.

Meanwhile,
consistent with the rule above, other nations who gained economic and political
power also got physically stronger, albeit not nearly as strong as Russia or
America given that their influence wasn’t as reaching (e.g., European
superpowers instead of global superpowers).

I should also mention that the English empire was indeed a global superpower; on the other hand, the political sphere hadn’t yet been globalized during their prime (e.g., the UN and global international relations).

That said, let’s go over some of
these examples.

Austria:

A referenced European superpower
that became weakened during the War of Austrian Succession [x].

Pay attention to the specific
wording as France loots from the defeated Austria.

Hungary:

When Hungary acts as Austria’s
reinforcement during the War of Austrian Succession, she’s referred to as “freakishly
strong back then” [x]. The back then is especially important, as it proves that the
country’s strength and position reflects itself in the personification’s
physical strength.

France:

France became strong as a result
of the Napoleonic Conquests [x].

Again, notice how exhausted the enemy
nations are after they finally defeat him [x].

Bonus Case: Canada

It’s also hinted that super
strength, even when the nation isn’t particularly powerful, can be tapped into
by the personification.

After the American Revolution,
England falls ill. America visits Canada’s house, begging to see England. When
Canada refuses him entry, America attempts to force his way in. In the end,
Canada is able to shut the door on America [x] [x].

It would seem that during moments
of adversity/ stress, an adrenaline instinct kicks in, thereby allowing the
personification to temporarily tap into this super strength. Put another way,
all nations are capable of acquiring super strength if their country is
powerful enough; however, in astringent circumstances, the personification can attain
it nonetheless.

In sum, super strength, albeit in
differing degrees, isn’t something exclusive to America and Russia. As shown in
the strips, other nations have become stronger in reciprocation to their
country’s strength and power.

Any strip that revolves around independence or revolution is
phenomenal in my opinion.

America – Fighting for independence from England [x].

The Baltics – Declaring independence from the USSR [x].

France – The fear of other European nations in response to
the French Revolution [x].

Italy– Fighting for independence from Austria [x].

Russia – Bloody Sunday [x]

+ the 1917 Revolution [x]

I couldn’t disagree more.

These are just a few examples. Of course, I’ll
go into them in more detail later.

Hungary:

Magyar raised her just to be like him, which is why she uses
a more male language.

She has a complex over settling down, having previously
represented an equestrian hunting tribe, and has fears about her fighting
skills getting rusty [x]

Despite this, she’s described as “probably the manliest
person in the comic.”

She kicks ass.

Belgium:

Belgium’s ‘plainness’, as in she doesn’t stand out much in
comparison to surrounding countries, is what makes her more complex.

Any insecurity, weakness, or flaw adds depth to a character’s
personality.

Belarus:

As one of the most neurotic and incomprehensible APH character
to unpack, she’s the antithesis of plain.

She breaks Lithuania’s fingers during a date [x]. It lasted three minutes.

Her obsession with Russia became so strong that she forgot
her own language.

Monaco:

This lady packs a strong punch in the world of business and gambling [x].

It was also just recently revealed that she fears losing her
nationhood. Remember that personifications represent their citizens and only exist
because of them.

As such, since most people in Monaco’s country are tourists
(transients) she doesn’t have many citizens to call her own. It’s the tourists
who create the need for her existence.

The threat she faces is that if criminal
activity keeps increasing in her country, tourism rates will decline.

All in all, to say that the female nations are plain is
unwarranted. Even though some of them could definitely use more fleshing out,
they still have distinct personalities, quirks, insecurities, and weaknesses.

I think it’s important to recognize that it’s the quality of
their characters that matters most here; not the quantity of what we see.

Are Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg siblings?

It says that on the
wikipage, but if you go to the direct source, it’s different. The translation is noted to be rough, but the distinction is nonetheless made very clear [x].

Netherlands and Belgium are the ones that are
siblings.

Luxembourg refers to
France, Spain, Netherlands, and Belgium as big brother and sister respectively
as terms of endearment.

This is a common trope in
the series, although it often causes a lot of confusion because it’s taken
literally.

It doesn’t help that the
trio was once referred to as sworn siblings. [x]

Although, if you go on
the above piece of information, it seems to be conveying a bond similar to siblings. It’s not uncommon
for close friends to consider themselves siblings – in this case, it would be
Luxembourg due to his close proximity.

Just to give more
examples of this trope, France is referred to as a big brother type/ big
brother of the world.

Hungary is referred to
as an older sister.

And so is Belgium.

I’m working on a larger
post that will go into more detail about the brother/sister figures and relations,
but it’s going to take some time.

Can we have some aph Babies?

Always.

Anon 1: Well, I’m not going to get into the messiness of the politics, but we do see Hungary messing with France diplomatically when it comes to her wine.

On what you mentioned, we actually have a brief hint of corruption in the EU. Hima touches on the conspiracy that Germany knew letting Greece into the EU would cause the economy to crash.

France also refers to Germany as his #1 partner in the EU.

Which Disney princess is Hungary?: Those are all good choices for Disney princesses! My addition would be Mulan. She’s not technically a princess, but she’s franchised as such 🙂

@petri-choir

I disagree. Here’s why.

We already know from canon that Hungary has a complex over settling down and letting her fighting skills get rusty. [x]

As a previous hunting tribe, for her to say that she has no interest in hunting is clearly tough on her, not to mention a contradiction if we compare this to the above piece of canon information.

Notice how Prussia expresses confusion at her “Girly get-up.” They used to go hunting together. The look on her face doesn’t come across as annoyance to me. Prussia’s egging her on, but she doesn’t snap like she usually would.

Instead, her expression seems more stuck than anything. She wants to hunt but can’t if she’s to fulfill her new role at Austria’s house.

I say this because Hungary’s known to have a short temper with Prussia given their rough history together.

This is what Hungary looks like when she’s annoyed with him.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison…

Note: This
theory will make use of Freudian theory. While I recognize that Freud’s ideas
do not bear much contemporary relevance, that shouldn’t take away from the fact
that many of his concepts (e.g., erogenous zones, childhood memory repression,
catharsis) are nonetheless employed by Hima in the series. The purpose of this
post is to give some insight into the psychologies of the characters.

Terms I’ll go over: Psychosexual stages of development, Causality, Oedipus
Complex, Electra Complex, Penis Envy, Castration Anxiety.

Yes, that’s right. Freud’s ideas are very much prevalent in the
series. A big area of his work was analyzing the impact of childhood on
personality development. Freud believed in causality, meaning that who you are as
an adult can be directly traced back to your childhood.

How you’re parented and
brought up is the most crucial factor. I don’t need to go into this in too much
detail, but basically, we go through five stages of development titled: Oral,
anal, phallic, latency, and genital.

For the purposes of this
post, I only need to talk about the phallic stage of development.

The phallic stage occurs
between 3-4 until 6-7 years of age. This stage involves the awakening of sexual
desires. However, I cannot stress this enough that the sexual desires are
autoerotic, meaning that the child does not derive any sexual pleasure or
stimulation.

Basically, the child merely
becomes aware of the fact that their genitalia differentiates them physiologically.
This would involve them developing a curiosity of their genitalia given that
they’ve gained a newfound awareness of it.

Another tenet of the stage
involves the child being unconsciously attracted – again, not sexually – to their opposite-sex parent and developing a
hostility toward their same-sex parent.

For example, it’s common for
little boys to claim that they want to marry their mothers when they’re older. The
love isn’t sexual, at all. It’s predicated on the child wanting to be closer to
their opposite-sex parent.

If anything, the stage
involves a perceived competition between the child and their same-sex parent
for the attention of the opposite-sex parent. Put another way, a little boy
would perceive his father as a barrier to receiving his mother’s full love and
affection and would thus develop a hostility toward the father.

It’s all unconscious. The child
doesn’t realize why they feel this way, but they do. Another example of this
would be children hopping into bed with their parents. They unconsciously split
up the parents without realizing the meaning behind their actions.

Boys develop an Oedipus Complex,
which involves them desiring to possess their mothers and replace their
fathers.

Girls develop an Electra
Complex, which involves them desiring to possess their fathers and replace
their mothers.

For this hostility/ stage to
be resolved, the child must learn to identify with their same-sex parent.

If this hostility/ stage goes
unresolved, however, the child can develop another complex depending on their
perceived gender.

Boys develop castration
anxiety, a fear of losing their penis resulting from the jealousy and
competitiveness they feel toward their father.

Just to unpack that a little,
Freud’s theories are allegorical. The child doesn’t actually fear losing their
penis. What they do fear is losing the power associated with it. That said, it’s
critical to situate the context in which Freud came up with these theories.

A little boy perceives his
father in the family to be the most powerful figure – that’s because at the
time, society was strictly patriarchal. Those with power at the time had penises;
male genitalia and power are unconsciously equated together. In competing for
his mother’s affection, the little boy wants to overthrow the father’s power in
the family dynamic.

If the Oedipus Complex goes
unresolved, and the male child fails to identify – form an alliance – with their
father, then they perceive this competition to be lost. As such, they lose
power.

Castration Anxiety at its
core has to do with the male child perceiving themselves to have lost against
their father as opposed to forming a bond with them.

On the other hand, girls who
fail to form an alliance with their mothers develop feelings of Penis [power] Envy.
They are unhappy with the lack of power they have and don’t identify with their
mothers and their respective social position.

Where Hungary Fits Into This:

Hungary’s tricky, because she
originally didn’t identify as a girl. She thought she was a boy for centuries
and therefore identified as such. Regardless, what you’ll see with Hima is that
he purposefully makes references to Hungary’s confusion over her genitalia.
That’s what really locks her into this stage of development.

Castration Anxiety:

To begin with, Hungary was
raised as a man by Magyar. He taught her how to fight.

That’s why, when she loses to
Turkey on several occasions, she questions whether she’s strong enough. Her
strength is seen as a sign of manhood. This would be her experience of
castration anxiety… of losing power and being weak.

Power Envy:

The penis envy complex with
Hungary doesn’t develop right away. She [He] identified with her same-sex
parent without any problem despite the fact that she lacked a mother figure. Point
is, Hungary, as a boy, identified with Magyar, the father-figure.

The complex develops as
Hungary slowly begins to realize that she’s different physiologically from
other boys.

She develops chest pains but
is quick to wave this off. (Her breasts are growing, but she doesn’t realize this.)

The differentiation stage
begins when Hungary mistakenly tells Prussia that men grow penises when they’re
older.

Prussia, of course, tells her that that’s not how the male genitalia
works.

What’s important here is that
Hungary’s conceptions are beginning to shift, even if she doesn’t believe it
right away.

Right before she settles down
in Austria’s house is the last that we see of her dismissing her physiological differences. Prussia’s reaction to her exposed chest as he fixes her injuries is what does it for her.

It’s tentative, but she still recognizes her physiological difference.

One joke in particular from this scene is
important, silly as the surface of it may be. Prussia offers to treat Hungary’s injuries by ripping off his crotch cloth.

The symbolism of this is that by refusing the crotch cloth, Hungary’s embraced her womanhood.

I don’t think Hima did this
for strictly comical purposes.

Not to mention that one of
her character notes explicitly states that she developed a complex over
worrying about her fighting skills getting rusty after settling down. [x]

Ex: A lot of this stems from the
fact that she first existed as an equestrian tribe and used to hunt with a bow
and arrow.

[x]

Under Austria’s rule, notice how
conflicted she is when she says that she has “no interest in hunting.”

Nevertheless, this shouldn’t be
any reason for worry considering that Hungary’s also noted to be one of the manliest
characters in the comic…

…and for a damn good reason
too.

Hungary: I’m not the pettier one, you are.

Prussia: *scoffs*

One thing that angers a lot of people and bothers me personally is Hungary’s relationship with Austria when she was living with him. She should have hated him because of how her people felt at the time. Why didn’t she?

That’s not necessarily
true, though.

In one of her
character notes, it states this:

“ She does have
defiant feelings about being under Austria’s rule but at the same time she
harbours complicated, yearning like feelings towards him. ”

I think the point to differentiate is that the
nations are both historical personifications and people in their own right.
Hungary could have hated Austria for being, well, Austria, and yet yearned for
him as a person. [x]

That’s what I believe Hima’s getting at here.

Ooof. I love her so much!! She’s such an inspiring character.

Sure thing, post psychoanalyzing Hungary coming up tonight!