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

Hello! I was wondering if you knew if Prussia
was a different nation before he was the Teutonic knights? I think I read that
somewhere but Im not sure

Hi! This post should
help. It discounts the notion that Prussia was originally a Baltic by charting
the history of the different titles he’s held throughout his life [x].

Hello! I read somewhere a couple years ago,
that once Italy thought he was chubby and ate only a bite of pizza? Something
like that hahaha I remember reading some kind of list of canon things and found
about that

Hi! Yes and no. It’s not the
pizza that made him fat. He just so happened to be eating the pizza when he
realized it.

It’s about the
demographic relationship he has with his people. He gained weight due to rising
obesity rates.

Source: Hetascanlations, World Stars Chapter 7.

i hope this isn’t a
dumb question, but ive always wondered if there was any info in canon about how
the nations get around to see each other in their respective countries so fast
😮 it seems kind of inconvenient for everyone to be so far apart from one
another!

Not a dumb question, but please refer to my post
directory next time. I have an in-depth post on that here [x].

Basically, aside from water/ continental distances, it’s possible for nations
to teleport and traverse to other nations on foot.

Ex: Lithuania stumbles across Greece during the Halloween 2013-2014 event.

eLLa. hELp. I
remember it, but can’t find it anywhere. It’s an ask Himaruya answered where he
states what kind of house America would live in as well as some other
characters. I can’t find it.

It’s from this blog post on Bamboo Thicket, July 3^rd,
2008.

Source: Hetarchive, eng trans.

Question: Boss’s house seems very big, Poland’s is a castle, Japan’s is a quite detached single-family Japanese house, but what kind of homes do the rest live in? Are there any who live in apartment buildings or high-rises?

Response: “That’s a good question. They live in homes that match each era
and culture, economy, and also their moods, so it’s not like they’re permanent,
but I feel like Italy maybe is living in the same house that he’s remodeled
again and again.

America lived in a log cabin at first, and next was an austere English-style
building in the suburbs, then recently moved to an apartment building near New
York, and he seems to move quickly and randomly.”

hi js got back into hetalia after like 2 years and i never
really looked at hima’s blog and the later mangas before so i dont really know
about how he works things out, but when i js checked, hima’s been on a hiatus
(?) for half a year already, has he had breaks this long or is it possible
hetalia wont be updated anymore.

Hi! Welcome back, and yes. If you look up the timelines on his blog updates, he went through a long period of blog inactivity
during 2012. I’m not comfortable on speculating anything, sorry!

Q & A

Hello. Is America actually fat? He is obviously
has some worries about this. He doesn’t like his body? Is he heavy because of
this or is this just muscles and America’s paranoia?

He’s not overweight, but
he thinks he is. He’s just big-boned and doesn’t understand that they’re
muscles. Longer post on that here [x].

Source: Hetascanlations, World Stars Chapter 23-24.

Hey, if it’s no trouble, could you mind
offering some characterization advice in regards to Russia? His canon
personality is already hard to get a grasp on, and it gets even harder when you
try writing him in more slice-of-life situations such as Human AUs. Is there a
way to ‘tone down’ his unstable personality while still keeping him in
character?

I don’t give direct
advice for characterizations. It’s just awkward for me to tell someone how they
should interpret and write a character. I can offer tools that are useful to
include in your writing, but I don’t push it.
Human AUs are more lenient anyway, since it’s not canonverse.

Why are these boys
cute, Ella? WHy? Please help me understand. Citation: Every Strip

Source: Hetascanlations, World Stars Chapter 4.

Sorry, I just had to.

If there are no Canon ships, why say HRE x
Chibitalia are one when they aren’t really either (I think, and hoping, Hima
changed his mind on that cause
that closeness was uncomfortable, and slightly offensive. No offense to those
who do ship.)

They are canon. They had
mutual romantic feelings for each other, even though Holy Rome mistook Chibitalia’s gender. It was an innocent childhood first love that ended with a kiss and nothing more. They shouldn’t be actively shipped because they’re children, obviously.

Source: Hetarchive, Chibitalia.

About the Gay-gun strip: There is a
“Beep” about America’s head… does that mean he fired it at
himself?? (Sometimes I have a hard time understanding Hima…)

I’d assume so, yeah lmao.

Source: Hetarchive, Comic Diary 9.

As far as I know, the post where Sweden was
confirmed to be gay has been deleted by Himaruya later. Do you think this still
makes Sweden’s sexuality 100% canon or around 50% canon?

Last time I’m answering
this. It was canon but was later deleted. Himaruya said that Sweden was homosexual but only for Finland. Some people still consider it to be canon. Others don’t. It’s a big grey area in the fandom with no clear answer.

Source: Link and translation can be found on the last source listed on Sweden’s profile by Hetarchive.

This guide will give a concise rundown of how the nations experience
and participate in wars.

Status:

They’re no different than any other citizen fighting for
their country. In other words, they aren’t given any special treatment.

Ex: There’s a comic gag regarding how terrible it was to be
a Russian soldier.

So much so, that Russia becomes ecstatic when Germany takes
him as a prisoner of war.

Sources: Volume 1.

Ex: During WW2, Germany is said to tolerate his way through
pain every day.

Source: Hetarchive, Hetare 5: Lietuvis.

When captured as a prisoner of war himself, he states that
torture is no more than a mosquito bite to him.

Source: Volume 1.

Regarding food, they’re not allocated extra supplies. If
their population is starving, so are they.

Source: Hetascanlations, World Stars Chapter 120.

They’re given rations just like any other soldier.

Source: Volume 5, Let’s Eat Military Rations!

They fight with their people rather than being fought for.

Source: Volume 4, The Ruler of Scandinavia and the King of Eastern Europe.

Post locations:

Nations can serve on the ground, the navy, and
the air.

Sources: Volume 3, A Battlefield’s Kickoff + Hetarchive, Hetare 3: Nonagression pact + Hetarchive, Germany & Cohabitation.

Missions:

They get missions from their bosses.

Ex: Germany is tasked with annexing Austria.

Source: Hetarchive, The Austrian Anschluss.

Ex: Germany and Prussia are asked to infiltrate America’s war
camp.

Me: *tries to have a normal day*

Anxiety:

Isn’t there a scene where Italy compliments Germany’s butt?

If this is the scene you’re talking about, he insults it in the manga.

Source: Volume 1.

Q & A

Hey there, love your blog! What do you have on Belarus and
Ukraine’s relationship?

Thank you!

To be honest, I get a lot of mixed messages from it.

Since Belarus is obsessed with Russia, you get panels like this
(i.e., she’s indifferent to Ukraine).

But then you have panels like this…

Sources: Hetarchive (Bamboo Thicket, eng trans., Nov 10th, 2011 + Jan 6th 2010).

It is a silly thought I’ve had but I have to
ask an opinion. Do you think our hetalia ladies experience menstruation? Did
they experience it very shortly or extended due to the fact that they are
countries? Do they experience at all??? Strange thought. What do you think?

No idea. There’s no canon
material that would be indicative of it.

Although, we do know
that biologically, the personifications aren’t that much different from humans.

Source: Hetarchive, Christmas 2010 Event.

Still, there isn’t
reproduction in Hetalia, so I’m not sure. The nations—with the exception of
Germany—are born as babies.

Source: Hetascanlations, World Stars Chapter 12.

Iceland’s birth depicts this rule.

Source: Hetascanlations, World Stars Chapter 114.

Hello there miss ellawritesficssometimes hope
you are in good health. I have a query Is it possible for a nation to have
attributes similar to that if their people such as smoking, drinking, usage if
caffeine etc. Because I was reading some statistics and this thought struck me.

I’m in good health,
thank you ^^

I’ve already done a
longer post going into the details of the relationship between personifications
and their populations’ demographics if you’d like to check it out [x].

Hi there! I was
just wondering, but wasn’t there a whole strip of comics dedicated to Romano
wanting to be a cat?

There are, yes! Starting
from World Stars Chapter 353.

Source: Hetascanlations.

It’s been years
since I saw the anime, but am I right that England says France & Italy
share a love for smoking? Was that the dub? I know Hima drew Italy with a
cigar, but I don’t recall France smoking anywhere, tho it’s a big stereotype

None are depicted smoking, but France and England
both love their alcohol (France = wine, England’s just a messy drunk). Thus
far, while it does make sense for the stereotype model, they haven’t been
depicted that way. I think it would be a good addition for a more accurate
fanon characterization, though.

The sketch with the cigar is just him and Romano
dressing up as fake mafia members.

Source: Hetarchive (Bamboo Thicket, eng trans., Nov 6th, 2013).