I’ve seen this question enough times where I think it’s
important to differentiate between a few things.
Misconception #1: That nations are a reflection of their governments.
This couldn’t be the more opposite. Countless times
throughout the series, the nations have been shown to do things against their
will. Right from the get-go, this rule is established in chapter 1 of World Stars.
The nations may not agree with their bosses, but they
nonetheless accept their fate, resign, and obligately listen and do what they’re
told–not that it makes it right, nor am I justifying it.
Likewise, the nations represent their people. Yes, they’re
political in the sense that they’re forced to work for their governments, but
it’s important to remember that they’re cultural and historical
personifications.
They don’t represent the government. The nations represent
their people in whole; the government is only a small part of that.
In other words, likewise to the stereotypes they embody, the
nations are a symbol of their people’s cultural identity.
Think of it this way: when you identify yourself with a
national identity, is it predicated on the negative actions of your government?
No.
Then why apply the same faulty logic to the nations?
What the government does is not a reflection of that
nation’s culture. That said, it wouldn’t make sense to attribute the actions of
a political minority onto a cultural personification that represents the
majority. Not to mention that again, the nations are often forced to follow
their bosses’ orders.
Misconception #2:
Political Enemies = Personal Enemies
Remember that the nations themselves are people too.
Regardless of the wartime alliances they get involved in, they’re more often
than not able to transcend over them. While war may impact how they formally relate
to each other, it doesn’t impact the past that they’ve shared and experienced
together (spanning across decades, centuries, and sometimes even millennia).
So, while they may be enemies during war, when fighting
isn’t necessary, the nations will still interact and see each other as friends
above all else. Political relations between national leaders is more orientated
in the present, whereas due to long-established and developed relationships, the nations are more influenced by the past. However, that doesn’t mean that they hold grudges either. It just means that they have more to consider.
Like I said above, the nations are humans too. Yes, their
countries may not have had/have the best relations, but that doesn’t
automatically mean that the respective personifications won’t get along either.
The best example of this is how Russia and America interact
with each other, especially in modern
times. They may not be the best of friends, but they still share a considerably
familiar and comfortable relationship.
“What do you think of the new strip?”
I think it’s very
interesting, mainly because it confirms earlier conceptualizations of
nationhood!
Since Monaco isn’t a big
country and has a small population, they mainly rely on tourists to sustain
themselves.
However, because the
country is resort and luxury-based (i.e casinos, hotels), it doesn’t attract a
ton of people, as not many people can afford going there.
Instead, it attracts for
the most part richer classes, both good and bad. What Monaco and France are
discussing here with regards to public safety is that the corrupt rich people Monaco’s
attractions bring in threaten the possibility of other people wanting to visit
her country.
When she says that she
won’t exist if she’s not safe, she’s basically saying that she’s nothing
without people visiting her. Likewise, because she doesn’t have a large
population, her existence is heavily dependent on tourists.
So, it would follow that
Monaco needs to dispose of the dangerous classes by getting rid of them,
therefore upping her country’s safety and making it a more desirable place to
travel to.
This strip echoes what
we saw back in chapter 307, where France confirms that their nationhood derives
from their citizens.
In sum…
A nation is nothing
without their people. But, because Monaco is tourist-based, they comprise a big
part of her population, albeit temporarily.
She “doesn’t stop
worrying” because if corrupt tourists with money keep visiting her, it can act
as a disincentive for other tourists to visit.
There’s also an issue
with expensiveness that she has to tackle if she’s to attract more kinds of
people to her country.
Economy:
Whether it’s due to war or a stock crash, the nations will
develop colds during economic recessions.
Their physical strength is dependent on their economy.
Age:
While the nations are immortal, they do age, albeit gradually.
Ex: China is commonly referred to as an old man/ grandpa and
tires easily.
Ex: Japan can’t do strenuous exercise, also makes a constant
mention of his old age, and suffers from health complications as a result of
his high sodium intake.
Weight:
The nations’ weight is influenced by the average weight of their population.
If obesity levels rise, they’ve been seen to gain weight.
However, America seems to be the exception to this rule due
to working out excessively and trying all sorts of diets and exercise machines.
In reality, the extra weight he perceives is actually just muscle.
Anatomy:
A nation’s blood type is dependent on the most common one
within their population.
Ironically (or perhaps purposefully knowing Hima), in the strip
“It’s a Treasure Box of Countries,” we get a treasure box of information
regarding the rules of nationhood.
We learn two things that happen to a nation when their
country’s culture or personality dies/ disappears. The personality is to be
understood in terms of a group of people uniting with each other under a common
identity.
The two rules go as followed:
1) “Usually, when the culture of the country’s
personality dies/ disappears, the country would gradually disappear or entrust
him/herself to the country that takes over him/her.
2) Or, “There are also cases that him/her is not a
country but continues to live leisurely as a state representative.”
Okay, simple enough. Either they fade over a long period of
time, or they become active in politics. However, there’s another rule I want
to go over that explicitly confirms that the nations are able to become human.
That requires going into the details of the Republic of Niko
Niko’s existence.
Basically, Niko Niko was a middle school student who
obtained micro-nation status. He represented a section of a city in the
Fukushima prefecture.
It’s also important to note that Niko Niko is declared by
Japan to be a rare, anomalistic case. Regardless, we still learn a lot from
him.
For one thing, after obtaining micronation status, Niko Niko
stopped aging and his health became dependent on how his economy was doing, similar
to what the full-blown nations experience.
We also know that Niko Niko eventually relinquishes his
status as a micronation and reverted back to a normal human again.
For example: He resumes aging and is able to have a son.
Tying this back to the rules of nationhood, we finally learn
that Niko Niko’s ability to shift from human to micronation to human again
wouldn’t be as easy for the other nations to undergo.
How I interpret this is that because Niko Niko personified
such a small area, his country’s personality and sense of identity isn’t nearly
as strong as that of a much larger nation. In other words, it would be harder
for the other nations to become human because their people’s sense of national identity
and cultural heritage isn’t something that can just disappear all of a sudden.
But, what about full-blown nations? Are there any hints of
them becoming human?
There sure seems to be.
During the Great Depression, a sickly Lichtenstein wishes
that she could have remained as a country for just a little while longer. Given
that her population is so small, it wouldn’t take as long for her country’s
personality to fade.
Now, for the more obvious and well-known example: Prussia.
I’ve speculated before that Prussia has fulfilled option 2
of the rules listed above. That is, we know for a fact that he attends world
meetings, and since it’s still unconfirmed whether he represents East Germany
(it’s painfully obvious, I know), it’s very well possible that he’s become a
state representative.
There’s also the fact that it’s been proven that he doesn’t
heal from his injuries quite as fast as the other nations do.
He also openly lies about this to Germany.
In sum…
– Niko Niko’s rise to nationhood is a rare case,
but his transformation still provides us with useful information on how it
would be difficult for a normal nation to become human.
– There have been hints here and there of the
normal nations losing their status as personifications and becoming human.
There seems to be a lot of confusion and sometimes purposeful
misleading regarding what France means when he calls himself a “Big Brother.”
On one hand, you have people who have only watched the dub,
haven’t read a page of the manga, and worst of all, incorrectly declare that
France is related to all the nations who either call him big brother, or who he
claims to be the big brother of. There’s also people who know this is false,
but still use the misunderstanding as a way to immaturely elevate their own
ship and degrade shippers of the opposite kind.
To that, I say this: the dub is never canon. I totally get why
there’s a lot of misconceptions regarding the family tree, though. For example,
in the dub, Switzerland is referred to as France’s relative, meanwhile, in the
strip material, Switzerland is listed as France’s neighbor.
Again, don’t ever use the dub as a source. It’s like the
Wikipedia equivalent of canon material; it gives you a general idea, but in no
way is it totally correct. While I understand how limited the anime medium can
be in portraying all canon information, it’s still your responsibility to do
your research.
That said, if you’ve read the manga, you would know that France
doesn’t have any siblings. That’s right. He’s not a big brother at all, but
rather, he’s listed as a big brother type. Likewise, he’s also referred to
himself as “the Big Brother of the world.”
In other words, because France is self-conscious of his age, he
opts to be a big brother mentor figure as opposed to identifying as an elder.
Although, admittedly, he has occasionally adopted a parental role. This is
especially the case with America, whom France expresses disdain at England for
raising so poorly.
Regardless, the following few strips demonstrate how France will
claim to be the big brother of literally anything.
Here, he deems himself to be the big brother of the reader. No,
I’m not kidding.
When he meets Lisa, Jeanne d’Arc’s reincarnate, he introduces
himself as “Big Brother France.”
The rest is pretty straightforward. Aside from the explicit
character description, there’s no possible way he would be related to them all
without it creating the need for other nations to be related to each other.
England:
Italy:
Germany:
Seychelles:
In sum, “Big Brother France” is not actually a big brother.
He’s a big brother figure.
Let me just preface this by
clearing up the most common misconception about Russia; that is, he’s evil. In
canon, it’s the complete opposite. Russia is explicitly described as “not evil”,
albeit being “naturally scary.” Obviously, being scary in appearance and
possessing an evil mind are two entirely different things.
In the same character note,
it goes on to say that Russia thinks that Vodka and General Winter are his
friends. What’s more, everyone that he meets he thinks are his friends.
Strange, considering that aside from protecting Russia from invading nations,
General Winter attacks and torments Russia himself.
It’s this warped
understanding of reality and interpersonal relationships that I’ll be discussing
over the course of this post. To do that, we need to understand the core
influence of Russia’s childhood on his present person today.
In doing so, this will give
insight into the reasons why Russia wrongly sees violence as an answer; why he comes
off as cold; and why, despite having good intentions to make friends, he does
anything but.
To put it simply, Russia’s
childhood was brutal. For the most part, he spent his winters alone with little
help and no shelter. This strip darkly alludes to the fact that he grew
accustomed to freezing to death.
On top of that, Russia grew
up in oppressive circumstances. One example of this would be how he was
subjected to Tatar Rule (the Golden Horde).
In “The Yoke of Tatar”,
Lithuania first meets Russia and warns the latter that he’ll “freeze to death”
if he stays outside for too long. Of course, from the example above, we know
that Russia has already died this way several times before.
Here, Russia fantasizes about
becoming a bigger country and tells Lithuania that they’ll become friends one
day. Now, pay attention to what Russia says when Lithuania offers for them to
become friends in the present moment.
“We don’t have enough power.”
To me, that seems like a child with a twisted conception of what a healthy
relationship entails. Power in a relationship is what Russia’s been taught,
it’s all he knows.
He’s picked up on the
authority that the Tatars hold over him, and therefore applies it to how he
interacts with others. Put another way, the ruled strives to be the ruler.
This cycle of unhealthy
learned behaviour is also demonstrated in chapter 194 of World Stars. There,
Russia dismantles England’s naval brigade during the American Revolution. When
confronted about it, Russia’s response is so naturally oblivious that it
appears to have been internalized.
He’s literally equated power
with the ability to do whatever you want. Once again, you see how the influence
of his childhood factors in here. What Russia observed as a child is now being
repeated by himself.
Likewise, it’s not as if
Russia’s history has given him a break from suffering either. The damage only
keeps accumulating.
In the Bloody Sunday strip,
Russia’s brought to tears as he laments about how all his hard work to improve
his country has backfired, resulting in his people hating him.
Even darker is that at the end
the strip, it’s hinted that he’s been tasked with quelling the civil unrest.
Russia also hasn’t had any
mercy spared to him regarding his bosses. While we don’t get too much
information about them, what little that we do is heartbreaking.
When Russia is taken as a
prisoner of war in WW2 by Germany, he erupts with happiness and claims that
he’s in heaven. Out of everything, the most important comment is how he
mentions that he doesn’t have to deal with his boss.
Further, when he’s later
forced to build a railway by Stalin, Russia snaps. By snap, I mean that he
begins to fantasize about warm weather and loses all touch with reality.
This distance from/
misperceived reality is also to be taken into account regarding how Russia
doesn’t understand the consequences of his actions. He grew up with violence,
so violence is the only way he sees fit to solve his problems.
One example of this would be
when England’s caught sleeping at a meeting, and Russia offers to wake up
England by hitting him with a sickle. China’s comment, “violence is not the
answer!”, is the most telling indication of Russia’s troubled neuroses.
Another example of this
inability to recognize the consequences of his violent actions is when Russia
snaps Latvia’s neck in an attempt to get him to stop trembling.
That said, I would like to
end this by citing a favourite psychologist of mine, Karen Horney. She believed
that the “basic evil” (this is used loosely) in the world is parental
indifference, neglect, and hostility towards children.
While Russia may have had
Ukraine and Belarus, they weren’t around all the time. Centuries of oppressive
leaders, bloodshed, and isolation has taken a massive toll on Russia. What
Horney also said was that parents who exercised this basic evil of indifference
were incapable of treating their children with warmth and compassion as a
result of their own troubled childhoods.
Isn’t that what you see with
Russia? It’s not that he doesn’t want to be warm and compassionate towards
others, because he does. He wants nothing more than to make friends and help
ease his chronic loneliness.
Why I don’t think HRE and Germany are exactly the same person
Since @ellawritesficssometimes asked me to elaborate, here I go. I’m no major in Hetalia or anything but this little guy has always been my favorite characer in Hetalia, even when I really disliked Chibitalia, and I want to share my thoughts on him.
So, first of all, Holy Roman Empire and Germany are really different as ‘countries’. Germany is an unified state despite all differences, Holy Roman Empire was more a pact between german states that never sticked and while originally it included a lot of other countries they started falling apart with time. Poor Holy Roman Empire started dying around 1500 and from the way he acted when he said goodbye to Italy I think he was pretty aware of his impending dissolution.
And another thing I suspect, due to the strip in which we see the german states fighting is that he made it back, to some degree, but he avoided Italy or decided to stay in a completely different place: the HRE Hungary is holding up is the teen we see later in the comigs where Prussia reads him the Grimm comics, not the super small child he was earlier.
I know this doesn’t add much to my Hre=/=Germany discussion but I still feel like pointing it out. Anyway, going back to the main topic: while they share a lot of territory, Holy Roman Empire had more than Germany inside him- like Austria, Switzerland, the whole Czech Republic and ridicolous amounts of the Netherlands, Italy and Belgium. Germany is just… Germany. And it’s compact and strong. They share the same territories, yes, but they’re different things.
Now, let’s alk about the points I see around the most:
But Germany and HRE look exactly like each other!
Who else also look really similar, used to share the same territories, have ridicolous similarities and have common history, traditions and culture? The Italian brothers and their grandfather, especially Romano and his grandfather as seen here (A post from @grandparomeaskblog / @mezzogiornovargas.). Even Prussia and Germany are shown to have strong similarities in some strips so I wouldn’t really base myself on how someone looks like considering family members can look alike on occasion.
Also, I DO admit there’s an high chance the empty shell of HRE was used as empty body for Germany but that doesn’t make them the ‘same’ person.
Thanks go to @ask-useless-german for basically being my german history teacher.
Germany is Holy Roman Empire, he just lost his memories.
I could buy this if we didn’t have two specific things.This strip in which it’s clearly said the time of his death is close, which implies that he will die soon, he’s not just going to be sick for a while and then return full force-
And the one where they say Germany “already had an exising body” when he was born. I does imply that Holy’s body was recycled but we’re clearly talking about one being dead and the other being born. If anyting it feels like Germany is the legacy of HRE and the one who succeeded where the other failed.
Obligatory Gerita comment here
Feliciano remembers Holy Roman Empire and he still seems to feel something for him as seen in the famous Valentine episode. The only time he blushes is when he mentions his first love was a boy and he has a somehow melancholic face while talking about it.
Italy didn’t forget his first love and he seems to actively ignore when other countries flirt with him (he’s seen being nice to liechtenstein and other girls, sure, but he only flirts with human ladies.). So far we’ve seen him turn down Spain, Prussia’s advance and even Germany’s (the episode ends with Himaruya stating ‘it took them a week to fix the misunderstanding meaning they probably had a good talk about what happened and agreed to be just friends since we don’t see them in any kind of relationship in modern times, if anything it’s Germany who’s still slightly crushing on him), but we do see him blush mentioning Holy- it does feel like he’s still trying to move on. I think that if Holy Roman Empire was Germany Italy would be the first one to notice.
On a more historical note: Italy and Prussia were extremely close during that century so I find relatively strange how Feliciano apparently ‘never met’ Germany during his youth and they only started interacting round WWI- I mean, they’re still countries, they’re supposed to interact and Feliciano had a great relationship with Prussia. I do wonder if he knew Holy’s body had been ‘used’ and that’s why he tried to postpone their meeting as far as he could. Buuuuut that’s just me fangirling. And while I don’t really ship Ludwig with Feliciano IF it’s going to happen I’d rather see Feliciano fall in love with Germany because it’s Germany, not because “oh, look, it’s my long lost love I guess I should be with him”)
This is literally touching the tip of an iceberg since I have a lot of things to add but they’re mostly based on Feliciano’s interactions with Germany, how we italians were hisorically tied to Austria and HRE and this post is probably already a bit too long? I’m sorry if it’s a bit messy, I still struggle a bit with the language and I’m not used to write this kind of things either but this is a very short version of why I tend to consider Germany and HRE two separate entities.
In any case I’d love to discuss more with you.That being said I’m more than open for debate since as far as we go the whole thing is still a big question mark! 😀
Re: Germany is Holy Rome
Note: Germany = Holy Rome isn’t confirmed in canon. I’m merely presenting evidence in support of it.
Okay, before I start, I want
to mention that a lot of the points you brought up have already been explained
in the manga. That said, these rules do have a consistent logic to them. I
think what needs to be recognized here is that while Hetalia may be based on
history, it’s still fictional. What I mean by this is that you can’t apply
technical historical facts to explain a fictional occurrence, such as
reincarnation.
If the fictional rules are provided, then they should be adhered
to while also recognizing the wider backdrop of loose historical influence.
Different Territories, Different Personifications Argument:
The manga provides the
possibility for personifications to adopt new titles “names” and lands. So
while Holy Rome and Germany may differ geographically, it doesn’t negate the
fact that the nations’ borders and land space change all the time.
This
rule of adopting new names (titles) is established in chapter 1 of World Stars.
Likewise, Prussia has long
been established as a character whose geographical representation keeps changing.
He evolved from St. Mary’s Order, to the Teutonic Knights, and eventually to
Prussia. Presumably, he represents East Germany now
In sum, it is 100% canon for
the nations to have the land they represent change. As such, they can acquire
new names.
Memories:
You are correct in saying
that Germany and Holy Rome are not technically the same person, and yet they are. Germany is Holy Rome, except
he doesn’t possess the latter’s memories. That would explain why they have
personality differences.
Again, chapter 1 of World
Stars clearly states that nations can change their personalities out of
nowhere. Personalities are derived from lived experiences, which result in the
formation of memories. That’s why if someone lost previous memories, they would
be a completely different person; if they don’t retain these old experiences,
then it has no impact on who they are as a person.
I’ll get back to the evidence
of Germany’s amnesia in just a little bit.
Why Holy Rome Still Existed After Dissolution:
I’m dreadfully repeating
myself, but I have to refer to Chapter 1 of World Stars again. It states that
they can be called back by a sudden memory…
..but whose memory?
The first answer for this can
be found in “It’s a Treasure Box of Countries”, which outlines 2 outcomes that
can happen once a nation dies.
1) “If the culture of
the country’s personality dies/disappears, the country [personification] will
gradually disappear or entrust him/herself to the country [another
personification] that takes over him her.”
2)There are also cases that
him/her is not a country but continues to live leisurely as a representative of
the region.
Since this strip outlines
exactly what happens to a nation after their culture/personality dies, your
empty shell theory has no canon support.
Anyways, the first case
appears to explain why Holy Rome hasn’t died yet in chapter 187 of World Stars.
While he may have been dissolved, German culture and identity never waned.
It’s for this reason that the
vague statement of “his time of death is near” is used. At the time of the
strip, it was uncertain whether other national identities/ personalities would
eventually develop to replace Holy Rome.
On the same note, it’s human
belief in the nations that allow them to exist. Here, France lays out ground
rules regarding how a nation’s immortality is maintained.
1) They need a strong
and stable government (which Holy Rome didn’t have, admittedly)
2) A body of citizens (which Holy Rome had.
Regardless of how many individual states he consisted of, they were all united
by the German language).
Existing Holy Rome Body Theory + (non) Teenage Holy Rome:
With all that in mind, I
don’t think Holy Rome ever died if I’m to be perfectly honest. Here’s why.
First, the appearance of Holy
Rome in the 2011 Christmas Event strip does not appear to be a teenager at all.
Look at how small he is. Even when he’s in Hungary’s arms, he’s smaller than a
teenager. Popular opinion is what deemed him as a teenager here, nothing else.
Also consider how small Hungary is herself.
Like you said, the age
between the Holy Rome in the 2011 strip and the Holy Rome from chapter 187 is
consistent. The only difference in opinion that I have is that I see them both
as a middle point between childhood and adolescence, whereas you see them both as teenagers. I disagree.
Also notice how the Holy Rome
from chapter 187 appears to be the same age as the ‘just-born’ Germany from
chapter 12.
What’s more, they’re wearing
the same nightgown, aside from the obvious fact that all the other nations
first appeared in similar dress.
Germany is stated to be born
a few years older than the other nations because he already had an existing
body. But, what if we take that literally?
Holy Rome was on his deathbed
and was notably weak and ridden with illness. Nonetheless, we know from the
evidence listed above that it’s still possible for him to exist even after
dissolution given that people still believe and identify with him.
Now, tie that in with the
fact that nations can adopt new personalities and titles. If Holy Rome still
existed, only to become Germany, it’s very well possible that adopting a new
title caused him to lose all previous memories of being Holy Rome. A quick little
reminder again that your personality is very much driven by lived experience.
Evidence of Germany’s Amnesia:
There’s a ton of strips that
point towards this, but I’ll only cover the most obvious ones.
Right from birth, Prussia
takes to reminding Germany that it’s okay to refer to him as an older brother
close to five hundred times.
The excessiveness of this
makes it seem like Prussia is attempting to jog Germany’s memory, only to fail
in doing so.
There’s also some very old
and very strange strips which involve a child Holy Rome vying to be
acknowledged. Taken symbolically, this can be understood as Germany’s childhood
memories attempting to puncture through into his conscious mind.
Italy too has a childhood
version of himself pressing to be acknowledged, which could mean the same
thing. He could be choosing not to acknowledge that Germany is Holy Rome, but
still remembers him as seen in Buon San Valentino.
What else would Germany have
to acknowledge other than his own past? Not to mention that Prussia is known to
have lied to Germany about his past before.
Why else would he do that
other than to avoid having Germany remember the trauma Holy Rome experienced?
It’s a common psychological reaction to repress childhood memories that cause you to feel discomfort.
Or what about Germany’s first
interaction with Lithuania? This is supposed to be the first time they’re
meeting together, and yet Lithuania expresses relief at the fact that Germany
doesn’t remember him.
How could Germany remember
Lithuania if he hasn’t met him before? It doesn’t add up. What does add up is
if Germany doesn’t have access to the memories where he did meet Lithuania…as Holy
Rome.
Alternatively, you posed the
question about why Italy and Germany didn’t meet before WW1. It’s always possible
for bosses to meet with each other without needing the personifications
present.
The most obvious example that
Germany is suffering from amnesia is in Buon San Valentino. Repressed memories
resurface during times of stress and conflict. After getting embarrassed at
improperly proposing to Italy, notice how Germany freezes.
The scene then pans inwards,
delving into the flurry of confusing emotions he experiences. Why is it that
the strip ends with images of Chibitalia? Look at the fuzziness of them too.
Doesn’t it seem like Germany’s
only then starting to access Holy Rome’s memories, memories that had been
repressed into his unconscious mind?
Similarities among Germania, Holy Rome, and Germany:
I think another issue here is a
misinterpretation of the family tree. Holy Rome and Germany are both noted to
descend from Germania. The problem is that there’s inconsistencies regarding
their relation to him [Germania]. For example, both are referred to as sons of
Germania, while Holy Rome is once listed as Germania’s grandson.
What I’m here to debunk is “Germania and Germany look alike, which means that Holy Rome and
Germany can’t be connected.”
Germania hasn’t been reincarnated.
He’s been shown to exist separately in heaven, and even visits Earth with
Ancient Rome at one point.
Touching on the same topic, there’s a clear distinction
between being descended and related to a personification and being influenced
culturally and historically.
For example – Italy and Romano are related to and descend
from Ancient Rome, whereas while Romania may have been influenced by Ancient
Rome, he doesn’t descend from him.
Overall, there needs to be a balance between fiction and
history with Hetalia. If a fictional explanation is given, then history can
simply be used to complement, rather than override canon.
Considering how much evidence there is linking Holy Rome to
Germany (foreshadowing, themes, motifs, similar phrases of dialogue), I truly do
believe that they’re the same person. But, that’s just my opinion 🙂
The answer to the title is yes, yes indeed. While the nations
aren’t overtly terrified at the sight of America, they’re still nonetheless
wary of him. From their perspective, what’s worrisome about America is his
youth and impulsivity. Now add the fact that he’s one of the leading powers in
the world, and you’re in for some destructive outcomes.
What you’ll see is that America is often equated to a child
given how he had been isolated from the world after gaining his independence. He’s
unpredictable, naïve and bossy. In other terms, he’s inexperienced, and this
leads to a growing sense of wariness and caution among the other nations.
It’s like handing over the reigns of the world to a toddler.
They may have good intentions, but only end up creating an even bigger mess than
before.
This fear of America, then, is often the result of how ridiculous
and childish some of his ideas are. England even states that America has a “flawed
sense of reality.”
Again, given America’s dominant position on the world’s stage,
this isn’t something you want to see in a leader.
Here, America’s ideas are perceived as “nightmarish.” To be
fair, his world defense plan was to construct a ranger squadron, whatever that
means.
Either way, notice how he’s also referred to as a “brat” and “child.”
This child-like imagery comes up in how America interacts with
the other nations too. In that same meeting regarding his squadron defense plan,
America asks for a vote to be taken on it. What’s important here is that when
he offers the possibility of other nations disagreeing with him, he snaps a
bundle of spoons.
To me, that seems like an obvious intimidation tactic of someone
who is incapable of hearing alternative opinions. That said, I want to point
out how well child development patterns fit in with America’s characterization.
Children are inherently egocentric until about 6-8 years
old, as they lack the capacity to think outside of themselves. They only focus
on their own personal world and bubbles of fantasies before eventually
realizing that there’s a much larger world out there. Please note that this
egocentrism is not intentional; they just haven’t matured yet.
Still, this panel clearly illustrates that America believes himself
to be the only “player” [in the game of life].
America’s egocentrism for the most part is unintentional.
His isolation has made it hard for him to think from the perspective of others,
as he had previously grown accustomed to only looking after himself. That’s
where the “not being able to read the atmosphere” running gag likely comes
from.
However, as seen with the spoon incident, America is more
than capable of reading the atmosphere when he wants to if it means getting
what he wants…
…and that’s often other nations agreeing with him. Pay
attention to how uncomfortable South Korea gets here when claiming that he
agrees with America. Even more important is how in the panel above, South Korea
had no qualms in disagreeing with Japan.
No doubt, America is
bossy. Said bossiness and desire to get his way all the time is what’s
intimidating to the other nations.
Another display of this child-like bossiness would be when German-occupied
France and England are having an argument (big surprise), only for America to
step in and declare that he’ll decide on whose opinion is right.
There’s a bit of a discrepancy in the translation, but this
version has France say, “America, you scary boy!”
Meanwhile, my print version says, “What a frightening child,
you are!”
Regardless, both convey the same message. America does in
fact scare the other nations, sometimes.
One last example would be Netherlands warning Isolationist
Japan of America’s impending arrival. Once more, you see America’s youth being touched on.
Likewise, this youth is formulated as a reason of warning and caution.
With all that in mind, and for transparency’s sake, I’ll end
on this note: While America does often make the other nations feel uneasy, he’s
also frightened very easily himself.
Whether it’s ghosts, occasionally Russia, or sleeping alone, America is
possibly and ironically one of the biggest fraidy-cats in the series.
I get asked
about this a lot, so I thought I would clarify a few things…
“Why do the nations’ eye colors keep changing?”
Hima
directly answers this question on his blog by stating that there’s “sufficient
freedom” regarding the eye colors of the nations. This would include sometimes
adding light brownish or greenish tints.
Although,
this obviously doesn’t explain why Sweden and Finland have solid brown eyes (and darker hair) in the first episode of
the anime. Regardless, that’s an animation inconsistency, not a canon one.
Likewise,
if you’re wondering why eye colors go from blue to violet to green, as seen
with the Nordics, there’s actually a justified reason for this.
Hima
provided a chart years ago revealing the different range of hues/mixes that each
nation’s eye and hair colors can assume.
“I tried to put every character’s hair and eye color in order. Being that this is something like an approximation, they do things like change in illustrations. But it’s like this, and I hope it’s good and easily understandable.”
That said,
there isn’t really one correct eye color for the nations, nor is there one
correct hair color; it’ll always differ slightly.
Before I get into how Prussia fits into Hungary and
Austria’s relationship dynamic (platonic or romantic), it’s important to
briefly go over Prussia’s background, as it allows more insight into his
behaviour.
In one of his character notes, it’s stated that he’s never
had to marry. It would follow, then, that Prussia’s narcissism likely derives
from the fact that he’s long grown accustomed to fending for himself. He
doesn’t rely on others.
Yes, he’s been subordinated by other nations before (i.e.
Poland, France, Russia), but the point here is that other than Germany, Prussia
hasn’t formed a meaningful and trusting relationship with another nation.
It’s not just a lack of intimacy either; Prussia’s lonely
and desperately craves company.
In the 2007 Christmas event, he tells [lies to] himself that
he’s happy being alone. Likewise, he attributes the tears welling in his eyes
upon seeing couples spending time together on the holiday to this happy mood.
The strip then pans on Hungary and Austria acting seemingly
couple-like, where Austria buys Hungary a hat. Pretty romantic if you consider
how stingy Austria is.
The fact that Prussia cries at the sight of Hungary being
with Austria hints at an unrequited romance. I’ll touch on this again soon.
Prussia’s alone because he lacks the skills to socialize and
develop relationships with others. The most obvious evidence of this is where
he attempts to read a book instructing him on how to socialize with people,
only to get bored and quickly abandon his commitment to learning from it.
Buon San Valentino also touches on how relationally-stunted
Prussia is.
Just a quick refresher: Germany reads a book about dating
and marriage, thinking that Italy has romantic feelings for him. Austria has
also read this book.
The comedic relief in the strip, is that after failing to
propose to Italy – given that Germany had misread the situation – the scene flips
to Hungary making a remark on the absurdity of the romance book.
Austria gets flustered, keeping that he had also read the
book a secret. He and Hungary then set off to the book store to fix this mess.
Notice how the scene deliberately shifts to Prussia. On cue,
he claims how happy he is to be alone. He then secretly watches from afar as
Hungary and Austria ask the store owner if they have a book on how to comfort
someone who’s “been rejected in his romance.”
The store owner doesn’t appear to have a book of that kind, so of
course Prussia takes things into his own hands and pulls a prank on Austria by
forging a fake book.
I would like to thank @shirokage218 for correcting my original misinterpretation of this part. I really appreciate it.
Take note of the title.
“How to properly comfort a German man who has failed in love.”
Here, it seems like Prussia might be projecting his own insecurities, even in something as trivial as a book title.
With all this in mind, I want to end by pointing out that
Prussia isn’t entirely alone either. He, Austria and Germany have lived together before, likely during Germany’s annexation of Austria.
Lack of romance aside, Prussia is close enough with Austria
and Hungary for them to be considered family. Yes, he does tease Austria by
referring to him as a “lesser German”, but they still spend their holidays
together.
That said, the irony in Prussia’s
life is that he feels alone and depressed despite being surrounded by others.
Ellawritesficssometimes 
