Misconception: Latvia’s physical body is young
and small for “no reason.”
I couldn’t
object anymore to this. While it’s not explicitly stated why Latvia is like this,
there are written rules and examples in the manga that provide a suitable
explanation. This is aside from the fact that Latvian people are among some of
the tallest in the world.
Since I
already have a theory on this, I’ll merely put a quick summary here:
For one
thing, we know that a nation’s health is predicated on their political and
economic situation. That is, if their economy is doing bad, or they’re experiencing
political instability, then they’ll develop a cold.
Likewise,
we know from the case examples of America, Canada, Italy, and Romano that
gaining independence causes the nations to age.
A strong
economy, a stable political situation, and political sovereignty are solid
factors in determining the age and size of full-blown nations – not micronations,
who are often anomalies to these rules.
That said,
because Latvia has historically experienced constant political repression and
subordination and lacks a strong economy, his physical body hasn’t aged as much
in comparison to the other nations.
Ex: Russia
pushing down on Latvia’s head is a metaphor for the political repression the
latter experienced at the hands of the former.
Further,
what differentiates Lithuania and Estonia in modern times is that both of them
are doing better off economically than Latvia is, who primarily relies on
agriculture. You also need to account for how Lithuania at one time was a
European superpower.
Ex: Estonia’s obsessed with money, and is good at managing economics.
Even then,
because of the political repression Estonia also experienced, he’s only a little bit
older than Latvia at 17.
Misconception: Because Latvia’s scared of
Russia and is physically weak, he’s just weak.
Latvia’s actually
a genius.
Ex: He
built an entire railroad by himself.
Ex: He
plays solo chess.
Misconception: His physical age means that he
has the mentality of a child
[He’s 15.]
While
Latvia does have a bit of a blabber-mouth –which gets him into trouble with
Russia, admittedly – that’s more of a character quirk than it has to do with his
maturity.
Ex: Latvia
has adopted a mentoring role when it comes to dealing with Sealand.
[He also
drinks a lot of alcohol.]
Misconception: He’s not scared of Russia
anymore
I’ve seen a
tendency for people to get angry when authors characterize the Baltics as being
afraid of Russia. Honestly, it’s accurate, especially given how terrifying their
past in the Soviet Union was and the extent to which they’re still traumatized
by it. (i.e. both Lithuania and Latvia are shown to escape from
reality, and maybe Estonia
too with his mochi-inspired dream + other dream fantasies).
The problem would be if you only depict
them this way, and don’t reveal the other aspects of their characters.
In other
words, “Stop making the Baltics weak!!!! They’re not scared of Russia!” is just
as bad as only showing them cowering
in the face of Russia.
Also remember that there was resistance and political
revolts on their part too. Either way, both depictions are biased,
one-dimensional, and don’t give the complexities of their personalities the
credit they deserve…
Ellawritesficssometimes 