Note: This post
will focus exclusively on the logic and reasoning in the strips. The reason for
this is that there might be an inconsistency across different mediums.
I’ve seen this with some of the card games, but as
pointed out, in one video game, Finland mentions that it’s impossible for the
nations to die. Unless Finland is simply referring to natural causes of death
that only humans are susceptible to (he mentions drowning), then the
information I’m about to show you demonstrates the opposite. So, for the sake
of clarity and causing less confusion, I’ll only be referring to the strips.
Chapter 1 of World Stars lays out the groundwork for the nations’
existence. Simply put, they can last for as long as several centuries, or as
short as a day. Out of nowhere, they can disappear, and likewise, they can
reappear by someone’s sudden memory with a completely different personality
than before.
From what I’ve seen, there’s two types of deaths in the series.
There’s true death, which involves the nation fading away. This is seen with
Grandpa Rome and the other Ancients, as they remain in heaven now.
This notion of ‘true death’ can be overturned via a rebirth
of some kind. Said logic is what I assume Hima has put in place to explain Holy
Rome’s connection to Germany, although we haven’t had any confirmation and it
all remains speculation at this point (no matter how obvious).
The other type of death is temporary. Throughout the strips,
the nations have been shown to die and presumably regenerate. It’s not true death,
because their nation still exists. Rather, it’s a death of their physical body.
It doesn’t seem to be natural (human) causes that allows their
bodies to die temporarily; it’s either a wound inflicted by another nation, or a
damaging domestic situation. They’re stronger than mortals and aren’t injured
as easily.
Here, Russia asks Latvia why he shakes and trembles so much.
Latvia is too scared to respond. Russia’s oblivious and brilliant solution is
to then snap Latvia’s neck in the hopes that it’ll get the trembling to stop.
Interpret it how you want, but to me that clearly looks like
Latvia’s spirit is leaving his body.
The nations have even been shown to recognize the physical
weakness and vulnerability of their bodies. Remember that they’re not fully immortal.
In this strip, Lithuania has just been beaten up by Russia,
and experiences a flashback. There, Poland informs a very injured Lithuania
that if Russia comes again, that Lithuania will “die for sure.”
Again, you see how it’s possible for their physical bodies
to die. On the other hand, Lithuania does mention disappearing. It’s left open-ended whether it means fading away or dying temporarily. Either way, neither the Lithuanian state nor Lithuanian identity has been eradicated, so my best bet is the latter option.
Moreover, economic recessions are also stated to affect the nations’ well-being, causing them to experience colds.
Spain almost dies from an economic recession, claiming that
he isn’t able to hold on any longer. Romano recognizes this too, but Spain nonetheless survives
in the end. What’s unclear is the hypothetical question of what would happen if
Spain did die as a result of the recession.
Would he regenerate and come back once the recession had
ended? Both his people and government didn’t cease to exist, so I would assume
this to be the case.
Perhaps one of the most obvious – and graphic – forms of potential death in the series occurs during
the Christmas 2007 event. France is asked to take an embarrassing photo of Switzerland,
and well, he gets shot for it. Using the same reasoning as before, if it’s a fatal
wound inflicted by another nation, it’s likely to kill the assaulted nation in
question.
That said, the nations do appear to experience death in the
series. What makes things so dark is that the death isn’t necessarily permanent,
and that it may be something that’s been experienced regularly. Given how old
some of the nations are, as well as how many wars they’ve fought in, one has to
wonder just how many times they’ve possibly died.
A wonderful theory as always! I have just one personal theory to add 😉
It concerns the ‘disappearing’ Lithuania mentions. And that is, while he didn’t actually disappear, he was talking more about a possibility than a definite outcome. Lithuania was being attacked by Russia several times, if I understood that right (correct me if I’m wrong), and Lithuania could have been worried that, if this continued, he might be actually taken over by Russia (or another nation that attacked him) and bound to fade away in time because people would start thinking of themselves as part of the other nation in time.
So, I think nations would be able to disappear because of being attacked by other nations – just not from a one-time thing (usually) but if the land is actually conquered and integrated into the other country, it might be an actual possibility, over time at least. People can change their opinion on where they belong to in a few centuries time, after all.
Let me know what you think of this! 🙂
That’s definitely a possibility. I guess it’s easy to look back on things with a bias of having known what already happens. It was really clever of you to situate Lithuania’s thoughts at the present time of when the panel took place 🙂
The only thing I have to add is that nations have been shown to be taken over by other nations for long periods of time without disappearing. The Soviet Union is a perfect example of that (especially with Poland and the Baltic states prior to its formation as well). Lithuania’s concern seems to be more immediate.
Ellawritesficssometimes 