Austria

Austria (オーストリア, Osutoria) is a character in the series Axis Powers Hetalia/Hetalia: Axis Powers. In 2008, Himaruya gave out human names to some of the characters and he recieved the name, Roderich Edelstein (ローデリヒ・エーデルシュタイン, Rooderihi Eederushutain).

Appearance


Austria has violet eyes and somewhat wavy brown hair, with a wild strand that represents Mariazell. He wears glasses, a long navy blue coat with a white jabot, and black pants (colored tan in some earlier artwork). He also has a mole on his face, which acts as an erogenous zone for him.

When he was younger (as seen in Chibitalia), he wore a deep fuchsia jacket and purple pants. In the anime version of the storyline, his jacket was changed to blue and his pants were changed to black, to match the clothing he wears as an adult.

Personality And Interests
He is described as a well-spoken, young master type, who was initially aloof until he was saddled with too many burdens. He gives higher priority to his hobbies rather than his work, and is more optimistic and quiet in comparison to Germany who is more serious and work-oriented. His interests are art, music (the piano in particular), and cake. In the first drama CD, it is revealed he is not an outdoors person and is afraid of marine animals (such as crabs and starfish). Despite being musically talented, he has no sense of direction and frequently gets lost; this is based on a joke Himaruya heard about an Austrian salesperson getting lost in his own storehouse.

Prussia
Main Article: Prussia

Prussia takes pleasure in annoying and humiliating him in whatever ways he can, and had fought against him in wars in the past, most notably seizing Silesia for himself in the War Of Austrian Succession (the strip of which contained Austria saying the infamous "vital regions" line that is often erroneously attributed to Prussia himself).

On numerous occasions when he finds himself alone and crying, Prussia will mention that he is happy alone unlike a certain "stupid aristocrat". In the Christmas Strips, Prussia has to tell himself that he rather be alone than be with others ''"because clustering is for the weak. Yeah, like that stupid aristocr--". ''Prussia often talks about Austria in a negative tone.

In the present day while living with his brother, he also freeloads off of Austria and has a habit of stalking him. Also, in Prussia's blog, it is implied that either Prussia and Austria are both living together in Germany's house, or that Austria associates with the brothers very often to sort out their messes. In the Maria Theresa arc of the anime, Prussia seems to be hell-bent on humiliating Austria, and shows, on multiple occasions throughout the episodes, a strong desire to see Austria beg for his mercy during the battles. He went so far as to hiring a painter to paint Austria's face and defeat so that his failure would forever be a part of history.

Germany
Main Article: Germany

Austria and Germany were allied in both World Wars, and lived together for a while during that time. He gives Germany advice in his confusion over Italy in the Valentines Day strips. They appear to be very close, although he annoys Germany at times with his behaviour.

Hungary
Main article: Hungary

At one point his wife. The marriage was mostly a valuable war alliance, as the two promised that they would support each other in war. The two still associate, despite the dissolution of their marriage/alliance. As children, he was often beaten up and defeated by her when it came to wars, but when they got older, she was forced into becoming his servant when they were both under the rule of Holy Roman Empire.

Switzerland
Main Article: Switzerland

A former childhood friend of Austria's. In their youth, they were close, but Austria was weak and unable to fight as well as Switzerland expected him to, and had to be bailed out when he'd get beaten up in war.

They eventually grew apart, and Switzerland denies that the two of them ever used to be friends.

North Italy
Main Article: Italy

Chibitalia (young or baby Italy) spent a lot of time at Austria's house where he acted as a maid. Austria was one of the many people to believe Italy was a girl until one day his voice finally broke, with Austria thinking he "had a feeling this would happen for some reason."

In the Anime
Austria made a very brief appearance during the Chibitalia segment in Episode 02 as one of four characters kicking Chibitalia in the air. In Episode 04, he gained control over and made Chibitalia as his servant. In Episode 06, we see an adult Austria for the first time. He complains to Germany that having Italy was a bad move and that he is mass-producing white flags as they speak. To express his anger, he played a piano piece from Chopin.

In the second half of the episode, Germany states that he has been living at his house. Also during the second half, Austria complains at Ludwig to stop throwing away his underwear (because they are still wearable), but Germany refuses to wear them because of the holes in them. In the end, he ended up wearing the underwear after Austria patched them up.

Austria is later seen in the checkout line in Episode 14, and becomes frustrated at the amount of time that Spain is taking to do his job.

The eighth volume of the anime DVD releases included a version of Marukaite Chikyuu sung by him (along with a version sung by Prussia). It was released in late March of 2010.

Trivia

 * The date given for his birthday, October 26th, is also the date of Austria's national holiday. It celebrates Austria's Declaration of Neutrality, signed in 1955.
 * Austria is the only character given an outright "birth year" (976) in his profile, though Korea originally had one as well (1919). The "birth year" corresponds with the year that the Duchy of Carinthia was founded, which Austria grew from.
 * June 8th, his and Hungary's wedding day, corresponds with the date of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise.
 * In a character note, it says he spent some time in a wheelchair.
 * Also in a character note, it says he wears glasses not because he has bad eyesight, but because he thinks he would look plain without them.