Finland

Tino Väinämöinen (ティノ・ヴァイナマイネン, Tino Vainamainen) is a character in the series Axis Powers Hetalia/Hetalia: Axis Powers. He represents the country of Finland (フィンランド,Finrando).

Appearance
Tino has short blond hair and violet eyes (originally colored blue in some early illustrations). He wears a light blue military uniform with a cross neck-charm on the jacket, and sometimes wears a white beret on his head.

He is the shortest out of the five Nordics and stands at 170 cm, but only when he's wearing a hat. There is approximately a 12cm height difference between him and Berwald.

He is also often shown in the role of Santa Claus, due to the fact that Santa is claimed to live in Finnish Lapland.

Personality And Interests
Tino is described as being simplistic, gentle, and honest, as well seeming rather adult-like. He's very talkative, especially around Berwald, thinking up jokes to lighten the atmosphere. He loves to think of interesting and unusual festivals that no other country could imagine, and actually likes the taste of salmiakki. He also happens to love saunas, and the Moomins (in canon and fanon).

Before gaining his independence Tino used to be an underling. Out of the five Nordic nations, it is said that he suffered the most hardships in his life.

Berwald Oxenstierna (Sweden)
Main Article:Berwald Oxenstierna

The two ran away together after not being able to handle living with Denmark. Though Berwald considers him his "wife", Tino insists that he's not (even in the present day, as shown in Christmas Rampage 2007). The two of them own a dog named "Hanatamago".

Tino found Berwald to be frightening at first, though warmed up to him over time. It is revealed that Berwald knows how to sew, and he managed to alter some of his own clothing so that Tino would have extra clothes, as their 12cm height difference was very noticeable.

It has been said by Hidekaz Himaruya that Berwald is a homosexual, but only has strong feelings towards Tino.

Eduard Von Bock (Estonia)
Main Article:Eduard Von Bock

Tino and Eduard are very good friends, having known each other for a long time. After fleeing Denmark's rule, Tino stopped by to visit him, while Berwald offered for the Baltics to come join them as family. Though Feliks refused to let them go, Berwald and Tino gained partial custody of both Eduard and his younger "brother" Raivis.

The two men are known to come up with strange festival ideas together, though Eduard snatched the "leader" position away.

In The Anime
Tino first appears in Episode 01, seated next to Berwald at the "Meeting Of The World". He gets his first speaking role in Episode 14, when he offers to tell Berwald a joke about Russians, to pass the time in the long line at the supermarket. He has a larger speaking role in Episode 28: :) In The World, in his role of 'Santa Claus'. He flies in a sleigh led by reindeer, and wishes the Axis Powers and the Allied Forces a Merry Christmas, as he hands out gifts. In Episode 31: Academy Hetalia Christmas, he explains the concept of a Finnish Christmas celebration to the Axis. In Episode 39, he shows a young America to England and France, who then argue over who gets to adopt him.

In the anime adaptation, his light blond hair is changed to a more yellow shade, and his eyes are now brown.

Trivia

 * Though his name is rendered as Tino in katakana, some fans opt to use the more common Finnish name Timo when referring to him by his human name, as Tino is rarely used in Finland. However, the Italian name Tino can also mean Little (or Jr.).
 * His surname Väinämöinen seems to have been inspired by the Finnish folklore character of the same name, who was sometimes thought of as a deity as well.
 * His birthday corresponds with the date that Finland gained independence from the Russian Empire, on December 6th, 1917.