Belarus

Belarus (ベラルーシ, Berarūshi) is a character in the series Hetalia: Axis Powers. In 2008, Himaruya gave human names to some of the characters and she received the name Natalia Arlovskaya (ナターリヤ・アルロフスカヤ, ''Natāriya Arurofusukaya). ''

Appearance


Belarus has long, straight, platinum blonde hair and dark blue eyes (sometimes shown as purple). Though it's generally worn straight down, her hair was in a ponytail during the 2011 Christmas event. When she was a child, her hair was short and raggedy at the ends.

She's also been noted to have large breasts.

She wears a dark purple dress given to her by Russia that reaches her knees, a white hair ribbon (though it is said to have variations in color, notably black ) h er waist is tied with a waist apron (though the ribbon holding it to the dress is black-and-white striped), and black mary jane shoes with black stockings.

Russia has stated that Belarus is "a total beauty" and "really pretty", while Lithuania commented that she, "despite being very strong, can be cute sometimes".

She wears a long navy blue dress, a white hairbow (shown in one illustration to be on a headband), a white waist apron, and black shoes with black thigh-highs. Russia has also stated that she is "a very pretty girl" in Episode 42.

In her cameo appearance in Meeting Of The World in Hetalia: Axis Powers volume 1, her hair was colored light brown, and she wore a black hairbow and black dress (with no apron). Her hair also appeared to be drawn shorter.

In a sketch by Hidekaz Himaruya, she is shown to wear a deep green jacket, a long matching skirt, and black boots as part of her military uniform. Her bow is also colored black.

Personality And Interests
She is an intimidating, harsh young woman who has a deep infatuation with her older brother Russia, to the point where she wants to get married to him. However, he doesn't feel the same way, and feels disturbed by her very presence.

Belarus is shown to carry around a knife at points, most notably in the "Meeting Of The World" strip where she's holding it to a traumatized Latvia's back as her brother scares him.

Alongside that, she doesn't hesitate to use violent and can be quite the sadist as shown when Lithuania askes her out for a date and she breaks all of his fingers.

According to a footnote at the end of Russia's Big And Little Sisters in Hetalia volume 2, Belarus briefly became a sort of adoptive younger sister to America after the fall of the Soviet Union. Her appearance as a Hetalia "desktop buddy" also reveals that she loves the occult, and that her favorite reading material was the Soviet newspaper Pravda. Also from her appearance as a "desktop buddy" it is revealed that she can see ghosts and is quite fond of her traditional clothes.

It also has been stated that Belarus is a good acrobat and knows a lot of useless trivia like the name of Paris Hilton's dog. Belarus is also quite vulgar in her speech, usually using profanity calmly.

According to her, she's skilled in cooking potatoes and she always eats them due to inflation. She thinks that "as long as we have something to eat, it's fine" and works hard on her agriculture due to her bad economy. She said that Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs labeled her as unsafe and she has travel warnings against her.

Upon being asked by Latvia, she said that the higher ups in Belarus used to speak Polish, somewhat implying that she can, as well.

At five in the morning, she said she would go watch the sun rise. She calls eight AM "torture" and four PM "the devil." At nine, she decided to "watch some state-run TV to be poisoned by propaganda." According to her, ten in the morning is the most thrilling time in Belarus. She seems to get nervous around 11 and 12 for some reason, and calms down (saying "you've forgotten") at one and that "it's alright" and "you have to start moving on" at two.

She said that the shadow on the moon was, according to Netherlands or Denmark (she couldn't recall which,) someone who had been imprisoned there for some crime. She wondered how long he had to stare at the earth powerlessly until he was forgiven and that she wasn't much better off than him.

America

 * Main article: America

Due to her older brother, Russia's dislking towards America, Belarus also despises America, even though it's shown to be heading towards hate. In the Christmas 2011 Event, everyone's questioning why America is late to the party and Belarus growls that he's probably too enthuasistic about the setup and is too exhausted to come.

Even so, America becomes a sort of big brother to her after she attempted to separate herself from her brother after the fall of the Soviet Union. However, she tired him out a lot in doing so, and he tried to get rid of her the same as Russia did. She's annoyed by American ghosts (as they're very conspicuous) and going to America's house, though she seems to enjoy the famous haunted mansion, the Winchester mystery house, and went there with Russia despite being irritated at having to visit America.

Lithuania
Though Lithuania has a crush on her, Belarus hates him and has treated him cruelly since they were children (having once broken his leg). When he did manage to go out on a three minute date with her, Lithuania was shocked when she suddenly held his hand, however she did so merely to break all of his fingers (and followed him home to continue to do so). Despite this action, Lithuania doesn't give up and continues to pursue her, much to Belarus' annoyance. It's somewhat implied that Belarus' hatred for him comes from Russia favoring him.

Belarus' relationship chart on her face chart listed Poland and Lithuania as annoying. Furthermore, she asked why "those cat shit bastards Poland and Lithuania" often bother her (though the word used can also mean "be concerned about" or "care about,") to which Latvia said she was "at that age," the word used meaning "adult age" or "marriageable age."

In a discarded strip, Poland said that she'd been doing things such as strangling Lithuania since they were children and, even then, Lithuania thought little to nothing of it, however as it was discarded and a proper one released(though, deleted later) it's likely this has been retconned. In the proper release for that comic, Lithuania finally managed to arrange a date between them, however it only lasted for three minutes. A newer blog post also referred to them as something of strange childhood friends.

In the Halloween 2011 event, Belarus does not treat him with her usual cruelty. Lithuania also worried over her, asking her if she "really want"ed to throw the hanger at Denmark, and asking what she was doing in a hysterical manner while she was being rude to Denmark and asked her to stop, however she ignored him. Still, she lets Lithuania holds her hand to prevent her from dashing towards Denmark.

In the SeaLat mascots, Belarus' diary contained the entry "Played around with Lithuania and his strange sideburns. It was interesting seeing what kind of faces he makes when I do such things to him." though "Lithuania and his strange sideburns" could have been replaced with 'that unkempt person'; 'that guy with a stomachache'; 'that guy with pollakiuria'; 'that glasses-wearing nerd'; or 'Latvia and his virtually bare armpits.' She also spent a large part of her morning observing Lithuania's house. An option for the rest of the evening before bed was that she prank called Lithuania's house as well. On the program's startup, if it's nighttime, she may ask if you'd seen Lithuania with a fish in his mouth anywhere around.

Poland

 * Main article: Poland

While their relationship has yet to be shown in the comics, Belarus talks about him a few times in the SeaLat mascots and he was listed in the relationship section of her face chart along with Lithuania, both of which are said to be annoying. She asked why "those cat shit bastards Poland and Lithuania" often bother her (though the word used can also mean "be concerned about" or "care about,") to which Latvia said they were "at that age," the word used meaning "adult age" or "marriageable age." One of her diary entries' options was that she made silent calls to Poland's house in the evening. Latvia also asked if Belarus could speak Polish at one time, however she said it was only the officials who could and that she'd always spoken Belarusian.

Russia
Belarus' older brother. Her love for him is as obsessive as it is unrequited, though much to Russia's dismay, the latter does not deter her. She is shown to stalk after him, as well as stick by his side to intimidate those who she feels might stand in their way. In one episode, all the countries were shown to have left the Soviet Union and left Russia by himself. Belarus came back and said to Russia "Even if you don't want me to stay, I'll stay," to which Russia said "That's nice...But kinda creepy".

In the Hetalia desktop buddies created by Himaruya, Belarus' obsession for Russia is elaborated on even more, with her stating her desire to get suggestive photos of her brother.

Ukraine
Belarus's older sister. Their relationship is not shown very much, except for the fact that she, Russia, and Belarus were all siblings back in the days. However, Belarus can be seen glaring at Ukraine in some of Himaruya's pictures, possibly out of jealousy of Russia's attention towards her and now Belarus. Even when they were little, when Ukraine lent Russia her scarf, Belarus tried to resist Russia's acceptance of the scarf.

However, there are also implications that Belarus has an attachment to Ukraine. In her appearance in the Sealand and Latvia desktop mascots, a possible entry of her diary she'll read for you involves her spending three hours massaging Ukraine's breasts or stretching her headband. It also contained an entry in which she went through her garbage bags. There was also an intimidating shadow resembling Belarus creeping up behind Ukraine when Italy tried flirting with her.

In the Anime
Belarus first appeared in a cameo in Episode 01 at the "Meeting Of The World", where she was seen holding the knife to a crying Latvia's back (as in the manga). She makes another brief cameo in a thought bubble in Episode 37, as Lithuania mentions that he planned to go out on a date with her. She finally makes her speaking debut in Episode 42, where she attempts and succeeds in breaking down her brother's door, in an attempt to get him to agree to marry her.

Her anime design originally had a color scheme similar to the one that she had in the manga version of the Meeting of the World strip, with her hair being darker and her dress colored black, rather than her hair being light blonde and her dress being navy. The only difference between the designs is that an apron was added and her hair was lengthened to match her later manga design. However, when she reappeared in Episode 42, the colors of her dress and bow were corrected, though her hair still remained dark blonde.



Name
Her surname is often rendered and translated as Alfroskaya, but the more accurate spelling would be Arlovskaya, since Alfroskaya would be rendered as Arufurosukaya. Another version of the name is Arlofskaya. If read as Arlovskaya, the surname would correspond to Arlovski, like the Belarusian Andrei Arlovski. It is probable that he was not Himaruya's specific inspiration, though the other two surname spellings cannot be found outside of the fandom. The word "Орёл" is a slavic word that has a similar pronounciation to the root word of Arlovskaya and signifies Eagle, so that could be an inspiration to her surname.

While her name is Natalia, Natasha is alternatively used for her as it is an informal variant of the name and is also considered to be valid. Her first name may have also been intended to be spelled as Natalya, as that is the usual spelling for slavics with that name.

Like Russia, Belarus doesn't have a patronymic (Bel: Імя па бацьку; Imya pa batsku) in her name. Belarusians use (as per de facto custom) the same naming customs of the Russian people.

Character Songs
Carrot And Stick (featured)

Trivia

 * Her birthdate, August 25, corresponds with the date of Belarus' establishment of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
 * According to notes in 2009 by Hidekaz Himaruya, Belarus was originally designed as a shy, more reserved character. An early headshot sketch shows her to have a plain headband, while her hair is colored light brown. Additional notes in the special edition of Hetalia: Axis Powers volume 3 revealed that Himaruya had also considered an angrier character that was more reflective of the "tsundere" archetype, who would always be complaining and frustrated.
 * To fans who know something of Belarusian history, and Belarus's love for Russia, her tendencies might remind one of something similar to Stockholm's syndrome.