Austria

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Austria is a supporting character in Hetalia: Axis Powers as a minor memeber of the Axis Powers and one of the former rulers over North Italy.

In 2008, Austria was given an official name along with most other characters, being Roderich Edelstein.

Appearance
Austria has the air of one of the more sophisticated nations, featuring carefully done hair, classy attire, sharp glasses and even a small mole on his chin. His hair is somewhat wavy and a very dark shade of brown, actually seeming more black than any other color, featuring a wild strand near the part that represents Mariazell. His eyes are a deep shade of violet and are framed by squared glasses (the glasses being used as an accessory rather than to aid with his eyesight; he thinks he would look plain without them). The mole on his chin also acts as a erogenous zone, similar to the Italies' curls. He's a character who's normally depicted in an outfit other than their nation's military outfit, instead wearing a long blue coat, black pants, dark boots and black gloves.

Character Summary
Austria is more of the domestic type of man who gained most of his power through strategic marriages. He can seem to be a very composed and sophisticated person, and actually is one to some extent, but can more easily be known as rather preppy and aloof. He's said to bear multiple similarities to Germany as well, but is more sociable and less organized. He's hardly seen outside of his house and has a frail body and immune system, causing him to fall seriously ill at the slightest change of temperature and tiring out after only a few minutes of work. Despite this, is still extremely photogenic, seeming to look good in any random picture one would take of him (though he doesn't seem to enjoy having his picture taken anyway). His affinity and talents for music can easily be said as one of the best out of all the nations. However, his stinginess with unnecessary things (a prime example being underwear) can easily get on one's nerves. He also has a horrible sense of direction, having been shown to rely on Germany to come by and pick him up once he gets lost, which he will. Some of his hobbies include arts, music (particularly the piano), making cakes (which he has the ability to do using solely explosions, apparently), and the likes.

He is also very stingy, putting on the appearance of a rich person by buying the most expensive cheeses and paying for meals, but he secretly wears old clothing and eats less costly food more often than not. He was a child who smiled much more freely than he does now, notably around a younger Switzerland, but started to become more serious after their separation. He could also be rather cruel and hot-tempered, going as far as to step on or lock Italy in a dark room when he misbehaved in the Holy Roman Empire house and yelling at Germany for trying to throw out worn underwear.

Austria was best known as a large part of the Holy Roman Empire, being the one to finally capture Italy as well as being the one everyone turned against, or as one of the main factors in the House of Hapsburg. He was the one who won the Italian Wars against Spain, giving him the southern half of Italy and keeping the northern half for himself as a servant. As a younger child, he was constantly harassed and beaten up by other nations such as Hungary, needing Switzerland to bail him out and carry him home around 51 (or as Switzerland insisted, 52) times. After he and Switzerland were split up with the times, he became a stronger part of the Holy Roman Empire and went through multiple advantageous marriages with nations such as Hungary and Spain. After being almost willingly annexed by Germany, Austria was revealed to be very lazy and used his situation to benefit himself by freeloading. Also, if he were to break a cup, he would refuse to take the blame and panic. Nowadays, he seems to spend time around Germany's house getting lost in town or doing house work.

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 behavior.

Hungary
Main article: Hungary

The two still have a very close relationship, despite the dissolution of their alliance and marriage. The marriage was mostly a valuable war alliance, as the two promised that they would support each other in war. 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 while they were both under the rule of Holy Roman Empire.

Throughout the anime and manga, the two share many moments that suggest that they still have feelings for one another. For example, in the Buon San Valentino strips, Hungary is given a gift from an anonymous source, but when described the man has many of the same facial features that Austria has. She also seems to enjoy watching him play the piano. When Germany was sent to forcibly annex Austria, Hungary tried to stop him, asking him "to please consider his feelings."

Italy
Main Article: Italy

Chibitalia 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."

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.

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 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 hire a painter to paint Austria's face and defeat so that his failure would forever be a part of history.

In the present day while living with his brother, Prussia 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.

Despite their cat-and-dog relationship, Austria seemed seriously concerned when (during the blog segments) Hungary hit Prussia over the head wih a frying pan and knocked him unconscious.

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. Although he did, Switzerland still never forgot the times when they were.



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 his servant. Later on, he became the parental figure for Chibitalia and some other young countries, scolding them when they did things wrong but also inviting Chibitalia in to listen to his piano skills.

In Episode 06, we see an adult Austria for the first time.

Name
The inspiration behind Austria's given name, Roderich, may have come from Roderich Mojsisovics von Mojsvár, an Austrian composer and opera writer. The name may also be a reference to "Republik Österreich", the local term for the Republic of Austria. Edelstein literally means "gemstone", and is a predominantly Jewish surname of Germanic origin.

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", which is 976, n his profile, though Korea originally had one as well (1919). The "birth year" corresponds with the year that the March of Austria 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.
 * It appears that Austria's natural hair is straight as seen in flashbacks of him as a child, a drawing by Himaruya of a few countries eating breakfast, and a Chibitalia strip in which he combs his hair to achieve his wavy-esque hairstyle.