Netherlands

Netherlands (オランダ, Oranda; also known as Holland), is a supporting character in the series Hetalia: Axis Powers. He represents the country of Netherlands (of which Holland is a region, see Trivia for explanation of the naming problem).

He is the older brother of Belgium and Luxembourg.

Appearance


Full Article: Uniform Guide: Netherlands

Netherlands has somewhat short, spiky pale brown or blond hair with sideburns, and eyes that have varied between being amber, green, or blue in different colored artwork. He is shown to be quite muscular and is usually a bit taller than many other characters but is shorter than Russia and Sweden. He has a small vertical scar on his forehead over his right eyebrow. He also wears a long, blue and white striped scarf, shown in his formal debut in the series as well as a uniform sketch.

He can often be seen with a somewhat stern or intimidating expression which causes others to be nervous to be around him.

Personality and Interests
Initially, Netherlands was stated to be a strong strategist and world-dominating type of man who likes young women and thinks nothing of using some types of shady drugs. However, some of these aspects of his character, specifically him "liking young women", have not ever been referenced by Himaruya again since the very early days of the series, and the post where it was stated is now unable to be found.

Netherlands is a pleasant coworker and a reliable business partner. He won't go back with someone if something bad happened because it's a tad embarrassing and everyone'll gossip about it. In his earlier years of being a country, he was shown to be awe struck at difference in wealth between himself and Belgium and thus began his stingy ways when he saw what having money was capable of doing. Because of his new love for money, he often tries to profit from nearly anything or anyone he can.

In Volume 3 (p. 20) of the manga the character profile says that he is "The solemn, neat freak, downer, Hokuriku-dialect speaking, scheming older brother. (Hokuriku is the region west of Tokyo on the Japan Sea side of Japan.) Of course, he goes Dutch. Of course, his kitchen and garden maintenance is flawless. By the way, he loves bunnies! The raw materials for his cooking come from Germany!".

Also, on a different page (p.61) it is stated that he also is "a neurotic, solemn, free older brother" who "hates tied things and messy gardens".

As mentioned in Christmas Rampage 2007, he once fought with Turkey over the title of "The Tulip Country".

The notes in Rampage also revealed that he has another sibling, Luxembourg, adding Belgium to be his younger sister.

Netherlands is depicted as a smoking a marijuana blunt in one sketch, further reflecting the infamy of marijuana and other drugs in Amsterdam. In his formal debut in the series, he is shown constantly smoking a cigarette.

In the Battle For America strip, he is mentioned to have beat up both Sweden and Finland after they built a villa (New Sweden) in the "new world". Finland proceeds to worry about what would happen if Netherlands found the baby America.

Netherlands also owns a pet rabbit, whose name is not yet known.

Relationships

 * Belgium: Netherlands and Belgium are said to have had difficult relations, stemming from when they were both under Spain's control. When Netherlands left to become independent, he fought against both her and Spain in the Dutch Revolt and the Eighty Years' War. He later tried to reconcile with Belgium, so they could both form the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but due to their irreconcilable differences (Netherlands being better with trade and influenced by the Protestant British versus Belgium being better with farming and influenced by the Catholic French), it did not work out and Belgium declared her independence.


 * Greece: Ned_angry.jpg Netherlands tends to lose his composure when Greece bothers him too much, especially when it involves business.
 * Japan: Though Netherlands acted aggressive towards most others, he refrained from acting this way towards Japan to convince him to open trade with foreigners, due to having had a companionship with him for years before his isolation. Also, in the Netherlands and Isolationist!Japan comic, it is shown that Netherlands is visibly bothered by the fact that Japan signed a peace treaty with America.


 * Luxembourg: Luxembourg is Netherland's Younger Brother. Not much is known about their relationship, though Luxembourg says that the art designs at the Netherlands house are nice, and the gardens are also nice. Netherlands also states that he doesn't want Luxembourg to follow his example.


 * Spain: Netherlands became a member of Spain's household when the Burgundian-Hapsburgs acquired the crown of Spain. Their relationship became very difficult up till the point where Spain believed Netherlands hated him. Eventually, he left and later beat Spain up to be recognized as an independent country. In the 2010 Christmas Event they are spending Christmas together.

In the Anime
The silhouette version of the Netherlands briefly appeared in Episode 39: The Battle when Finland described him as being somewhat scary/mean and claiming Finland and Sweden's villa for himself after beating them up. Finland also expressed concern for America's safety with Netherlands around.

For America, where he was drawn slightly more "monster-like" than how he appeared in the manga strip, most likely because of the way Finland saw him at the time. He is voiced by Hiroki Yasumoto in this cameo. He also makes a silhouetted appearance in Episode 64, on a war relations list.

In December 2010, Nobuya Mine was announced as his seiyuu.

He makes his formal debut in Episode 94 (Episode 42 of Hetalia: World Series).

While the Netherlands' hair in the manga ranges from a pale blond to a dirty blond/light-brown color, his appearance in World Series gave him bright yellow-blond hair. In The Beautiful World, his hair is changed to a sandy blond color.

Name
Himaruya has listed over the years the potential names he liked for the Netherlands are Tim, Govert, Abel, and Mogens.

Character Songs
Hatafutte Parade (Netherlands and Belgium)

Gallery
Netherlands Image Gallery

Trivia

 * Though notes on the Netherlands were given as early as 2007, his actual appearance remained shrouded in mystery until Hidekaz Himaruya drew an illustration to commemorate Group E in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Before the illustration, all that was known of his appearance was that he had blond hair and green eyes (though he appeared with somewhat different colors in the FIFA group shot). His silhouetted form also briefly appeared in both The Battle For America and an illustration in the webcomic version of The War Of Austrian Succession.


 * Due to both the Netherlands and Holland being referred to as Oranda in Japanese, his name is commonly translated as "Holland" rather than "Netherlands" which would be the more technically correct term as Holland only refers to two of its provinces, North Holland and South Holand. However, both names are sometimes mistakenly used interchangeably for the entire Netherlands, similar to the tendency to refer to the United Kingdom as "England". It should be noted that sometimes the Dutch people refer to their own country as Holland.


 * It was believed by some fans that the scar on the Netherlands' forehead was either a result of the Dutch Revolt or from one of the historical floods such as the Great Storm of 1703 or the North Sea Flood of 1953. But as the Netherlands appears as a teenager with the scar in the 1500s (in volume 3), these theories have been rendered moot, and it remains unknown as to how he received it. Another possibility would be the flood of 1421, which killed 10,000 people.


 * An early answer to a question in 2007 described Netherlands as a tsundere type of character who loves to fight, and that was xenophobic. However, it is unknown if these aspects are part of his character anymore, as Himaruya has never mentioned them again.


 * Netherlands has his first speaking role in Hetalia volume 3 when he says to Belgium that he doesn't want snacks if Spain is around.


 * In Volume 3 both character profiles of Belgium and the Netherlands say that they are older sisters and brothers, not depicting who of them is older. However, this could imply that their sibling Luxembourg is younger than them.


 * In a recent blog post, Himaruya has mentioned fan suggested options for his human name, including Tim, Nash, Govert, Abel, and Mogens.


 * Netherlands is revealed in Episode 103 and the strip Walking Together to be the world's second-fastest walker (based on worldwide statistics), just behind Ireland.


 * The color pattern of his scarf most likely represents the Dutch province of Zeeland.


 * It is confirmed that, though Sweden is one of the few characters taller than him, he succeeded in beating Sweden up and scaring him out of the New World. It is not clear if Sweden still fears him.