Austria

Roderich Edelstein (ローデリヒ・エーデルシュタイン, Rooderihi Eederushutain) is a character in the series Axis Powers Hetalia/Hetalia: Axis Powers. He represents the country Austria (オーストリア,Osutoria).

Appearance


Roderich 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 Ludwig 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.

Gilbert Beilschmidt (Prussia)
Main Article: Gilbert Beilschmidt

Gilbert 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 Roderich saying the infamous "vital regions" line that is often erroneously attributed to Gilbert himself).

On numerous occasions when he finds himself alone and crying, Gilbert will mention that he is happy alone unlike a certain "stupid aristocrat". In the Christmas Strips, Gilbert has to tell himself that he rather be alone than be with others ''"because clustering is for the weak. Yeah, like that stupid aristocr--". ''Gilbert often talks about Roderich in a negative tone, showing that he has some strong feelings towards him, though what feeling it is exactly is unknown. An arguement that since Gilbert always stalks Roderich, and speaks about him with such interest, states that Gilbert may harbor a slight crush on the Austrian, though the point is argumentable and can be taken different ways.

In the present day while living with his brother, he also freeloads off of Roderich and has a habit of stalking him. Also, in Gilbert's blog, it is implied that either Gilbert and Roderich are both living together in Ludwig's house, or that Roderich hangs around the brothers very often to sort out their messes, and that he spends a large fraction of his time with them. In the Maria Theresa portion of the anime, Gilbert seems to be extremely infatuated with Roderich, and shows, on multiple occasions throughout the episodes, a very powerful desire to have Roderich beg for his mercy during the battle. He wanted this so much, he mentioned wanting a painter to come and paint Roderich's face after he had lost the first battle, so that his failure could be etched into history.

Ludwig (Germany)
Main Article: Ludwig

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

Elizabeta Héderváry (Hungary)
Main article: Elizabeta Héderváry

Roderich's girlfriend, and 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.

Vash Zwingli (Switzerland)
Main Article: Vash Zwingli

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

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

Feliciano Vargas (North Italy)
Main Article: Feliciano Vargas

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

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

Roderich is later seen in the checkout line in Episode 14, and becomes frustrated at the amount of time that Antonio 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 Gilbert). 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.
 * Roderich is the only character given an outright "birth year" (976) in his profile, though Yong Soo 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 Elizabeta'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.