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Austria (オーストリア, Osutoria) is a secondary character in the series Hetalia.
Between 2007 and 2008, Himaruya gave out human names to some of the characters and he received the name, Roderich Edelstein (ローデリヒ・エーデルシュタイン, Rōderihi Eederushutain).
Austria 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 the lower left of 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 usually described as a well-spoken, young master type, who was initially aloof until he was saddled with too many burdens. He is a reliable country that approaches things with sober seriousness. He gives higher priority to his hobbies rather than his work and is more optimistic and quiet in comparison to Germany who is more serious and work-oriented, though he does seem to have a temper as shown when he is seen yelling or acting paranoid.
His interests include the fine arts, 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.
Austria and Germany were allied in both World Wars and lived together for a while during that time. He approves of and supports lots of Germany’s ideas so he may look like one of the helper countries, but in reality the level of his dependency is pretty high.
So high that when Germany catches a little cold, Austria goes straight to high fever and eventually collapses, and so he doesn’t have much of a choice than to take good care of himself.
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.
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."
Chibitalia painting a mustache over Austria's portrait.
Chibitalia spent a lot of time at Austria's house where he acted as a maid. Much to Austria's disbelief, Chibitalia had painted a moustache over his portrait and so Austria forbade him from having pasta for dinner. 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 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 in 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.
They were united under the same king and ruling dynasty in 1519, when Charles I of Spain became Holy Roman Emperor. Austria and Spain remained married and closely allied within the House of Hapsburg until the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, dated 1700-1714.
Spain would later ally himself with France and Prussia in the War of the Austrian Succession, but side with Austria again in the Seven Years' War.
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 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.
Austria is the only character given an outright "birth year" (976) in 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.
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 seems 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.
Notes
↑The "birth year" Himaruya listed for Austria, 976, corresponds with the year that the Margraviate of Austria (established in 970) began being ruled by the House of Babenberg.
↑His surname, Edelstein, is a Jewish surname of Germanic/Yiddish origin, and some fans depict Austria as Jewish because of this.
↑Spain (whom he was previously politically married to but implied to have some level of attraction to) and Hungary (whom he was previously politically married to but has been shown to actually love her at the time and in the present day).
↑The Austrian National Day, celebrating Austria's Declaration of Neutrality that was signed in 1955. Click here for more information.
↑Austria was also given the "birth year" of 976, and he is one of just a few characters who have not only had a year listed, but also one that makes sense.
↑The national flower of Austria. It is pronounced like "aid-el-vice" and spelled edelweiß in German.
↑Three Austrian pastry/cake desserts. Apfelstrudel, or apple strudel, is considered one of the national dishes of Austria and is a pastry with apple filling. It is also associated with Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine. Linzertorte is a form of shortbread topped with fruit preserves and sliced nuts with a lattice design on top. Sachertorte is a dense chocolate cake with apricot jam between two halves, covered with dark chocolate icing. Click here, here, and here for more information.
References
↑Himaruya, Hidekaz. May 2007. "Old Blog 2007/05". Japanese. English.
↑Himaruya, Hidekaz. January 19, 2008. "どうでもいい設定集 [Collection of Trivial Character Facts]". Japanese. English.
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