Estonia (エストニア Esutonia) is a supporting character in the series Hetalia. He is the personification of Estonia.
In 2007, Himaruya gave out human names to some of the characters and he received the name, Eduard von Bock (エドァルド・フォンヴォック Edoarudo fon Vokku).
Appearance[]
Chibi Estonia from Axis Powers Volume 4
Estonia has dark blond hair styled in a bowlcut, and greenish-blue eyes (properly green or purple in earlier media). He also wears thin rectangular glasses.
Himaruya stated in blog notes[6] that the glasses help Estonia conceal his facial expressions, as he "has a lot on his mind".
Another post[7] from 2008 revealed that Himaruya imagined him to be the tallest of the Baltics, but since the release of Hetalia☆Collezione which officialized many characters' heights, that title goes to Lithuania. However, it is worth noting that in earlier media, Estonia definitely looks taller than Lithuania when they stand side by side.
Personality And Interests[]
The second oldest of the Baltics, he is an ace student and is considered the luckiest of the three (although this is a historical inaccuracy), having managed to avoid problems with his wit. He is skilled at information technology, and appears to have good relations with most of the other nations. However, he tends to work at his own pace and doesn't pay much attention to his surroundings so he often goes unnoticed by others, despite his status as an ace student.
Estonia plays the piano and says his singing voice is considered to be "revolutionary." He enjoys making "handmade products" and star-gazing. He also runs his own blog.
Raising Mochi[]
Estonia keeps a variety of sentient mochi creatures that display the characteristics of various nations. He is often seen carrying the shape-shifting America mochi who found its way to Estonia's home. He purchased more through auction websites and soon realized that he became addicted to taking care of them.
Biography[]
For the majority of his existence, Estonia has been pushed around between multiple major empires. He has been held under the rule of Poland, Sweden, and most notably Russia. Estonia, while being passed around by bigger powers throughout history, has learnt to build resilience, often using his wit to improve his own living conditions and get out of trouble.
Despite the crash that resulted from the Soviet era, Estonia continues to improve his confidence as time goes on. He is now one of the more fortunate out of the Baltic States, boasting a stable and rich economy, as well as having the ability to distance himself from his past.
Relationships[]
America[]
- Main article: America
In The Gentle Fight Between Russia and I, Estonia asks for America's help to track the hacker who hacked his blog. Estonia is convinced that Russia's the culprit and he waits for the internet connection to screen. The two nations wait and America then sits on the windowsill and talks to a bird while Estonia groans in dismay.
Iceland[]
- Main article: Iceland
Iceland didn't want Estonia to become a Nordic country, and appeared to be against the idea.
Finland[]
- Main article: Finland
Estonia and Finland have known each other for a long time, thus they are good friends. After fleeing Denmark's rule, Finland stopped by to see him; during this visit, Sweden offered for the Baltics to come join them as family. Though Poland refused to let them go, Sweden gained partial custody of both Estonia and his friend Latvia.
The two men are known to come up with strange festival ideas together, though Estonia snatched the "leader" position.
Latvia[]
- Main article: Latvia
Estonia isn't close to him but has the same feeling as him toward Russia, frightened. Estonia seems to actually care for Latvia's wellbeing, as shown in one particular comic strip as well as the fact he seems to yell Latvia's name whenever Latvia's in danger.
Norway[]
- Main article: Norway
The two nations are said to share some sort of an acquaintanceship. In the volume 4 omake comic, Estonia writes that Norway is difficult to read but they talk on occasion. After the two nations are kidnapped by Parallel France (alongside with Finland and Sweden) in the 2010 Christmas event, Norway mentioned that Estonia's eagerness to join the Nordics frighten him sometimes.
Sweden[]
- Main article: Sweden
Estonia and Sweden meet for the first time in the strip, The Violent Sve of Northern Europe Takes a Mighty Swing! Upon their first encounter, Estonia screams in fright when seeing Sweden's face but later apologizes for being rude after Finland whispered to him that he made Sweden angry (Sweden however couldn't hear him) and introduces himself. Sweden later states that he wants Estonia and Latvia to come with him but Estonia nervously says that it's not possible while Latvia adds they need Poland's permission first. Determined, Poland tries to stand his ground against Sweden but later he ends up getting "stranger anxiety" and he is given partially custody of Estonia and Latvia. Estonia lived as an underling under his rule. In the volume 4 omake comic, Estonia wrote that when Sweden looks down at him, he feels as if Sweden might want to kill him.
Russia[]
- Main article: Russia
Estonia lived with Russia during various points in history. During his time there, Estonia was taught many things in order to be "converted into Russia". When he found himself back at Russia's house for a second time, Estonia said he didn't want to see Cyrillic characters for a long time.
Estonia is sometimes nervous around him (particularly during the WWII-setting strips) and tries to avoid him but in some strips he has been shown to have no problems being around Russia such as when he accused him of hacking his blog. This is further proven as Estonia openly mocks Russia's attempts to award himself and the other Baltic States placement on the "Nations who aren't working hard enough to be my friend" list.[8] His dependency on Russia is low these days. Russia refers to him as his “rival tweaker.”
Appearances[]
Manga[]
To avoid excessively long pages, the following list only contains Estonia's most notable appearances. It also doesn't include content from the Bamboo Thicket blog posts that are not reuploads of pre-existing strips.
- Estonia’s and Russia’s Gentle Argument[9]
- Pact of Steel[4]
- World☆Stars Chapter 63[5]
- World☆Stars Chapter 93-96
- World☆Stars Chapter 224
- World☆Stars Chapter 335
- World☆Stars Chapter 385-388
Anime[]
Estonia in the Beautiful World.
His character design was slightly altered for the anime, his green eyes being changed to a dark blue while his military uniform became a blueish hue as well. From Hetalia: The Beautiful World onwards, his eyes are changed to aqua to match his current design, and his hair gets a more natural shade of dark blond.
- Episode 01
- Episode 29
- Episode 37
- Episode 56
- Episode 70
- Extra Episode 2
- Gakuen Hetalia: Go Forth! Newspaper Club!! First Half
- The Gentle Fight Between Russia and I
- I Was Overwhelmed by Heroines
- Meeting of the Nordic
- The Nordic Five +α
- Surprise Halloween!
- Get Better!
Name[]
Estonia's surname is usually rendered as von Bock. However, some fans opt to render it as von Fock or von Vock, as there is no difference between "V" and "B" in Japanese. The spelling of his human given name has also been debated (i.e., Edward or Eduard). As it is a Germanic name, some would suggest the German spelling Eduart von Bock is the more sensible rendering.
Songs[]
Character Image Songs[]
- "Peace Sounds Nice" (featured)
- "How About Me?"
Trivia[]
- Self-portrait comics of Hidekaz Himaruya suggest that Estonia bears resemblance to his creator. Also, Himaruya has said Estonia is "the coolest creation in the series."
- His birthday references the date of Estonia's declaration of independence from both Germany and Russia on February 24, 1918. It became officially recognized as independent on February 2, 1920, but was annexed by the Soviet Union from 1940-1941. Next, it fell under the occupation of the Third Reich until 1944, when Soviet forces reoccupied the nation. Estonia regained its independence from the Soviet Union on August 20, 1991.
- In a webpost Estonia, along with Ukraine, is said to be part of the Chorus club in the Gakuen Hetalia universe. A picture in the same post shows that he can also play the piano.
- Estonia is the only country that has interacted with the Nyotalia characters.
- In a timeline given in Let's go take a look at Estonia, it was stated that Denmark and the Teutonic Knights used to beat him up frequently and later forced the teachings of Christianity against his will.
- In (No Longer Copy) Book of History Stuff I Can’t Really Draw, Himaruya mentions a story he heard of when the Baltics separated from Russia, Lithuania threw away anything associated with Russia, Latvia was scared to throw them away, while Estonia sold everything at cheap prices and believed it fit their personalities. The page was later reposted on Bamboo Thicket with some additional sketches.
- In an incomplete version of The Meeting of the World, Estonia was shown to reek the scent of money.[10] He is also shown to own a Sony laptop.
- In Episode 29 Estonia suggests eating 'pirakka'. That is actually a Finnish word and the food pictured derives from Karjala (Karjalan piirakas), an Eastern part of Finland. It's called 'Karjala pirukas' in Estonian, but is not really a very common thing to eat in Estonia.
- In Omochi Omochi 2, a framed photo that reads "I ♥ IKEA" is seen hanging above his bed.
- Estonia is the only character (in the canon and linear story) that has had interaction with the Nyotalia nations.
- In chapter 95 of Hetalia: World☆Stars, his "Nordic side" was shown to be a well-dress man who wore "accessories with flashy patterns and pinstriped clothes" with thicker frames and his hair styled more to the right. Vegetables were also said to be the staple of his diet.
- In chapter 103 of Hetalia: World☆Stars, he was shown to own a Nokia phone.
Notes[]
- ↑ Independence Day, which celebrates the date Estonia became independent from the Russian Empire on February 24, 1918.
References[]
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz. May 2007. "Old Blog 2007/05". Japanese. English.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz. October 2006. "Old Blog 2006/10". Japanese. English.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz. December 10, 2008. "ヘタリアと愉快な仲間たち [Hetalia and Funny Friends]" Axis Powers ヘタリア 2 [Hetalia: Axis Powers 2]. Page 18. Gentosha. ISBN: 978-4-3448-1514-8(JPN), 978-1-4278-1887-4(ENG). English.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Himaruya, Hidekaz. August 13, 2006. "ヘタレ４ 鋼鉄協約 [Hetare 4: Pact of Steel]" Japanese. English.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Himaruya, Hidekaz. May 04, 2015. "63話 [Chapter 63]" ヘタリア World☆Stars [Hetalia World☆Stars] English.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz. November 6, 2014. "おまけ７ [Extra 7]" Japanese. English.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz. March 24, 2008. "ロッソ使いやすい" English (partial translation).
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz. July 7, 2021. "385話 [Chapter 385]" ヘタリア World☆Stars Japanese.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz. March 31, 2009. "ロシアとエストニアのゆるやかなけんか [Estonia’s and Russia’s Gentle Argument]" Japanese. English.
- ↑ Himaruya, Hidekaz. June 26, 2007. "世界の中心で会議を開く [Opening of the Meeting at the Center of the World]" Japanese.