hetalia | Do you think the nations envy Humans at all?

Well there's no evidence that nations can't get married of their own free will and have stable relationships. There are many nations that seem to be able to do this, and there are even instances of asking for marriage without political motivation.

I don't actually think nations envy humans. I don't think they pity us either. I think that they just... are. I'm sure they get stressed and sometimes wish their work wasn't so difficult, but I don't think they want to be human when that happens. I think they just want a break.

You can't have stable relationships,married or otherwise when the your government breaks a treaty that causes a war that puts you at odds with the person who was your friend 6 months before and you get told the person who was your bitter enemy is now your friend and ally.And you don't have a choice.

That's the thing- just because you have an ally doesn't mean someone is your friend. Yes, it would suck to be forced to be allied with someone you don't like, but it doesn't mean you have to befriend them. Just because you're pitted against someone, doesn't mean you have to hate that person either. Nations have to be made of pretty strong stuff. I think that if they want a stable relationship, they can do it. And there are plenty of duos of nations who have gone a long, long time without war between them.

As for marriage, Spain asked Romano if he would marry him completely free of any political motivations. So the idea that they can't get married of their own free will is false.

Wait...when was that?

(Sorry for interrupting, Haro!)

It's over here (http://aph.starry-sky.com/nikkimanga9.html). (Move down to "Popular Spain".) :)

Thanks!

As for marriage, Spain asked Romano if he would marry him completely free of any political motivations. So the idea that they can't get married of their own free will is false

Didn't Romano belong to him back then? It isn't really of Romano's own free will if he's under Spanish law...

He asked him when gay marriage was legalized in Spain, which was 2005, so he definitely wasn't under Spanish law. ^^;;

Somehow related to what you said: I've always wondered about the rain scene in America's revolution. I bet King George didn't order England to lower his gun nor did his generals. Yet England (the person) acted against common sense in a war context... that would mean that nations can decide by themselves, guided by personal feelings, right?

I am flashbacking to Troy and Brad Pitt/Achilles saying that the gods envy them because they live such short lives, but each breath is more beautiful because they are indeed numbered. So yes, I do think the nations envy the humans in the sense that they have hundreds of years of memories - some not so good - that weigh them down and keep them awake at night, and also because they have so many troubles and responsibilities. But I don't think they are complaining, per se, because the nations exist to do the will of the people (IMHO) and they understand what that entails. I can imagine it'd be lonely sometimes, though. At least they have each other :D

Chances are that they're disconnected from being jealous of our "stability", because their actual emotions are dictated by what happens to said nation, just like with us only on a larger scale.

Sorry, I suck at explaining...

I think it goes both ways.
Of course, if they fall in love with a human or fellow nation they can't directly marry them. But actually I think some of them may have children... which are normal humans because they had a human mother/father.
If there's something they really would love to get rid of it would be the fact that they can never flee their fate. For example, they have to go through all the wars, can never leave their land, etc.
About our short live... on the one hand they're glad they can live longer than humans, but they're incredible sad when a human they like dies and they live on.

Whoops, sorry about that misfire comment before!

The grass is always greener, isn't it? I'm sure in some ways the nations would envy humans, but I'm sure in other ways they don't. I like to imagine that there's a romantic aspect to it: they would love to be more like the people they represent and resemble (and know and love), but they know that that's not their place; it's more solemn (that's not the right word; the real one is on the tip of my tongue) than that. Honor and duty and all that.

Himaruya created a new kind of immortal, didn't he? And in doing so, he causes us to contemplate the obvious curiosity about the significance of and relationships between immortality and mortality. These are questions that have been asked for generations upon generations in the eons before written human history...

In the case of Hetalia, I personally see the nations as existing as a representation of the feelings of their people. Not their political powers, necessarily, but the citizens. As the people change, the "character" changes. This is inevitable due to the passing of time and the way it shapes culture and tradition...

I also believe that Himaruya probably didn't deeply think through exactly what these characters really are. He knows WHO they are, but WHAT they are doesn't really seem to be something he's thought through... or if he has, he doesn't express that in the comics he's created. If he really thought it through and brought their very unusual existence into the limelight, he would have a completely different (and quite serious!) story to write.

I guess to answer your questions more specifically... Probably, maybe, from time to time. We've never seen them act as though they feel the "humans" are any different from themselves. The only time we've seen the characters even acknowledged in the comic as something "other" than human by the humans themselves is in - what was it? Last year's Xmas bloodbath? (lol) It wasn't much of an acknowledgement, either. They were called, "Those people," or something to that effect. Nothing special. :P

Our favorite "Nations" are probably busier doing "average joe" things and being "like the average citizen" than "representing a nation." After all, that's what political leaders are for. They probably hardly notice the time flying by.

I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said.

I really like your comment, especially the last part.

I think they probably do sometimes - at least, not to hold all this responsibility.

I think that this headcannon covers the topic nicely: http://aph-headcanon.tumblr.com/post/10720363076

I suppose the more laid-back nations (America, Italy, etc.) wouldn't mind being human if it meant a smaller workload.
I'm pretty sure they can have relationships and children and all that, they just choose not to. I have yet to see two nations get along well enough to call it marriage, and they're definitely more responsible than to take a trip to Vegas.

As for pitying us humans, I think it varies.
More war-torn countries like England or Prussia wouldn't want to be human since we die like mayflies compared to them. I suppose you can call it pity, in a way.

Whereas the other nations are just indifferent towards us.

I forgot to mention, on the marriage part, I meant a true marriage, as in falling in love, committing to each other, all that jazz.
Not the political marriages, such as however-many Austria's been through.

No. I think young nations would have some resentment or envy at some point but when you pass certain point you just accept that you are a different kind. I can't see England or France wanting to be human. There's an impotence in humanity, a lack of control that I feel would horrify beings so used to command and make history.

As for relationships, they can love, right? Marriage seems very... non-sensical for almost inmortal beings. Marriage is only a contract beteween people detailed rights and obligations. Why would nations need that? They can have the greatest of loves without a contract between them. And the fact that they live for so long makes me think their understanding of love is different from ours.

Children? Not all humans want children. If our kind, that is compelled to procreate has subjects who don't want it, then why would nations (who aren't born, after all) need children? Even so, they have "children" that they raise, as we saw with England and America.

I might be in the minority, but I see nations as something non-human so I'm not sure we can apply our cultural patterns to them.

Also, I must admit that I don't see nations as countries or as goverment agents, doing their people's will or expressing their feelings, but as the "essence" of a particular group that consider themselves part of X nation. For example, England is England, regardless of who rules him and he shapes the English because they identify as such. Does it make sense? I think humans are more dependant of the nations -for self identification purposes, for the construction of their own mental structure- than nations of humans.

I agree with

wayfarer_09, even though I think nations have a more symbiotic relationship with their people: they condition each other.

Btw, we can also love without the contract of marriage. But we are subjected to laws and that's why we invented marriage; nations are just a different breed.

Do you think the nations envy Humans at all?

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