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finntalia · 4 months ago

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My Perspective on Finland's Personality

NOTE: This “thinkpiece” is mainly derived from the canonical content that Himaruya has already provided to us over the years. I’m still educating myself on Nordic history at large, so to avoid overstepping or misrepresenting important historical facts, I won’t really dive into the historical aspect of things.

Introverted vs. Extroverted

Considering that the “Everytime Finland Speaks” compilation goes over 12:00 minutes and his interactions with the other countries at large, I think many tend to believe that Finland is one of the “only” extroverts amongst the Nordic group. I mean, the evidence is there: He seems open to talking with anybody, and generally keeps a friendly, inviting demeanor. However, I wanted to draw attention to how Himaruya specifically describes him in past character notes:

He’s overwhelmed by his close-knit group of neighbors, but he’s a serious, simple boy who keeps at it! (Vol. 4)

He considers himself shy, but he’s actually pretty nagging, even though he seems cute and sweet. (Chapter 105)

Now the first quote could most definitely be referring to Finland’s past of occupation, but I think it’s a good thing to take note of when evaluating his characterization in the anime as well. One of the most defining characteristics of introverts – other than perceived shyness – is their “social battery”. Introverts, for the most part, experience a certain level of exhaustion when interacting with other peers for a significant amount of time (especially if they don’t have great rapport with said peer/s). Essentially what it means that not all introverts will be completely adverse to spending time with others or going out, but they will need to have a significant amount of alone time to “recover” their social battery directly following. Seeing as Finland as a country had a lengthy fight for independence, this makes perfect sense within his character. While he does appreciate the close friendships he shares with the others, he will almost always prefer to be on his own. Too much social interaction may lead him to feeling smothered, and at that point that’s where you see introverts begin to “shut down” in their own ways (becoming quieter, becoming distant, breakdowns, etc.).

Another key aspect of introverts is “being selectively social, not anti-social” (Simply Psychology): This is another thing that I find describes Finland perfectly. While we do see him interacting with many other countries (examples being the Hetalia Bloodbaths and the Hetalia Horror Show), for the most part we see him sticking around the same people – The Nordics, and Estonia. While he’s capable of keeping friendly interactions with countries outside of those five people, it’s clear to see who he actually prefers to spend quality time with. Others get a more surface level version of him (which I would consider to be the “sweet, easygoing, lovable” portrayal of him), but only those closest to him get to really see the furthest depths of his personality. Which will be discussed more here:

Fin's Personality Traits

Over the past few years of fanon media evolving and fans digging into more “accurate” stereotypes and historical context to build the characterization of the countries, Finland’s emotions have been a lot more heavily explored in the fandom. The most common fanon expression of Finland, from my perspective, seems to be a more “easy going” character with a bit of a darker side to him once you reach beneath the surface. But let’s observe how Himaruya has described him in character notes over the years:

Even though this guy appears to be all soft and mellow, you won’t want to mess with him! (Vol. 5)

He’ll let you poke him up to ten times, but past that he’ll return it many times over, so you better stop! (Vol. 3)

Though the popularity of this fanon portrayal has died down over the years, one of the most common misconceptions about Finland in early days of the Hetalia fandom was that he was a pushover, or hat he’s the type to be easily scared, especially if it pertained to Sweden thanks to the running gag that Finland misreads Sweden’s facial expressions. Or, that he’s a character who constantly needs “protecting”, rather than being the protector. While Hima is guilty of this false perception of Finland existing to begin with, in recent years I feel as though he has done a good job of dismantling that one-dimensional view of Finland (i.e “The Ruler of Scandinavia and the King of Eastern Europe”). A major aspect of character development for Finland is learning how to establish and maintain his boundaries, especially working with others that he might not be as close to. Finland might not be as bloodthirsty as other characters, but he’s definitely not as “cowardly” as he himself, or the others, might think he is.

Another major aspect of Finland’s personality is his stubbornness. In a more light hearted fashion, this is shown through the naming of Hanatamago. The reason why Hanatamago has a specific name is because Finland literally fought for it. His stubbornness also occurs again in “The Ruler of Scandinavia and the King of Eastern Europe”, in which he is literally brought to (drunken) tears because he was furious that Sweden had called off the battle. These interactions involving Sweden introduce more layers to their dynamic, in times where Finland might opt to be more passive with those he’s not as close to, those closest to him tend to see a more assertive side of him. This shows a level of comfort between the two despite the ongoing “Finland is scared shitless of Sweden” gag that occurs throughout the show. It also implies that Sweden is one of the few people (aside from Estonia) who sees Finland for who he is, and has access to his fully uncensored self.

Another fascinating aspect of Finland’s character is Himaruya deeming him the “Nordic who has suffered the most (throughout history)”. Canonically we haven’t seen the bulk of his struggles, but introducing that as a facet of his character, combined with his more surface-level personality is really intriguing. Knowing that Finland historically has dealt with occupation (both from Sweden and Russia), Himaruya referencing this vaguely throughout the show, tells the audience that there’s more to Finland that we don’t see. Even though we see some of his deeper insecurities and struggles, there are certain aspects of him – aspects of his pain – that the audience doesn’t have access to. Historical context allows us to fill in those blanks, but there’s a variety of ways that the impact of these struggles can be portrayed. Given what’s been presented from his canon personality, I think these struggles would show up in times where he feels like his autonomy is being questioned. Times where characters – unintentionally or otherwise – decide that they know what’s best for him, even in considerably harmless scenarios.

Finland's Place in the Nordic 5

Whenever there’s an introductory piece of media for the Nordic 5, a point is always made to establish that Finland does feel different from the rest of them, to a degree. Typically, it centers around the fact that he speaks a Uralic language whilst the rest speak some variation of a Northern Germanic language. I think when depicting Finland’s interactions with the Nordics, this is a huge dynamic to take into consideration since it represents a considerable insecurity for him. Sure, he knows that they’re friends (now) and close colleagues, but him not being able to relate to them with about their shared culture, and his language not being as easily digestible for the others, (compared to Swedish and Norwegian, both of which share a lot of commonalities in their language) could be something he internalizes. Even though Finland doesn’t allow those factors to change how he treats them, he probably has had times where he feels like the “other” person in the group. This is something that’s more so highlighted with Iceland in canon, with him openly being insecure about his “lack of popularity” compared to the other four and having been isolated for most of his youth. But I think it’s something that could apply to Finland and could be used to build on their dynamic with each other. It’s also a factor that can be used to build on his relationship with Estonia (ignoring that annoying “Estonia wants to be a Nordic country!” mess), the sole person he’s shown to have considerable interactions with, that he’d actually have a lot of commonalities with in terms of culture and language.

TL;DR When working with a more canon-compliant version of Finland, I think it does him a disservice to portray him as one-dimensional as there are so many interesting aspects to his personality that have been introduced over the course of the show. He is a pretty tame character on the surface, but it’s the depths introduced by Himaruya that make him fun to work with.

#hws finland #aph finland #hetalia finland #hetalia #xol speaks #xol thinkpieces again

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