Roderich Edelstein

**Roderich Edelstein** is a character from the manga/anime series, *Hetalia* and the *Tea Leaves* series. He is the personification of Austria.

## Appearance and Personality

### 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 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

He is usually described as an aesthetic, 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, 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.

## Back Story

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 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 Roderich for the first time.

## Storyline History

### Tea Leaves and Silver Rings

Roderich was playing the piano when Elizabeta got a call from Feliciano asking about Gilbert. After he mentions the Woman in Red, she tells him what is going on, causing Roderich to abruptly stop playing piano and freak out. It gets worse when Gilbert calls and warns them.

### Tea Leaves and Diamond Bracelets

Roderich is starting to have strange memories of a past life. He envisions himself as a musician going mad. Elizabeta asks him what is wrong.

### Tea Leaves and Black Lipstick

Roderich is at home with Julia cooking him dinner.

## Relationships

### Ludwig

*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 Feliciano in the Valentines Day strips. They appear to be very close, although he annoys Ludwig at times with his behavior.

### Elizabeta Héderváry

*Main Article: Elizabeta Héderváry*

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, Elizabeta is given a gift from an anonymous source, but when described the man has many of the same facial features that Roderich has. She also seems to enjoy watching him play the piano. When Ludwig was sent to forcibly annex Roderich, Elizabeta tried to stop him, asking him "to please consider his feelings."

Right now, they are dating and living together.

### Gilbert Beilschmidt

*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.

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 Austria in a negative tone. In the Maria Theresa arc of the anime, Gilbert seems to be hell-bent on humiliating Roderich, 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 Roderich's face and defeat so that his failure would forever be a part of history.

In the present day while living with his brother, Gilbert 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 associates with the brothers very often to sort out their messes.

### Feliciano Vargas

*Main Article: Feliciano Vargas*

Chibitalia 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."

### Basch 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 Basch expected him to, and had to be bailed out when he'd get beaten up in war.

They eventually grew apart, and Basch denies that the two of them ever used to be friends. Although he did, Basch still never forgot the times when they were.

## 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 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.
* 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.
* 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.