Berwald Oxenstierna

**Berwald Oxenstierna** is a character from the manga series, *Hetalia*, and the *Tea Leaves* series. He is the personification of Sweden.

## Appearance and Personality

### Appearance

Berwald has short, light blond hair and greenish-blue eyes. He wears a long blue overcoat that appears to be the naval uniform of the 2nd commander from 1920, along with a matching hat, a black shirt and tie, black pants, gloves, boots, and a Nordic Cross necklace under his shirt; he also wears glasses. He is the tallest of all five Nordics; there is approximately a 12cm difference between him and Tino (the latter standing at about **170cm**, which would make Berwald **182cm**). He is the same height as Ivan. His face is said to be the same shape as Ludwig's and wanted the idea to make "a very stern expression" more prominent. In a 2011 blog post, Himaruya mentioned Berwald was "quite muscular."

### Personality

Berwald was once a viking and was known by numerous titles such as "The Lion of Northern Europe", "The Conqueror Of The Baltic Sea", and "The Supreme Ruler of Scandinavia". In Hetalia Drama CD Interval Vol. 3: Nordic Five!, Tino implied that Berwald is very strong, for he was able to defeat seven countries alone, only with Tino as his ally during the battle with Toris and Feliks. In modern times, he practices neutrality in military matters; he has calmed down and currently puts his strength into welfare. He is silent and difficult to understand; his taciturnity is due to the fact that he was born in a cold area. Deep down, he is actually quite playful, but it's rarely shown because of his intimidating aura. He embarrasses easily and because of this he becomes too shy to say anything. His Volume 4 profile states he is often overcome with emotion but never shows it. In the volume 4 omake comic, it was stated (by Eduard) he was better at coercion than Ludwig.

His hobbies include making furniture, glass crafts and art. In Comic Diary 7, he is shown to be good at sewing, as he made adjustments of his old clothing for Tino, due to their noticeable height difference. It is said that his canned Surströmming can be used as a deadly weapon. He speaks in a middle-Fukushima accent, often translated as grunts and truncated words.

Despite his silence, he apparently takes interest in arguments and debates. In Episode 14 published in the March 2013 edition of Comic Birz, it's hinted that Berwald may not fully be aware how scary he appears to others, as seen when he appeared shocked when a mother and son appeared terrified of him while Tino tried to reassure them that Berwald wasn't angry.

## Back Story

Berwald is first seen in a brief cameo in Episode 01, sitting next to Tino in the meeting room. He later appears in Episode 14 as one of the many characters stuck in line at the supermarket, and comments that it is a peaceful day. Tino then offers to tell Berwald a joke about Russians, to pass the time in the long line. In the English dub, Berwald's line was mistakenly dubbed as one of America's, causing the role of Tino's joke-listening friend to change from Berwald to Alfred, albeit with Berwald's SD image in a bubble still present. He does not appear again until World Series in episodes 69 and 70, adapting the *Su-san and I* and *The Violent Sve of Northern Europe Takes a Mighty Swing!* strips from the webcomic. He also appears in Extra Episode 1 which adapts from *The Chatty Nordics* strip from the third volume.

In The Beautiful World, Berwald makes appearances in Gakuen Hetalia: Go Forth! Newspaper Club!! Second Half, Russia and Friends, and Our Failure. He also appears in a brief scene in Finding Santa. In The World Twinkle, he makes appearances in the Nordic-centered episodes, Meeting of the Nordic and The Nordic Five +α.

His character design was altered slightly for the anime; his blond hair changed to a light brown while his eyes became a darker brown, matching the way he appeared in the **Meeting of the World** strip. However, in Episode 69, his appearance was changed to fit his original design, as his hair was given a "yellow hue" similar to Tino's. In *The Beautiful World*, his hair was changed to a light blond and his eyes were given a greenish-blue color, similar to how he appears in the manga and current artwork.

## Storyline History

### Tea Leaves and Sapphire Earrings

Irene Berntsen spots Berwald in her usual cafe that she visits after work. He gives her a crappy vibe. Later, at the train station, he saves her from getting on the Silverpilen. Berwald then calls her a cab and pays the driver.

### Tea Leaves and Pink Stockings

Berwald finds Irene and Tino in the mountains after they look in an abandoned church. He takes them back to their homes.

## Relationships

### Andersen Densen

Andersen once ruled over Berwald and Tino, but Berwald grew aggravated by his control and his refusal to listen. Berwald finally snapped and ran away from their home. A set of strips on Himaruya's blog suggests that Andersen challenged Berwald a number of times, though they also suggest his defeats. Although their relationship hasn't been discussed much during the modern period, Andersen does show concern for him during the 2011 Christmas event when he discovers Berwald knocked to the ground by Ladonia. Also during the event, Andersen thought it was cool that Berwald lived in a furniture store and said he wanted to try living in a house made of Lego. In a comic published in *Comic Birz*, Andersen states that he and Sweden used to fight frequently but are now "best buds".

### Eduard von Bock

Berwald and Eduard meet for the first time in the strip, *The Violent Sve of Northern Europe Takes a Mighty Swing!* Upon their first encounter, Eduard screams in fright when seeing Berwald's face but later apologizes for being rude after Tino whispered to him that he made Berwald angry (Berwald however wasn't angry; he simply couldn't hear him) and introduces himself. Berwald later states that he wants Eduard and Raivis to come with him but Eduard nervously says that it's not possible while Raivis adds they need Feliks' permission first. Determined, Feliks tries to stand his ground against Berwald but later he ends up getting "stranger anxiety" and he is given partial custody of Eduard and Raivis. In the volume 4 omake comic, Eduard writes that when Berwald looks down at him, he feels as if Berwald might want to kill him.

### Tino Väinämöinen

*Main Article: Tino Väinämöinen*

The two were once under the control of Andersen, but managed to escape. From that point, the two began living with each other; because of this, Berwald considers him to be his "wife" (though Tino denies such relation). Tino later fell under the control of Ivan for some time; he stated that he felt more "free" there, though he quickly added that it was more fun being together with Berwald. Tino often refers to Berwald as "Su-san" ("Mr. Swe") for short.

Several strips about their life together were made, including one that features them adopting a dog named Hanatamago and one where Tino runs into a small child (which later turns out to be a very young Alfred). After the boy flees in fright and Tino telling him about the boy, Berwald asks him if he wants kids and he responds that he thought it would be nice if they had a child following them everywhere. Berwald says he'll "do his best" but he doesn't understand what Berwald means.

Although some strips show Tino appearing terrified or uneasy towards Berwald, most strips show a different picture with Tino appearing less afraid of Berwald, most noticeably during some of the Kitayume events like Christmas 2010 and Halloween 2011. In Tino's Volume 5 profile, it is said he likes and looks up to Berwald. Berwald's feelings towards Tino have been consistent throughout the series and considers him to be "a good friend".

### Ladonia

Ladonia, who lives on Swedish territory, acts very spoiled towards him, to the point of knocking him down during a tantrum. He also appears to address him as Sve. Berwald, however, has more than once willingly pretended to be attacked by Ladonia by reading from a script that paints Berwald as being mercilessly defeated as Ladonia tackles him, much to Ladonia's joy. In the Christmas 2011 event he appears to have done this to distract Ladonia from fears that he was on Santa's naughty list or that Santa wasn't coming.

### Gilbert Beilschmidt

*Main Article: Gilbert Beilschmidt*

Berwald is listed as one of the character options for house cleaning in Osōji Prussia. Gilbert is afraid of him and begins having unpleasant flashbacks about the Great Northern War. It is also mentioned that he doesn't understand and know how to communicate with Berwald, even with his "Northern German sixth-sense." Despite this, he decides to go to his house anyway in hopes he will be sold cheap IKEA furniture in gratitude. When he arrives, he immediately faints when he sees his face through a crack in the door. When he awakes inside his home and sees Berwald's face once more, he faints again. This process is said to have repeated another twelve times and the game is labeled as a "bad end".

### Peter Kirkland

*Main Article: Peter Kirkland*

Peter is Berwald's adoptive son, whom he bought from an auction.

In the strip, *The Creation of Dambolis*, Sealand began ignoring his "papa" in favor of playing video games and watching TV. To get Peter to pay more attention to him, Berwald came up with a solution: He wrote "Arthur" on a box, placed the box over Peter, and began shaking it (while Peter made noises like "Please stop it!!"). Berwald called it a Dambolis. Also, in the strip, *Fly, Canada-san, fly!*, Arthur discovers that Sealand infiltrated the meeting disguised as Matthew and pulls out his hair curl. Peter then tells him not to pull out his hair, stating "I just got papa to swede it for me!". In the strip, *To Create Better Products in Northern Europe*, Peter was seen in the background watching Berwald build dolls.

## Trivia

* His birthday corresponds with the National Day of Sweden, also known as Swedish Flag Day.
* In a 2009 blog post, Himaruya specified that he and Tino were kicked out of Delaware in *The Battle for America* strips.
* In the game *Osōji Prussia*, some shots of Gamla stan can be seen, hinting that Berwald lives within the old town. Gilbert also mentions that compared to the days of being a Baltic empire, Berwald lives "pretty frugally."
* It has been said by Hidekaz Himaruya that Berwald is gay. It has also been said that he only acts that way towards Tino. Berwald seems to be the only character with a confirmed sexuality.

## Source

* http://hetalia.kitawiki.net/index.php?title=Sweden