[Essay/Blurb] German Brothers and Fighting It Out
Okay, essay-blurb thing that's been a long time in coming.
In this essay, we will be discussing Prussia and his relationship to Germany as well as some issues he may have with dealing with injuries and the like since it keeps coming up. Prussia is a trouble-maker after all.
Actually, let's start there.
Prussia is, in fact, a trouble-maker. He doesn't always intend for some of his comments to come across as they do, but if they start a fight, then he's willing to follow-through with it since. That's what he does. Prussia was a state that came into being with a sword in his hand, fighting for survival. That's how he thinks of real battles. Real battles are when you fight for your own survival, where you can just as easily lose everything and cease to exist. Before 1947, Prussia nearly ceased to exist numerous times in history. From when the Teutonic Order became the Duchy of Prussia (and Royal Prussia) to the Silesian Wars to Napoleon to the World Wars--there have been a lot of instances where Prussia nearly lost but ended up changing tactics at the last moment to save his ass or just pulling a victory out of his ass through sheer stubborn determination.
The problem is that Prussia's been on a losing streak since he was abolished. This largely has to do with how things went down before, during, and after the Second World War. This is the time period, like a few others before it, when Prussia was under others' control. When he had to follow orders of another nation in order to survive. Not something that a state like him would really approve of. The problem? The first nation in this instance was Germany. And... well. Let's get into that a bit.
If there is a person who Prussia would drop anything and everything for--pretty much do anything for--it's Germany. This is the young nation Prussia brought up after taking him back from France after the whole Napoleon fiasco, of course. Prussia adores Germany, taught him everything he knew in order to survive and keep surviving despite the odds and their placement on the map--which has historically always been between empires looking to expand east or west and often used the lands between as their battleground (Thirty Years' War, anyone?).
Beyond this, Prussia who has never had a single friend to stay by his side through the ages (I'm assuming something happened to Brandenburg after Prussia and their union, but it's not like Hidekaz really goes into that kind of thing) suddenly has someone who might actually be there for him! Yeah, there's manipulation going on in that way. Prussia keeps Germany close to his side, dependent on him (and well away from Austria's influence :|).
But even that doesn't last. Germany got older, stronger, taller, and way more buff and eventually took the reins himself. This made Prussia immensely proud, of course. Satisfied that he'd been doing right by Germany, bringing him up to be the BEST and MOST AWESOME empire ever. And things were just awesome for a time, until of course, things got royally screwed and then there was the Treaty of Versailles and hello! We've hit the Great Depression and the rise of fascism! And here is where we enter the 1930's and the troubling time of when Prussia is abolished de facto by the Nazis.
Thing is, Prussia will never, EVER actually blame Germany for anything that happened during that time. Even if he felt betrayed at the time. Germany was young. Germany was very obedient to his bosses and loyal. Just like Prussia had taught him. There was no wrong in that, so Prussia never hated or spited Germany for any of it, despite whatever he may have thought on the occasion during those times. It was not Germany's fault. End of story, in Prussia's mind. And so Prussia did the only thing he could and supported his brother... while also working underground to try to get rid of the person who was to blame, but we all know how that went. Besides, even if the war went horribly, horribly wrong, Germany came out stronger and with friends, surprisingly. Prussia could never begrudge Germany that, either, since... well. Yes, no friends/allies Prussia. lol.
However, after the war, Prussia was stuck with being abolished, becoming the state who was to blame for everything, and who then would be under Russia's rule--CONFIRMED BY HIDEKAZ, FTW--East Germany. And there's a whole lot of emo and angst and Wall and possible mindfuckerage that might've made Prussia hate on his brother a lot since he was West and Capitalist and yet it had to be better over there than in the Soviet Bloc, amirite? SOB. So while that whole time period put a strain on the brothers' relationship, when the Wall came down, they were able to be brothers again and Prussia went right back to putting Germany first and foremost.
Except that things are kind of different from before. There's a bit of bitter resentment, not toward Germany, but just in general, about not being his own state, just a territory. So Prussia does what he can do deal with his problems. Which is to say, he reverts back to old, old habits of starting fights, of being rude and uncouth and getting his ass handed to him. And he just keeps going back for more. Because that's what he's used to at this point, fighting to survive physically, mentally, etc... He has always had a sword or a gun in hand and then when he didn't have one, he struggled and worked and persevered and fought to survive during the Cold War (which may or may not have involved some major financial fraud but uh. yeah).
The problem with this? In Camp, the matter has come up where Germany shows his concern and his wishes for Prussia to stop this apparent self-destructive behavior. Because all Prussia ends up doing is getting himself hurt because he refuses to back down from a fight and often starts one for what seem to be pretty stupid reasons. Hell, in a recent thread, Germany goes as far as to call Prussia a masochist and... well, maybe he's not too far off. Because Prussia is a person who doesn't feel like he's really living unless he in the middle of a battle, in control of a situation, and is either able to kick someone else's ass or has his ass kicked, in which case the injuries are proof that he did fight back.
So Germany's worried and Prussia obviously knows this but continues this pattern and even goes as far, sometimes, to keep from telling Germany of anything that's going wrong for him in Camp. Because he doesn't want Germany to worry. Doesn't want Germany to fall into the situation. Does not want Germany to get hurt because of something Prussia started. Because Germany is everything to Prussia and if Prussia can't protect Germany, then really, what use is he? Pfft. So he fights, he doesn't tell Germany, Germany gets pissed when he finds out, they bicker and fight about it, Germany gives up on Prussia being cooperative, and Prussia feels lowly and bad because he's fucked up again, so obviously the solution is to go with what Germany says... and then get into another fight later on. Rinse and repeat.
Beyond all of this, there is very much the element of Prussia feeling put-out because he's the older brother. He should be taking care of the younger brother, not the other way round. Except that's not how things turned out and it kind of ticks Prussia off that things ended up this way. So that of course only fuels the issue and... yeah.
So... basically? Prussia is a trouble-maker. He'll take the name of trouble-maker to distract others from his issues and he'll take the name of trouble-maker to protect his brother. He'll keep close to his chest how indignant he feels whenever someone just writes him off as that, but he'll also laugh and prove them right. Besides, who needs friends anyway? He totally has baby chicks and plush panda bears to take care of any loneliness he might get. Not that he'll get much in Camp, what with the Kogarasumaru kids, but that's a different essay involving Prussia vs Gilbert: Territory or Person? Which is a loltastic issue since Prussia's used to being both at the same time and yet in Camp he gets treated as an individual a lot more than as a territory or former-kingdom. Which is... weird outside of the country-tans. And is part of the reason why Prussia has a kind of, "... aw, shit. :<" reaction when someone Mukuro rubs in his face that he's simply an "asset".
Like I said, that's kind of complicated and whup. I'm done babbling for now.
SO IN SHORT: Prussia will always love Germany most and hates putting Germany in troublesome situations that could cause him serious injury (other than that, Prussia loves to harass/embarrass/prank Germany).BUT, he won't stop being the trouble-maker because that's just... how Prussia is. Fighting it out is cathartic and helps him cope. Even when he loses. Though he gets pissed when he loses. Haha. And not much will change that, really. If anything can, that is.
In this essay, we will be discussing Prussia and his relationship to Germany as well as some issues he may have with dealing with injuries and the like since it keeps coming up. Prussia is a trouble-maker after all.
Actually, let's start there.
Prussia is, in fact, a trouble-maker. He doesn't always intend for some of his comments to come across as they do, but if they start a fight, then he's willing to follow-through with it since. That's what he does. Prussia was a state that came into being with a sword in his hand, fighting for survival. That's how he thinks of real battles. Real battles are when you fight for your own survival, where you can just as easily lose everything and cease to exist. Before 1947, Prussia nearly ceased to exist numerous times in history. From when the Teutonic Order became the Duchy of Prussia (and Royal Prussia) to the Silesian Wars to Napoleon to the World Wars--there have been a lot of instances where Prussia nearly lost but ended up changing tactics at the last moment to save his ass or just pulling a victory out of his ass through sheer stubborn determination.
The problem is that Prussia's been on a losing streak since he was abolished. This largely has to do with how things went down before, during, and after the Second World War. This is the time period, like a few others before it, when Prussia was under others' control. When he had to follow orders of another nation in order to survive. Not something that a state like him would really approve of. The problem? The first nation in this instance was Germany. And... well. Let's get into that a bit.
If there is a person who Prussia would drop anything and everything for--pretty much do anything for--it's Germany. This is the young nation Prussia brought up after taking him back from France after the whole Napoleon fiasco, of course. Prussia adores Germany, taught him everything he knew in order to survive and keep surviving despite the odds and their placement on the map--which has historically always been between empires looking to expand east or west and often used the lands between as their battleground (Thirty Years' War, anyone?).
Beyond this, Prussia who has never had a single friend to stay by his side through the ages (I'm assuming something happened to Brandenburg after Prussia and their union, but it's not like Hidekaz really goes into that kind of thing) suddenly has someone who might actually be there for him! Yeah, there's manipulation going on in that way. Prussia keeps Germany close to his side, dependent on him (and well away from Austria's influence :|).
But even that doesn't last. Germany got older, stronger, taller, and way more buff and eventually took the reins himself. This made Prussia immensely proud, of course. Satisfied that he'd been doing right by Germany, bringing him up to be the BEST and MOST AWESOME empire ever. And things were just awesome for a time, until of course, things got royally screwed and then there was the Treaty of Versailles and hello! We've hit the Great Depression and the rise of fascism! And here is where we enter the 1930's and the troubling time of when Prussia is abolished de facto by the Nazis.
Thing is, Prussia will never, EVER actually blame Germany for anything that happened during that time. Even if he felt betrayed at the time. Germany was young. Germany was very obedient to his bosses and loyal. Just like Prussia had taught him. There was no wrong in that, so Prussia never hated or spited Germany for any of it, despite whatever he may have thought on the occasion during those times. It was not Germany's fault. End of story, in Prussia's mind. And so Prussia did the only thing he could and supported his brother... while also working underground to try to get rid of the person who was to blame, but we all know how that went. Besides, even if the war went horribly, horribly wrong, Germany came out stronger and with friends, surprisingly. Prussia could never begrudge Germany that, either, since... well. Yes, no friends/allies Prussia. lol.
However, after the war, Prussia was stuck with being abolished, becoming the state who was to blame for everything, and who then would be under Russia's rule--CONFIRMED BY HIDEKAZ, FTW--East Germany. And there's a whole lot of emo and angst and Wall and possible mindfuckerage that might've made Prussia hate on his brother a lot since he was West and Capitalist and yet it had to be better over there than in the Soviet Bloc, amirite? SOB. So while that whole time period put a strain on the brothers' relationship, when the Wall came down, they were able to be brothers again and Prussia went right back to putting Germany first and foremost.
Except that things are kind of different from before. There's a bit of bitter resentment, not toward Germany, but just in general, about not being his own state, just a territory. So Prussia does what he can do deal with his problems. Which is to say, he reverts back to old, old habits of starting fights, of being rude and uncouth and getting his ass handed to him. And he just keeps going back for more. Because that's what he's used to at this point, fighting to survive physically, mentally, etc... He has always had a sword or a gun in hand and then when he didn't have one, he struggled and worked and persevered and fought to survive during the Cold War (which may or may not have involved some major financial fraud but uh. yeah).
The problem with this? In Camp, the matter has come up where Germany shows his concern and his wishes for Prussia to stop this apparent self-destructive behavior. Because all Prussia ends up doing is getting himself hurt because he refuses to back down from a fight and often starts one for what seem to be pretty stupid reasons. Hell, in a recent thread, Germany goes as far as to call Prussia a masochist and... well, maybe he's not too far off. Because Prussia is a person who doesn't feel like he's really living unless he in the middle of a battle, in control of a situation, and is either able to kick someone else's ass or has his ass kicked, in which case the injuries are proof that he did fight back.
So Germany's worried and Prussia obviously knows this but continues this pattern and even goes as far, sometimes, to keep from telling Germany of anything that's going wrong for him in Camp. Because he doesn't want Germany to worry. Doesn't want Germany to fall into the situation. Does not want Germany to get hurt because of something Prussia started. Because Germany is everything to Prussia and if Prussia can't protect Germany, then really, what use is he? Pfft. So he fights, he doesn't tell Germany, Germany gets pissed when he finds out, they bicker and fight about it, Germany gives up on Prussia being cooperative, and Prussia feels lowly and bad because he's fucked up again, so obviously the solution is to go with what Germany says... and then get into another fight later on. Rinse and repeat.
Beyond all of this, there is very much the element of Prussia feeling put-out because he's the older brother. He should be taking care of the younger brother, not the other way round. Except that's not how things turned out and it kind of ticks Prussia off that things ended up this way. So that of course only fuels the issue and... yeah.
So... basically? Prussia is a trouble-maker. He'll take the name of trouble-maker to distract others from his issues and he'll take the name of trouble-maker to protect his brother. He'll keep close to his chest how indignant he feels whenever someone just writes him off as that, but he'll also laugh and prove them right. Besides, who needs friends anyway? He totally has baby chicks and plush panda bears to take care of any loneliness he might get. Not that he'll get much in Camp, what with the Kogarasumaru kids, but that's a different essay involving Prussia vs Gilbert: Territory or Person? Which is a loltastic issue since Prussia's used to being both at the same time and yet in Camp he gets treated as an individual a lot more than as a territory or former-kingdom. Which is... weird outside of the country-tans. And is part of the reason why Prussia has a kind of, "... aw, shit. :<" reaction when someone Mukuro rubs in his face that he's simply an "asset".
Like I said, that's kind of complicated and whup. I'm done babbling for now.
SO IN SHORT: Prussia will always love Germany most and hates putting Germany in troublesome situations that could cause him serious injury (other than that, Prussia loves to harass/embarrass/prank Germany).BUT, he won't stop being the trouble-maker because that's just... how Prussia is. Fighting it out is cathartic and helps him cope. Even when he loses. Though he gets pissed when he loses. Haha. And not much will change that, really. If anything can, that is.