Arthur is spiteful and bitter and vengeful and these awful qualities are my favourite parts of his character, truly.
I've spoke in the past about the lucifer comparisons: the fair hair and skin, angelic; interrupted by the burning green eyes, wherein behind lies an insatiable, desperate greed. He's this demonic, terrible thing that no matter how many times you put it down its always tapping away at its enclosure come morning, hand reaching out for its lock.
He's the outsider of Europe but always at the centre of their conflicts. His best is the worlds worst - most at home in battle, in conquest, and in the gaping abyss of the great seas.
And the best part about him: war erupts and economies are crippled, his fellow nations are on their knees in defeat - and yet he's waiting and begging for a round two.
Its like some sort of destructive impulse - snapping jaws serve a hungry mouth, and he's a starving, skinny thing.
But then there's another angle to relentless, spiteful character, for it is also represented through his longevity.
And Arthur has one hell of a legacy. Language, history, culture, the new young superpower of the world - all his. Even in nations: memories of him and his empire are still points of affection and hurt alike.
He's a rotten core that can't be purged. In the people and places and everything in between. (there's a tragedy there too, about blame and redemption and wounds that will never really heal).
Yet one cannot ignore the positive side to him: hope. Throughout so many wars he's been the saving grace, the spiteful last addition to a losing cause. WWII, and he's the last good man standing. Half of Europe has fallen and the only one left to protect it is its staunchest, most bitter adversary.
Arthur is a clawing, evil thing, but he also represents persistence/hope. In combat and history, but also as an individual - it colours all his relationships.
+ I pair this view with my headcanon that Arthur looks really young. I really don't fw the whole nations are old and ugly and miserable thing. I like my pretty boys pretty sorry!!
Arthur is younger than a lot of his European peers, and he canonically looks 23 but even then I think he should have a bit of a babyface.
It just suits his spiteful, somewhat immature personality. And he is immature - he non-stop argues with France and he still plays victim regarding the American war of independence.
Also, it works with his origins. Seen by Rome as the sort of 'back-water' of Europe, he's always been a little neglected. So he's skinnier, and smaller, and really nothing but a scalding pair of wide-green eyes looking up at his fellow nations in resentment.
(see: Alexandre Cabanel's 'The Fallen Angel) - how apt for a fallen Empire. Time really is a flat circle!!
(and I think it looks really cute with all his new world children being so much bigger and healthier. Australia, America, candida, new Zealand - they're all a lot taller and stockier.)
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