Both the Göktürks (Ashina) and Mongols (Borjigin) believed themselves to be descended from a wolf, but there’s an interesting difference: Ashina clan came from the union between a she-wolf and a human male, while the Borjigins came from a union between a male gray wolf and a doe.
Anyway, not all Turkics have wolves as their mythological ancestors tho. The (Yenisei) Kyrgyz believed themselves as having descended from a god and a cow, while Qocho Uyghurs (Qocho was a state founded by Uyghurs after the destruction of Uyghur Khaganate) believed that their founder came from a tree.
Obv bc Turkey poses himself as the successor (of some kind) of the Göktürks, wolves are also meaningful to him. Well, aside from that he’s also an Oghuz Turk, aka Turkic subgroup that was also a part of Göktürks. Gray wolf is also the national animal of Turkey.
(Anw, Mongolia’s national animal is actually a falcon)
Thinking about, I make Mongolia fat (he’s stocky but he’s also really soft in the middle) for drawing practice purposes. But it’s also to make my characters more diverse in appearances — I have semi-realistic style after all so it doesn’t make sense to draw uniform body types. Besides, I want to like, show that people who are fat can be attractive and lovable and they can be strong too, lol
Reading a sentence like ‘Mongol Empire conquered China/Persia/Central Asia/Russia/Anatolia’ makes me giggle because it’s as if Mongolia were an octopus. You know, eight hands for eight people in eight different directions!!
But he didn’t do all that alone. He gave it a preliminary go and it was then completed by his descendants. And at some point the new Khanates also wanted to be known as they were, not just piggybacking on Mongolia’s name and roots. It is fair because they weren’t only Mongol/Mongolized, I think. That’s why I made the Khanates, including Yuan, their own personifications. They’ve gone away from the Mongol center and into their own vision of the future that’s maybe different from Chinggis Khan’s vision. They carried on proud Mongol lineage, but in the end weren’t purely Mongol themselves.
I think Mongol Empire (on its own = just Mongolia) is also exaggerated at times? But I get it lol, I was there. Mongolia is actually a guy with an ego as big as the sun so I like it when he’s knocked down a peg or two, haha! I made him different from the Khanates born from him so that he wouldn’t always claim their success as purely his own, hoho. In the end, I guess I doubt the claim that the (core, real) Mongol Empire was That huge and great. It might not be. But that Mongol Empire has an extensive legacy, is true.
But this is just my opinion lol. I’m no historical Hetalia person myself. I’m just whatever-makes-me-happiest Hetalia.
Currently reading about the Oirats. Consulting a research article~
Introduction The Kalmyks, a Buddhist Mongolic people residing in the Republic of Kalmykia (Khalmg Tangch), a constituent republic of the Rus
The question I’m asking myself is whether Kalmykia would be an *actual* grandchild of Mongolia or would they just be a grandchild of a sibling? (a relative)? This distinction is important.
Key notes of the article:
During early Mongol Empire era, historical Oirats were not classified as Mongol but similar to the Keraites and Naimans (in their non-Mongolness). This is recorded in the Secret History of the Mongols and the historical texts by Rashid al-Din. They then submitted to Mongol Empire just like other non-Mongols around the area did.
(Personal note: today, Keraites and Naimans for ex would be grouped into Turkic ppls (like Kazakh) or Mongol, as these names were historically confederate names)
Oirats might’ve submitted to the Chinggisids, but during Northern Yuan era they then challenged Chinggisid authority and formed their own confederate, Four Oirat. This confederate mainly consisted of groups historically regarded as non-Mongols (of Chinggisid Ulus).
Kalmyks have different Y-DNA haplogroup compared to modern Mongolians. Modern Mongols display 34.78% of ‘star cluster’ (C2 type) or Chinggisid lineage in their Y-DNA. Kalmyks only have 1.67%.
Oirats however were historically regarded as belonging to the larger Mongol (of Northern Yuan = Chinggisid) group by Manchu Qing and Ming. Some Central Asian writers also tend to group Oirats as the same as larger Mongol group under the term Qalmaq. However this term basically only means Tatars and Turkics, basically nomads in Central Asia, who didn’t convert to Islam, while the Muslim converts were newly called Uzbeks. Qalmaq means ‘those who remained behind’.
Chinggisid and Timurid Central Asian writers differentiated between Oirats and Mongols tho. Also, they identified themselves with the Mongols which they never did with Oirats.
Northern Yuan Mongols also differentiated themselves from the Oirats whom they constantly had feuds with. Meanwhile, they regarded Turkicized Chinggisids as kins.
Oirat writers in their works described of themselves as Mongolic people but not of Northern Yuan Mongol stock. A Kalmyk Khan once told Russians and Ottomans that Oirats were also Chinggisid tho.
Now for consistency in my headcanons:
My Mongolia is not a personification of *all* Mongols, but only for Borjigid-Chinggisid Mongol affiliated political entity (obviously today’s Mongolia is no longer ruled by that stock, but this stock did mark the formal start of Mongolia’s existence). Therefore, Kalmykia is a kin but not Mongolia’s own descendant. Next on I’ll be researching Buryatia and Tuva, hha.
Found out Mongolians have 90 days free visa to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. The only countries in Central Asia that give this privilege, basically. The two first countries make sense, but Uzbekistan also… that’s rather pleasantly surprising to me! Does that mean in Hetalia sense Mongolia and Uzbekistan have warm-ish relationship?
I should’ve given Mongolia a human name (bc I gave human names to Kaz and Uz, even tho I prefer using country names for writing) but his name, Mongolia [Монгол] is already perfect like you possibly can’t get more perfect than that. He was already born perfect y’all. I love that name so much.
