Iceland, huh? For such a minor character, he’s perhaps one of my favourites, mainly because his personality is so interesting and, well, relatable.
Let’s get some clarifications out of the way first: Norway is Iceland’s older brother. They’re related.
After having an excavation done on his land, Iceland finds out that he has no strictly Icelandic indigenous people. Instead, it was Norwegians who had first settled there before travelling elsewhere.
Now, this is important in establishing a tentative ground principle in understanding the family trees in the series. I’ve found a pair of relatively consistent rules too: It seems that nations are biologically related when…
1) There is one dominant nationality of sibling #1’s people living on the other sibling’s land – Ex: in this case, it would be early Norwegians initially settling on Iceland.
2) The nations of the siblings are typically next to one another – Ex: America and Canada, Netherlands and Belgium, Germany and Prussia, & Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine.
I know it’s messy, but remember that these rules are exceptive and only apply when Hima explicitly makes them siblings. You can have nations, like Spain and Portugal, who look alike due to similar ancestral influences on their histories and cultures, and yet, they’re only listed as neighbors with no biological relation.
It’s important that I make this distinction only because the Nordics all refer to each other as brothers in an affectionate way, despite us knowing that they’re not actually related. Again, the only ones who are confirmed to be related are Norway and Iceland.
There’s also the presence of brother figures in the series. Regarding Iceland, he sees the other Nordics as older brothers.
What’s sad is that he didn’t get to meet most of the Nordics until the 18th century.
While Denmark may have raised him…
…right from birth Iceland sensed that Norway was his older brother.
Now for Iceland’s personality.
Predicating from his childhood and geographic isolation, Iceland is unsociable. The irony is that he also feels lonely.
No one really knows anything about him, and he’s often the odd man out.
Despite this alleged unsociability, Iceland still worries about making friends.
Arguably, Iceland is closest with Norway, who likes to “stick” into the former’s business.
While Iceland may snap at Norway and the other Nordics, he secretly appreciates their concern – especially Norway’s. He doesn’t hate any of them.
In fact, this somewhat erratic moodiness is actually part of Iceland’s personality.
His contrasting warm (volcanoes, hot springs) and freezing climate gives way to a polarizing temperament. As such, he’s noted to have a hot and cool side.
This unpredictability in mood, metaphorically understood in terms of how you never know when a volcano will explode, is seen in Iceland right from birth.
His cool side relates more to his unsociability and shyness.
What’s more, his hot side doesn’t always have to do with his temper or irritability. It can also mean the playfulness and mischievousness of a young child.
Another fun fact is that Iceland is able to see Norway’s magical creatures, albeit refusing to acknowledge this ability.
All in all, akin to his climate and geography, Iceland isn’t static and is therefore far from your typical stock character. He has a profoundly rich and complex personality stemming from a childhood filled with neglect, isolation, and loneliness; the problem for him now is whether he’ll be able to reconcile all this and open himself up to others more.
