Ship Rants: Sink it or Ship it?

HRE x Chibitalia

'sup guys! We're back ranting! ^O^ *awkward silence* ... yeah. Anyways, I already ranted about this ship, but I wasn't that much into Hetalia yet, so i didn't know how amazingly fruking perfect this ship was. 

This ship, right now, is my number one OTP. Yes, that's right. No other ship compares to the cuteness of this one. (and this is MY opinion, btw) yes, I have other OTP's, but this is meh favorite one.

Why I ship this? Okay, I shall tell you then! 

Number one: I believe Holy Roman Empire is indeed Germany. 

What the bloody hell?! You ask. Well, let me tell you my theories. (They're actually not only mine, I found it on wiki xD) 

A popular fan speculation, supported by hints given in canon, is that Holy Roman Empire survived his apparent "death", but gained amnesia and forgot all of his childhood memories, eventually growing up to become Germany.

The strongest hint in canon came in the Buon San Valentino cliffhanger, when after a disastrous proposal to Italy, Germany's mind became flooded with emotion and a memory of Chibitalia was shown from his point of view. In "PAINT IT WHITE!" the movie Germany does get reminded of HRE memories when he tells Italy " I BELIVE IN YOU" because all the allied countries where being turned into aliens. But Grandpa Rome gave him a marker when he sang the heaven and hell song that was sung when America fights the "Axis" two times.

Another connection drawn by fans is the fact that Chibitalia gave HRE panties as a parting gift, while in his adulthood, Italy gave Germany a pair of underwear as a Christmas gift. The Christmas Scribbles strip series which the latter strip came from also featured a "past tale" strip with HRE involving underwear as well (he accidentally pulled down Chibitalia's underwear on Christmas after "she" got stuck in a decorations box).

In the series, it's shown that HRE possesses the same type of dog as Germany, a golden retriever, and that he sleeps in a bedroom quite similar to Germany's, with minor changes due to time differences. At the beginning of the ending theme song, "Marukaite Chikyuu", Germany and HRE sing exactly the same words, that are different from the other characters' versions.

Hidekaz Himaruya had also once mentioned that Chibitalia and HRE would eventually get a happy ending, though the exact definition of the "happy ending" has been subject to much debate.

Germany is also shown to look much like HRE when his hair is not slicked back, and the two "grown-up" illustrations of HRE showed him to have a strong resemblance to Germany, albeit somewhat younger. In another scrapped illustration, HRE dreams of what he and Chibitalia will look like as adults, with Chibitalia being a grown woman (due to his lack of knowledge about "her" true gender). The adult HRE is only shown from the nose down, but the shape of his face and his height give him more of a resemblance to Germany, along with his hair appearing to be slicked back.

Though their eyes look somewhat different, Germany's being more piercing and flatly-colored and HRE's appearing to be darker and shinier, the change could be chalked up due to aging and the changes in personality and maturity (in part due to his amnesia).

But it is to be noted that only one of the two teenage designs of HRE is actually "canon" for Shotalia, and that the illustration on Bamboo Thicket was actually drawn by Himaruya for a fan, in tribute to a fangame they created about the teenage Holy Roman Empire and Italy. Himaruya stated interest in wanting to draw the Thirty Years War story with HRE at a slightly older age, which lead to him drawing the first illustration.

Some also find it unlikely that HRE could have aged, due to the fact that the actual Holy Roman Empire wasn't a true empire nor a singular nation, but a collection of other small states. This has lead to the common assumption that he "died" as a child, though supporters of him being Germany speculate that he was raised up from being a child to an adult rather fast.