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Contents
Why is Howl turning into a bird?
Howl uses Calcifer’s magic to transform into a monstrous bird-creature, but each time he does so, he loses a bit of his humanity, and shifting back into human form becomes harder.
What does Howl turn into?
Howl is still in the Castle when the djinn comes, and Howl is turned into a genie by the djinn. Howl is cursed so that he is unable to tell anyone that he is under a spell and no one is able to recognise him.
Why does Howl turn slime?
OH NOES! Howl flips out, throwing what might be the best temper-tantrum EVER. Basically, he whines so hard he starts turning into green slime.
Why is Howl cursed?
She and Howl had a brief relationship (while she was disguised as a beautiful young woman) which led to him leaving her hurriedly. Angered by this, the Witch cursed Howl, so that after a sequence of unlikely events he would have to return to the Witch.
Why does Howl’s hair turn black?
6 Howl’s Tantrum Over His Hair
However, few people gave up on life over an easily fixable mistake. Thanks to Sophie’s cleaning, Howl’s potions got mixed around, leading his hair to change from blond to ginger. Howl accuses Sophie of ruining him and proceeds to throw a tantrum as his hair changes to black.
Who broke Howl’s heart?
Sophie manages to break the contract between Calcifer and Howl, and returns Howl’s heart to him. Sophie defeats Miss Angorian, breaking her own curse, and freeing both Wizard Suliman and Prince Justin. After the preceding events end, Howl and Sophie admit their feelings for one another and agree to live together.
Why did Howl turn Sophie into a cat?
While she is still pregnant, Howl turns Sophie into a cat to protect her (And their unborn child) from djinns who have stolen the moving castle. Sophie gives birth to Morgan while she’s still a cat and, naturally, he is born a kitten.
Does Howl turn into a bird in the book?
Howl doesn’t turn into a bird. Howl is heartless through most of the book just like he is in the movie. However, that doesn’t lead to transformations into an avian creature. Instead of a shift in physical form, Howl’s heartlessness is shown through his restlessness in the story and his connection with Calcifer.
What is Howl’s natural hair color?
Sophie went and organized his hair coloring products (like he said not to) Howl’s hair is naturally black he dyes his hair blonde.
Why does Sophie’s age keep changing?
She was jealous of Sophie’s obvious power even though Sophie was unaware of her gifts. The reason her age changes is because of the nature of the spell that was cast on her by the Witch of the Wastes. However, when Sophie slept, she seemed to revert back to her regular self.
Can Howl see through Sophie’s curse?
In the novel, it is ultimately revealed that Howl could see through Sophie’s curse all along. He always knew she was really eighteen. It is a possibility that the brief moments in the film in which Sophie is seen as a young woman are not real; rather, they are what Howl sees when he looks at her.
Who is Turnip-Head in Howl’s moving castle?
Turnip-Head is a cursed scarecrow who appears in both the book and movie versions of Howl’s Moving Castle. In both appearances, he is a scarecrow on two cross poles wearing torn clothing with a withering turnip for a head.
Is there a Howl’s Moving Castle 2?
It looks like another Ghibli sequel is in the works… HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE 2, COMING TO THEATERS IN 2020.
What is the age difference between Howl and Sophie?
At present there is about a seventy-year age difference between Howl and Sophie, but be that as it may, they squabble like an old married couple. Howl can’t resist the opportunity to tease her, and Sophie is always ready to give it right back to Howl.
Did Howl know it was Sophie the whole time?
In the book, Howl knew Sophie was cursed the whole time. The real reason he sent Sophie to see Mrs. Pentstemmon was to see if she could break the curse, so it didn’t matter whether it was plausible.
Does Howl turn into a bird in the book?
Howl doesn’t turn into a bird. Howl is heartless through most of the book just like he is in the movie. However, that doesn’t lead to transformations into an avian creature. Instead of a shift in physical form, Howl’s heartlessness is shown through his restlessness in the story and his connection with Calcifer.
Why does Sophie’s age keep changing?
She was jealous of Sophie’s obvious power even though Sophie was unaware of her gifts. The reason her age changes is because of the nature of the spell that was cast on her by the Witch of the Wastes. However, when Sophie slept, she seemed to revert back to her regular self.
Why did the witch want Howl’s heart?
Her curse on Sophie is not only revenge for Sophie’s backbone, but also an attempt to get back at Howl, who’d bumped into Sophie earlier the same day. The Witch is jealous because Howl has a reputation for being a lady-killer. She knows that he doesn’t love her back, but she wants his heart anyway.
Howl’s Moving Castle should be the model for every book-to-film adaptation – Polygon
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- Most searched keywords: Whether you are looking for Howl’s Moving Castle should be the model for every book-to-film adaptation – Polygon Updating Studio Ghibli’s adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones’ fantasy novel Howl’s Moving Castle changes almost every detail of the book — and that makes it a perfect adaptation. Hayao Miyazaki makes changes that befit his own medium, while still keeping the character arcs that define Sophie and Howl.
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Howl Jenkins Pendragon | Howl’s Moving Castle Wiki | Fandom
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- Most searched keywords: Whether you are looking for Howl Jenkins Pendragon | Howl’s Moving Castle Wiki | Fandom Updating Howl Jenkins Pendragon (ハウル・ジェンキンス・ペンドラゴン, Hauru Jenkinsu Pendoragon) is a powerful wizard living in the land of Ingary. Originally Howell Jenkins of Wales, he was part of a loose fraternity of wizards on Earth. He made his way through a magical portal to Ingary, where he became known and…
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Round Table: SLIME!!!! – Merry Sisters of Fate — LiveJournal
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- Most searched keywords: Whether you are looking for Round Table: SLIME!!!! – Merry Sisters of Fate — LiveJournal Updating Lately, all three of the Merry Sisters has gone through a period of severe angst regarding our writing. It’s been so common and pointed that we came up with a word for what happens to us: SLIME Have you all read and/or seen HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE by Diana Wynne Jones? The character of Howl is a…Lately, all three of the Merry Sisters has gone through a period of severe angst regarding our writing. It’s been so common and pointed that we came up with a word for what happens to us: SLIME Have you all read and/or seen HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE by Diana Wynne Jones? The character of Howl is a…
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Howl’s Moving Castle should be the model for every book-to-film adaptation – Polygon
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Why does howl turn into a bird? – LONETREE LOFTS
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Howl’s Moving Castle should be the model for every book-to-film adaptation
With Studio Ghibli’s library now on digital and streaming services , we’ve surveyed the studio’s history, impact, and biggest themes. Read all of the stories on our Ghibli Guide page .
Fans of Studio Ghibli’s animated feature Howl’s Moving Castle might be surprised to learn that in the original book, the castle isn’t a walking steampunk contraption, it’s a more stereotypically windy medieval fixture that just happens to have doors leading to different cities.
The movie creates such a lush, vibrant visual story that coming across the source material, Diana Wynne Jones’ 1986 fantasy novel, might be jarring. The book’s sharp, wry storytelling has little in common with the film’s sweet sincerity. While they tell the same story, more or less, they tell it in starkly different ways — but the storytelling methods preserve the brilliance of both versions.
The basic storyline of Howl’s Moving Castle remains the same in both versions: mild-mannered teenager Sophie gets transformed into an old lady by the envious Witch of the Waste, and meets the flamboyant wizard Howl and his wisecracking fire demon Calcifer. But almost every detail of the Studio Ghibli movie diverges from the book. The movie is set in the middle of a war. Howl turns into a monstrous bird-creature to try to stop it. The Witch of the Waste is defanged as an enemy early on. The book, however, deals more with the fallout of his various love affairs, trips to our world, and cursed English homework. The book is droll and witty, a testament to Jones’ sharp prose; the movie is gentle and graceful, a hallmark of Miyazaki’s filmmaking.
The Studio Ghibli version of Howl’s Moving Castle understands the strengths and weaknesses that come with an animated movie and makes changes accordingly, shifting the tone of the story, but never losing the magic.
The movie follows the book — except when it doesn’t
The movie doesn’t entirely deviate from the novel, but the scenes it chooses to exactly recreate are deliberate. The morning after Sophie stumbles upon the castle, for instance, and manages to get Calcifer to cook breakfast, is almost a line-by-line re-creation of the book moment. With the lushness of the animation (specifically that scrumptious-looking Ghibli food), it’s a scene that immediately defines Howl and Sophie in this new setting. Howl is vaguely impressed that Sophie has managed to control Calcifer. Sophie is stunned that the notorious Wizard Howl is barely older than she is. Howl seems to believe they’re meeting for the first time.
But audiences in both cases know better.
In both the book and the movie, Howl and Sophie have crossed paths before, when she trekked across town to visit her sister. Their meeting in the book is understated: Howl asks to buy her a drink, then backs away when she refuses him. Their meeting in the movie is one of its most iconic scenes: after Sophie has some trouble in the street, Howl lifts her up above the town, and the two walk through the air.
Both these scenes define Howl in the context of their respective media. Book Howl is a more obvious playboy, and the fallout of his various love affairs takes up most of the novel. Movie Howl’s flamboyance comes across less in his romantic advances and more so in the generally bombastic appearance that he uses to hide his cowardly nature.
These two introduction scenes — one meticulously recreated in the film, one diverging significantly — are the best examples of how Miyazaki kept the arcs of the book, but shifted them to tell his own story. After all, the strengths of each medium differ, and as a master of his own art, Miyazaki obviously knew how to best tell the story he wanted.
Playful prose vs. artful animation
In both versions of Howl’s Moving Castle, Sophie learns that Howl has given Calcifer his heart, which lets Calcifer survive, and lets Howl access Calcifer’s magic. And in both versions, this contract is taking a toll on Howl, and Sophie must figure out how to break it.
In the book, Howl’s curse comes in the form of a poem — specifically John Donne’s Song: Go and catch a falling star. Part of the fun is the play of the language and how the characters interpret the poem literally, trying to find mandrake roots and literally catching falling stars. Jones also plays with the poem’s meaning. The original context involves finding an honest woman, who then proves to be unfaithful. In the novel, it becomes clear that the dishonest figure is actually duplicitous Howl, who lies and makes up personas to get out of responsibilities. His arc is focused on shedding his hedonistic pursuits and becoming an honest man.
Howl’s curse isn’t the only aspect of the story that draws from the intricacies of prose. Through the novel, Sophie realizes she too has magical powers: she can speak traits into objects, usually by talking to them as if they were sentient. While mending hats alone in the workshop, she makes up various fates for them, telling a wide, creamy hat that it’s “going to marry money” and a plain, mushroom-colored bonnet that it has “a heart of gold” and someone would fall in love with it. The women who purchase these hats end up with the fates Sophie decreed, though Sophie herself does not understand and take control of her powers until later in the book. Sure of her magic and sure of herself, she becomes a force to be reckoned with.
The book’s magic is in its wordplay, and in the poem. Jones delights in tight storytelling and creating her own fantasy subgenre. Howl’s Moving Castle is a fairy tale, but it plays with tropes in an endearing way, not via the cynical modernization of stories like Shrek. Sophie is the eldest of three sisters, and knows she isn’t fated to have a happy ending, because the eldest sibling never does. Her stepmother is young, kind, and gracious, not an old hag. Howl, the handsome mysterious wizard, comes from a suburb in Wales. And the curse comes in the form of homework from Howl’s nephew’s English class. The narrator sometimes weighs in, remarking how when Sophie’s father remarried, she and her sister might’ve been considered the “Ugly Stepsisters” to their half-sister, but “all three girls grew up very pretty indeed.”
Upending the tropes
The movie plays with its tropes in a softer way. It subverts a different set of fairy-tale expectations, ones more in line with the ethos of Miyazaki’s movies. The wicked Witch of the Waste turns into a soft grandmother figure. The curse on the scarecrow is broken by “true love’s kiss,” but the prince doesn’t mind at all that Sophie’s in love with someone else. In written form, the fairy-tale elements are obvious from the beginning, and Jones deconstructs and plays with them appropriately. In the film, they take a back seat to the gorgeous visuals, which place it in a world of its own. Those familiar elements add extra depth to the story if you know what to look for, but they aren’t the center of its humor.
In an animated movie, dissecting and subverting the intended themes of a 16th-century poem wouldn’t play particularly well. The intricacies of the curses both on Sophie and Howl are different in the movie, not tied to text or language, but instead manifesting visually. The idea of deviating from source material may seem outlandish to a book purist, but Miyazaki translates the curses into visual elements, paralleling the book without trying to force its specifically literary elements to work in a new medium.
Instead, Miyazaki shows the toll the curse takes on the wizard. Howl uses Calcifer’s magic to transform into a monstrous bird-creature, but each time he does so, he loses a bit of his humanity, and shifting back into human form becomes harder. When spotting a warship while showing Sophie to his secret hideout, Howl uses magic to jam the gears — but his arm shakes and erupts in pinpricks of feathers, his fingernails turning talonlike. Howl in the movie isn’t a womanizer, but he is a coward, and even though he fights enemy warships, he hides behind his grandiose magic, eventually losing himself within it. Though he finds the courage to face the enemies and protect Sophie, she’s only able to save him when he gains the courage to return to her, beaten and broken and barely human.
Miyazaki’s movie doesn’t delve into Sophie’s magic as much as Jones’ book does, though it keeps story elements that imply its existence. And her curse is subtly modified. When the Witch of the Waste initially curses her, Sophie takes the form of a hobbling 90-year-old woman who can barely stand up straight. But as the movie progresses and Sophie becomes more sure of herself, she starts to appear younger. It’s subtle at first: she stands up straighter, her face is less wrinkled. It’s only when she stands up to Madame Suliman, the war-hungry king’s head sorceress, that she fully shifts into her young self again.
But when Suliman calls her out for falling in love with Howl, Sophie is overcome by shame and slips back into the form of an old woman. By then, it’s evident that as Sophie becomes more confident, she visually shifts in age, her appearance varying between 18 and 90 depending on her emotional state. It’s a similar arc to the book, where her own magical ability grows with her self-confidence, it’s just given clear visual cues.
Stripped of all else, Howl’s Moving Castle is a story of a girl who finds the confidence to be herself, and a wizard who finds the courage to not run away. Toss in a wise-talking fire demon, a vengeful witch, a magical land, and a moving castle, and you get the basic outline of the story. Miyazaki understood that attempting to recreate the novel beat-by-beat would fall flat, given that he couldn’t incorporate Jones’ masterful prose or literary games. Instead, he stripped the novel to its basic arcs, then built it back up with his own expertise. The result is a rare treasure, a book and a movie that diverge in so many aspects, yet still complement each other.
Round Table: SLIME!!!!
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merry_fates tessagratton Lately, all three of the Merry Sisters has gone through a period of severe angst regarding our writing. It’s been so common and pointed that we came up with a word for what happens to us:
SLIME
Have you all read and/or seen HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE by Diana Wynne Jones? The character of Howl is a talented, but quite vain, wizard. In one scene Sophie (who’s under a spell that makes her look like an old woman) has accidentally rearranged Howl’s potions in his bathroom, and his hair ends up dyed the wrong color. OH NOES! Howl flips out, throwing what might be the best temper-tantrum EVER.
Basically, he whines so hard he starts turning into green slime. Just like in that picture over there. Now, all three Merry Sisters love this book, and we just might identify a little too much with Howl. So it was a natural name for our moments of crushing angst.
Here we are, discussing our worst moments, what causes them, and how we make them go away.
Maggie: So how do we want to begin?
Brenna: Should we define slime?
Maggie: That’s a good idea. I should put sugar in my tea as well.
Tessa: Let me see if i can find our original chat when we named it slime.
Brenna: I think we use the word slime as a catchall to refer to a lot of different things that make writing difficult or unpleasant
Tessa: I found it, from back in Janurary:
***
Tessa: PUT DOWN THE DELETE BUTTON
Maggie: I may possibly be having a conniption fit. what do they look like? GOD I’M GOING TO BE THE STAR OF A BAD MOVIE WHERE THE AUTHOR GETS WRITER’S BLOCK AND THEIR CAREER GETS BURIED OUT BACK BY JODIE FOSTER
Tessa: I think you need to walk away from the computer. Call Love Slave and go eat chimichangas. Bill Cosby says conniption fits make your eyes explode. Among other things.
Maggie: That’s it – that’s what’s happening
Tessa: If I was there I would physically drag you away from the computer. Have you had sugar today? Sugar is good for you.
Maggie: Fine. I will go and put clothing on. I will brush my hair. I will drive my Camaro. I will come back and give my sketches and photos to my neighbor. I will get my kids. Then I will have another conniption fit, with them home to watch me twitch and drool. And my word count will be 4,213 LESS than this morning
angst!
GREEN SLIME!
Tessa: Ha! I was actually JUST looking for a picture of Howl online to illustrate your emotional state!
***
Tessa: That’s how we started calling it SLIME, in that little moment of woe.
Maggie: Yeah. That’s slime. That’s what slime is. It’s not just writer’s block. It’s the despair that writer’s block WILL NEVER END.
Tessa:
Maggie: ’cause we all get stuck, right? But we always figure in the end we’ll work through it. But when there is no end, there is . . . slime. Then we start saying things like “no talent hack”
Tessa: sweat turns thick and green
Brenna: before the end, there is slime
Tessa: oozing from pores
Maggie: Yeah. I think we all agree on what slime is.
Brenna: It can be short-lived and easily solved, or it can persist
Tessa: I don’t think I slimed BEFORE I was on the professional road though. When I was still living in the land of hopes and dreams, things like rejection never made me slime. There was angst and trauma… but slime feels different. Like there’s more at stake.
Maggie: Oh, that’s so true, Tess! I don’t think I’ve ever had slime before being published.
Brenna: Yes, it’s definitely been like that for me.
Maggie: So it must have something to do with external perceptions of our work.
Brenna: My big, epic episode of slime was when, having gotten representation, I suddenly had a lot of pressure to do a big revision and have it turn out really well.
Tessa: And if you didn’t your agent would hate you and leave you in the gutter.
Brenna: yes! I was sure of it!
Maggie: All of my slime always comes from thinking that I wrote the AmazingBookofWonder and now was writing the DreadfulBookofSequel
Tessa: and you have no choice. So it’s like failing at your destiny!
Brenna: like, that you set the bar and now are worried about meeting or surpassing it?
Maggie: Yep, that’s exactly it for me.
Tessa: Look it’s the grail hanging over that castle, but I am too weak and impure to get to it! WAH.
Maggie: Because it’s not about deleting words — I do that habitually and I’m quite good at it. Look at me go! Delete! Delete! Delete! It’s like a haircutter chopping hair. It will grow back. Then suddenly you realized, no, you chopped an ear, and possibly, depending on the species, THAT DOES NOT GROW BACK.
Tessa: YES! It’s fear of not being good enough, and everybody will know it. Not just that you’ll disappoint yourself, but the WORLD.
Brenna: I think it’s important to note that we are not typically very gentle with each other when one of us is sliming.
Tessa: hahah, yeah. Me: I’ll never write another novel. Maggie: You’re so full of crap.
Maggie: It’s definitely tough love, for the most part.
Brenna: A lot of times, the other two serve as drill sergeants
Tessa: Though we can be nurturing. I swear. It happens.
Maggie: It does. I will say that the other night, when I was at an all time slimy low, Tess was quite kind.
Tessa: Anything else would have been like kicking a puppy.
Maggie: But it was only because she read the writing on the wall.
Brenna: Yeah, I think it’s a matter of knowing what someone really needs at that moment
Tessa: A bleeding puppy with broken legs.
Maggie: hahhahahaha. You missed it Brenna. I WAS Howl.
Brenna: Tess not kicking the puppy?
Tessa: It’s true. And I was not feeling Sophie. I was feeling Calcifer, who would also die if the slime got on me.
Maggie: So true. Actually, that, right there, could be us: me = Howl, Tessa = Calcifer, Brenna = Sophie
Tessa: That is… shockingly accurate.
Brenna: hahaha
Maggie: so did we honestly never have slime before we got published? This is making the professional life sound dire. I guess I didn’t because I always thought there was more revising or more books to write.
Brenna: I . . . didn’t really. Maybe a couple times when I was working on my thesis, but again that had a lot to do with external pressure
Tessa: I really don’t think so. I’m trying to remember. And maybe some people would. But when a book was rejected I just wrote another one.
Maggie: It was never about getting THE book published by THE publisher.
Tessa: It was about getting better and learning. And being able to shove the Wrong Book into the closet.
Brenna: Right, there was less pressure for any one book to be the right one
Maggie: So, quality slime really required quantifiable failure. Or the fear of it. Losing with no ability to rematch
Tessa: In public. With your pants down.
Brenna: Fear of failure, definitely. Pressure to do a good job.
Maggie: Because I don’t think my recent slime was necessarily because of size of audience. There wasn’t even a bad manuscript to show to the public. There was no danger of it getting out there. So my slime was because I, personally, had never quantifiably failed as a writer in my OWN eyes. Howl did not really slime because his hair would look bad to others. (Though he was vain). It looked bad to HIM. SLIMMMMMMME!!! So instead of writing the rest of lousy draft and sending it out, I perceived it as lousy and sllliiiiiiiimmmed.
Brenna: And then deleted.
Maggie: I deleted before I slimed. Well, maybe they were concurrent.
Tessa: You’ve been sliming with relative frequency for about 3 weeks. It’s a blur.
Brenna: But the point is, there was slime, and then there was ACTION
Maggie: Maybe we should talk about fixing slime.
Brenna: Because I know we’re making writing under contract sound so dire, and it’s really not
Maggie: It really isn’t. It’s usually quite amazing. I love writing knowing it’s already sold and is definitely going to be A Book.
Brenna: There are just these moments where you start to have a much wider perspective than before. Or at least, that’s how it’s been for me
Maggie: I’ve only ever sold one completed book, everything else has been sold on spec or partial.
Tessa: And you have to let the slime come. You can’t wallow in it, but holding it in is toxic.
Maggie: Holding it in means you’ll never get better. I think ignoring slime is a really bad idea. I mean, I could’ve ignored my first major slime a few weeks ago and just finished that book.
Tessa: I think that’s one thing we all agree on though: it isn’t worth anything if you aren’t trying to get better.
Maggie: Right.
Brenna: Right, the doubt or the frustration is there to make sure that you’re trying to fix or improve something
Tessa: So, fixing slime: really helps to have support network. Like we have each other. And partners. And fluffy kittens. And chocolate. And pillows to cry into.
Brenna: Someone to tell you if you are being unreasonable, and exactly how unreasonable
Maggie: Yeah. I don’t know how long my last slime would’ve lasted if I hadn’t had you and Natalie to talk through it, Tess. And the thing was that I also had a very supportive Lover, but him being supportive was nice – but not useful. When you have slime, you need someone who is a writer. Not because they don’t understand — slime is a universal language — but because if you have a specific plumbing problem, you get a damn plumber.
Brenna: someone who can say, “well THERE’S your problem”
Maggie: Yeah. I think the real point is that a) you can’t prevent slime, b) slime is there for a reason and c) the root of the slime making has to be attacked. You can’t just scrape off the slime, because there’s always more where that came from. Oh yeah. and d) slime is your own fault.
Tessa: like having a guinea worm
Brenna: And it helps to have someone else who will say, “Back up. What’s the heart of the story? Could these other things be getting in the way?”
Maggie: Exactly! That’s how Tessa solved my slime the other night, those very questions, actually. I believe she said STOP. WHAT IS YOUR STORY REALLY ABOUT?
Tessa: You have to extract a guinea worm slowly over hours, being patient until you get the head out, because otherwise it breaks off in your leg and rots and you die.
Maggie: Tess has such gorgeous analogies.
Brenna: Sometimes it’s so easy to forget what you’re trying to say.
Maggie: It really is easy to lose perspective. I think that’s when deadlines come in.
Tessa: Which are a professional thing! Maybe that’s why we only really found slime now.
Maggie: It’s not that a deadline will make you lose persepective. It just makes it more probable. Like going out in the cold will not make you sick, but if you’re already susceptible, it can hose your immune system.
Brenna: You focus more on meeting the deadline than on distilling the story to its purest form, maybe?
Tessa: It adds pressure and weight to what’s already happening.
Maggie: It makes it seem more important to get it perfect right out of the faucet
Tessa: Howl had to go out to see the king, so didn’t have time to fix his hair.
Maggie: Right, right. The hair by itself wasn’t the problem. Just like none of us would actually slime over writer’s block normally.
Tessa: We’d write something else or go watch a movie.
Maggie: Because we know what it is: us being told by our Jiminy Cricket that we’ve gone wrong.
Tessa: AND OMGBBQCANWEFIXITINTIME?!?!
Maggie: Did someone say BBQ?
Tessa: mmmmmm cows.
Thanks for tuning in!
So, fair watchers, what makes you slime? How do you get out of it? Is there a secret trick you’ve learned? Because if there is, we beg you to tell us!!!!
Lately, all three of the Merry Sisters has gone through a period of severe angst regarding our writing. It’s been so common and pointed that we came up with a word for what happens to us:Have you all read and/or seen HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE by Diana Wynne Jones? The character of Howl is a talented, but quite vain, wizard. In one scene Sophie (who’s under a spell that makes her look like an old woman) has accidentally rearranged Howl’s potions in his bathroom, and his hair ends up dyed the wrong color. OH NOES! Howl flips out, throwing what might be the best temper-tantrum EVER.Basically, he whines so hard he starts turning into green slime. Just like in that picture over there. Now, all three Merry Sisters love this book, and we just might identify a little too much with Howl. So it was a natural name for our moments of crushing angst.Here we are, discussing our worst moments, what causes them, and how we make them go away.Maggie: So how do we want to begin?Brenna: Should we define slime?Maggie: That’s a good idea. I should put sugar in my tea as well.Tessa: Let me see if i can find our original chat when we named it slime.Brenna: I think we use the word slime as a catchall to refer to a lot of different things that make writing difficult or unpleasantTessa: I found it, from back in Janurary:******Tessa: That’s how we started calling it SLIME, in that little moment of woe.Maggie: Yeah. That’s slime. That’s what slime is. It’s not just writer’s block. It’s the despair that writer’s block WILL NEVER END.Tessa: When we think we’ve ruined our lives by becoming writers.Maggie: ’cause we all get stuck, right? But we always figure in the end we’ll work through it. But when there is no end, there is . . . slime. Then we start saying things like “no talent hack”Tessa: sweat turns thick and greenBrenna: before the end, there is slimeTessa: oozing from poresMaggie: Yeah. I think we all agree on what slime is.Brenna: It can be short-lived and easily solved, or it can persistTessa: I don’t think I slimed BEFORE I was on the professional road though. When I was still living in the land of hopes and dreams, things like rejection never made me slime. There was angst and trauma… but slime feels different. Like there’s more at stake.Maggie: Oh, that’s so true, Tess! I don’t think I’ve ever had slime before being published.Brenna: Yes, it’s definitely been like that for me.Maggie: So it must have something to do with external perceptions of our work.Brenna: My big, epic episode of slime was when, having gotten representation, I suddenly had a lot of pressure to do a big revision and have it turn out really well.Tessa: And if you didn’t your agent would hate you and leave you in the gutter.Brenna: yes! I was sure of it!Maggie: All of my slime always comes from thinking that I wrote the AmazingBookofWonder and now was writing the DreadfulBookofSequelTessa: and you have no choice. So it’s like failing at your destiny!Brenna: like, that you set the bar and now are worried about meeting or surpassing it?Maggie: Yep, that’s exactly it for me.Tessa: Look it’s the grail hanging over that castle, but I am too weak and impure to get to it! WAH.Maggie: Because it’s not about deleting words — I do that habitually and I’m quite good at it. Look at me go! Delete! Delete! Delete! It’s like a haircutter chopping hair. It will grow back. Then suddenly you realized, no, you chopped an ear, and possibly, depending on the species, THAT DOES NOT GROW BACK.Tessa: YES! It’s fear of not being good enough, and everybody will know it. Not just that you’ll disappoint yourself, but the WORLD.Brenna: I think it’s important to note that we are not typically very gentle with each other when one of us is sliming.Tessa: hahah, yeah. Me: I’ll never write another novel. Maggie: You’re so full of crap.Maggie: It’s definitely tough love, for the most part.Brenna: A lot of times, the other two serve as drill sergeantsTessa: Though we can be nurturing. I swear. It happens.Maggie: It does. I will say that the other night, when I was at an all time slimy low, Tess was quite kind.Tessa: Anything else would have been like kicking a puppy.Maggie: But it was only because she read the writing on the wall.Brenna: Yeah, I think it’s a matter of knowing what someone really needs at that momentTessa: A bleeding puppy with broken legs.Maggie: hahhahahaha. You missed it Brenna. I WAS Howl.Brenna: Tess not kicking the puppy?Tessa: It’s true. And I was not feeling Sophie. I was feeling Calcifer, who would also die if the slime got on me.Maggie: So true. Actually, that, right there, could be us: me = Howl, Tessa = Calcifer, Brenna = SophieTessa: That is… shockingly accurate.Brenna: hahahaMaggie: so did we honestly never have slime before we got published? This is making the professional life sound dire. I guess I didn’t because I always thought there was more revising or more books to write.Brenna: I . . . didn’t really. Maybe a couple times when I was working on my thesis, but again that had a lot to do with external pressureTessa: I really don’t think so. I’m trying to remember. And maybe some people would. But when a book was rejected I just wrote another one.Maggie: It was never about getting THE book published by THE publisher.Tessa: It was about getting better and learning. And being able to shove the Wrong Book into the closet.Brenna: Right, there was less pressure for any one book to be the right oneMaggie: So, quality slime really required quantifiable failure. Or the fear of it. Losing with no ability to rematchTessa: In public. With your pants down.Brenna: Fear of failure, definitely. Pressure to do a good job.Maggie: Because I don’t think my recent slime was necessarily because of size of audience. There wasn’t even a bad manuscript to show to the public. There was no danger of it getting out there. So my slime was because I, personally, had never quantifiably failed as a writer in my OWN eyes. Howl did not really slime because his hair would look bad to others. (Though he was vain). It looked bad to HIM. SLIMMMMMMME!!! So instead of writing the rest of lousy draft and sending it out, I perceived it as lousy and sllliiiiiiiimmmed.Brenna: And then deleted.Maggie: I deleted before I slimed. Well, maybe they were concurrent.Tessa: You’ve been sliming with relative frequency for about 3 weeks. It’s a blur.Brenna: But the point is, there was slime, and then there was ACTIONMaggie: Maybe we should talk about fixing slime.Brenna: Because I know we’re making writing under contract sound so dire, and it’s really notMaggie: It really isn’t. It’s usually quite amazing. I love writing knowing it’s already sold and is definitely going to be A Book.Brenna: There are just these moments where you start to have a much wider perspective than before. Or at least, that’s how it’s been for meMaggie: I’ve only ever sold one completed book, everything else has been sold on spec or partial.Tessa: And you have to let the slime come. You can’t wallow in it, but holding it in is toxic.Maggie: Holding it in means you’ll never get better. I think ignoring slime is a really bad idea. I mean, I could’ve ignored my first major slime a few weeks ago and just finished that book.Tessa: I think that’s one thing we all agree on though: it isn’t worth anything if you aren’t trying to get better.Maggie: Right.Brenna: Right, the doubt or the frustration is there to make sure that you’re trying to fix or improve somethingTessa: So, fixing slime: really helps to have support network. Like we have each other. And partners. And fluffy kittens. And chocolate. And pillows to cry into.Brenna: Someone to tell you if you are being unreasonable, and exactly how unreasonableMaggie: Yeah. I don’t know how long my last slime would’ve lasted if I hadn’t had you and Natalie to talk through it, Tess. And the thing was that I also had a very supportive Lover, but him being supportive was nice – but not useful. When you have slime, you need someone who is a writer. Not because they don’t understand — slime is a universal language — but because if you have a specific plumbing problem, you get a damn plumber.Brenna: someone who can say, “well THERE’S your problem”Maggie: Yeah. I think the real point is that a) you can’t prevent slime, b) slime is there for a reason and c) the root of the slime making has to be attacked. You can’t just scrape off the slime, because there’s always more where that came from. Oh yeah. and d) slime is your own fault.Tessa: like having a guinea wormBrenna: And it helps to have someone else who will say, “Back up. What’s the heart of the story? Could these other things be getting in the way?”Maggie: Exactly! That’s how Tessa solved my slime the other night, those very questions, actually. I believe she said STOP. WHAT IS YOUR STORY REALLY ABOUT?Tessa: You have to extract a guinea worm slowly over hours, being patient until you get the head out, because otherwise it breaks off in your leg and rots and you die.Maggie: Tess has such gorgeous analogies.Brenna: Sometimes it’s so easy to forget what you’re trying to say.Maggie: It really is easy to lose perspective. I think that’s when deadlines come in.Tessa: Which are a professional thing! Maybe that’s why we only really found slime now.Maggie: It’s not that a deadline will make you lose persepective. It just makes it more probable. Like going out in the cold will not make you sick, but if you’re already susceptible, it can hose your immune system.Brenna: You focus more on meeting the deadline than on distilling the story to its purest form, maybe?Tessa: It adds pressure and weight to what’s already happening.Maggie: It makes it seem more important to get it perfect right out of the faucetTessa: Howl had to go out to see the king, so didn’t have time to fix his hair.Maggie: Right, right. The hair by itself wasn’t the problem. Just like none of us would actually slime over writer’s block normally.Tessa: We’d write something else or go watch a movie.Maggie: Because we know what it is: us being told by our Jiminy Cricket that we’ve gone wrong.Tessa: AND OMGBBQCANWEFIXITINTIME?!?!Maggie: Did someone say BBQ?Tessa: mmmmmm cows.Thanks for tuning in!So, fair watchers, what makes you slime? How do you get out of it? Is there a secret trick you’ve learned? Because if there is, we beg you to tell us!!!! 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Howl’s Moving Castle
1986 fantasy book by Diana Wynne Jones
This article is about the novel. For the film, see Howl’s Moving Castle (film)
Howl’s Moving Castle is a fantasy novel by British author Diana Wynne Jones, first published in 1986 by Greenwillow Books of New York. It was a runner-up for the annual Boston Globe–Horn Book Award,[3] and won the Phoenix Award twenty years later.[4] It was adapted into a critically acclaimed 2004 animated film of the same name, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Howl’s Moving Castle is the first novel in the series of books called the Howl Series. This series also includes Castle in the Air, published in 1990, and House of Many Ways, published in 2008. WorldCat reports that Howl’s Moving Castle is the author’s work most widely held in participating libraries, followed by its first sequel Castle in the Air.[5]
For the idea Jones “very much” thanked “a boy in a school I was visiting”, whose name she had noted but lost and forgotten. He had “asked me to write a book titled The Moving Castle”.[6]
Plot summary [ edit ]
18-year-old Sophie Hatter is the eldest of three sisters living in Market Chipping, a town in the magical kingdom of Ingary, where fairytale tropes are accepted ways of life, including that the eldest of three will never be successful. As the eldest, Sophie is resigned to a dull future running the family hat shop. Unbeknownst to her, she is able to talk life into objects. When the powerful Witch of the Waste considers her a threat and turns her into an old crone, Sophie leaves the shop and finds work as a cleaning lady for the notorious wizard Howl. She strikes a bargain with Howl’s fire demon, Calcifer: if she can break the contract between Howl and Calcifer, then Calcifer will return her to her original youthful form. Part of the contract, however, stipulates that neither Howl nor Calcifer can disclose the main clause, leaving Sophie to figure it out on her own.
Sophie learns that Howl, a rather self-absorbed and fickle but ultimately good-natured person, spreads malicious rumours about himself to avoid work and responsibility. The door to his castle is actually a portal that opens onto four places: Market Chipping, the seaside city of Porthaven, the royal capital of Kingsbury, and Howl’s boyhood home in Wales where he was named Howell Jenkins. Howl’s apprentice Michael Fisher runs most of the day-to-day affairs of Howl’s business, while Howl chases his ever-changing paramours.
When Prince Justin, the King’s younger brother, goes missing while searching for Wizard Suliman, the King orders Howl to find them both and kill the Witch of the Waste. Howl, however, has his own reasons to avoid the Witch; the Witch, a jilted former lover, has laid a dark curse on him. He successfully continues to avoid her until she lures Sophie into a trap. Believing the Witch has taken Howl’s current love interest, Miss Angorian, Sophie goes to save her and is captured by the Witch. Howl spends hours in the bathroom every day primping himself to look handsome for girls; Michael had said that the day he does not do this is the day Michael will believe that Howl is truly in love. So when Howl comes to save Sophie, unshaven and a mess, it demonstrates his love for her. He kills the Witch and reveals that Miss Angorian was actually the Witch’s fire demon in disguise; the fire demon had taken control of the Witch and was attempting to create a “perfect human” by fusing Wizard Suliman and Prince Justin. It was to be completed by the addition of Howl’s head.
At the castle, Miss Angorian takes hold of Calcifer to capture Howl’s heart. Howl had given his heart to Calcifer. This was the contract between them; the heart kept Calcifer alive, and in return Calcifer put his magic at Howl’s disposal. Sophie uses her ability of bringing things to life to free Calcifer, thus breaking the contract between him and Howl. With his heart restored, Howl destroys the witch’s fire demon, freeing Suliman and Justin. Calcifer, as promised, breaks Sophie’s spell and she returns to her proper age. Howl had realized early on that Sophie was under a spell and secretly attempted to remove the curse; when he had met with failure, he’d figured Sophie simply enjoyed “being in disguise”.
Calcifer returns, preferring to stay with Howl. Sophie and Howl admit they love each other when Howl suggests they live happily ever after.
Setting [ edit ]
Ingary [ edit ]
Most of the novel is set in a fictional monarchy, Ingary; its capital is Kingsbury. Much of south-eastern Ingary is harsh wilderness referred to as “The Waste”. Ingary is bordered by Strangia to the east and the Sultanates of Rashpuht to the south. Nearby is the country of High Norland; in the middle of the novel, the King of Ingary mentions that Ingary will likely be attacked by both Strangia and High Norland soon.
Before the move, the castle wanders over the hills between Market Chipping and Upper Folding in the north. Howl’s house is in fact based in a seaside town named Porthaven; Howl also occupies a disguised stable in Kingsbury. Chapter Eleven takes place in Wales. After the move, the castle sits at the edge of the Waste and Howl’s house is moved to Sophie’s childhood home in Market Chipping; they also occupy a grand but derelict mansion in Vale End (which is in the same valley as Market Chipping).
Howl’s moving castle [ edit ]
Howl’s castle is a tall, black building with four thin black turrets. It seems to be made of blocks of coal (a suitable habitat for a fire demon) and is “bespelled to hold together”. It seems to have four doors on the outside, although three are made inaccessible by an invisible wall.
The inside of the castle is made of the house where Calcifer is based, which is Howl’s house in Porthaven at first, then the house by the hat shop in Market Chipping after the move in Chapter Seventeen. A “square wooden knob above the door, set into the lintel, with a dab of paint on each of its four sides” allows one to open the door into four different locations. Initially these locations are: the moving castle in the hills above Market Chipping (green); in Porthaven (blue); in Kingsbury (red); and in Wales (black). However, after Howl is forced into hiding he changes the door’s destinations to: in Market Chipping (yellow); in Vale End (orange); a garden in the waste (purple); and in Wales (black).
Before the move, the window over the workbench and the one in Michael’s front room overlook Porthaven. Afterwards, the downstairs window looks out on a street in Market Chipping. The one in Howl’s bedroom overlooks his sister’s garden in Wales.
Characters [ edit ]
Sophie Hatter [ edit ]
Sophie Hatter, the eldest of the Hatter sisters (18), has red hair and is rather pretty, though she doesn’t perceive herself as such. She becomes more lovely as her confidence grows. While her siblings’ lives become adventurous and exciting, she finds herself resigned to run her father’s old hat shop, as it is her “fate” as the oldest sister. One day the Witch of the Waste, mistaking Sophie for Lettie, turns her into an old woman. Sophie leaves the shop and becomes a cleaning lady in Howl’s castle, hoping that he might be able to lift the curse placed on her by the Witch. As the story progresses, she starts to fall in love with Howl, though she does her best to deny it. When Howl begins “courting” Miss Angorian, Sophie is hurt by this.
Though Sophie is initially reserved and lacking confidence, she demonstrates herself to be a strong-minded individual after she is transformed into an old woman, becoming less afraid of what others think of her. Dutiful, kind, and considerate, Sophie also has a tendency to be impulsive in her actions and often feels guilty when she does something wrong, though her attempts to rectify matters are usually disastrous. She can be temperamental and argumentative. She possesses some magic of her own – she is capable of making objects come alive by simply talking to them, though she initially is unaware of her abilities.
Wizard Howl [ edit ]
Wizard Howl (27) is a mysterious, reclusive wizard, with a terrible reputation. He is known by a number of aliases; by birth, he is Howell Jenkins, but he goes by “Wizard Jenkin” in Porthaven and his preferred “Howl Pendragon” in Kingsbury. When Howl was young, he gave Calcifer his heart in order for the fire demon to continue living because he felt sorry for him – this is implied to have sapped his humanity somewhat, and will continue to do so till he ends up like the Witch of the Waste. He is 27 (he states that he will soon be 10,000 days old, which is part of the Witch’s curse) and known for being “wicked”. He comes from Wales, a country unknown to most in the book, where his family remains unaware of his activities in Sophie’s world or of its existence; his sister is annoyed by his disappearances, but he often visits them when troubled. He confesses to Sophie that he is a real coward and the only way he can get himself to do something he doesn’t want to is to tell himself that he won’t do it.
Despite his reputation, Howl is in reality an endearing, charming man who is intelligent, considerate, if somewhat self-appreciative, dishonest, and careless at times. He enjoys “slithering out” of uncomfortable situations, often in comical ways. Despite his cowardice, he is an incredibly powerful wizard, capable of matching the Witch of the Waste and is only not known as such because he wants to avoid the work that comes with the respect. His bond with Calcifer increases his powers.
Howl is tall and suave, fond of dyeing his hair, and wearing impressive suits. He spends at least two hours in the bathroom every morning. He is described by Calcifer as “vain for a plain man with mud-coloured hair”. His vanity causes him to throw hysterical fits when Sophie meddles with his clothes or potions. Howl is not naturally handsome, but has “charm”, both literally and figuratively. He is modelled on the Byronic hero.
Calcifer [ edit ]
Calcifer is Howl’s resident fire-demon. As the result of a mysterious bargain with Howl some years ago, he agrees to heat and power the castle. Although he is bound to the hearth, he has a great amount of magic. He promises to use his magic to break the curse on Sophie, providing she breaks the contract between him and Howl. Howl describes Calcifer as “his weakest point”, because Calcifer wouldn’t give away another demon if it entered the castle, even if it had hostile intentions. However, Howl’s statement is true in more ways than one.
Calcifer is powerful, but can be just as cowardly as Howl, preferring to run from the Witch rather than fight her. However, he, also like Howl, will fight when the need arises. He is also fairly crabby and a little mean-spirited, which stems from being bound to the hearth in the moving castle for over five years. He has a natural fear of water, and also worries quite frequently about running out of logs, which are essentially his food. Sophie seems to be the only one capable of forcing him to do anything he doesn’t want to do, a trait she also extends to Howl, and to a lesser extent, Michael as well.
He is also the first one to recognise Sophie’s incredible ability to talk life into the world around her, which is the reason he allowed her into the castle in the first place and was so eager to make a bargain with her – if anyone but she were to break the contract he had with Howl, then Calcifer would die. Fortunately, she is able to talk life into him, and he survives losing Howl’s heart, even deciding to continue living with them after he is freed. Despite his misgivings, Calcifer is the most perceptive and intelligent character in the Castle, repeatedly dropping clever hints regarding Howl being “heartless” (which he uses in literal and figurative meanings), and not hesitating to give clues on Howl’s capricious nature.
Calcifer’s appearance is described as having a thin blue face, a thin blue nose, curly green flames for hair and eyebrows, a purple flaming mouth, and savage teeth. His eyes are described as orange flames with purple pupils. He does not have any evident lower body.
Michael Fisher [ edit ]
Michael Fisher is Howl’s 15-year-old apprentice. He originally lived in Porthaven until both his parents died, leaving him an orphan. He had to leave his house because he couldn’t pay the rent and slept on Howl’s doorstep. Howl found him there one morning and told him to stay inside whilst he went out. Michael started talking to Calcifer and he believes that Howl was impressed with this when he returned. Howl didn’t tell him to stay but he also never told him to leave, so Michael started helping out of his own accord. He eventually became Howl’s apprentice, and he does his best to make sure that Howl doesn’t spend all their money. He often goes to Cesari’s, a bakery in Market Chipping, where he buys pies and other baked goods. He met Martha there and fell in love with her. Sophie later realises that she saw Michael at Cesari’s on May Day before she was cursed by the Witch of the Waste. He’s described by Sophie as “a nice boy, but a bit helpless in a crisis”. He’s rather nice and patient but isn’t quite as fast-thinking as Howl, therefore making Mrs. Penstemmon say he was “not clever enough to cause her concern”.
The Witch of the Waste [ edit ]
The Witch of the Waste is one of the most powerful magicians in all of Ingary. She was banished by the late King to The Waste fifty years before the story starts for causing havoc in the country. She and Howl had a brief relationship (while she was disguised as a beautiful young woman) which led to him leaving her hurriedly. Angered by this, the Witch cursed Howl, so that after a sequence of unlikely events he would have to return to the Witch. She also puts a spell on Sophie at the start of the story, turning her into an old crone. The Witch is also revealed to have made a supposedly perfect man out of the combined parts of Wizard Suliman and Prince Justin, intending to complete the body with Howl’s head and make the man King of Ingary and herself queen. She is killed by Howl at the end of the book.
Other characters [ edit ]
Lettie Hatter is Sophie’s seventeen-year-old sister. She is considered the most beautiful of the three Hatter sisters, and has dark hair and blue eyes. Initially, she is an apprentice at Cesari’s, a pastry shop in Market Chipping, but because she wishes to learn magic, she and Martha switch places using a temporary appearance altering spell. A strong minded young woman, Lettie becomes fond of a stray dog which is in fact a bespelled Wizard Suliman. When she finds out Sophie has been bespelled and lives in Howl’s castle, she sends the dog to protect Sophie from Howl’s charm. Howl tries to woo Lettie, but upon discovering that Lettie is the bespelled Sophie’s sister, he begins approaching Lettie to ask questions about Sophie instead. At the end of the novel, she is taken as an apprentice by Ben Sullivan, where a romantic attachment is hinted.
is Sophie’s seventeen-year-old sister. She is considered the most beautiful of the three Hatter sisters, and has dark hair and blue eyes. Initially, she is an apprentice at Cesari’s, a pastry shop in Market Chipping, but because she wishes to learn magic, she and Martha switch places using a temporary appearance altering spell. A strong minded young woman, Lettie becomes fond of a stray dog which is in fact a bespelled Wizard Suliman. When she finds out Sophie has been bespelled and lives in Howl’s castle, she sends the dog to protect Sophie from Howl’s charm. Howl tries to woo Lettie, but upon discovering that Lettie is the bespelled Sophie’s sister, he begins approaching Lettie to ask questions about Sophie instead. At the end of the novel, she is taken as an apprentice by Ben Sullivan, where a romantic attachment is hinted. Martha Hatter is Sophie’s youngest sister and thought of as the smartest of the three. She is slender and fair with big grey eyes. Fanny arranges her to become Mrs Fairfax’s apprentice, though Martha and Lettie switch appearances temporarily to switch places. Martha happily works as an apprentice at Cesari’s, a renowned pastry shop, and her ambition is to get married and have ten children. She loves Michael Fisher. When Howl laments that he loves Lettie Hatter, Michael hurries to Cesari’s to learn if Martha, still disguised as Lettie, has been courted by Howl. Martha assures him she has never met Howl and Michael knows she isn’t lying because she ‘twiddled her thumbs the whole time’, and she only stops doing that when she lies.
is Sophie’s youngest sister and thought of as the smartest of the three. She is slender and fair with big grey eyes. Fanny arranges her to become Mrs Fairfax’s apprentice, though Martha and Lettie switch appearances temporarily to switch places. Martha happily works as an apprentice at Cesari’s, a renowned pastry shop, and her ambition is to get married and have ten children. She loves Michael Fisher. When Howl laments that he loves Lettie Hatter, Michael hurries to Cesari’s to learn if Martha, still disguised as Lettie, has been courted by Howl. Martha assures him she has never met Howl and Michael knows she isn’t lying because she ‘twiddled her thumbs the whole time’, and she only stops doing that when she lies. Fanny Hatter is Mr Hatter’s second wife. She used to be the youngest, prettiest shop assistant in the hat shop. She is Martha’s mother and is kind to all three girls. When she is widowed, she takes charge of the hat shop and places Lettie and Martha in promising apprenticeships, whilst keeping Sophie to trim hats. Shortly after Sophie disappears, she marries a wealthy man, Mr Sacheverell Smith (possibly thanks to a hat Sophie charmed), moves to a grand mansion in Vale End and sells the hat shop to Howl. She continues to worry about Sophie, who mysteriously disappeared, and is relieved and happy when they meet again.
is Mr Hatter’s second wife. She used to be the youngest, prettiest shop assistant in the hat shop. She is Martha’s mother and is kind to all three girls. When she is widowed, she takes charge of the hat shop and places Lettie and Martha in promising apprenticeships, whilst keeping Sophie to trim hats. Shortly after Sophie disappears, she marries a wealthy man, Mr Sacheverell Smith (possibly thanks to a hat Sophie charmed), moves to a grand mansion in Vale End and sells the hat shop to Howl. She continues to worry about Sophie, who mysteriously disappeared, and is relieved and happy when they meet again. The King of Ingary employs Howl to produce transport spells. When the Witch of the Waste threatens his baby daughter Valeria, he sends Suliman the Royal Wizard to the Waste to deal with the Witch. When the King’s brother disappears whilst looking for Wizard Suliman, he asks Howl to look for the missing men and get rid of the Witch of the Waste. He then appoints Howl as the Royal Wizard, a move which creates a bad mood in the household of the moving castle.
employs Howl to produce transport spells. When the Witch of the Waste threatens his baby daughter Valeria, he sends Suliman the Royal Wizard to the Waste to deal with the Witch. When the King’s brother disappears whilst looking for Wizard Suliman, he asks Howl to look for the missing men and get rid of the Witch of the Waste. He then appoints Howl as the Royal Wizard, a move which creates a bad mood in the household of the moving castle. Prince Justin is the younger brother of the King of Ingary. Unsettled by Suliman’s disappearance, he sets off to find him only to go missing himself. The King of Ingary describes Justin as a brilliant general; with threats of war looming from both Strangia and High Norland, the King of Ingary becomes anxious and insistent that Prince Justin be found.
is the younger brother of the King of Ingary. Unsettled by Suliman’s disappearance, he sets off to find him only to go missing himself. The King of Ingary describes Justin as a brilliant general; with threats of war looming from both Strangia and High Norland, the King of Ingary becomes anxious and insistent that Prince Justin be found. Mrs Penstemmon is a grand, talented old witch. She taught Mrs Fairfax, Suliman, and finally Howl; she is also mentioned as the teacher of Matilda, the Witch of Montalbino, in House of Many Ways . She is proud of Howl’s talent and wants him to be a good person but she is concerned he is heading the same way as the Witch of the Waste. When Sophie visits her while pretending to be Howl’s mother, Mrs Penstemmon encourages Sophie to break the contract between Howl and Calcifer. She detects Sophie’s magical gift and sees instantly that she’s cursed, but cannot lift the Witch’s spell. She is killed by the Witch of the Waste when she refuses to tell the Witch where Howl is.
is a grand, talented old witch. She taught Mrs Fairfax, Suliman, and finally Howl; she is also mentioned as the teacher of Matilda, the Witch of Montalbino, in . She is proud of Howl’s talent and wants him to be a good person but she is concerned he is heading the same way as the Witch of the Waste. When Sophie visits her while pretending to be Howl’s mother, Mrs Penstemmon encourages Sophie to break the contract between Howl and Calcifer. She detects Sophie’s magical gift and sees instantly that she’s cursed, but cannot lift the Witch’s spell. She is killed by the Witch of the Waste when she refuses to tell the Witch where Howl is. Wizard Suliman is the Royal Wizard and personal advisor to the King of Ingary. He originally comes, like Howl, from Wales, where he was known as Benjamin Sullivan. He was Mrs Penstemmon’s second-to-last pupil. When the Witch threatens the King of Ingary’s young daughter, he is dispatched to the Waste by the King. There he starts growing bushes and flowers in an attempt to reduce her power, but the Witch catches him. He projects most of his magic onto a scarecrow, which Sophie will talk life into. The Witch puts him to pieces and sells off his skull and guitar. She reassembles his body with parts of Prince Justin’s (the head in particular) and calls him Gaston. She uses him to find out about Wales to get to Howl, then casts a spell on him that turns him into a dog. Calcifer guesses that one of his aliases is Percival. He takes on Lettie as an apprentice, because he is at least as strong-willed as she is.
is the Royal Wizard and personal advisor to the King of Ingary. He originally comes, like Howl, from Wales, where he was known as Benjamin Sullivan. He was Mrs Penstemmon’s second-to-last pupil. When the Witch threatens the King of Ingary’s young daughter, he is dispatched to the Waste by the King. There he starts growing bushes and flowers in an attempt to reduce her power, but the Witch catches him. He projects most of his magic onto a scarecrow, which Sophie will talk life into. The Witch puts him to pieces and sells off his skull and guitar. She reassembles his body with parts of Prince Justin’s (the head in particular) and calls him Gaston. She uses him to find out about Wales to get to Howl, then casts a spell on him that turns him into a dog. Calcifer guesses that one of his aliases is Percival. He takes on Lettie as an apprentice, because he is at least as strong-willed as she is. Mrs Annabel Fairfax is a witch, a former pupil of Mrs Penstemmon’s. A widow, she lives in Upper Folding and is a friend of Fanny’s. She is “a plump, comfortable lady, with swathes of butter-coloured hair”. She is chatty and uses home-made honey in her spells. She discovers quickly that Martha and Lettie have switched places, but accepts Lettie as her apprentice anyway and encourages her to accept Howl’s advances and become his pupil, though Lettie eventually chooses Suliman instead. Though she tries, she is unable to lift the curse placed on Percival. [ clarification needed ] .
is a witch, a former pupil of Mrs Penstemmon’s. A widow, she lives in Upper Folding and is a friend of Fanny’s. She is “a plump, comfortable lady, with swathes of butter-coloured hair”. She is chatty and uses home-made honey in her spells. She discovers quickly that Martha and Lettie have switched places, but accepts Lettie as her apprentice anyway and encourages her to accept Howl’s advances and become his pupil, though Lettie eventually chooses Suliman instead. Though she tries, she is unable to lift the curse placed on Percival. . Lily Angorian is an attractive schoolteacher in Wales who claims to be Benjamin Sullivan’s fiancée. As such, she refuses to allow Howl to court her, though Sophie comes to believe that Howl is infatuated with her. She is later revealed to be the Witch of Waste’s fire demon, and tries to take Howl’s heart when the Witch of the Waste is killed. With the destruction of the Witch’s heart, she is killed.
is an attractive schoolteacher in Wales who claims to be Benjamin Sullivan’s fiancée. As such, she refuses to allow Howl to court her, though Sophie comes to believe that Howl is infatuated with her. She is later revealed to be the Witch of Waste’s fire demon, and tries to take Howl’s heart when the Witch of the Waste is killed. With the destruction of the Witch’s heart, she is killed. Percival is the witch’s footman in the beginning, constructed from Suliman and Justin, though she calls him “Gaston”, but she later curses him to be a dog. For this reason, he is called “dog-man” before his name is revealed. He can briefly turn into a man, but can barely get a few sentences out before turning back into a dog, though always a different breed than he was before. In human form he is a nervous red-headed man with a crinkled brown suit. He, for a brief time, was with Lettie and Mrs. Fairfax before being sent to Sophie. When he and Lettie meet later, they seem to get along swimmingly.
Major themes [ edit ]
Howl’s Moving Castle explores several themes, including: destiny, youth, courage and love. The first two are central to Sophie’s progression. Early on, her perceived notion of destiny makes her believe that she is doomed to fail because she is the eldest of three sisters. This is in contrast to Howl, who sees himself as the master of his own fate, unafraid of what society thinks of him or what their conventions demand. Sophie’s self-perceived failure is reflected in the Witch of the Waste’s spell, which causes her outward appearance to become old and dull.
Allusions and references to other works [ edit ]
The novel makes references to many other works of literature.
John Donne is alluded to twice, first in Chapter 10 when Howl refers to the first line of John Donne’s poem The Sun Rising, saying “Busy old fool, unruly Sophie.” Howl makes a reference to Donne again in Chapter 11, when Miss Angorian reads from his poem Song: “Goe and catche a falling starre”. The poem also serves as the inspiration for the terms of Howl’s curse.
In Chapter 11 there is a sign on Megan’s house labelled “Rivendell”, the “Last Homely House” in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. In Chapter 12 there is a reference to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland when Howl tells Sophie “We can’t all be Mad Hatters.” Howl refers to Hamlet in Chapter 17 when he quotes “Alas, poor Yorick!” and “She heard mermaids, so it follows that something is rotten in the state of Denmark. I have an everlasting cold, but luckily I’m terribly dishonest. I cling to that.”; another Hamlet reference occurs at the beginning of Chapter 11 referring to the nothingness in the doorway to Wales as being “only an inch-thick after all”.
The names of Suliman’s alias Percival, and Howl’s brother-in-law Gareth are two of the Knights of the Round Table, while Howl’s own alias, Pendragon, is derived from King Arthur’s surname. The Witch of the Waste’s name is a possible pun on the Witch of the West from the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its subsequent film.
A traditional Welsh folk song, Sosban Fach, is referred several times in the novel as “Calcifer’s silly saucepan song”.
Adaptations [ edit ]
Film [ edit ]
The novel was adapted into a 2004 animated film, written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The film was critically acclaimed, broke box office records in Japan, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Radio [ edit ]
Robert Valentine wrote an adaptation for Bafflegab and BBC Radio 4, which broadcast on 12 December 2021. It starred Julia McKenzie and Dakota Blue Richards as the old and young Sophies respectively, Iwan Rheon, Angus Imrie and Dan Starkey[7][8]
Awards and nominations [ edit ]
In 1986 Howl’s Moving Castle was one of two runners-up for the annual Boston Globe-Horn Book Award in Fiction, behind In Summer Light by Zibby Oneal.[3] It was also named one of that year’s ALA Notable Books for Children.
Jones and Howl won the annual Phoenix Award from the Children’s Literature Association in 2006, recognising the best children’s book published twenty years earlier that did not win a major award. Allusion to the mythical bird phoenix, which is reborn from its ashes, suggests the winning book’s rise from obscurity.[4]
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