Howl’s Moving Castle: Chapter Nineteen Summary & Analysis

Late in the afternoon, Howl saunters into the shop. Sophie glares at him and demands to know what suit he’s wearing. Shrugging, Howl lifts an arm and the suit slowly changes color to reveal that it’s the silver and blue one. Somehow, this makes Sophie even angrier. The dog-man pushes into the shop, and glad for a distraction, Howl observes that feeding two dogs will be a chore. Sophie snaps that this isn’t a dog; it’s a man under a spell. Howl pounces on the dog and asks why Sophie didn’t tell him. He’s clearly angry—and Sophie is glad to fight. She accuses Howl of being too self-absorbed to notice on his own. Howl yells for Michael and when Michael expresses disbelief that the dog is really a man, Howl insists Sophie is fully to blame.

Howl drags the dog-man to Calcifer and asks if Calcifer knew. Calcifer says Howl never asked. Enraged, Howl says that compared with how the Witch treats her fire demon, Calcifer is pampered—all he has to do is tell Howl this sort of thing. Now, they have to get the dog-man back to his real state. Lifting the dog up on its hind legs, Howl says the being is resisting, and Calcifer says this is the Witch’s spell and it has many layers. Finally, with Calcifer’s help, the dog transforms into a red-haired man with almost no personality or spark. The man says he doesn’t know who he is, but Calcifer says he answered to the name Percival last.

Settled in a chair, Percival agrees that the Witch had him a while. She took his head off (Howl explains to Michael, who’s aghast, that it’s possible to remove a body part and keep a person alive with advanced witchcraft). Calcifer says Percival hasn’t been assembled right—and he has parts from another man, too. Percival doesn’t remember why the Witch took his head off. Michael asks if he was ever called Justin, but Sophie snorts and Percival says the Witch called him Gaston. Howl warns Michael to give Percival space and to not make Sophie snort—she might bring the castle down.

Angrier than ever, Sophie returns to the flower shop to find that her daffodils are now dead brown sludge in a foul-smelling poison. She shouts with frustration, which brings Howl running. He suggests she try her poison on the weeds out in front of the mansion, and Sophie agrees—she feels like killing something. Howl sends Percival with her, so Sophie and Percival step out the door of the mansion. It’s a grand place, but it’s in a state of disrepair. Windows are broken and the walls are mildewy. Sophie huffs to herself that Howl could at least make this place look nicer instead of playing in Wales.

Sophie shouts for Percival to pour some poison into her watering can, and he does so meekly. Sophie kills weeds until she feels a bit better, and then she asks Percival why the Witch wanted him, and why she brought Percival to the shop when she cursed Sophie. Percival explains that the Witch wanted to know about Howl. He must’ve known something about Howl before he became Percival, and he was trying to keep the Witch from finding out anything and cursing Howl. Percival says he kept thinking of Lettie to evade the Witch, so the Witch thought Lettie was involved. He admits he told the Witch that Lettie owned a hat shop in Market Chipping, knowing Lettie was safe in Upper Folding and not knowing Lettie had a sister.

Percival continues that the Witch tossed him out of the carriage that afternoon, and he turned into a dog in front of some farmers. They thought he was a werewolf, which is why Sophie found him with a stick. He then went to Mrs. Fairfax and Lettie, whom Howl was courting. Then, Percival says, Howl started asking about Sophie—and Lettie said that Sophie was her sister. Howl mentioned he knew an old lady named Sophie, and Mrs. Fairfax had seen Sophie as an old woman too. Lettie, Percival says, was convinced something awful had happened to Sophie and that Sophie was in danger from Howl. Percival turned into a man long enough to promise to guard Sophie. Annoyed, Sophie says she’s fine, but Percival says she’s not. He was too late.

Screaming in anger, Sophie dumps her weed killer and says that Howl is heartless and impossible. However, she knows something is wrong, and it has to do with not being willing to see her sisters. She reminds herself that she’s a failure because she’s the eldest. But uneasily, Sophie wonders if Mrs. Pentstemmon could see who—or what—she really is. Was she drawn in by Howl’s charmed suit? He was wearing the silver and blue on the day they first met, but both suits seem to work the same. Suddenly, Sophie hears the thud of the scarecrow again. Crouching near Percival, who asks why Sophie wants to get rid of the scarecrow, Sophie again tells it to go away. It obeys.

Sophie can’t run away now, with the scarecrow out there, so she turns back to the mansion. Suddenly, it’s gleaming and clean. She can tell Howl is trying to tempt her to go in and explore, so she goes into the castle instead. Howl and Michael are dismantling a spell—a listening spell, Sophie is sure. Sophie screams at them and asks how long Howl has known she’s under a spell. Howl and Michael explain that both Letties, Mrs. Fairfax, Calcifer, and Mrs. Pentstemmon told them. But neither Howl nor Mrs. Pentstemmon could lift it, since Sophie is doing it to herself. As Percival steps inside with the bucket of poison, Sophie grabs it and hurls it at Michael and Howl. It crashes into the sink.

Howl fishes the skull out of the sink; it’s now gleaming white instead of dirty brown. Sophie settles in her chair to sulk as Howl asks if Sophie hasn’t noticed that her aches and pains have been better—he can’t lift the spell, but he’s been trying to help. Percival begins tuning Howl’s guitar and says the Witch wanted to know about Wales. Howl disappears into the bathroom as Percival plays, and he emerges hours later. He reminds everyone that it’ll be Midsummer Day at midnight, so they should all be careful. Sophie continues to ignore him angrily, so Howl sighs and goes out into Wales. Sophie vows to leave tomorrow, no matter what.