Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Howl’s Moving Castle, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Destiny vs. Free Will
Appearances and Assumptions
Family
Magic and Coming of Age
Summary
Analysis
Hours later, Sophie begins to fry bacon on Calcifer when out of nowhere, Howl’s voice shouts that the Witch found him. Throwing the frying pan, Calcifer roars into the chimney and his face begins to blur. Michael says Howl, Calcifer, and the Witch are fighting. Sophie watches Calcifer change color and shake. The blasts of magic outside make everything inside jump; the skull chatters so hard it goes in circles and the guitar twangs. Michael tries to see what’s going on outside through the Porthaven window, but finally pulls out the cloaks and tosses one to Sophie. When Michael puts his cloak on, Sophie realizes why Calcifer laughed when she wore it: Michael is a horse.
Recall that partnering with a fire demon gives a wizard more power; Howl no doubt needs Calcifer’s help to match the Witch in this battle. But this is clearly a big thing to ask of Calcifer, judging by how intense his movements are (to say nothing of his emotional state). Michael seems to trust that Howl and Calcifer can take care of it, and he also doesn’t seem to really fear going outside to see what’s going on—the Witch and Howl’s conflict, this suggests, doesn’t extend to other people.
Themes
In disguise, Michael, Sophie, and the dog-man step into the streets of Porthaven. With many others, they watch a huge, black cloud swirl above them. It turns into huge snakes, and then one figure races out over the sea with another in pursuit. Sophie and Michael follow other people to the docks, where they can clearly see Howl and the Witch crouched on top of clouds, creating a huge storm below them. There’s a ship caught in the middle of it. Hearing a strange noise nearby, Sophie looks down—at mermaids. The first impossible part of the curse is coming true.
As Howl battles the Witch, the curse begins to come true. This suggests on some level that no matter how hard Howl fights the curse, it will indeed come true, slowly but surely. However, whereas Sophie simply accepts that she can’t change or fix things, Howl keeps on fighting. He believes entirely in his ability to bend the world to his will and save himself and Calcifer.
Themes
Howl and the Witch shoot curses at each other, trying to evade and trick the other. Howl seems victorious when he causes the Witch to fly right into the water, though the impact causes 20-foot waves to splash over the quay. Michael drags Sophie to safety as monsters burst onto the streets—they’re illusions, Michael explains, and the Witch and Howl are trying to get the other to give chase. They follow a crowd of spectators all the way to the marshes, where after waiting for a while, a huge explosion sends smoke everywhere. Everything is quiet after this, so Sophie, Michael, and the dog-man return to the castle. When they reach their street, the dog-man chases a stray cat—which speaks in Howl’s voice.
The high waves hitting Porthaven suggest that there will be consequences to innocent people if Howl and the Witch continue to fight—someone, perhaps, is going to get hurt. However, the fight still seems more like a spectator event than anything else, which speaks to how normal magic (and perhaps even fights like this) are in Ingary. When Howl reappears as a stray cat, he shows again how useful disguises and trickery can be to getting his way—he just didn’t count on there being a dog to complicate things.
Themes
Howl resumes his normal shape once Sophie lets him inside. He says he didn’t kill the Witch and demands that Sophie fetch the bottle of brandy. He drinks a glass himself and gives one to Calcifer. Then, he grouses that the Witch just relies on her fire demon and stays out of the way. Calcifer is angry that Howl didn’t warn him about the fire demon, but Howl snaps that Calcifer knows everything he does. After a minute, Howl angrily gets up and says the Witch knows they’re in Porthaven. They have to move Calcifer to Market Chipping—unless he’d rather let the Witch get him. Enraged, Calcifer disappears in the grate.
As Howl and Calcifer bicker, readers get more insight into their contract and their relationship: at least when it comes to magic, they have few if any secrets from each other. And this causes tension, because Calcifer seems to want Howl to share things with him willingly, rather than just assuming Calcifer knows what’s going on. It also becomes clear that Calcifer is vulnerable in his current state, hence the plan to move him to Market Chipping.
Themes
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