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
The palace is so vast and shiny that it makes Sophie dizzy just looking at it. The heat is oppressive, and Sophie feels for the soldiers and servants standing at attention. Servants move Sophie, Howl, and Michael along, asking Howl to wait about halfway to the King and then making Michael wait outside the King’s chambers. When a servant ushers Sophie into the room, she’s shocked to see the King in a chair, modestly dressed, and looking very ordinary. He seems awfully proud of himself—and when he asks what Sophie wants, Sophie forgets everything she’s supposed to say.
The heat continues to make Sophie’s job difficult: she’s not as in control of her faculties as she might be otherwise. However, what’s even more annoying than the heat is Sophie’s surprise at seeing how ordinary the King looks. Essentially, she struggles to make her idea of the King as a grand, powerful man fit with this exceedingly normal person. Her expectations, then, keep her from being able to properly carry out Howl’s instructions.
Themes
Sophie blurts out that Howl asked her to say that he won’t go look for Prince Justin. The King, shocked, says Howl seemed eager earlier, but Sophie says he lied. Improvising, Sophie says Howl is a terrible coward and doesn’t care about money. He’s just afraid of the Witch of the Waste, since she’s cursed him. The King asks Sophie to tell him more about Howl, so Sophie says he’s selfish and careless, but surprisingly kind to some people. The King says he thinks of Howl as an “unprincipled, slippery rogue with a glib tongue and a clever mind.” Sophie agrees—and then realizes it’s odd that the King is speaking poorly of Howl. The King says her words have shown him Howl is the man to look for Justin: he’s good at what he does and isn’t just in it for the money.
Readers have no indication of what Sophie was supposed to say, so it’s impossible to tell whether Howl’s script would’ve actually gotten him out of working for the King. But Sophie’s attempts to badmouth Howl show again how her assumptions make her less effective as she tries to accomplish tasks. Because she’s so caught up in seeing what she expects to see, she misses clues that might point her in different directions. Sophie does seem to have taken Mrs. Pentstemmon’s assessment of Howl seriously when she tells the King that Howl is surprisingly kind. She’s becoming more comfortable accepting what she sees in front of her in this regard.
Themes
The King says he’ll be frank: he needs Prince Justin back, both for his military knowledge and to squash rumors that he killed his own brother. He needs an “unscrupulous” wizard to get Justin back. He and Sophie argue about whether Howl will run away from the task, but the King remains convinced Howl will do as he’s told. Firmly, the King says Howl is now the Royal Wizard and he must find Prince Justin before the end of the year. Sophie can go. Sophie shakes the King’s hand and hobbles away, annoyed—this is what she gets for being the oldest.
Though Sophie was willing moments ago to say nice things about Howl, she reverts here to insisting that he’s a terrible person who can’t (or just won’t) keep his promises. And again, she decides that she failed because she’s the eldest of three. It begins to look like Sophie is trying to explain away any failure as not her fault—and unless she thinks it’s convenient, she’s unwilling to admit that Howl might not be all bad.
Themes
Soon, Sophie realizes she’s lost in the palace. A young man comes to her rescue—the very man she gave the dueling spell to. He says his opponent is suing him, but he got Jane back. Sophie realizes he’s the Count of Catterack. She explains that she lost Michael, and the count promises to send Michael to meet her at the entrance hall. Servants pass Sophie through the castle and out the entrance—but Michael and Howl aren’t there. It’s too hot to wait for them, so Sophie hobbles back in the direction she thinks the castle is. Soon, she’s lost. When she’s ready to give up, she recognizes Mrs. Pentstemmon’s street and decides to go ask the footman to point her in the right direction.
The vast, confusing castle makes Sophie feel even less competent and in control of her life. This may simply reflect Sophie’s upbringing, however: she’s used to small Market Chipping, not the opulence and extensiveness of Kingsbury or the castle. Either way, Sophie continues to gather people who function as allies. Mrs. Pentstemmon may have been wildly intimidating, but that doesn’t preclude Sophie from asking for directions.
Themes
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But Sophie stops dead, as the Witch of the Waste is coming toward her. She looks different than she did in Market Chipping. Sophie tells herself she’s not afraid; after all, Mrs. Pentstemmon said her stick is magic now. But as the ladies pass each other, the Witch laughs at Sophie and says that Mrs. Pentstemmon is dead. The old woman refused to tell the Witch where someone is, so the Witch killed her. Sophie is sure the Witch is looking for Howl, and she’s afraid the Witch will kill her now, too. She says the Witch is evil for killing Mrs. Pentstemmon, but she didn’t know the old lady and is actually on her way to see the King. She has an appointment. Laughing disbelievingly, the Witch offers to show Sophie the way to the palace.
To her credit, the Witch doesn’t really give Sophie any reason to make assumptions: she tells Sophie exactly what she did and what she’s looking for. Then, Sophie gets an opportunity to try to evade the Witch and protect Howl. It is interesting that Sophie is suddenly so intent on protecting Howl, just like Mrs. Pentstemmon was—Sophie may now agree with Mrs. Pentstemmon that Howl is someone who doesn’t deserve to fall in the Witch’s clutches, or to become evil.
Themes
As they walk, Sophie snatches glances at the Witch. She’s supposedly an old lady, but she doesn’t look old—it’s not fair. Sophie asks why the Witch made her old. The Witch says Sophie was keeping her from getting information, but she got what she needed in the end. Then, the Witch asks if Sophie knows about a land called Wales. She says it’s where Wizard Howl comes from. Sophie lies that she doesn’t know Howl, but he’s wicked. By now, they’ve reached the palace steps. As Sophie starts up the stairs, the Witch says to remind the King that his grandfather banished her to the Waste, so she’s holding a grudge against him. Sophie hobbles to the top while the Witch waits at the bottom to see if Sophie can actually get in.
Just as Sophie looks elderly but isn’t, the Witch looks young but is actually old. Nothing in Ingary is as it seems—but this allows people like the Witch to manipulate others. By telling the Witch that Howl is evil, Sophie draws on Howl’s various rumors about his misdeeds and how terrible he is. Like everyone else in the novel, he’s trying desperately to control how other people see him—and in this situation, this lie turns out to be helpful for Sophie.
Themes
Sophie tells the guards that she forgot to tell the King something and they let her in. Before she knows it, she’s back in front of the King. Sophie says the first thing that pops into her head: that Howl will look for Prince Justin if the King promises him his daughter’s hand. Concerned, the King tells Sophie to let her son go, invites her to sit, and then calls for Valeria. Princess Valeria emerges from under a desk—she’s only a baby, and she drools on Sophie’s dress.
Sophie, of course, enters the King’s chambers with no plan—she’s just trying to escape the Witch. The King’s advice to let her “son” go highlights how well the King thinks of Howl. He implies that Howl is old enough to make his own choices, particularly about who he marries. Trying to essentially force Howl into another contract, he suggests, won’t end well.
Themes
