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Martha Hatter
Fanny is Sophie and Lettie’s stepmother and Martha’s mother. She was a young, pretty shop assistant at the hat shop when Sophie’s father married her, and she made a point to treat all three of her daughters exactly the same. A sensible and practical woman, Fanny finds all three girls apprenticeships when her husband dies and money gets tight. However, she and Sophie both misjudge Lettie and Martha: Martha isn’t as ambitious as they expect her to be, while Lettie is wildly ambitious. Martha also tells Sophie that she believes Fanny is exploiting Sophie to run the hat shop while she spends lots of money. Because Sophie briefly believes this, she leaves home after the Witch curses her without saying goodbye to Fanny. Fanny ultimately marries a wealthy man and, when she reconnects with Sophie, makes it clear that Sophie and Martha misjudged her. Indeed, with her new perspective as an old woman, Sophie sympathizes with Fanny: Fanny is still young and beautiful, and she was no doubt as bored at the hat shop as Sophie was.
Fanny Quotes in Howl’s Moving Castle
The Howl’s Moving Castle quotes below are all either spoken by Fanny or refer to Fanny. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter Two Quotes
“I never knew!”
“Well, it wasn’t much good going on about it when you were so busy backing Mother up about me making my fortune,” Martha said. “You thought Mother meant it. I did too, until Father died and I saw she was just trying to get rid of us—putting Lettie where she was bound to meet a lot of men and get married off, and sending me as far away as she could! I was so angry I thought, Why not? And I spoke to Lettie and she was just as angry and we fixed it up. We’re fine now.”
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Sophie has gone to visit Lettie at her apprenticeship in Market Chipping—but she discovers that Martha and Lettie have used a spell to switch places, so she’s actually speaking to Martha. Martha is explaining why she and Lettie switched places. Essentially, Martha insists that because Sophie and Fanny have been so focused on telling Martha that she’s destined to make her fortune, it took Martha a long time to realize that she doesn’t want to make her fortune. In fact, she just wants to get married and have a family. Upon the girls’ father’s death, when Fanny got each daughter Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae c
Chapter Twenty Quotes
“Do listen. He’s not wicked at all!” There was a bit of a fizz from the grate at this, where Calcifer was watching with some interest. “He isn’t!” Sophie said, to Calcifer as much as to Fanny. “In all the time I’ve been here, I’ve not seen him work a single evil spell!” Which again was true, she knew.
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Fanny has just arrived at the moving castle, and to Sophie’s surprise, Fanny recognizes her. Sophie is now explaining how Howl has helped her and making it clear that despite the rumors suggesting otherwise, Howl isn’t evil. This is a hugely significant moment for Sophie, as this is the first time that Sophie is willing to admit that Howl isn’t a bad person. And in fact, though she doesn’t acknowledge it here, she has lots of evidence that Howl is extremely kind: he took her in, for instance, and he saved both Michael and Calcifer from potentially horrible fates. It’s Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. D
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Fanny Character Timeline in Howl’s Moving Castle
The timeline below shows where the character Fanny appears in Howl’s Moving Castle. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter One
...two and her younger sister Lettie is one. Their father marries a shop assistant named Fanny, who soon has the third daughter, Martha. Fanny, rather than shunning Sophie and Lettie, treats...
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After the funeral, Fanny sits down with Sophie, Lettie, and Martha. She explains that the only way to stay...
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...and the customers. All she really has to learn is how to sell hats. But Fanny doesn’t let Sophie sell much, as she makes Sophie trim hats instead. Sophie is good...
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Business is picking up, and Fanny almost regrets sending Martha and Lettie away. Sophie spends her nights trimming hats in the...
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Chapter Two
...wanted to learn witchcraft, she and Lettie decided to switch places rather than fight with Fanny. Fanny, Martha insists, is jealous of Lettie. Martha continues that it took her two weeks...
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...exclaims she never knew Martha wanted to have so many children, Martha insists Sophie and Fanny were both too caught up in pushing Martha to make her fortune. It only became...
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...she realizes she severely misjudged her sisters, but she’s not sure Martha is right about Fanny. Just over a week after May Day, Sophie works up the courage to ask for...
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...that she’ll get back at the Witch eventually, but now she has to leave so Fanny doesn’t get upset. As Sophie gathers bread and cheese, she discovers she’s just stiff and...
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Chapter Three
Remembering Fanny, Sophie feels sympathy for the demon—so she asks what the contract’s terms are, and how...
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Chapter Five
...Howl exploits them both while he spends his time snaring girls. He’s no different from Fanny, and Sophie detests him.
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Chapter Fifteen
...Calcifer discuss that this would entail moving Calcifer, who’s technically in Porthaven, Sophie considers that Fanny is selling the shop—and how strange it is that the dog-man doesn’t seem interested in...
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Chapter Twenty
...A footman announces that a Mrs. Sacheverell Smith is here—and when the woman enters, it’s Fanny, wearing a hat Sophie trimmed. Sophie had told the hat to marry money—and Fanny obviously...
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By now, Sophie is crying too, and she and Fanny start to laugh. Sophie starts to explain what happened and says that Wizard Howl took...
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Fanny tells Sophie all about Mr. Smith. Now that she’s old, Sophie has a new perspective...
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Fanny is terrified when she sees flowers and not her carriage outside the door, so Sophie...
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Disgusted by Howl’s dirty room, Fanny and Mrs. Fairfax decide to clean it. Before they can get started, Michael invites everyone...
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Chapter Twenty-One
...notice Prince Justin and Wizard Suliman shake hands, or see Prince Justin try to address Fanny as “the lady of the house.” Mrs. Fairfax beams that that’ll be Sophie soon.
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