#howlsmovingcastle — Public Fediverse posts

https://www.alojapan.com/1483335/everything-i-bought-at-the-studio-ghibli-store-in-sapporo-japan-studioghibli-howlsmovingcastle/ Everything I Bought at the Studio Ghibli Store in Sapporo, Japan | #studioghibli #howlsmovingcastle #donguri #DonguriRepublic #GhibliMovies #HayaoMiyazaki #Howl'sMovingCastle #JapanShopping #Sapporo #SapporoDestinations #SapporoShopping #SapporoTour #SapporoTravel #SapporoTrip #SapporoVacation #StudioGhibli #札幌 Everything I Bought at the Studio Ghibli Store in Sapporo, Japan | #studioghibli #howlsmovingcastle As a big Ghibli fan, this is one

https://www.alojapan.com/1483335/everything-i-bought-at-the-studio-ghibli-store-in-sapporo-japan-studioghibli-howlsmovingcastle/ Everything I Bought at the Studio Ghibli Store in Sapporo, Japan | #studioghibli #howlsmovingcastle #donguri #DonguriRepublic #GhibliMovies #HayaoMiyazaki #Howl'sMovingCastle #JapanShopping #Sapporo #SapporoDestinations #SapporoShopping #SapporoTour #SapporoTravel #SapporoTrip #SapporoVacation #StudioGhibli #札幌 Everything I Bought at the Studio Ghibli Store in Sapporo, Japan | #studioghibli #howlsmovingcastle As a big Ghibli fan, this is one

Poco a poco iré moviendo mi trabajo desde otras redes
#art #ghibli #howlsmovingcastle #fanart

Eu não sei se essas fotos já estiveram aqui, então vou postar sem saber kkkkkkkk

「Sophie Hatter | O Castelo Animado」

👗 me
📸 [CosClick](https://instagram.com/cosclick)

🏷️ #cosplay #sophiehatter #howlsmovingcastle #hmccosplay

"Since this is exactly what Sophie wanted, she pretended not to hear."

Sophie Hatter in Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones

Rules of the game:
- Grab the nearest book.
- Turn to page 42
- Find the 2nd sentence
- Post the sentence in a toot with the hashtag & write the rules as a comment to it
- Don't look for your favourite, coolest or wittiest book. Go for the closest.

#page42 #HowlsMovingCastle

"Since this is exactly what Sophie wanted, she pretended not to hear."

Sophie Hatter in Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones

Rules of the game:
- Grab the nearest book.
- Turn to page 42
- Find the 2nd sentence
- Post the sentence in a toot with the hashtag & write the rules as a comment to it
- Don't look for your favourite, coolest or wittiest book. Go for the closest.

#page42 #HowlsMovingCastle

"Since this is exactly what Sophie wanted, she pretended not to hear."

Sophie Hatter in Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones

Rules of the game:
- Grab the nearest book.
- Turn to page 42
- Find the 2nd sentence
- Post the sentence in a toot with the hashtag & write the rules as a comment to it
- Don't look for your favourite, coolest or wittiest book. Go for the closest.

#page42 #HowlsMovingCastle

"Since this is exactly what Sophie wanted, she pretended not to hear."

Sophie Hatter in Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones

Rules of the game:
- Grab the nearest book.
- Turn to page 42
- Find the 2nd sentence
- Post the sentence in a toot with the hashtag & write the rules as a comment to it
- Don't look for your favourite, coolest or wittiest book. Go for the closest.

#page42 #HowlsMovingCastle

2000-2009 Film Tournament - Elimination Round Group 1 of 2 (Screenshots).

#HowlsMovingCastle
#BrokebackMountain
#NoCountryForOldMen
#SpiritedAway

#Film #Movies #FilmCommunity #Cinema #CineMastodon #ClassicFilms #FilmPoll #FilmTournament

Snapshots of the author

House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones.
HarperCollins, 2008.

Many of the pieces in Reflections, the collection of writings by and about Diana Wynne Jones, address the question authors often get asked: Where do you get your ideas? And of course there is no single simple answer. She does however offer this suggestion, in an item entitled ‘Some Hints on Writing’:

When I start writing a book, I know the beginning and what probably happens in the end, plus a tiny but extremely bright picture of something going on in the middle. Often this tiny picture is so different from the beginning that I get really excited trying to think how they got from the start to there. This is the way to get a story moving, because I can’t wait to find out.

With House of Many Ways I found it hard to force a plan onto a review, so adopting Jones’ modus operandi for this commentary seemed an appropriate way to go about it. The beginning has been taken care of, and the conclusion is virtually foregone, and now it’s time to move to the images that arise almost unbidden from a second reading of this fantasy. Many of them involve snapshots of the author herself.

Diana was both dyslexic and left-handed, and both these issues come out in the story. One protagonist finds distinguishing left from right a problem and so ties coloured threads to his fingers, a strategy that doesn’t always work out. Another protagonist is shown plans of the different ways in the house but the first is “the most confusing map I ever saw in my life!” while the second, with “swirling lines on the piece of paper … seemed easier”. It struck me that drawing a mindmap with swirly lines or even collaging a mental scrapbook page of the themes and memes in House of Many Ways might be a good key to making sense of the very varied ideas she presents and help with trying to explain them (see the photomontage above).

Let’s start with the main protagonists. One is the young Charmain Baker (whose father is, naturally, a baker). Throughout the book she is constantly being called ‘Miss Charming’ — which is rather sweet, except that she isn’t always diplomatic or even sweet-tempered. Before we assume that this is a totally misplaced epithet we discover that she has natural magic ability, at last rendering ‘charming’ rather appropriate rather than a misnomer.

The other main protagonist (the one with directional issues) is Peter Regis, a wouldbe apprentice wizard with whom Charmain is determined not to get on. Charmain resents Peter’s intrusion into her new life at Great Uncle William’s cottage which she has been expected to house-sit, however weird a place it is. And she is determined not to let Peter get in the way of her new occupation of sorting through old documents for Adolphus X, the King of High Norland, in the library of the Royal Mansion.

You’ll have gathered that this is a world similar to but not the same as ours. The action takes place in place called High Norland, with neighbouring states called Montalbino, Strangia and Ingary. The latter country — with a name at once reminiscent of both Hungary and England — is south of High Norland and has given its name to a series featuring a wizard called Howl: previous titles in the trilogy were Howl’s Moving Castle and Castle in the Air. Strangia suggests both somewhere strange and the region straddling Austria and Slovenia called Styria, in which John Ruskin’s literary fairytale The King of the Golden River was set. Finally, Montalbino (“white mountain”) while contrasting with our own Montenegro also reminds us of the snowy Alps, particularly Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco in Italy). We’re firmly in a region that is both Anglophone and yet central Europe, and High Norland brings to mind Switzerland, particularly when we have gnome-like creatures constructing a cuckoo-clock on one point in the story.

Charmain’s Great Uncle William is Wizard Norland. At the start of the tale he is due to disappear from the narrative: his bossy niece Sempronia tells us “He has a growth, you know, on his insides, and only the elves can help him. They have to carry him off to cure him…” (Less than two years after this novel appeared it was announced that Jones had lung cancer, from which she was to die in March 2011, and this detail in House of Many Ways is either very prescient or Jones knew early on that something was badly amiss.) 

William’s illness has meant that Charmain is called upon to be his house-sitter, and she soon finds out that this dilapidated single-storey cottage surrounded by hydrangeas is not what it seems. The title of the book has a very biblical or Taoist ring to it, but it exactly describes what to expect: as with Dr Who’s Tardis time and space are distorted within it. As one exits a door, turning in a different direction or walking backwards through the portal leads to different passages, rooms or even the past. Labyrinthine scarcely begins to describe the House, and even with Peter’s coloured threads as clews (the name given to the ball of thread Ariadne gives to Theseus to follow out of the Minotaur’s maze) Charmain and Peter are always in danger of losing their way in the magical labyrinth.

Another theme that runs through the book is food — how to get it and how to deal with it. Charmain at first gets pastries and pasties from her parents before it turns out the house provides meals when asked, though not always in the form one expects. Later, hot buttered crumpets and cakes feature, heaven for the child in many of us.

Charmain enjoys her comfort food almost as much as she enjoys reading, another link back to Jones’ own childhood where she was literally starved of books, surviving on shared literary rations with her sisters and coping by making up her own stories. Reading matter in the wizard’s house includes spell books such as The Boke of Palimpsests (‘palimpsest’ describes a manuscript where previous writing has been erased to allow new text to be inserted). It is this Boke that leads Charmain into real trouble and precipitates much of the action of the tale.

The Lubbock is perhaps one of Jones’ most frightening creations. What to call it? An insect humanoid? A human insectoid? It’s almost as terrifying as the creature in David Cronenberg’s The Fly, and made more abhorrent by its ability to produce offspring called lubbockins via human hosts. The lubbockins are exploitative, a human characteristic that for Jones was a real bête noir. 

Luckily, lighter relief is provided by kobolds, the traditional gnomes of Central European folklore, who mostly live underground and here make wooden objects (including the aforementioned cuckoo-clock and a sled which is later used by Matilda, the Witch of Montalbino — rather like the sleigh that Jadis, the White Witch of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, travels around in like the Snow Queen).

The final animal that Jones introduces into her story is “an extremely small and ragged white dog” called Waif. This dog, as we are told by Jones’ son Colin, is modelled on his own dog: Jones, herself a dog-lover, liked to feature them in many of her books, beginning with her early fantasy Dogsbody (1975). But Waif is more than just a dumb creature — she is magical, almost elemental, rather like a cross between the cat Mogget and the Disreputable Dog of Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom series (with which Jones was probably familiar). As Colin Burrows  says, “My old dog Lily is effectively the hero of House of Many Ways,” and there is more to her than meets the eye.

We come now to the figures that link all these Ingary books, namely Wizard Howl Pendragon, Sophie Hatter and the fire demon Calcifer. Howl originally came from Wales (Jones’ own father was Welsh) where he was known as Howell Jenkins; but then, travelling through a magic portal, he became a wizard in Ingary, where he met Sophie Hatter. By the time of House of Many Ways Howl is nowhere in evidence (to the dismay of many young female fans) but a lisping and annoying child Twinkle is, along with Howl and Sophie’s noisy toddler Morgan.

Happily, Sophie is still the lovely bumptious individual we know from before — she “says a bad word” at some point, to which Twinkle says, “Naughty-naughty!” — chivvying her charges and fussing around, because somebody has to. And, of course, we have the famous perambulating Castle, powered by the fire demon, which unlike the marvellous creation of the Miyazaki film is black, foursquare and slightly sinister.

Jones is known for her endings, which are often criticised for being a little pat and where time appears to stand still while the principal players get to their positions. In Reflections Charlie Butler points to “the The Importance of Being Earnest-style multiple revelations of identity and relationship that feature in several of her final chapters” in which all is explained and loose ends firmly tied. Here I’m also reminded of the denouement of, say, a classic detective novel where the perpetrators are publicly confronted with their wickedness; and in fact before the chase arrives in the hall of the Royal Mansion somebody shouts “Not in the library!” and everyone veers away from the traditional venue where the detective unmasks the villain.

I started off by mentioning how Jones got inspiration from tiny, bright pictures which begged to be linked somehow to the opening and conclusion of a book, and I hope to have thrown some light on this process in House of Many Ways. Now may be a good point to mention the line drawings of Tim Stevens that adorn several of her fantasies and which appear here as chapter headings. Not everyone is good at imagining characters and settings, and Stevens’ illustrations help remedy that deficit with what appear to me as faithful and sympathetic interpretations. They have a classic look to them which perfectly captures the traditional character of many of Jones’ fantasies.

Repost of the October 2013 review, first 12 September 2014, now for #MarchMagics2026.

Snapshots of the author

House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones.
HarperCollins, 2008.

Many of the pieces in Reflections, the collection of writings by and about Diana Wynne Jones, address the question authors often get asked: Where do you get your ideas? And of course there is no single simple answer. She does however offer this suggestion, in an item entitled ‘Some Hints on Writing’:

When I start writing a book, I know the beginning and what probably happens in the end, plus a tiny but extremely bright picture of something going on in the middle. Often this tiny picture is so different from the beginning that I get really excited trying to think how they got from the start to there. This is the way to get a story moving, because I can’t wait to find out.

With House of Many Ways I found it hard to force a plan onto a review, so adopting Jones’ modus operandi for this commentary seemed an appropriate way to go about it. The beginning has been taken care of, and the conclusion is virtually foregone, and now it’s time to move to the images that arise almost unbidden from a second reading of this fantasy. Many of them involve snapshots of the author herself.

Diana was both dyslexic and left-handed, and both these issues come out in the story. One protagonist finds distinguishing left from right a problem and so ties coloured threads to his fingers, a strategy that doesn’t always work out. Another protagonist is shown plans of the different ways in the house but the first is “the most confusing map I ever saw in my life!” while the second, with “swirling lines on the piece of paper … seemed easier”. It struck me that drawing a mindmap with swirly lines or even collaging a mental scrapbook page of the themes and memes in House of Many Ways might be a good key to making sense of the very varied ideas she presents and help with trying to explain them (see the photomontage above).

Let’s start with the main protagonists. One is the young Charmain Baker (whose father is, naturally, a baker). Throughout the book she is constantly being called ‘Miss Charming’ — which is rather sweet, except that she isn’t always diplomatic or even sweet-tempered. Before we assume that this is a totally misplaced epithet we discover that she has natural magic ability, at last rendering ‘charming’ rather appropriate rather than a misnomer.

The other main protagonist (the one with directional issues) is Peter Regis, a wouldbe apprentice wizard with whom Charmain is determined not to get on. Charmain resents Peter’s intrusion into her new life at Great Uncle William’s cottage which she has been expected to house-sit, however weird a place it is. And she is determined not to let Peter get in the way of her new occupation of sorting through old documents for Adolphus X, the King of High Norland, in the library of the Royal Mansion.

You’ll have gathered that this is a world similar to but not the same as ours. The action takes place in place called High Norland, with neighbouring states called Montalbino, Strangia and Ingary. The latter country — with a name at once reminiscent of both Hungary and England — is south of High Norland and has given its name to a series featuring a wizard called Howl: previous titles in the trilogy were Howl’s Moving Castle and Castle in the Air. Strangia suggests both somewhere strange and the region straddling Austria and Slovenia called Styria, in which John Ruskin’s literary fairytale The King of the Golden River was set. Finally, Montalbino (“white mountain”) while contrasting with our own Montenegro also reminds us of the snowy Alps, particularly Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco in Italy). We’re firmly in a region that is both Anglophone and yet central Europe, and High Norland brings to mind Switzerland, particularly when we have gnome-like creatures constructing a cuckoo-clock on one point in the story.

Charmain’s Great Uncle William is Wizard Norland. At the start of the tale he is due to disappear from the narrative: his bossy niece Sempronia tells us “He has a growth, you know, on his insides, and only the elves can help him. They have to carry him off to cure him…” (Less than two years after this novel appeared it was announced that Jones had lung cancer, from which she was to die in March 2011, and this detail in House of Many Ways is either very prescient or Jones knew early on that something was badly amiss.) 

William’s illness has meant that Charmain is called upon to be his house-sitter, and she soon finds out that this dilapidated single-storey cottage surrounded by hydrangeas is not what it seems. The title of the book has a very biblical or Taoist ring to it, but it exactly describes what to expect: as with Dr Who’s Tardis time and space are distorted within it. As one exits a door, turning in a different direction or walking backwards through the portal leads to different passages, rooms or even the past. Labyrinthine scarcely begins to describe the House, and even with Peter’s coloured threads as clews (the name given to the ball of thread Ariadne gives to Theseus to follow out of the Minotaur’s maze) Charmain and Peter are always in danger of losing their way in the magical labyrinth.

Another theme that runs through the book is food — how to get it and how to deal with it. Charmain at first gets pastries and pasties from her parents before it turns out the house provides meals when asked, though not always in the form one expects. Later, hot buttered crumpets and cakes feature, heaven for the child in many of us.

Charmain enjoys her comfort food almost as much as she enjoys reading, another link back to Jones’ own childhood where she was literally starved of books, surviving on shared literary rations with her sisters and coping by making up her own stories. Reading matter in the wizard’s house includes spell books such as The Boke of Palimpsests (‘palimpsest’ describes a manuscript where previous writing has been erased to allow new text to be inserted). It is this Boke that leads Charmain into real trouble and precipitates much of the action of the tale.

The Lubbock is perhaps one of Jones’ most frightening creations. What to call it? An insect humanoid? A human insectoid? It’s almost as terrifying as the creature in David Cronenberg’s The Fly, and made more abhorrent by its ability to produce offspring called lubbockins via human hosts. The lubbockins are exploitative, a human characteristic that for Jones was a real bête noir. 

Luckily, lighter relief is provided by kobolds, the traditional gnomes of Central European folklore, who mostly live underground and here make wooden objects (including the aforementioned cuckoo-clock and a sled which is later used by Matilda, the Witch of Montalbino — rather like the sleigh that Jadis, the White Witch of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, travels around in like the Snow Queen).

The final animal that Jones introduces into her story is “an extremely small and ragged white dog” called Waif. This dog, as we are told by Jones’ son Colin, is modelled on his own dog: Jones, herself a dog-lover, liked to feature them in many of her books, beginning with her early fantasy Dogsbody (1975). But Waif is more than just a dumb creature — she is magical, almost elemental, rather like a cross between the cat Mogget and the Disreputable Dog of Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom series (with which Jones was probably familiar). As Colin Burrows  says, “My old dog Lily is effectively the hero of House of Many Ways,” and there is more to her than meets the eye.

We come now to the figures that link all these Ingary books, namely Wizard Howl Pendragon, Sophie Hatter and the fire demon Calcifer. Howl originally came from Wales (Jones’ own father was Welsh) where he was known as Howell Jenkins; but then, travelling through a magic portal, he became a wizard in Ingary, where he met Sophie Hatter. By the time of House of Many Ways Howl is nowhere in evidence (to the dismay of many young female fans) but a lisping and annoying child Twinkle is, along with Howl and Sophie’s noisy toddler Morgan.

Happily, Sophie is still the lovely bumptious individual we know from before — she “says a bad word” at some point, to which Twinkle says, “Naughty-naughty!” — chivvying her charges and fussing around, because somebody has to. And, of course, we have the famous perambulating Castle, powered by the fire demon, which unlike the marvellous creation of the Miyazaki film is black, foursquare and slightly sinister.

Jones is known for her endings, which are often criticised for being a little pat and where time appears to stand still while the principal players get to their positions. In Reflections Charlie Butler points to “the The Importance of Being Earnest-style multiple revelations of identity and relationship that feature in several of her final chapters” in which all is explained and loose ends firmly tied. Here I’m also reminded of the denouement of, say, a classic detective novel where the perpetrators are publicly confronted with their wickedness; and in fact before the chase arrives in the hall of the Royal Mansion somebody shouts “Not in the library!” and everyone veers away from the traditional venue where the detective unmasks the villain.

I started off by mentioning how Jones got inspiration from tiny, bright pictures which begged to be linked somehow to the opening and conclusion of a book, and I hope to have thrown some light on this process in House of Many Ways. Now may be a good point to mention the line drawings of Tim Stevens that adorn several of her fantasies and which appear here as chapter headings. Not everyone is good at imagining characters and settings, and Stevens’ illustrations help remedy that deficit with what appear to me as faithful and sympathetic interpretations. They have a classic look to them which perfectly captures the traditional character of many of Jones’ fantasies.

Repost of the October 2013 review, first 12 September 2014, now for #MarchMagics2026.

Of shreds and patches

Howl’s Moving Castle
by Diana Wynne Jones.
HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2009 (1986).

At the southern edge of the Black Mountains in Wales, high above the market town of Crickhowell, sits a hillock called Crug Hywel or Table Mountain. Geologically it is an example of a translational slide, a piece of the Black Mountains that has slipped downhill towards the River Usk before coming to a halt.

On top of Crug Hywel’s plateau sits an Iron Age hillfort, named after some forgotten historical or legendary figure called Howell or Hywel.

The feature is, in effect, Howl’s Moving Castle.

I don’t for a moment believe that the author had this ancient hillfort as a model for the titular castle, nor do I even suggest she was aware of the coincidence of name, only that I’m sure she would’ve been delighted with this parallel. Because, as the Q&A extra at the end of this edition shows, the genesis and composition of a novel such as Howl’s Moving Castle is made up of bits and pieces of her own family life, chance encounters, unconscious jokes, past memories, and so on. As Nanki-Poo in The Mikado sings,

A wandering minstrel I, | A thing of shreds and patches, | Of ballads, songs and snatches, | And dreamy lullaby…

Shreds and patches typify the make-up of this fantasy, and of many of the characters in it (in particular the Howl of the title); but what holds it all together — as in all good stories — is heart, both literally and metaphorically. And though some of the stitching is evident in the writing we forgive the imperfections because the whole is just so enchanting.

As was the case with the author herself, Sophie Hatter is the eldest of three girls, and lives in a little market town in the country of Ingary. Her father has just died, and she is in the charge of her stepmother. All the signs point to this being another literary fairytale, but Jones is never one to stick to the conventional path, despite references to seven-league boots, for example, and affectionate parodies of other literary fairytales.

As an example of the latter I’d like to cite The Wizard of Oz. Jones includes a scarecrow, a dog, a wizard, kind witches and even Wicked Witch of the Waste, all nods towards Baum’s hugely influential fantasy (there is even a hint of the quests for brains, heart and courage, if one looks hard enough). But Jones subverts all these tropes: the moving castle is described as black while the Emerald City appears green only because viewed through tinted spectacles; the Wizard Howl is not a fraud where the ability to work magic is concerned, whereas the magic of the Wizard of Oz is all humbug; Sophie is cursed to become a grumpy old woman where Dorothy remains a young girl throughout; and so on.

Jones was in her fifties when the first Howl book was published, and I suspect that she must have felt like Sophie, with a young mind in an ageing body. Sophie is cursed — by mistake, it turns out — by the Wicked Witch of the Waste who only knows that one of the Hatter girls is somehow a threat to her: the curse being that Sophie is not able to tell anyone that she has been turned into a crone. She hobbles off from the hat shop she is in charge of, towards the hills where a black four-turreted castle is ranging about, supposedly inhabited by a Bluebeard-like wizard called by the sinister name of Howl.

Along the way Sophie encounters a scarecrow in a hedge, then somehow manages to enter the perambulating fortress where she meets the wizard’s apprentice, Michael, and eventually the, frankly terrifying, Howl himself.

Howl is terrifying because he mopes around like a lumpen teenager. If Sophie is an aspect of the author herself, Howl is a mix of the author’s husband and sons (as she admits in an interview at the end of this edition and in her posthumous memoir Reflections). Howl apparently turns out to be many a young girl’s dream boyfriend, whether they want to mother him or change him through the love of a good woman I’m not in a position to say; but, irritated as I am by Howl, I admit that I am more attracted by old Sophie who expresses her frustration with everything in general grumpiness and displacement activity, an attitude I am totally in tune with!

Howl’s Moving Castle is a fun but complex tale, too complex to discuss here without giving out unforgivable spoilers, but it’s worth noting a few more points. First is the fire-demon Calcifer, a counterpart of Howl in character and literally the driving force behind the castle. Just as the word focus originally referred to the heart of the home — the hearth — in ancient times, so Calcifer is where the main characters always repair to when they need comfort and solidity. But not all fire-demons are the same…

“Write about what you know,” is the advice often given to aspiring writers. How does this apply to fantasy which, one could argue, is about things unreal and beyond our everyday experiences? We’ve already seen how the author drew on family for her protagonists, a dangerous ploy but one which adds verisimilitude to character traits and motivations. She also drew on what was familiar to her from her life and from environments she had lived in.

Thus she constantly alluded to the synchronicities that occurred between her writing and real life, which in a way is a kind of magic. Also she included places that she knew as elements in her plots: for example, the appearance of Howl’s residence in Ingary was as a black castle, which I’m half convinced Jones based on the Victorian folly called Arno’s Castle in Brislington, Bristol, which she would have regularly seen on her way from Central Bristol to nearby Bath.

I must also mention Wales, which is where Howl (as Howell Jenkins)* originally hailed from. During the war Jones was evacuated to her father’s relatives outside Swansea in South Wales, and the hilly streets, typically lined with small terraced houses, must have lodged strongly in her memory for this is where Howl (when he isn’t lovelorn or stricken with man-flu) takes her to the family home, where love is in short supply.

And speaking of love, let’s return to The Mikado with some more lines from Nanki-Poo which almost equally apply to Howl who — with the guitar he can’t play and the sighs he utters — could have had this as his theme song, if it weren’t for the fact that another popular song and a metaphysical poem will dominate his fate lines.

Are you in sentimental mood?
I’ll sigh with you
Oh, sorrow, sorrow!
On maiden’s coldness do you brood?
I’ll do so, too —

I’ll charm your willing ears
With songs of lovers’ fears
While sympathetic tears
My cheeks bedew —

* The archaic surname Jenkins is variously interpreted as ‘little John’ or ‘son of John’. I’ve little doubt that the author was playing on her own surname as Jones was the usual anglicised version of ap Siôn meaning ‘son of Siôn‘ (the Welsh equivalent of ‘John’).

I previously published a review in 2012 of this novel here, but revisited it 26th March 2019 as part of two blog events, the Wales Readathon and March Magics(also known respectively as Dewithon and DWJ March). Now reposted for #MarchMagics2026.

Of shreds and patches

Howl’s Moving Castle
by Diana Wynne Jones.
HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2009 (1986).

At the southern edge of the Black Mountains in Wales, high above the market town of Crickhowell, sits a hillock called Crug Hywel or Table Mountain. Geologically it is an example of a translational slide, a piece of the Black Mountains that has slipped downhill towards the River Usk before coming to a halt.

On top of Crug Hywel’s plateau sits an Iron Age hillfort, named after some forgotten historical or legendary figure called Howell or Hywel.

The feature is, in effect, Howl’s Moving Castle.

I don’t for a moment believe that the author had this ancient hillfort as a model for the titular castle, nor do I even suggest she was aware of the coincidence of name, only that I’m sure she would’ve been delighted with this parallel. Because, as the Q&A extra at the end of this edition shows, the genesis and composition of a novel such as Howl’s Moving Castle is made up of bits and pieces of her own family life, chance encounters, unconscious jokes, past memories, and so on. As Nanki-Poo in The Mikado sings,

A wandering minstrel I, | A thing of shreds and patches, | Of ballads, songs and snatches, | And dreamy lullaby…

Shreds and patches typify the make-up of this fantasy, and of many of the characters in it (in particular the Howl of the title); but what holds it all together — as in all good stories — is heart, both literally and metaphorically. And though some of the stitching is evident in the writing we forgive the imperfections because the whole is just so enchanting.

As was the case with the author herself, Sophie Hatter is the eldest of three girls, and lives in a little market town in the country of Ingary. Her father has just died, and she is in the charge of her stepmother. All the signs point to this being another literary fairytale, but Jones is never one to stick to the conventional path, despite references to seven-league boots, for example, and affectionate parodies of other literary fairytales.

As an example of the latter I’d like to cite The Wizard of Oz. Jones includes a scarecrow, a dog, a wizard, kind witches and even Wicked Witch of the Waste, all nods towards Baum’s hugely influential fantasy (there is even a hint of the quests for brains, heart and courage, if one looks hard enough). But Jones subverts all these tropes: the moving castle is described as black while the Emerald City appears green only because viewed through tinted spectacles; the Wizard Howl is not a fraud where the ability to work magic is concerned, whereas the magic of the Wizard of Oz is all humbug; Sophie is cursed to become a grumpy old woman where Dorothy remains a young girl throughout; and so on.

Jones was in her fifties when the first Howl book was published, and I suspect that she must have felt like Sophie, with a young mind in an ageing body. Sophie is cursed — by mistake, it turns out — by the Wicked Witch of the Waste who only knows that one of the Hatter girls is somehow a threat to her: the curse being that Sophie is not able to tell anyone that she has been turned into a crone. She hobbles off from the hat shop she is in charge of, towards the hills where a black four-turreted castle is ranging about, supposedly inhabited by a Bluebeard-like wizard called by the sinister name of Howl.

Along the way Sophie encounters a scarecrow in a hedge, then somehow manages to enter the perambulating fortress where she meets the wizard’s apprentice, Michael, and eventually the, frankly terrifying, Howl himself.

Howl is terrifying because he mopes around like a lumpen teenager. If Sophie is an aspect of the author herself, Howl is a mix of the author’s husband and sons (as she admits in an interview at the end of this edition and in her posthumous memoir Reflections). Howl apparently turns out to be many a young girl’s dream boyfriend, whether they want to mother him or change him through the love of a good woman I’m not in a position to say; but, irritated as I am by Howl, I admit that I am more attracted by old Sophie who expresses her frustration with everything in general grumpiness and displacement activity, an attitude I am totally in tune with!

Howl’s Moving Castle is a fun but complex tale, too complex to discuss here without giving out unforgivable spoilers, but it’s worth noting a few more points. First is the fire-demon Calcifer, a counterpart of Howl in character and literally the driving force behind the castle. Just as the word focus originally referred to the heart of the home — the hearth — in ancient times, so Calcifer is where the main characters always repair to when they need comfort and solidity. But not all fire-demons are the same…

“Write about what you know,” is the advice often given to aspiring writers. How does this apply to fantasy which, one could argue, is about things unreal and beyond our everyday experiences? We’ve already seen how the author drew on family for her protagonists, a dangerous ploy but one which adds verisimilitude to character traits and motivations. She also drew on what was familiar to her from her life and from environments she had lived in.

Thus she constantly alluded to the synchronicities that occurred between her writing and real life, which in a way is a kind of magic. Also she included places that she knew as elements in her plots: for example, the appearance of Howl’s residence in Ingary was as a black castle, which I’m half convinced Jones based on the Victorian folly called Arno’s Castle in Brislington, Bristol, which she would have regularly seen on her way from Central Bristol to nearby Bath.

I must also mention Wales, which is where Howl (as Howell Jenkins)* originally hailed from. During the war Jones was evacuated to her father’s relatives outside Swansea in South Wales, and the hilly streets, typically lined with small terraced houses, must have lodged strongly in her memory for this is where Howl (when he isn’t lovelorn or stricken with man-flu) takes her to the family home, where love is in short supply.

And speaking of love, let’s return to The Mikado with some more lines from Nanki-Poo which almost equally apply to Howl who — with the guitar he can’t play and the sighs he utters — could have had this as his theme song, if it weren’t for the fact that another popular song and a metaphysical poem will dominate his fate lines.

Are you in sentimental mood?
I’ll sigh with you
Oh, sorrow, sorrow!
On maiden’s coldness do you brood?
I’ll do so, too —

I’ll charm your willing ears
With songs of lovers’ fears
While sympathetic tears
My cheeks bedew —

* The archaic surname Jenkins is variously interpreted as ‘little John’ or ‘son of John’. I’ve little doubt that the author was playing on her own surname as Jones was the usual anglicised version of ap Siôn meaning ‘son of Siôn‘ (the Welsh equivalent of ‘John’).

I previously published a review in 2012 of this novel here, but revisited it 26th March 2019 as part of two blog events, the Wales Readathon and March Magics(also known respectively as Dewithon and DWJ March). Now reposted for #MarchMagics2026.

Intimations of mortality

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones.
HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2009 (1986).

At first sight it might seem strange that of all Diana Wynne Jones’ books (a) this should be chosen to make a film of, and (b) perhaps because of (a) this should be one of her best known titles.

Why does this story, which she notes was inspired by a chance request by a young fan for a story about a castle that moves, strike such a chord with not just younger readers but also adults?

Putting aside the liberties that particularly the second half of the film takes with the story, I think a key to this book’s fascination is the heroine’s premature ageing.

Jones specialised in the young adult fantasy genre despite being no spring chicken herself, and so the apparent way in which the fairytale motif of the youthful protagonist becomes seemingly permanently subverted by the sudden onset of years and the attendant aches and pains must strike a warning chord with older readers too.

You are as old as you feel, the conventional saying goes, along with the belief that youth is wasted on the young. In Howl’s Moving Castle these themes are developed. Sophie (whose name means Wisdom) finds her bright young mind trapped in a decrepit body (a fear many middle-aged individuals feel as old age beckons). How she deals with that, when the fairytale convention says most heroes and heroines must be robustly proactive, is that she uses her wits, her understanding and her innate skills (such as empathy) rather than mere physicality to overcome the obstacles that stand in her way.

While ostensibly about Howl and his mobile dwelling, this book is really (I suspect) about DWJ as Sophie, but with the consolation of a fairytale ending. And while the animated film takes on additional themes that reflect some of its maker’s obsessions, it does at least capture the perennial essence of each human being’s intimations of mortality and built-in obsolescence.

A final note: like all Diana Wynne Jones books (and books by a great many other authors, of course!) the choice of names is often significant. I like the name of Ingary, home to Sophie and her family: reminiscent of Hungary, it must be a closet reference to a parallel England, pronounced Inglund. And Sophie Hatter herself, no Mad Hatter (though she must have felt she was going mad) but a Wise Hatter.

The first of a trio of tales featuring Howl, his moving castle and Sophie. This review was first published July 2012, and again 10th September 2014; reviews of the second and the third will be republished on successive days. If you haven’t seen the film, then this trailer will give you a flavour. In a letter to me in November 2005, Diana told me that the animated film was “well worth seeing, although it is only a little like the book.” The first of two different reviews of this title reposted for #MarchMagics2026.

Intimations of mortality

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones.
HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2009 (1986).

At first sight it might seem strange that of all Diana Wynne Jones’ books (a) this should be chosen to make a film of, and (b) perhaps because of (a) this should be one of her best known titles.

Why does this story, which she notes was inspired by a chance request by a young fan for a story about a castle that moves, strike such a chord with not just younger readers but also adults?

Putting aside the liberties that particularly the second half of the film takes with the story, I think a key to this book’s fascination is the heroine’s premature ageing.

Jones specialised in the young adult fantasy genre despite being no spring chicken herself, and so the apparent way in which the fairytale motif of the youthful protagonist becomes seemingly permanently subverted by the sudden onset of years and the attendant aches and pains must strike a warning chord with older readers too.

You are as old as you feel, the conventional saying goes, along with the belief that youth is wasted on the young. In Howl’s Moving Castle these themes are developed. Sophie (whose name means Wisdom) finds her bright young mind trapped in a decrepit body (a fear many middle-aged individuals feel as old age beckons). How she deals with that, when the fairytale convention says most heroes and heroines must be robustly proactive, is that she uses her wits, her understanding and her innate skills (such as empathy) rather than mere physicality to overcome the obstacles that stand in her way.

While ostensibly about Howl and his mobile dwelling, this book is really (I suspect) about DWJ as Sophie, but with the consolation of a fairytale ending. And while the animated film takes on additional themes that reflect some of its maker’s obsessions, it does at least capture the perennial essence of each human being’s intimations of mortality and built-in obsolescence.

A final note: like all Diana Wynne Jones books (and books by a great many other authors, of course!) the choice of names is often significant. I like the name of Ingary, home to Sophie and her family: reminiscent of Hungary, it must be a closet reference to a parallel England, pronounced Inglund. And Sophie Hatter herself, no Mad Hatter (though she must have felt she was going mad) but a Wise Hatter.

The first of a trio of tales featuring Howl, his moving castle and Sophie. This review was first published July 2012, and again 10th September 2014; reviews of the second and the third will be republished on successive days. If you haven’t seen the film, then this trailer will give you a flavour. In a letter to me in November 2005, Diana told me that the animated film was “well worth seeing, although it is only a little like the book.” The first of two different reviews of this title reposted for #MarchMagics2026.

It's almost like states depend on things other than soldiery!

https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/1855312/it-s-almost-like-states-depend-on-things-other-than-soldiery

It's almost like states depend on things other than soldiery!

It's almost like states depend on things other than soldiery!

It's almost like states depend on things other than soldiery!

It's almost like states depend on things other than soldiery!

https://piefed.social/c/roughromanmemes/p/1855309/it-s-almost-like-states-depend-on-things-other-than-soldiery

It's almost like states depend on things other than soldiery!

It's almost like states depend on things other than soldiery!

It's almost like states depend on things other than soldiery!

One of my fav podcasts was analyzing Howl’s Moving Castle (book), and I had a big “huh?”

So much of their analyses across episodes has been interesting and I see where they are coming from.

But then they said Sophie and Howl were horrific people to be around. The lack of direct communication, the mischief, the dwelling on victimhood.

The podcasters still love them as characters to be clear.

To me, that stuff just made them seem real.

#Howlsmovingcastle #dwj

One of my fav podcasts was analyzing Howl’s Moving Castle (book), and I had a big “huh?”

So much of their analyses across episodes has been interesting and I see where they are coming from.

But then they said Sophie and Howl were horrific people to be around. The lack of direct communication, the mischief, the dwelling on victimhood.

The podcasters still love them as characters to be clear.

To me, that stuff just made them seem real.

#Howlsmovingcastle #dwj

@ShutterRatata @elaterite For some reason, I'm expecting that building to sprout legs and walk away. #HowlsMovingCastle

@ShutterRatata @elaterite For some reason, I'm expecting that building to sprout legs and walk away. #HowlsMovingCastle

@ShutterRatata @elaterite For some reason, I'm expecting that building to sprout legs and walk away. #HowlsMovingCastle

@ShutterRatata @elaterite For some reason, I'm expecting that building to sprout legs and walk away. #HowlsMovingCastle

2004 Film Poll - Final Round (Screenshots).

#ShaunOfTheDead
#NationalTreasure
#TheIncredibles
#HowlsMovingCastle

#Film #Movies #FilmCommunity #Cinema #CineMastodon #ClassicFilms #FilmPoll #FilmTournament

Movie TV Tech Geeks #Movie #Thanksgiving #HowlsMovingCastle 10 Cozy Movies To Watch After Thanksgiving Dinner http://dlvr.it/TPQ9mK

Guess it's a good day for another rewatch.

Also find you a movie watching buddy like my Tiffie over here. :blobpopcorn:

#HowlsMovingCastle #Ghibli #Movies #Cinemastodon #CatsOfMastodon #Cats #cat #floof

Guess it's a good day for another rewatch.

Also find you a movie watching buddy like my Tiffie over here. :blobpopcorn:

#HowlsMovingCastle #Ghibli #Movies #Cinemastodon #CatsOfMastodon #Cats #cat #floof

Guess it's a good day for another rewatch.

Also find you a movie watching buddy like my Tiffie over here. :blobpopcorn:

#HowlsMovingCastle #Ghibli #Movies #Cinemastodon #CatsOfMastodon #Cats #cat #floof

Guess it's a good day for another rewatch.

Also find you a movie watching buddy like my Tiffie over here. :blobpopcorn:

#HowlsMovingCastle #Ghibli #Movies #Cinemastodon #CatsOfMastodon #Cats #cat #floof

Today marks 21 years since the Japanese release of "Howl’s Moving Castle". A loose adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones’ novel, where Miyazaki takes the core idea and expands on it with his own interpretation. The film leans into themes of chosen family, with its messy, flawed characters figuring themselves out together, and it holds a clear anti-war sentiment that focuses on how conflict affects the lives of ordinary people.

One of the things that makes the movie stand out is how it approaches love. It’s one of those rare cases, especially in animation, where the romance centres real affection instead of glamorising surface-level infatuation. Howl sees Sophie for who she is, even when her curse changes her on the outside. He’s drawn to her assertiveness, her kindness, and her humour, and that’s why she ends up having such a grounding effect on him. Sophie sees straight past the curated persona he projects to the world. She witnesses the raw, more human parts he usually hides: his low depressive moments, his self-loathing, and his insecurities. She sees the unpolished version of him and still recognizes the goodness there.

It's also one of those cases where the adaptation significantly deviates from the source material and creates a new, equally compelling version of the story. One of Ghibli’s most visually stunning and emotionally resonant films.

#OTD #OnThisDay #HowlsMovingCastle #Ghibli #StudioGhibli #Movies #Cinemastodon #FilmMastodon #anime

Today marks 21 years since the Japanese release of "Howl’s Moving Castle". A loose adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones’ novel, where Miyazaki takes the core idea and expands on it with his own interpretation. The film leans into themes of chosen family, with its messy, flawed characters figuring themselves out together, and it holds a clear anti-war sentiment that focuses on how conflict affects the lives of ordinary people.

One of the things that makes the movie stand out is how it approaches love. It’s one of those rare cases, especially in animation, where the romance centres real affection instead of glamorising surface-level infatuation. Howl sees Sophie for who she is, even when her curse changes her on the outside. He’s drawn to her assertiveness, her kindness, and her humour, and that’s why she ends up having such a grounding effect on him. Sophie sees straight past the curated persona he projects to the world. She witnesses the raw, more human parts he usually hides: his low depressive moments, his self-loathing, and his insecurities. She sees the unpolished version of him and still recognizes the goodness there.

It's also one of those cases where the adaptation significantly deviates from the source material and creates a new, equally compelling version of the story. One of Ghibli’s most visually stunning and emotionally resonant films.

#OTD #OnThisDay #HowlsMovingCastle #Ghibli #StudioGhibli #Movies #Cinemastodon #FilmMastodon #anime

Today marks 21 years since the Japanese release of "Howl’s Moving Castle". A loose adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones’ novel, where Miyazaki takes the core idea and expands on it with his own interpretation. The film leans into themes of chosen family, with its messy, flawed characters figuring themselves out together, and it holds a clear anti-war sentiment that focuses on how conflict affects the lives of ordinary people.

One of the things that makes the movie stand out is how it approaches love. It’s one of those rare cases, especially in animation, where the romance centres real affection instead of glamorising surface-level infatuation. Howl sees Sophie for who she is, even when her curse changes her on the outside. He’s drawn to her assertiveness, her kindness, and her humour, and that’s why she ends up having such a grounding effect on him. Sophie sees straight past the curated persona he projects to the world. She witnesses the raw, more human parts he usually hides: his low depressive moments, his self-loathing, and his insecurities. She sees the unpolished version of him and still recognizes the goodness there.

It's also one of those cases where the adaptation significantly deviates from the source material and creates a new, equally compelling version of the story. One of Ghibli’s most visually stunning and emotionally resonant films.

#OTD #OnThisDay #HowlsMovingCastle #Ghibli #StudioGhibli #Movies #Cinemastodon #FilmMastodon #anime

Today marks 21 years since the Japanese release of "Howl’s Moving Castle". A loose adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones’ novel, where Miyazaki takes the core idea and expands on it with his own interpretation. The film leans into themes of chosen family, with its messy, flawed characters figuring themselves out together, and it holds a clear anti-war sentiment that focuses on how conflict affects the lives of ordinary people.

One of the things that makes the movie stand out is how it approaches love. It’s one of those rare cases, especially in animation, where the romance centres real affection instead of glamorising surface-level infatuation. Howl sees Sophie for who she is, even when her curse changes her on the outside. He’s drawn to her assertiveness, her kindness, and her humour, and that’s why she ends up having such a grounding effect on him. Sophie sees straight past the curated persona he projects to the world. She witnesses the raw, more human parts he usually hides: his low depressive moments, his self-loathing, and his insecurities. She sees the unpolished version of him and still recognizes the goodness there.

It's also one of those cases where the adaptation significantly deviates from the source material and creates a new, equally compelling version of the story. One of Ghibli’s most visually stunning and emotionally resonant films.

#OTD #OnThisDay #HowlsMovingCastle #Ghibli #StudioGhibli #Movies #Cinemastodon #FilmMastodon #anime

🎙️✨ New Episode Alert!
🏰💨 Step into the magical world of Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) with ISE Reaction Wrap-Up! 🌟🐦
🧙‍♂️ Adventure, magic, and Ghibli vibes await! 🎬💖

🎧 Listen now: https://rebrand.ly/0c0rmpw 🎧

#HowlsMovingCastle #StudioGhibli #PodcastLife #AnimeMagic #MovieNight

🎙️✨ New Episode Alert!
🏰💨 Step into the magical world of Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) with ISE Reaction Wrap-Up! 🌟🐦
🧙‍♂️ Adventure, magic, and Ghibli vibes await! 🎬💖

🎧 Listen now: https://rebrand.ly/0c0rmpw 🎧

#HowlsMovingCastle #StudioGhibli #PodcastLife #AnimeMagic #MovieNight

Just watched Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) for the FIRST TIME! 🏰✨️💨

This reaction was full of magic ✨️🪄, surprises 😱🎇, and all the feels ❤️🥰


🌟🧙‍♂️🦋Watch here 👉️ https://youtu.be/9bJcdJb7510 🎥🍿

#HowlsMovingCastle #StudioGhibli #ReactionVideo #AnimeMagic

Just watched Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) for the FIRST TIME! 🏰✨💨

This reaction was full of magic ✨🪄, surprises 😱🎇, and all the feels ❤️🥰


🌟🧙‍♂️🦋Watch here 👉 https://youtu.be/9bJcdJb7510 🎥🍿

#HowlsMovingCastle #StudioGhibli #ReactionVideo #AnimeMagic

My full-length reaction to Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) is LIVE on Patreon! 🚪💫

Studio Ghibli magic 🏰🎨, Howl’s drama 😱💖, and all my emotions 🥹🔥✨

🎥 Watch here 👉 https://www.patreon.com/posts/howls-moving-143351542

#HowlsMovingCastle #MovieReaction #StudioGhibli #PatreonExclusive #AnimeMagic #HowlAndSophie

My full-length reaction to Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) is LIVE on Patreon! 🚪💫

Studio Ghibli magic 🏰🎨, Howl’s drama 😱💖, and all my emotions 🥹🔥✨

🎥 Watch here 👉 https://www.patreon.com/posts/howls-moving-143351542

#HowlsMovingCastle #MovieReaction #StudioGhibli #PatreonExclusive #AnimeMagic #HowlAndSophie

🎬 Ghibli Fans, Your Vote Matters! 🌙✨

We’re picking our next Studio Ghibli reaction video — and YOU get to decide on Patreon! 💫

🗳️ Vote now on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/return-to-studio-141094066

⏰ Voting closes October 31st!

❤️ Don’t miss your chance to choose our next reaction!

#StudioGhibli #GhibliReaction #AnimeCommunity #AnimeFans #GhibliMovies
#HowlsMovingCastle #MyNeighborTotoro #PrincessMononoke #Ponyo
#KikisDeliveryService #TheWindRises #MoviePoll #PatreonCreators
#AnimeReaction #GhibliLove

#beatthebacklist - Day 16 - Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones - #classicreads #fantasyreads #romantasy #fantasybooks #fairytale #dianawynnejones #howlsmovingcastle #bookstagram #booktok #booksky #calcifer #howlandsophie #miyazaki #ttrpgpodcast #gamemastersbookclub https://www.k-squareproductions.com/gmbc

Movie TV Tech Geeks #Movie #HowlsMovingCastle #StudioGhibli Here Are 10 Reasons Why This Masterpiece Is Studio Ghibli's Greatest Movie (and It's Not 'Spirited Away') http://dlvr.it/TNxK10

Third wave of #cosplay photos from 2024 #PrettyHeroes. Check out their discord. Invite link on their website.

https://prettyheroes.com

#Shera #HowlsMovingCastle #PrincessMononoke #San #SophieHatter #OnePiece #Luffy #Uta #Falin #Purah #DeliciousInDungeon #LegendOfZelda

Mistodon: Cthulu drew this quick #ANSIart sketch of a Star Child from #StudioGhibli's 2004 adaptation of #HowlsMovingCastle for use as an infofile header in last month's #anime-themed MIST0825 artpack collection.