Howl’s Moving Castle: Chapter Seventeen Summary & Analysis

While Sophie and the dog-man try to stay out of the way, Howl and Michael measure the castle, chalk a star on the floor, and repaint the four-sided doorknob (except for the black side). Sophie suggests they sell flowers in the Market Chipping shop. Soon after, Howl calls for Michael to bring him a silver shovel—it’s time to move Calcifer. Howl and Calcifer remind each other that either of them could die doing this, but Howl insists they have no choice. After sprinkling a powder onto the shovel, Howl carefully scoops Calcifer up and walks into the chalked star. Sophie can see that Calcifer is just a face—but he’s attached to a black lump of something. As smoke fills the room, Howl struggles to not cough and keep the shovel steady. Calcifer looks terrified.

When Howl reaches the middle of the star, he turns in a full circle. The whole room seems to turn with him, and Sophie feels just as panicky as Calcifer looks. Then, Howl returns to the fireplace and settles Calcifer back among the logs. As the smoke settles, Sophie sees the outline of the parlor of her childhood home, which the castle seems to wiggle into. Howl turns the doorknob yellow-down and opens it onto Market Chipping. With the orange side down, the door opens from an empty mansion—Calcifer says Howl told him to find a nice house. The purple side, the moving castle side, opens onto a lush field of flowers. Sophie moves forward to look, but Howl tells her to wait until tomorrow; this is the edge of the Waste.

Howl goes to bed immediately after praising Calcifer, while Michael and the dog-man fall asleep in a chair. Sophie feels odd—she’s back in her childhood home, and seeing Calcifer’s full shape sparks something in her memory. She asks him if he was ever a falling star. Calcifer says he was; Howl caught him. (He can talk about this because Sophie asked, but his contract forbids him from offering up this information.) Because he was so terrified of dying, he accepted Howl’s contract, which would keep Calcifer alive. He notes that Howl felt sorry for him, and Sophie adds that the same thing happened to Michael. Hearing his name, Michael jerks awake and says he doesn’t feel safe on the edge of the Waste. Calcifer quips that no one’s safe in a wizard’s house.

The next morning, Howl is out with the door set to black-side down—and none of the doors will open for Sophie. Annoyed (she wants to see the flowers), Sophie scrubs the chalk marks off the floor. Howl returns while she’s scrubbing, still in a black suit but with white-blond hair. It reminds Sophie of the curse. Picking up the skull, Howl tells “Yorick” that there were mermaids, so “there is something rotten in the state of Denmark.” Luckily, he says, he’s very dishonest, even though his cold won’t go away. Sophie exchanges a look with the dog-man, suggests he go back to Lettie, and then asks Howl how Miss Angorian is going. He says it’s awful; she has “a heart like a boiled stone.”

After breakfast, Howl and Michael clean out the broom cupboard and knock down the back wall so it opens into the former hat shop. Howl leads Sophie through the familiar passageway into the shop, which is now tiled in black and white. She says nothing when she realizes she’s supposed to admire it. On the front of the shop, Howl has painted “H. Jenkins Fresh Flowers Daily.” Then, Howl leads Sophie into the familiar backyard, which is half the size she remembers (the castle’s yard takes up half). Sophie is conflicted: she can see her bedroom window but doesn’t think she can get there, and she realizes Howl’s window, which she can also see, doesn’t look onto the yard. Howl is clearly upset; he expected Sophie to appreciate his handiwork.

Howl leads Sophie back inside and then opens the purple door. The castle stops and Sophie climbs out onto a lane that winds between bushes of flowers. This is clearly a magical place, and Sophie is delighted. Howl explains that they can cut flowers every morning and sell them in Market Chipping. He points out the Waste and warns Sophie to not get too close to it and the Witch. Then, he explains that Wizard Suliman started this garden a year ago, apparently to try to drive the Witch out of the Waste by making the Waste bloom. It offended the Witch, as she thinks of herself as the one “blooming orchid” in the Waste.

Sophie mentions that Mrs. Pentstemmon called Suliman a different name and said he came from the same place Howl did. Howl says he never knew Suliman, but he thought the flowers were a good idea and met the Witch when he came to check them out after Suliman disappeared. The castle is here now because it’s the last thing the Witch would expect. But when Sophie asks if Howl is trying to find Prince Justin, Howl “slither[s]” away to yell at Michael.