Howl’s Moving Castle: Chapter Sixteen 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.

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.

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.

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.