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Chapter Twenty
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
Everyone but Sophie chases the scarecrow. Sophie grabs her stick and runs into the shop, muttering that Howl won’t forgive her for letting Miss Angorian fall into the Witch’s hands. Emptying the seven-league boots of flowers and putting them on, Sophie begins to zip through the countryside, passing the mansion and Kingsbury. She finally reaches the Waste and can see the edge, where the flowers and the castle are. She continues into the Waste, feeling sorry for the Witch: it’s an ugly place and is unbearably hot. Finally, Sophie finds a fortress with odd towers, seemingly made out of the Waste’s sand. Sophie recognizes the building style: like the moving castle, this was built by a fire demon.
Now that the situation has gotten dire, Sophie is finally willing to face up to the fact that she has feelings for Howl. She wants him to be happy, and as she understands it, this means that she must protect Miss Angorian from harm so she and Howl can continue their romance. As Sophie feels some compassion for the Witch, she herself continues to come of age. She’s now able to look at the Witch with a more nuanced, understanding view. She undoubtedly still thinks the Witch is doing terrible things, but she can also admit to herself that the Witch isn’t a happy, fulfilled person.
Themes
The Witch’s two page boys come out to meet Sophie. One leads her inside and the door closes behind Sophie. They enter a strip of nothingness, and then the fortress seems to be made of pillars or chimneys. The Witch is waiting in the middle of an open area, though now she’s tall, skinny, and blond. She backs away when Sophie brandishes her stick, but then the Witch waves her hands. The page boys turn into sticky blobs that fly to Sophie and glue her to the wall. Sophie begs for the Witch to let Miss Angorian go, but the Witch says they must wait for Howl. The curse is working, now that Sophie has come: Howl will have to be honest.
Having spent about a month in Howl and Calcifer’s castle, Sophie isn’t surprised by any of the magical things she sees in the Witch’s fortress. Indeed, Sophie now realizes that she too can perform magic, which is why she waves her stick at the Witch. But Sophie isn’t confident or skilled enough to actually best the Witch, suggesting she has a way to go in accepting her power. It’s odd that the Witch says the curse is working because Sophie has arrived—the curse, it seems, has to do with Sophie.
Themes
The Witch beckons and a throne of sorts moves into the room. There’s a man on it, but he has no head—and the body is Prince Justin’s. Sophie says the man looks terrible, but the Witch explains that they’re waiting for Howl’s head to make a perfect man. This body is made of Prince Justin and Wizard Suliman’s body parts; Wizard Suliman’s skull is out with his guitar, and Prince Justin’s head is somewhere “with the other leftover parts.” Once she’s done making this man, he’ll be King of Ingary and she’ll be Queen. When Sophie insists Howl will somehow evade the Witch, the Witch says she’ll make him obey because she’ll control Calcifer. Sophie waves her stick, so the Witch snaps that she’s worked very hard to lure everyone out here. She’s tired of Sophie causing trouble.
The Witch’s ultimate plan, it seems, is more about gaining political power than it is about Howl: Howl is just a tool the Witch needs to gain power. She as much as confirms that Percival is indeed made of some of Prince Justin’s body parts, and she also confirms that the skull Howl has is Wizard Suliman’s. Sophie, however, now sees that Howl’s “slithery” nature might help him: if he can keep away from the Witch, the Witch won’t succeed. Of course, it’s impossible to tell at this point whether the curse—and Howl’s destiny—will come to pass, or whether Howl can exert much influence over what happens next.
Themes
The Witch wanders away. Sophie thinks the Witch is losing her mind. She begins to try to unstick herself by waving her stick at the orange stuff, and it starts to work. Suddenly, the wall of the fortress blasts open and the scarecrow bursts in. The scarecrow and the Witch leap at each other and fight. A few minutes later, Howl leaps through the hole in the wall. He shouts one long word, and this seems to slowly dissolve the fortress’s magic. The Witch folds in on herself and dies, leaving only a pile of bones. The scarecrow begins to dig through the bones, but Howl says the Witch’s heart won’t be there. Her fire demon has it, and the demon has probably been in charge for some time.
Both Sophie and Howl demonstrate their magical powers in this passage. Sophie is discovering that she can change things to help herself, and Howl’s ability to so easily dissolve the Witch paints him as strong and competent—and possibly capable of evading the curse, if the Witch is now dead. However, the note that the Witch’s fire demon has her heart calls this into question, especially if the fire demon is in charge: the demon may be the one cursing Howl. Additionally, this is another clue about what Howl and Calcifer’s contract looks like (recall that the Witch and Howl have similar curses with their fire demons). So it follows that Calcifer has Howl’s heart.
Themes
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Finally freeing herself, Sophie puts her shawl over Prince Justin’s shoulders. Howl scolds Sophie for cleaning up, and Sophie notices that he hasn’t shaved, brushed his hair, or fixed his suit—he must really love Miss Angorian. Sophie says she came to save Miss Angorian, but Howl cuts her off and scoffs that he thought Sophie might stay put if her family came to visit. The scarecrow begins answering Sophie’s questions from earlier: it belonged to Wizard Suliman. Wizard Suliman talked life into it and asked it to find all his body parts, but the scarecrow was dying when Sophie saved it by talking life into it. Sophie confirms that Prince Justin’s finding spells were pointing to the scarecrow, and the scarecrow says that Percival is made of Prince Justin and Wizard Suliman.
Calcifer and Michael noted earlier that they’ll believe Howl is truly in love when he doesn’t spend hours in the bathroom before seeing a woman. Sophie sees that they’re right: Howl clearly hasn’t done any primping, so he must be in love. Though who he’s in love with is up for debate; Howl seems surprisingly unconcerned about Miss Angorian if he’s in love with her. Indeed, he seems to care more about Sophie if he was trying to keep her at home, though he doesn’t yet explain his reasoning. But it does perhaps suggest that Howl realizes how important Sophie’s family is to her and wanted to reunite the Hatters for Sophie’s sake.
Themes
Howl tells the scarecrow to bring the body to the castle; he’ll help later. Then, he says he and Sophie have to get home before the Witch’s fire demon gets there—and the fire demon, he says, is Miss Angorian. Sophie admits that Miss Angorian has already been in the castle, and she’s touched the guitar. Groaning, Howl tells Sophie to run. He’ll need to “raise a wind.” Howl runs beside Sophie and wind swirls around them, carrying them over the Waste.
It’s unclear how long Howl has known Miss Angorian is actually a fire demon, but what is clear is that Sophie and Howl aren’t trying to rescue her. Instead, Howl almost certainly came to the Waste to rescue Sophie. It’s telling that Sophie instantly trusts Howl on this and shares what information she has about Miss Angorian—their relationship continues to strengthen.
Themes
As they run, Sophie tries to defend Calcifer (since he said nothing about the Witch’s fire demon), but Howl says he expected that—Calcifer, not Wales, is his “weakest flank.” He explains he baited the Witch with Wales so he could get close to her and rescue Prince Justin, and he admits that the only way he can get himself to do scary things is to pretend he won’t do them. Howl is being honest, and he and Sophie are running in a wind: the curse is coming true. Bawling, Howl admits that he was betting on Suliman being alive, but when Percival turned up, he was so afraid he got drunk. And now, he spits, Sophie played right into the Witch’s trap.
Calcifer, Howl acknowledges, isn’t entirely trustworthy: his loyalties, in some cases, lie elsewhere. Though Sophie and Howl both believe the Witch’s curse is a bad thing, that Howl is now being honest about everything causes Sophie to trust him more—offering hope that this may still end well. And it also humanizes Howl when he admits to being afraid. Fear makes him far more sympathetic than what Sophie thought was going on: selfishness and arrogance.
Themes
Sophie says she’s destined to fail because she’s the eldest, but Howl snaps that she just never thinks—and she’s too nice. Howl says he thought Sophie would be too jealous to let the Witch’s demon inside. By now, they’re in front of the castle, and they burst inside. Everything seems normal until Howl leaps for the guitar—and it explodes to reveal Miss Angorian. Howl says the Witch is dead, but Miss Angorian says she doesn’t care. She’s making herself a new, better human, and she can get at Howl’s heart now. With this, she plucks Calcifer out of the grate. Calcifer begs for help, but Miss Angorian says they’re going to control her new human together.
Suggesting that Sophie would be too jealous to let Miss Angorian in highlights that Howl knows Sophie loves him. He also insists that what’s held Sophie back thus far is her belief that she’s destined to fail—she does have the power to change things, if only she believes in herself. When Miss Angorian snatches Calcifer out of the grate after saying she can get at Howl’s heart, it confirms that Calcifer is attached to Howl’s heart. This helps explain why Calcifer has so often described Howl as “heartless”: Howl’s heart is literally not in his body.
Themes
Miss Angorian squeezes, causing both Calcifer and Howl to scream in agony. Howl faints, and Miss Angorian suggests he’s faking. But Calcifer screeches that Howl isn’t faking; his heart is soft. Thinking before she acts, Sophie tells her stick to beat only Miss Angorian and to hurt no one else. She hits Miss Angorian’s knuckles with the stick. Calcifer falls to the floor—and the stick continues to hit Miss Angorian while Sophie scoops up Calcifer. The dark lump Sophie is holding is Howl’s heart; he gave it to Calcifer as part of the contract. It’s keeping Calcifer alive.
As the being who’s had the closest access to Howl’s heart for the last several years, Calcifer is the authority on the state of Howl’s heart. Howl is, according to Calcifer, not proverbially heartless at all; he just hasn’t been able to love anyone because Calcifer has had his heart. Sophie now realizes that she can and should take Howl seriously, so she takes his advice and thinks before she acts. In other words, she now believes she can thwart destiny—and so she can.
Themes
Miss Angorian runs for the door, but Sophie shouts for everyone else to block it. Even Percival leaps up and opens the door—and outside, the scarecrow, with Prince Justin’s body over its shoulders, fits itself into the doorway. By now, Sophie’s stick is flaming and Miss Angorian pulls Michael in front of her, so the stick stops hitting (it can’t hit Michael). Sophie asks Calcifer if breaking the contract will kill him. Calcifer says if Sophie breaks the contract, it won’t—she can talk life into things. She tells Calcifer to have another thousand years and plucks him off the black lump. He swirls away, shouts that he’s free, and flies up the chimney.
All of Sophie’s friends and family members demonstrate their loyalty to Sophie, Howl, and Calcifer by heeding Sophie’s request to block the door. And finally, Sophie discovers just how special her particular magic gift makes her: she’s the only person who can give Calcifer life without tying him to a person’s heart. Broadly speaking, as Sophie frees Calcifer, she experiences success—so in a sense, she has thwarted her destiny. She’s no longer a failure, as now she’s helped someone else.
Themes
Kneeling beside Howl, Sophie puts the black lump on his chest, pushes, and tells the heart to work. Her hair—now red and long—gets in her way, and soon, the heart is in and Howl stirs. Howl says he’s drunk and has to go rescue Sophie, but Sophie says she’s here. Howl instead has to do something about Miss Angorian, who is trying to burn Martha and the scarecrow with Sophie’s burning stick. Howl speaks more odd words and after a clap of thunder, the stick is gone, and he’s holding what looks like a bit of cinder. He refuses to give it back to Miss Angorian, says she was going to take his heart and let Calcifer die, and then crumbles the Witch’s heart. Miss Angorian disappears.
Finally, Sophie’s curse lifts—though it’s not clear if this is Calcifer’s doing, or whether Sophie finally allowed the curse to lift by believing in herself, or whether it’s a combination of the two. By getting rid of Sophie’s stick, Howl brings about Sophie’s coming of age: she no longer needs a mobility aid, or a proxy for her power, to believe in herself and do things. The Witch’s crumbly heart contrasts greatly with Howl’s soft heart, and it shows the consequences of being in such a contract with a fire demon for so long.
Themes
Once Miss Angorian is gone, the scarecrow disappears—and there are two smiling men outside. Howl ignores this, turns to Sophie, and says he’s never thought gray clothes suited her. Sophie apologizes for breaking his contract with Calcifer, but Howl says he and Calcifer both hoped Sophie would break it—they didn’t want to end up like the Witch. Sophie studies Howl. He looks pretty much the same, except his eyes look more alive now. Sophie is too busy to 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.
Now that Sophie is back to her true form and believes that she’s capable of fighting for her own happiness, she can finally enjoy the one thing she’s wanted for some time: Howl’s love. And now that Howl has his heart back, he’s able to genuinely love Sophie back. Despite how much of the curse came true, Howl still ended up evading it—the line “Go and catch a falling star” maintains that a faithful woman doesn’t exist. But now, Sophie and Howl appear ready to commit to each other faithfully for life, if Mrs. Fairfax is correct that the two will get married.
Themes
As Sophie and Howl discuss their first meeting on May Day, Wizard Suliman approaches Lettie and asks to take her on as a student. Howl suggests he and Sophie live “happily ever after,” totally ignoring everyone trying to talk to him and Sophie. They hold hands and stare at each other, smiling—and only look away when Michael shouts that Calcifer came back. Calcifer says he doesn’t mind staying, as long as he can leave. Besides, it’s raining.
There’s one fairy tale trope that Howl and Sophie are willing to accept and enjoy: their “happily ever after” ending. When Calcifer returns, it highlights the novel’s insistence that Calcifer and Howl’s relationship can improve, once they’re no longer obligated to each other. Now, Calcifer can choose to stick around (just as Sophie also chooses to stay), and this choice, the novel suggests, makes all the difference.
Themes
