Player nickname: AmyJack Player LJ:amyjack Way to contact you: Email: ascot_chan@yahoo.com AIM: guardiabellaluna Other: plurk: anyjack Are you at least 15?: Y Current Characters: Ariadne, Alexia Maccon, Vanessa Doofenshmirtz, Mai Taniyama, Izumi Orimoto, Rory Williams, and Darcy Lewis
Character: Sophie Hatter Fandom: Howl’s Moving Castle (Book) Character Notes: History: Sophie Hatter is the eldest of three daughters. In the land of Ingary, where she lives, it is thought that being the eldest of three is a great misfortune. However Sophie took this in stride. She loves both of her sisters dearly and cared for them growing up, often stop their arguments with each other. As the three grew older the time came for it to be decided what each girl would do with their lives. Martha, the youngest, was sent to learn from Miss Fairfax, a witch. Lettie would take on an apprenticeship at the local pastry shop. Lastly Sophie would stay at home and work in the family’s hat shop. Sophie knew the hat business quite well and certainly would not argue a job that suited her so well, despite feeling like she was simply resigned to it.
She continued on this way for quite some time until a fateful May Day when she decided to visit her sister Lettie at the pastry shop. Being a terribly shy and mousy girl, Sophie made the trip with much difficulty thanks to the crowds of the holiday. One her journey she was accosted by a beautiful man. Terrified, she of course denied his advances. Very kindly, he let her go to be with her sister. After her visit with Lettie (who in fact turned out Martha thanks to a magic spell that let them switch places), Sophie returned to the hat shop. There she is visited by a strange woman who turns out to be the feared Witch of the Waste. The witch accuses Sophie of meddling in her affairs and places a spell upon her. The spell turns Sophie into an 80-year-old woman. In such a state Sophie decides that she cannot remain at the hat shop and explain how such a strange occurrence happened.
It is at this point that the Wizard Howl should be mentioned. Stories and rumors spread about Sophie’s home about the terrible wizard who stole the souls and ate the hearts of young women. As it happened, when Sophie set out from home she come across the Wizard Howl’s moving castle (after fixing an old scarecrow and untying a tangled up dog). Being old she didn’t fear the wizard wanting her heart, so she entered the castle.
Once inside she meets the wizard’s apprentice, Michael, as well as a comfortable seat which she promptly falls asleep in. Upon waking she meets Calcifer, the fire demon who fuels the castle. Calcifer explains he is stuck in a contract with the Wizard Howl. He and Sophie make a bargain that he will lift the spell on her if she discovers how to break their contract. However neither Calcifer or Howl can speak about the main clause of the contract.
The next morning Sophie meets Howl and is surprised to find that he is the young man who accosted her on May Day. Sophie refuses to let him know who she really is and states that she will be the cleaning lady of the castle. Over breakfast Sophie learns that Howl isn’t nearly as wicked as the stories say. In fact, Howl himself spreads the rumors so that he can avoid work and a “powerful someone” whom he offended. She also learns that the castle is mostly enchantment and that the rooms inside are actually from Howl’s home in another area of Ingary. The doors are enchanted to open to different places.
In order to prove her worth Sophie sets about cleaning the rooms of the castle which are real. It should be said that the rooms are quite the disaster as they have never been cleaned. In fact, it took several days to clean everything and Sophie never heard one way or another from Howl if she was to stay or not. Amongst all the cleaning Sophie finds nothing that could help her break the contract between Howl and Calcifer but she does discover that Michael has a sweetheart, Howl is courting a particularly tough young lady, and another wizard, Suliman has gone missing in the Waste. She also deals with a particular tantrum from Howl in which he oozes green slime about the house because his hair color was accidentally changed to ginger. Soon after Howl reveals that the lady he is chasing is Lettie Hatter, Sophie’s sister. Of course, it turns out that Michael’s sweetheart is also Lettie (but actually Martha in disguise!).
Later Howl discusses that the prince of one of the kingdoms, Prince Justin, has gone missing and that is why the previous Royal Wizard, Suliman went missing looking for him. Howl is concerned that the King will soon ask him to start looking for the prince.
Around this point a scarecrow appears around Howl’s castle, frightening Sophie. Howl meets it and tells it to leave. He explains that it has some of the most powerful magic he had ever seen on it. Sophie and Michael use a pair of seven-league boots to travel to the real Lettie and warn her of Howl’s womanizing ways. However it is revealed that Lettie and her teacher Mrs. Fairfax knew it was Howl all along and that they were using it as an opportunity for Lettie to learn as much magic as possible from him.
After finding a written spell in the castle, Sophie and Michael attempt to figure out its meaning of “go and catch a falling star”. When Howl discovers this he decides to explain and takes the pair through the magic door to the one place he keeps secret.
It just happens to be Wales. Yes, Wales of our normal, everyday world. It turns out that Howl was born and raised in Wales and one day found a magical entrance to the land of Ingary where he began to practice magic. His sister and her family still live in Wales. Howl takes Sophie and Michael there. The spell that Sophie and Michael found was actually a poem from Howl’s nephew’s homework. The nephew admits that his homework had been misplaced by “funny writing” of Howl’s. Howl then takes Sophie and Michael to see the teacher, Mrs. Angorian, who assigned the poem and took Howl’s writing instead. They retrieve the spell
After that little adventure they return to Ingary and Howl sends Sophie to visit the king as his mother so she might blacken his name. There she meets Howl’s teacher, Mrs. Pentstemmon, who expresses her concern for Howl and his heavy use of charms to enhance his appearance and attractiveness. She fears he may be on a similar path as the Witch of the Waste. She explains that the Witch of the Waste also made a contract with a fire demon and that the demon took control of her. Contracts between demons and humans can extend the lives of both but it is not without its risks. Mrs. Pentstemmon advises Sophie to seek out what Calcifer got when he made the contract with Howl. She also tells Sophie that she has the ability to speak life into things. Sophie denies this, of course.
During her audience with the king, Sophie says all she can to assure him that Howl would be an awful man for the job, but everything just seems to convince the king otherwise. She leaves with the King still intent on having Howl search for the prince. Afterwards she runs into the Witch of the Waste who was seeking out Mrs. Pentstemmon so that she might discover where Howl is. However Mrs. Pentstemmon refused and promptly died to prove it. Later, Sophie adopts a dog (I swear this is plot relevant!) and Howl attends the funeral of Mrs. Pentstemmon.
In an attempt to vanish from the both the Witch of the Waste’s and the King’s sight, Howl moves one of the magical entrances to Market Chipping, where Sophie’s old hat shop was. Sophie’s step-mother was in fact, selling the shop. However Sophie uses the building as a flower shop instead of a hat shop. At this point Sophie has a chat with her dog, which turns out to be a man under a spell from the Witch of the Waste. He explains that Lettie sent him to look for her. Later Mrs. Angorian shows up through one of the doors and makes her way through the castle.
After another conversation with the dog Sophie finds out that Howl knew that she was under a spell and had been learning about it from Lettie. Howl explains he had tried to remove the spell but found he was unable. He assumed that Sophie had been enjoying the disguise of an old woman.
Angry about everything Sophie vows to leave the castle for good. However every time she attempts to leave something or someone arrives that delays her. Sophie’s step-mother arrives, aware of the spell on her. Soon they are joined by Michael and Martha, and then Lettie and Mrs. Fairfax. Lastly Mrs. Angorian arrives once again. Amongst all the reunions Calcifer lets out a cry to Howl that the Witch of the Waste has found his family. Howl rushes away to defend his family against the Witch. He chases her away and follows her in her escape. In all the confusion Sophie invites the scarecrow in at last which causes a great number of magical things to go off inside the castle.
Meanwhile the Witch of the Waste sends a message that Howl fell for her decoy and that she now holds Mrs. Angorian captive. Calcifer at the same time grew quiet and very dim. Sophie uses the seven league boots to go to the waste and find the Witch. Sophie demands that the Witch return Mrs. Angorian, but the Witch refuses and says they must wait for Howl. Sophie tells her that he certainly wouldn’t come for such a trap, but the witch insists that because Sophie came, he would come and would have to be honest. The Witch also explains that she was the one who took both the Prince and the Wizard Suliman. She took them apart in order that she might make a perfect man for herself. In order to do this, the scarecrow and the dog were created from the pieces. She is waiting only for Howl’s head to complete him.
It turns out that Mrs. Angorian is in fact the fire demon which the Witch of the Waste made a contract with. When Howl does eventually arrive at the waste he realizes that Mrs. Angorian now has control of Calcifer back at the castle. The Witch is killed, so Howl and Sophie hurry back to the castle. Mrs. Angorian explained that she wishes to take over as Howl’s demon and takes hold of Calcifer, who in fact is carrying Howl’s heart. Sophie orders her walking stick to attack Mrs. Angorian, and it does. She realizes she can speak life into things. Mrs. Angorian drops Calcifer and Howl’s heart. Sophie retrieves them and brings them to Howl. Using her magic Sophie speaks the heart back into Howl and speaks a thousand more years of life into Calcifer. By doing this she breaks their contract. Howl revives and takes the Witch’s heart out. He crumbles the heart in his hand and Mrs. Angorian fades away into nothing.
By this point Sophie realizes that she is back to her own age and appearance and Howl remarks that he had hoped she would be the girl he saw on May Day. Surrounded by the friends and family that had returned earlier Sophie explains that she had to let Calcifer go and Howl says he knew that would have to happen. Prince Justin and Wizard Suliman are returned to normal and everything wraps up nicely. Howl suggests that he and Sophie “live happily ever after”.
And perhaps they will.
Sophie makes an appearance in two other novels (The Castle in the Air and The House of Many Ways), but she is no a central character in either.
Personality: Over the course of the novel Sophie’s personality takes some drastic changes. At the start she is a very humble, quiet, and shy person. She prefers to stay at home and avoid other people. Going out into town is a major decision for her every time and she must talk herself into doing it. However Sophie is still kind, sweet, and mature. She handles most things with grace, unless it involves major crowds. At this point Sophie is also rather passive. She accepts the decisions made for her and does not argue. While her sisters Martha and Lettie defied their fates right away for what they really wanted Sophie settled into the position handed to her.
After the spell is place upon her things begin to change. Sophie is still rather resigned to her fate of being an old woman but the strange new form convinces her of some more freedoms. She feels comfortable being a bit odd, even “mad” around people because isn’t that how old women are supposed to act? Being around Howl and his mysterious ways also brings out her curiosity and stubbornness. Again she is convinced that as the housekeeper of the castle it is her right to keep everything within neat and orderly. She becomes unafraid to explore new things and stand up to Howl, Michael, and Calcifer.
By the end of the novel Sophie has moved completely passed who she once was. She isn’t afraid to look for what she really wants and say exactly what she means. She is a more confident and strong young woman, thanks to her own experiences and the words of Howl. She realizes that it was her own stubbornness keeping her old. Not only that, but she realizes that she doesn’t need to be an old woman to act the way she was. She can still be a stubborn, nosy, loving, and outgoing young woman. One who has far more talents and friends than she ever dreamed of having. Her confidence isn’t completely solidified by the end, as she does blame her misfortune on “being the eldest” but Howl rebukes her for saying so. She has grown a lot over the course of the novel, but could still stand for some more confidence, which with time I am sure she will gain.
Other: Additional Links:
First Person (entry type): In this place you may ask questions, right? I’ve never really owned an enchanted item so I’m not quite sure what to do with it. All I have are the explanations of the people I spoke with. I even had to switch out a new log book. Hopefully this on won’t be enchanted as well.
Oh, ah, I had a question. Yes, that’s right.
If you were handed an occupation that was not one of your choosing, but chosen for you out of a good heart and smart thinking, would you follow that fate? Or would you find another one; the one you desire more?
Third Person: Very briefly Sophie wondered if she should be concerned in the sudden appearance of so many magical things happening in her life. It wasn’t unusual for magic to be around – her family had been buying and trading small enchantments from Mrs. Fairfax for years – but the sheer amount of it was enough to make Sophie pause.
First there was the strange log book that she had come across. The shop had said nothing of an enchantment when she had bought it. Of course she had yet to gain the courage to go back and ask him about it…
But no one else in the shop could see the strange writing that appeared without her touching ink to page.
And then even more recently was the trouble with her sisters. Martha and Lettie. Lettie and Martha. They’d gone off and switched places, all without a word to her! Perhaps the fact that they were keeping secrets from her was even worse than all this magic business. Sophie sighed as she closed up the shop for the day. Hopefully she had already had her fill of magic and that would be that.
Sophie Hatter || Howl's Moving Castle (book) || Reserved
Player LJ:
Way to contact you:
Email: ascot_chan@yahoo.com
AIM: guardiabellaluna
Other: plurk: anyjack
Are you at least 15?: Y
Current Characters: Ariadne, Alexia Maccon, Vanessa Doofenshmirtz, Mai Taniyama, Izumi Orimoto, Rory Williams, and Darcy Lewis
Character: Sophie Hatter
Fandom: Howl’s Moving Castle (Book)
Character Notes:
History: Sophie Hatter is the eldest of three daughters. In the land of Ingary, where she lives, it is thought that being the eldest of three is a great misfortune. However Sophie took this in stride. She loves both of her sisters dearly and cared for them growing up, often stop their arguments with each other. As the three grew older the time came for it to be decided what each girl would do with their lives. Martha, the youngest, was sent to learn from Miss Fairfax, a witch. Lettie would take on an apprenticeship at the local pastry shop. Lastly Sophie would stay at home and work in the family’s hat shop. Sophie knew the hat business quite well and certainly would not argue a job that suited her so well, despite feeling like she was simply resigned to it.
She continued on this way for quite some time until a fateful May Day when she decided to visit her sister Lettie at the pastry shop. Being a terribly shy and mousy girl, Sophie made the trip with much difficulty thanks to the crowds of the holiday. One her journey she was accosted by a beautiful man. Terrified, she of course denied his advances. Very kindly, he let her go to be with her sister.
After her visit with Lettie (who in fact turned out Martha thanks to a magic spell that let them switch places), Sophie returned to the hat shop. There she is visited by a strange woman who turns out to be the feared Witch of the Waste. The witch accuses Sophie of meddling in her affairs and places a spell upon her. The spell turns Sophie into an 80-year-old woman. In such a state Sophie decides that she cannot remain at the hat shop and explain how such a strange occurrence happened.
It is at this point that the Wizard Howl should be mentioned. Stories and rumors spread about Sophie’s home about the terrible wizard who stole the souls and ate the hearts of young women. As it happened, when Sophie set out from home she come across the Wizard Howl’s moving castle (after fixing an old scarecrow and untying a tangled up dog). Being old she didn’t fear the wizard wanting her heart, so she entered the castle.
Once inside she meets the wizard’s apprentice, Michael, as well as a comfortable seat which she promptly falls asleep in. Upon waking she meets Calcifer, the fire demon who fuels the castle. Calcifer explains he is stuck in a contract with the Wizard Howl. He and Sophie make a bargain that he will lift the spell on her if she discovers how to break their contract. However neither Calcifer or Howl can speak about the main clause of the contract.
The next morning Sophie meets Howl and is surprised to find that he is the young man who accosted her on May Day. Sophie refuses to let him know who she really is and states that she will be the cleaning lady of the castle. Over breakfast Sophie learns that Howl isn’t nearly as wicked as the stories say. In fact, Howl himself spreads the rumors so that he can avoid work and a “powerful someone” whom he offended. She also learns that the castle is mostly enchantment and that the rooms inside are actually from Howl’s home in another area of Ingary. The doors are enchanted to open to different places.
In order to prove her worth Sophie sets about cleaning the rooms of the castle which are real. It should be said that the rooms are quite the disaster as they have never been cleaned. In fact, it took several days to clean everything and Sophie never heard one way or another from Howl if she was to stay or not. Amongst all the cleaning Sophie finds nothing that could help her break the contract between Howl and Calcifer but she does discover that Michael has a sweetheart, Howl is courting a particularly tough young lady, and another wizard, Suliman has gone missing in the Waste. She also deals with a particular tantrum from Howl in which he oozes green slime about the house because his hair color was accidentally changed to ginger. Soon after Howl reveals that the lady he is chasing is Lettie Hatter, Sophie’s sister. Of course, it turns out that Michael’s sweetheart is also Lettie (but actually Martha in disguise!).
Later Howl discusses that the prince of one of the kingdoms, Prince Justin, has gone missing and that is why the previous Royal Wizard, Suliman went missing looking for him. Howl is concerned that the King will soon ask him to start looking for the prince.
Around this point a scarecrow appears around Howl’s castle, frightening Sophie. Howl meets it and tells it to leave. He explains that it has some of the most powerful magic he had ever seen on it. Sophie and Michael use a pair of seven-league boots to travel to the real Lettie and warn her of Howl’s womanizing ways. However it is revealed that Lettie and her teacher Mrs. Fairfax knew it was Howl all along and that they were using it as an opportunity for Lettie to learn as much magic as possible from him.
After finding a written spell in the castle, Sophie and Michael attempt to figure out its meaning of “go and catch a falling star”. When Howl discovers this he decides to explain and takes the pair through the magic door to the one place he keeps secret.
It just happens to be Wales. Yes, Wales of our normal, everyday world. It turns out that Howl was born and raised in Wales and one day found a magical entrance to the land of Ingary where he began to practice magic. His sister and her family still live in Wales. Howl takes Sophie and Michael there. The spell that Sophie and Michael found was actually a poem from Howl’s nephew’s homework. The nephew admits that his homework had been misplaced by “funny writing” of Howl’s. Howl then takes Sophie and Michael to see the teacher, Mrs. Angorian, who assigned the poem and took Howl’s writing instead. They retrieve the spell
After that little adventure they return to Ingary and Howl sends Sophie to visit the king as his mother so she might blacken his name. There she meets Howl’s teacher, Mrs. Pentstemmon, who expresses her concern for Howl and his heavy use of charms to enhance his appearance and attractiveness. She fears he may be on a similar path as the Witch of the Waste. She explains that the Witch of the Waste also made a contract with a fire demon and that the demon took control of her. Contracts between demons and humans can extend the lives of both but it is not without its risks. Mrs. Pentstemmon advises Sophie to seek out what Calcifer got when he made the contract with Howl. She also tells Sophie that she has the ability to speak life into things. Sophie denies this, of course.
During her audience with the king, Sophie says all she can to assure him that Howl would be an awful man for the job, but everything just seems to convince the king otherwise. She leaves with the King still intent on having Howl search for the prince. Afterwards she runs into the Witch of the Waste who was seeking out Mrs. Pentstemmon so that she might discover where Howl is. However Mrs. Pentstemmon refused and promptly died to prove it. Later, Sophie adopts a dog (I swear this is plot relevant!) and Howl attends the funeral of Mrs. Pentstemmon.
In an attempt to vanish from the both the Witch of the Waste’s and the King’s sight, Howl moves one of the magical entrances to Market Chipping, where Sophie’s old hat shop was. Sophie’s step-mother was in fact, selling the shop. However Sophie uses the building as a flower shop instead of a hat shop. At this point Sophie has a chat with her dog, which turns out to be a man under a spell from the Witch of the Waste. He explains that Lettie sent him to look for her. Later Mrs. Angorian shows up through one of the doors and makes her way through the castle.
After another conversation with the dog Sophie finds out that Howl knew that she was under a spell and had been learning about it from Lettie. Howl explains he had tried to remove the spell but found he was unable. He assumed that Sophie had been enjoying the disguise of an old woman.
Angry about everything Sophie vows to leave the castle for good. However every time she attempts to leave something or someone arrives that delays her. Sophie’s step-mother arrives, aware of the spell on her. Soon they are joined by Michael and Martha, and then Lettie and Mrs. Fairfax. Lastly Mrs. Angorian arrives once again.
Amongst all the reunions Calcifer lets out a cry to Howl that the Witch of the Waste has found his family. Howl rushes away to defend his family against the Witch. He chases her away and follows her in her escape. In all the confusion Sophie invites the scarecrow in at last which causes a great number of magical things to go off inside the castle.
Meanwhile the Witch of the Waste sends a message that Howl fell for her decoy and that she now holds Mrs. Angorian captive. Calcifer at the same time grew quiet and very dim. Sophie uses the seven league boots to go to the waste and find the Witch. Sophie demands that the Witch return Mrs. Angorian, but the Witch refuses and says they must wait for Howl. Sophie tells her that he certainly wouldn’t come for such a trap, but the witch insists that because Sophie came, he would come and would have to be honest. The Witch also explains that she was the one who took both the Prince and the Wizard Suliman. She took them apart in order that she might make a perfect man for herself. In order to do this, the scarecrow and the dog were created from the pieces. She is waiting only for Howl’s head to complete him.
It turns out that Mrs. Angorian is in fact the fire demon which the Witch of the Waste made a contract with. When Howl does eventually arrive at the waste he realizes that Mrs. Angorian now has control of Calcifer back at the castle. The Witch is killed, so Howl and Sophie hurry back to the castle. Mrs. Angorian explained that she wishes to take over as Howl’s demon and takes hold of Calcifer, who in fact is carrying Howl’s heart. Sophie orders her walking stick to attack Mrs. Angorian, and it does. She realizes she can speak life into things. Mrs. Angorian drops Calcifer and Howl’s heart. Sophie retrieves them and brings them to Howl. Using her magic Sophie speaks the heart back into Howl and speaks a thousand more years of life into Calcifer. By doing this she breaks their contract. Howl revives and takes the Witch’s heart out. He crumbles the heart in his hand and Mrs. Angorian fades away into nothing.
By this point Sophie realizes that she is back to her own age and appearance and Howl remarks that he had hoped she would be the girl he saw on May Day. Surrounded by the friends and family that had returned earlier Sophie explains that she had to let Calcifer go and Howl says he knew that would have to happen. Prince Justin and Wizard Suliman are returned to normal and everything wraps up nicely. Howl suggests that he and Sophie “live happily ever after”.
And perhaps they will.
Sophie makes an appearance in two other novels (The Castle in the Air and The House of Many Ways), but she is no a central character in either.
Personality: Over the course of the novel Sophie’s personality takes some drastic changes. At the start she is a very humble, quiet, and shy person. She prefers to stay at home and avoid other people. Going out into town is a major decision for her every time and she must talk herself into doing it. However Sophie is still kind, sweet, and mature. She handles most things with grace, unless it involves major crowds. At this point Sophie is also rather passive. She accepts the decisions made for her and does not argue. While her sisters Martha and Lettie defied their fates right away for what they really wanted Sophie settled into the position handed to her.
After the spell is place upon her things begin to change. Sophie is still rather resigned to her fate of being an old woman but the strange new form convinces her of some more freedoms. She feels comfortable being a bit odd, even “mad” around people because isn’t that how old women are supposed to act? Being around Howl and his mysterious ways also brings out her curiosity and stubbornness. Again she is convinced that as the housekeeper of the castle it is her right to keep everything within neat and orderly. She becomes unafraid to explore new things and stand up to Howl, Michael, and Calcifer.
By the end of the novel Sophie has moved completely passed who she once was. She isn’t afraid to look for what she really wants and say exactly what she means. She is a more confident and strong young woman, thanks to her own experiences and the words of Howl. She realizes that it was her own stubbornness keeping her old. Not only that, but she realizes that she doesn’t need to be an old woman to act the way she was. She can still be a stubborn, nosy, loving, and outgoing young woman. One who has far more talents and friends than she ever dreamed of having. Her confidence isn’t completely solidified by the end, as she does blame her misfortune on “being the eldest” but Howl rebukes her for saying so. She has grown a lot over the course of the novel, but could still stand for some more confidence, which with time I am sure she will gain.
Other:
Additional Links:
First Person (entry type):
In this place you may ask questions, right? I’ve never really owned an enchanted item so I’m not quite sure what to do with it. All I have are the explanations of the people I spoke with. I even had to switch out a new log book. Hopefully this on won’t be enchanted as well.
Oh, ah, I had a question. Yes, that’s right.
If you were handed an occupation that was not one of your choosing, but chosen for you out of a good heart and smart thinking, would you follow that fate? Or would you find another one; the one you desire more?
Third Person:
Very briefly Sophie wondered if she should be concerned in the sudden appearance of so many magical things happening in her life. It wasn’t unusual for magic to be around – her family had been buying and trading small enchantments from Mrs. Fairfax for years – but the sheer amount of it was enough to make Sophie pause.
First there was the strange log book that she had come across. The shop had said nothing of an enchantment when she had bought it. Of course she had yet to gain the courage to go back and ask him about it…
But no one else in the shop could see the strange writing that appeared without her touching ink to page.
And then even more recently was the trouble with her sisters. Martha and Lettie. Lettie and Martha. They’d gone off and switched places, all without a word to her! Perhaps the fact that they were keeping secrets from her was even worse than all this magic business.
Sophie sighed as she closed up the shop for the day. Hopefully she had already had her fill of magic and that would be that.
“I certainly hope so,” she said under her breath.