Dedicated viewers of Studio Ghibli films are getting another exciting opportunity to see some of their favorite movies like Kiki’s Delivery Service and Spirited Away, in theaters during Studio Ghibli Fest 2022. For many audiences, it’s a great opportunity to revisit childhood favorites or to be introduced to the famed studio for the first time.
Among these classic favorites is Howl’s Moving Castle. Many fans may not know that this movie was originally based on an English novel by author Diana Wynne Jones. While Hayao Miyazaki took inspiration for his work from the novel, the story greatly differed from one to the other. Decisions had to be made about how to make this story fit with Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s style, and that meant cutting out book scenes that simply would not have worked in the movie.
Sophie’s Tricky Sisters
In the book, Sophie has two sisters. One was sent to the town’s bakery to learn the trade, while the other was sent to live with a witch and study magic. The sisters were unhappy with this arrangement, and secretly used magic to take on each other’s appearance and swap places
The part of the plot was a little complicated, and the movie opted to remove one sister, Martha, and instead keep only Lettie at the bakery. This subsequently meant that Miyazaki had to remove all other parts of the plot that related to Martha (who was pretending to be Lettie at the bakery), but it meant a whole lot less time spent explaining which sister was which and why they made the decisions they did.
Howl Accosting Sophie
In the book, when Sophie leaves the hat shop on May Day to visit her sister Lettie (who was Martha) at the bakery, she is accosted by a gentleman who is hoping to buy her a drink. In the movie, Howl appears and uses his magic to make the annoying man go away, but in the book, Howl was the one doing the accosting.
Through inner dialogue, Sophie explains that Howl was being kind and that she felt bad for acting so afraid, but this dialogue would have been missing in a movie scene. The decision to make Howl Sophie’s rescuer ensured that audiences would still find the Howl’s Moving Castle protagonist likable, as opposed to potentially seeing him as a predator.
Sophie’s Powers
One of the biggest twists in the book was that Sophie herself had a magical gift. She could talk life into things and was able to influence the actions of people and things by talking to them. The book never gives much explanation of how this works, and Sophie is fairly awkward about using her gifts.
Throwing too many twists and turns at an audience in only a couple of short hours can make it easy for audiences to lose sight of what the writers want them to walk away with. Sophie being a witch might have minimized Howl’s influence, or made her rescuing him seem like less of a feat, so it would not have worked with Miyazaki’s version of the plot. However, Sophie is still seen talking to objects, and the influence of this is a detail that Howl’s Moving Castle fans might have missed.
The Destination Behind The Door
Howl has a magical door that can be used as a portal to different locations. In both the book and the movie, the door has one destination that is, at first, a mystery to Sophie.
In the book, Howl himself reveals to Sophie what that destination is: Earth. Howl is revealed to be from the country of Wales, which is a part of Great Britain. He studied magic in college and managed to discover a portal to Sophie’s world. While this was an exciting part of the book, it would have simply been too much for the film, where there wasn’t enough time. Instead, the portal was needed to reveal Howl’s past to Sophie.
The Death Of The Witch Of The Waste
In the book, The Witch of the Waste has a plan to combine Prince Justin, Wizard Suliman (who is a man), and Howl to create the perfect man, whom she would put on the throne and control. She kidnaps Sophie to lure Howl to her, but Howl takes his vengeance by reducing the Witch to nothing but ash and bone.
The movie saw the Witch turned into a harmless old lady instead, whose main motivation had been jealousy, which was much simpler compared to the complicated plot of the books. Studio Ghibli would have run into a lot of problems, including a struggle for time if they had chosen to keep the Witch’s original plot.
Howl’s Heartlessness
In both the book and the movie, Howl is revealed to have made a deal with a falling star. He gave his own heart to keep the star, or Fire Demon, alive, and in return, he gained the added power of the demon.
In the movie, Howl’s heartlessness allowed him to turn into a powerful beast, but using this power came at the cost of his humanity. In the book, Howl can access Calcifer’s power, but without a heart, he is incapable of loving or feeling properly, which led him to sometime behave like a jerk. This heartless side effect could have made Howl unlikable to viewers, so the movie made his change physical instead.
Markl’s Relationship With Lettie (Martha)
In the book, Markl (whose name is Michael), is 15-years-old and he falls in love with Lettie, who is Martha, at the bakery. However, since Lettie and Martha’s switch could not be included in the movie, this meant that Michael’s romance would also have made very little sense.
In the Howl’s Moving Castle movie, the character Markl appears to be much younger than his book counterpart. This would have made his romance with Lettie/Martha all the more strange, especially since Howl was briefly “in love” with the real Lettie. In the end, this was all much too confusing of a plot to be included in the movie, making it an impossible addition.
Howl’s Old Teacher
In the movie, Wizard Suliman is Howl’s old teacher, who wants to use Howl’s powers to decimate the country’s enemy in the war. In the book, however, Howl’s teacher was a woman named Mrs. Pentstemmon, who was murdered by The Witch of the Waste.
Since the Witch’s plot was too convoluted to include in the film, Studio Ghibli had to come up with a new antagonist that wouldn’t get in the way of Howl and Sophie’s story. Therefore, Mrs. Pentstemmon and Wizard Suliman were combined to create a new character that kept things easier for audiences to follow.
The Witch Of The Waste’s Fire Demon
In addition to Calcifer, a popular Studio Ghibli side character, the book had another Fire Demon. The Witch of the Waste is revealed to have made the same deal with a shooting star that Howl had but after centuries of not having a heart, she lost all control to the demon. This served as an example of what would happen to Howl if his contract was not broken.
Since the movie had chosen to demonstrate Howl’s loss of humanity with the impending permanent change into a monster, and since the Witch of the Waste was rendered harmless, including her Fire Demon, who had taken the form of a woman Howl admired, would have no longer fit.
The Prince’s Fate
Prince Justin is only passively mentioned in the movie, but in the book, he is a major part of the Witch’s plot to rule the country. She takes him and Wizard Suliman apart, and tries to combine them to create the perfect man.
When Howl discovers the Prince’s fate, he puts his pieces back together, as well as Wizard Suliman, and they are both thankful to be restored. However, the movie chose to reveal the scarecrow as a cursed Justin instead, since Wizard Suliman had been made a villain and since The Witch’s evil plan was not used in the plot.
