History Literature / HowlsMovingCastle

* MamaBear:
** Sophie in ''Castle in the Air'' and ''House of Many Ways.'' Do NOT harm Morgan Jenkins if you know what's good for you.

* PutOnABus: Michael, in every book after the first. ''Castle In the Air'' Explains that [[spoiler: Michael, and a new unnamed apprentice, were sent away when Howl found out that the moving castle was in danger.]]

* EvilPlan: The Witch of the Waste wants to claim Howl's heart, metaphorically. This is why she chases him and curses a rival (Sophie) into old age. [[spoiler: The demon contracted to her, Miss.Angorian, wants to claim his heart, literally. This is why she arranges a series of events that will allow her to get inside the castle and grab Calicifer.]]

* ScaryScarecrows: Played straight in the book; inverted in the film where Turnipdhead is a helpful character.

** Howls says [[Literature/AliceInWonderland "We can't all be Mad Hatters"]] when teasing Sophie

%%* TongueTied

* [[VainSorceress Vain Sorceror]]: Howl flips out after Sophie does something to his hair products and causes his roots to go natural. Also, Michael tells Sophie the day that Howl doesn't spend two hours in the bathroom to make himself beautiful for a girl is the day that he is truly in love.

As Sophie and Howl grow closer, it becomes more and more apparent that all is not as it seems. Indeed, the main theme of the book is that everything in the story is actually something else, having been transformed by magic.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Howl and Sophie bicker and argue like there's no tomorrow. But when it really comes down to it, they really do love each other. In fact, the reason why they argue so much is because ''they want to'', as it keeps them on their toes.
** In fact, Michael pointed out to Sophie the day that Howl, as vain and obsessed with beauty that he was, forgets to take 2 hours every morning to dress up and make himself look handsome would be the day that he's truly in love. So when Sophie was kidnapped by the Witch of the Waste, Howl arrives to her castle, disheveled and ungroomed.

* BetaCouple: Oh boy. In the first book we have Michael and Martha (as well as Lettie and Ben at the end), to the main couple Howl and Sophie. Then in the second book it's main couple Abdullah and Flower in the Night, with BetaCouple place going to [[spoiler:Justin and Beatrice]], with some of the couples from the original also making appearances. Then we have OddCouple Peter and Charmain in the third book and some glimpses of Howl and Sophie.
* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: The castle again.

* TheDandy: Howl.

* GentlemanWizard: Howl
* HeroesWantRedheads: Sophie, at least in her normal form, has flowing red hair.
* TheIllegible: Howl. In both ''Howl's Moving Castle'' and ''House of Many Ways'' there are references to his handwriting being frankly horrible - both Sophie and Charmain wonder to themselves if he uses a pen or a poker when he's writing.
* LargeHam: Howl.
* MamaBear: Sophie in ''Castle in the Air'' and ''House of Many Ways.'' Do NOT harm Morgan Jenkins if you know what's good for you.
** Howl also has a PapaWolf moment in ''House of Many Ways'' when [[spoiler: Prince Ludovic]] threatens Morgan, leading Howl to punch him in the face. Twice.
* TheMessiah: Sophie
* MoralityPet: Whatever other flaws he may have, Howl absolutely loves his sister's children, they in kind. In the sequels, this extends to his own son Morgan, suggesting Howl may have a FriendToAllChildren streak.
* NoAccountingForTaste: This is generally how outsiders view Howl and Sophie's relationship in every book after the first. In reality, they're [[spoiler: HappilyMarried, since they actually ''enjoy'' fighting with each other. It keeps them both on their toes]].
* NobleDemon: Calcifer
* OppositesAttract
* PortalDoor
* PutOnABus: Michael, in every book after the first.
** ''Castle In the Air'' Explains that [[spoiler: Michael, and a new unnamed apprentice, were sent away when Howl found out that the moving castle was in danger.]]

* TechnicolorFire: Calcifer, as demonstrated in the above cover
* TheoryOfNarrativeCausality: Mentioned repeatedly.
* TricksterArchetype: Howl

* BeautifulAllAlong: Sophie never saw herself as pretty. It takes a curse and the building up of her confidence to make her see that she is.
** She knew she was pretty, but her sisters were prettier.

* CantLiveWithoutYou: If Calcifer dies, so does Howl.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: Pretty much every object, character and throwaway line of dialogue, in the first book at least.]]
* CoolGate: The door to the castle.

* DealWithTheDevil

* FreakyFridayFlip: Martha and Lettie
* HandsomeLech: Howl, before he falls for Sophie.
** Subverted: [[spoiler: Howl falls for Sophie the first time he sees her, but he maintains the appearance of being a HandsomeLech while he's actually just trying to find out more about Sophie from her sister.]]

* LadykillerInLove: Howl, of course.

* MenCantKeepHouse: Before Sophie, Howl's castle was amazingly dirty.

* NiceHat: Given Sophie's job, it's only natural a few would show up.
* OneDegreeOfSeparation: In the book, Sophie eventually learns that ''every single'' encounter she's had after the first few pages and ''everything'' that's happened to her [[spoiler: has been directly caused by Howl's actions. This only reason this isn't [[TheChessmaster Chessmastering]] is that while Howl had the prerequisite knowledge, he's actually been]] [[IndyPloy pretty much winging it]] instead.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The King of Ingary.
* RomanticFalseLead: Miss Angorian, in the book only.
* ScaryScarecrows: Played straight in the book; inverted in the film.

* ShoutOut: The first book has lots of them, to ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz''. The main antagonist is the Witch of the ''Waste'', on her journey to the castle Sophie meets a scarecrow and a dog, and Howl himself is a wizard who deliberately cultivates an image of being a lot more terrible and powerful than he really is, [[spoiler:was born in our world, and - referencing a different character entirely - is literally heartless]].
** Howl delivers at least two Shout Outs in his dialogue. [[Literature/AliceInWonderland "We can't all be Mad Hatters"]] when teasing Sophie, and later he holds up a human skull and says [[{{Theatre/Hamlet}} "Alas, poor Yorick!"]]. Also, Howl's sister's house in Wales is named [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings "Rivendell"]].

* TiredOfRunning
* TongueTied
* TrashOfTheTitans

* WorkingThroughTheCold: Howl has to work a difficult spell, go to a funeral in disguise, and fight the evil Witch of the Waste, all while he has a bad cold.

* YoungestChildWins: Lampshaded and subverted.

The first book in the ''Wizard's Castle'' series of young adult fantasy novels by Creator/DianaWynneJones, which gleefully [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] and [[AffectionateParodies parodies]] many tropes common to the FairyTale genre.

* StandardHeroReward: Spoofed. Princess Valerie of Ingary is still a small child, and her father wouldn't dream of marrying her off until she's much older -- which proves embarrassing for several people over the course of the series who expect the Standard Reward without bothering to find out how old she is first.

* MyHairCameOutGreen: Howl's blonde hair goes red at the roots when Sophie messes with his hair products.

* ThePaolo: Miss Angorian, in the book only.

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: All the chapter titles describe something that happens in that chapter, and all but one begin with "In Which..." (the Odd Name Out is Chapter 5, "Which is far too full of washing").

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: All the chapter titles describe something that happens in that chapter, and all but one begin with "In Which..." (the Odd Name Out is Chapter 5, "Which is far too full of washing").

** Howl delivers at least Shout Outs in his dialogue. [[Literature/AliceInWonderland "We can't all be Mad Hatters"]] when teasing Sophie, and later he holds up a human skull and says [[{{Theatre/Hamlet}} "Alas, poor Yorick!"]]. Also, Howl's sister's house in Wales is named [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings "Rivendell"]].

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Subverted. Sophie thinks she can just walk by the Witch of the Waste because the witch has probably cursed so many people that she won't even remember Sophie. [[ItGotWorse It doesn't work]].

* MyHairCameOutGreen: Howl gets pink hair (after a an ugly mix of colours) when Sophie messes with his hair products.

* WorkingThroughTheCold: Howl has to work a difficult spell, go to a funeral in disguise, and fight the evil Witch of the Waste, all while he has a bad cold.

The first book in the ''Wizard's Castle'' series of young adult fantasy novels by DianaWynneJones, which gleefully [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] and [[AffectionateParodies parodies]] many tropes common to the FairyTale genre.

The book was adapted into [[Film/HowlsMovingCastle an anime film]] by HayaoMiyazaki.

* MyHairCameOutGreen: Howl becomes ginger when Sophie messes with his hair products.

The book kicked off a series. The first sequel, ''Literature/CastleInTheAir'' (not to be confused with Miyazaki's other film, ''Laputa: CastleInTheSky''), continues the story from the point of view of a new character, in the midst of a war, wherein most of the characters he runs across are characters from the first book, only (a) disguised or otherwise not what they once were and/or (b) described in such a way as to make the reader unaware of the connection (seeing as the sequel's hero doesn't know any of them, he can't very well recognize them for us, either). It uses tropes and settings from the {{Arabian Nights}}.

** Subverted with a mushroom pleated hat that is told to be quite fuzzy and plain, so much that Sophie pities it as if trying to make an ugly person feel better

** Subverted in that most of them are actually pretty ugly hats, but make the wearer pretty because of Sophie's [[spoiler: magic. She pities the hats being so ugly and compliments each of them, working a sort of glamour charm on them without knowing it.]]

** This is supported by the fact that he bassically picked Michael off the streets and turned him into a promising wizard apprentice

* RuleOfCool: Why else would the castle walk around?
** It's pretty much stated outright that it's in order to elude the Witch.
** The witch dies in the first book, Sophie and Howl still have the moving castle at the very end of the third book.