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1[[WMG: The Anime Movie was Created In-universe after the Events of the First (or Second) Book. And Howell was the director.]]
2* The movie gives him more screen time and paints him in a noble-tragic hero light. Even the hilarious orange hair scene, which is hilarious because it is at his expense, has him stealing the show. This is only too plausible for him.
3
4[[WMG: Lettie moved to Louisiana after the war.]]
5She married a nice, rich man but after giving birth to their daughter she either died or divorced her husband, never to appear again. Anyway, she named her daughter.. ''[[WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog Charlotte LaBoeuff]]''!
6* This makes perfect sense since Creator/JohnLasseter worked on ''Princess'' and he is good friends with Miyazaki, often sneaking in references to his movies, like the less-subtle giant Totoro plushie in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3''.
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8[[WMG:Movie Suliman taught Howl before he moved to Ingary.]]
9She describes Howl as "her best student", but in the books Penstemmon tutored Howl in magic. Perhaps she taught Howl before he came to Ingary, and he learned how to travel between worlds from her, then studied Ingary's magic with Penstemmon.
10* If Suliman was a schoolteacher, this might be why that was also the profession Angorian pretended.
11* Alternatively, movie Suliman is also Penstemmon.
12* Kingsbury and Porthaven are both part of Ingary. Both messengers are pink and yellow trimmed. Kingsbury is the actual royal city though, hence the fanciness and thoroughfare, while Porthaven is just a poor little fishing town. Also note, Howl has to appear before THE king as BOTH Jenkins and Pendragon. * Side note, in the book, Howl completed a full doctorate in Wales. Book 3 he mentions that he was magical from a very young age. Nowhere is it specified when he found, either on purpose or accident, how to get to Ingary.
13** The author revealed in an interview that Howl was running from the brothers of a girl he had a liaison with in Wales when he accidentally stumbled into Ingary.
14
15[[WMG:One or more of the characters is a WMG/TimeLord]]
16Because after all, there can't be a WMG page without a Doctor Who reference. Seriously, the castle is BiggerOnTheInside, it can travel easily though space and physical dimensions. Even time travel is possible. This means it is a T.A.R.D.I.S. Howl's shapeshifting and hair color shifting are variants of regeneration.
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18[[WMG: Film!Sophie only suppresses her curse, she did not break it and never will, because [[LiquidAssets there is no curse]].]]
19The witch says nothing about the conditions to break her curse, only [[spoiler: Turniphead's]]. Sophie is shown throughout the film as appearing as old as she feels but with grey hair, and [[spoiler: her new significant other Howl]] can likely see a person's true form as easily as looking through the reflections on the surface of water. The Witch [[LiquidAssets stole Sophie's age ]] while flying through her in order to fuel her own magic and "beauty", and Sophie is only young as long as her willpower and emotional state allow her to get over the mere fact that she's not whateverteen any more (except in the chronological sense).
20* Jossed. Calcifer said he would break Sophie's curse if she broke his contract with Howl, and demons have to keep their promises. Her hair just stayed silver as an side effect. To note, while Sophie's age doesn't vary in the book, her curse is broken the instant she puts Howl's heart back and Calcifer is free, but attention is never brought to it except that Howl asks what colour she would call her hair.
21* If the curse is still there, it would make Sophie practically immortal due to the fact her willpower seems to have grown so powerful that all the heartbreak at the end was not enough to make her revert.
22
23[[WMG: The entire movie continuity happens in the same continuity as the book, to the descendants...of the main characters of ''Castle In The Air''.]]
24 Those characters were much more standard and chivalrous, unlike the BelligerentSexualTension and lovely snark-war that the original Howl and Sophie had.
25
26[[WMG: Film!Howl is really a [[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Tengu]].]]
27
28[[WMG: Howl is indeed a Tengu, but [[{{Tengu}} the mythical kind]].]]
29He's extremely skilled and arrogant, has magical powers, loves shiny objects (just look at his bedroom!), lives in the mountains, and most importantly is a humanoid bird-creature. It fits too well.
30
31[[WMG: Film!Howl, [[Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub Tamaki]], [[Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle Fai]], and [[Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers France]] are all the same person.]]
32Personality, appearance, and attitude all match. Coincidence? I think not!
33* That is awesome fanfic material!
34* But, but... Howl's Welsh! He's not French like France, or half-French like Tamaki, or... um... Well, he ''could'' be Fai, or at least a re/pre/simulincarnation of him.
35** Wales: The 'offical' Welsh are sort of northish, and the 'offical' English are sort of southish. Wales is a pretty decent mix of both. Stands to reason he *could* also be English. But he does definitely speak Welsh (book knowledge).
36
37[[WMG: Film!Howl is somehow related to [[Anime/SpiritedAway Haku]].]]
38They have a very similar appearance.
39* So is Sophie secretly [[Anime/SpiritedAway Yubaba]]? They're identical except for the hair!
40
41[[WMG: [[Anime/{{Arrietty}} Sho/Shaun]] grows up to be the film [[Anime/HowlsMovingCastle Howl]].]]
42(Posted at the WMG for both movies)
43Spoilers for ''Anime/{{Arrietty}}'', with facts from both the book and the movie versions of Literature/HowlsMovingCastle.
44
45At the end of ''Anime/{{Arrietty}}'', the ending is ambiguous (Japanese) or he lives, (American). I posit that the answer is both, that is, he died in Japan, but he lived on in another dimension, the dimension from [=HMC=].
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47Sho's surgery didn't work, and his heart was going to fail early, and he was going to die young. Hearing of this, his estranged uncle (maybe "Jessica"'s estranged husband?) from a different dimension heard about it, and decided to bring his dying nephew to his dimension, and the house and the flowers, so he'd have a chance to see it before he died. While there, though, Sho found about the falling stars, and made a deal with Calcifer when he fell. Calcifer kept his heart (and him) alive, but Sho's personality changed due to a mix of his heart being gone, and actually ''having'' a chance to live.
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49However, because he didn't know if actual magic existed in his world (oh, yes, there were the Borrowers, but did that mean magic?), so he "died" in Japan, and decided to live the rest of his life in the dimension where he could learn magic, and where his heart was "safe".
50
51Years later, "Howl" makes a name for himself, and meets Sophie, and the events of the movie happen. Now, in the book, Sophie was able to speak life into things, and will things to happen because of magic. In the movie, Sophie does the same thing, unconsciously, and that along with years of being magically healed by Calcifer, his heart was fine, and he lives the rest of his life with Sophie.
52
53[[WMG: Sophie never wanted [[spoiler: to have children]].]]
54She is quite protective of [[spoiler: Morgan in cat form]] during Castle in the Air, true, and in House of Many Ways also seems to look out for him a great deal.
55But there was some awkwardness there, right around the time they both [[spoiler: were transformed back into humans]]. She was quite wary of holding him, for instance, and even Howl was better at taking care of the baby. She seemed too uncomfortable with the whole thing of being a mother.
56When [[spoiler: Lettie had her daughter]] at the end of the book, though, she was just thrilled to be an aunt. So it's not something like not being particularly fond of children.
57I think that she does love her son but would have preferred not to have any children and just be with Howl. Most likely, the pregnancy wasn't planned, and having a child took her by surprise.
58* It's possible to be nervous about being a parent without not wanting children. A first-time mother, doesn't know much about kids, lives a bit of a dangerous life already--of ''course'' she's probably nervous. That doesn't mean she didn't want kids.
59* Except there is a scene in the first book where she meets the princess, who is four at the time, and thinks about how having kids would actually be pretty nice, even if she doesn't want ten like her little sister does.
60* Agreement, first time mother-hood, *especially* if you haven't been around other people's children much, if at all, and logic stands to reason Sophie has never been around any but her own *slightly* younger sisters, and two minutes with Princess Valeria. I'd also add, Howl's a child all by himself. More like five children really. Five really spoiled children, with magic, and a pretty face, and a smile that could distract you from the giant spider eating your arm.
61* The awkwardness might have been caused by the fact up until that point (when they'd been transformed back), she'd been taking care of Morgan as a cat and wasn't so sure about how to take care of Morgan as a human just then. Cats have their instincts to rely on when giving birth and nursing their kittens but a human mother would naturally have a different motherly instinct. It would have felt super weird because she'd already been caring for Morgan a certain way as a cat, but now that she's human, she's back to square one! Sure she had experience looking after her younger sisters, but they really weren't that much younger than her. This is the first time she's ever looked after a human infant - her own child.
62
63[[WMG: Howl and Sophie will have a son.]]
64* And, just like in the books, he'll be named Morgan.
65
66[[WMG: Movie Suliman's servant boys are in actuality errand dogs.]]
67* Think about it. The errand dog and the servant boys have a similar color scheme, and share the same subservient attitude. Also, when the errand dog runs off after the Witch of the Waste sits down, a servant boy steps out of the place where the errand dog disappeared to. I really do think that errand dogs can switch between dog and boy forms/the boys are enchanted dogs/the dog is an enchanted boy. Take your pick of theory.
68* I feel like Heen is just a magical dog for the movie's purposes, like a witch's familiar. But I agree the peculiarity. Honestly, I always figured the page boys of Suliman were more like the Witch's blob men, except muuuuuch nicer looking.
69
70[[WMG: Howl really did love Sophie before his contract was broken.]]
71* Howl says he's not able to properly love anyone because of the contract he made, but if he couldn't love Sophie, the ending seems rather abrupt. He clearly cares about her given he tries to break the spell and tries to lighten her aches and pains and comes to save her. The reason Howl couldn't really fall in love with any of the girls he was courting was because Calcifer had his heart. But perhaps he ''could'' fall in love with Sophie because Calcifer knew and liked her!
72* You know, I really like that theory. Howl 'can't' love, and he's gone most of the time really. But Calcifer is there with Sophie, and Howl comes to love her through his eyes (read heart). ~ Depending how you read it, the book can make a pretty muddle of when and how Howl falls in love with Sophie as well.
73* Howl fell in love with Sophie because Calcifer, who held his heart, fell in love with her as well. He got to know hwe and spent time with her just like Markl. You can see at the end when she kisses him, he reacts rather flustered. So. That'll be a fun threeway for her.
74
75[[WMG: Most of the movie events were planned by Suliman]]
76* She obviously cares for him as a friend/mentor, and cares for people in general (both seen at the end). While she may not have forseen Sophie's involvement with Howl, she certainly was quick to capitalize on it. Her goal was to have Howl mature into a responsible wizard, possibly as her successor (which she also stated earlier). The physical threats to Howl and Sophie were just dangerous enough for Howl to take them seriously. Suliman may have even been the person who cursed Turniphead, setting the war in motion.
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78[[WMG: Calcifer is now bound to Sophie, not to Howl.]]
79In the end of the movie, Calcifer shouts about how he's free... and then immediately forms the second incarnation of the castle, making it seem like he might not be free after all. It would make sense that, because he no longer possesses Howl's heart, he's bound to Sophie because he possesses her lock of hair.
80
81[[WMG: Suliman's servant boys are magic beings based on Howl]]
82Those ever-present identical little boys of Suliman's look suspiciously like a young teenage version of Howl, albeit with his dyed blond hair rather than his natural color. Perhaps Suliman was secretly a little taken with her underage student?
83
84[[WMG: In the Movie, the Witch of the Waste's heart hadn't yet been completely consumed by her fire demon, and she got it back when Suliman depowered her]]
85In the movie, unlike in the book, the Witch of the Waste pulls a HeelFaceTurn as a result of Suliman depowering her. A logical explanation for this is that, unlike in the book, her fire demon hadn't yet completely consumed her heart (hence why she's not as villainous even before she turns.) That meant that when Suliman depowered her, her contract with her fire demon was broken and she got enough of her heart back to start to care about people again and slowly recover.
86
87[[WMG: A big Hollywood studio will make a LiveActionAdaptation of the book, with no relation to the Studio Ghibli movie other than sharing source material.]]
88Given the state of the film and TV industry right now, it's just a matter of time. It will most likely be another movie, but a TV series for streaming with each season depicting one of the books, like the new series being worked on for ''Literature/HarryPotter'' and ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', shouldn't be ruled out.
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