"DISGUSTING LITTLE CREATURES... SOON ALL OF YOU WILL FEEL MY HATE — AND SUFFER AS I HAVE SUFFERED..."
— The Demon, Nago's, dying curse
"You cannot alter your fate, my prince. However, you can rise to meet it, if you choose."
— Elder Hii-sama
"These days, there are angry ghosts all around us - dead from wars, sickness, starvation - and nobody cares. So you say you're under a curse? Well so what? So's the whole damn world."
— Jigo
"Leave."
— San, The Mononoke Hime
Lady Eboshi: What exactly are you here for?
Prince Ashitaka: To see with eyes unclouded - by hate.
Lady Eboshi: This is the latest rifle that I've asked these people to design. The Chinese muskets we brought here have turned out to be too heavy. These will kill forest monsters and pierce the thickest Samurai armour.
Technician: (jokingly) You'd better watch out there, young man. The Lady Eboshi wants to rule the world.
Eboshi: I'm sorry to have to push you all so hard. I'll have sake sent down later.
Technician: Ooh, that'll be nice.
Prince Ashitaka: (growing quietly furious) First you steal the boar's forest from him, then transform him into a demon. Now you're making even deadlier weapons. How much more hatred and pain do you think we need?!
Eboshi: Yes, I'm the one who shot the boar. And I'm sorry you suffer I truly am. That brainless pig... I'm the one he should have put a curse on, not you.
Ashitaka: (seething with rage, his cursed arm is bulging with a fury not entirely his own; the muscles contort, taking control of his bones and whatever is left of Nago's spirit tries to take his revenge with Ashitaka's blade. The Emishi youth just manages to bring the rebellious arm under control and sheath his sword while the gun-smiths recoil in terror)
Eboshi: Does that right hand of yours wish to kill me now, Ashitaka?
Ashitaka: (still struggling) If it would lift the curse, I'd let it tear you apart. But even that wouldn't end the killing now, would it?
Eboshi: No, it wouldn't. It would have to kill all of us to be at peace.
"Forgive me, my Lady, but you must not make light of the boy's strength. Young man, like you I know what rage feels like, and grief and helplessness. But you must not take your revenge on Lady Eboshi. She's the only one - who saw us as human beings. We are lepers. The world hates and fears us, but she, she took us in, and washed our rotting flesh and bandaged us. (racked by coughing) Life is suffering. It is hard. The world is cursed but still - you find reasons to keep living."
— Osa
"Hitotsu Futatsu wa Akago mo Fumuga
Mittsu Yottsu wa Oni mo Naku, Naku
Tatara Onna wa Kogane no Nasake
Tokete Nagarerya Yaiba ni Kawaru"
{"One, Two, even babies can push
Three, Four, even an ogre would cry
The golden love of a Tatara woman
Melts and flows, and changes into a blade"}
— The Tatara women work song
Prince Ashitaka: (sees riflemen readying their cannons) It's a trap. NO, WAIT! PRINCESS OF THE WOLF GODS, DON'T GO DOWN THERE! GO BACK TO THE FOREST!
San, The Mononoke Hime: (does not even look at him)
Ashitaka: LISTEN TO ME, PLEASE, DON'T THROW YOUR LIFE AWAY!
Gonza: (turns to Lady Eboshi) Shall I stop him?
Lady Eboshi: (considers the pair on the roof of the foundry) Leave him be. Let him do what he likes.
San: (as her wolf brothers howl in the distance, their cries echoing over the cleared hills, she raises her knife, resplendent in her mask of war and charges down the roof towards the townspeople and her target at a blistering speed)
"Stay back. Cut off a wolf's head and it still has the power to bite. Take aim where she falls."
— Lady Eboshi
(in the midst of Lady Eboshi and San fighting to the death, Ashitaka forses his way effortlessly through the encircling crowd surrounding the two combatants. He then puts himself between the pair, holding them apart, restraining San's knife hand while parrying Eboshi's katana)
Lady Eboshi: What do you think you're doing, boy?!
Prince Ashitaka: Stay your hand. The girl's life is now mine.
San, The Mononoke Hime: (viciously bites Ashitaka's right arm like a feral animal, growling, trying to rend his flesh)
Ashitaka: There's a demon inside of you. It's inside both of you.
San: (her gnawing on Ashitaka's forearm reveals the curse, causing her to recoil and the mob around them to gasp in shock as the tendrils of shadow come to life)
Ashitaka: LOOK, EVERYONE! THIS IS WHAT HATRED LOOKS LIKE! THIS IS WHAT IT DOES WHEN IT CATCHES HOLD OF YOU! IT'S EATING ME ALIVE, AND VERY SOON NOW IT WILL KILL ME! FEAR AND ANGER ONLY MAKE IT GROW FASTER!
San, The Mononoke Hime: Why did you stop me from killing her? Speak! While you're still alive!
Prince Ashitaka: (faint from blood-loss) I didn't want them to kill you... That's why.
San: I'm not afraid to die. I'd do anything to get you humans out of my forest!
Ashitaka: I knew that... from the first moment I saw you...
San: And I'm not afraid of you! I should kill you for saving her! (she turns Ashitaka over roughly, takes out his short sword, and poises it bare millimetres over his throat) That woman is evil, and there's no-one who can stop me from killing her.
Ashitaka: No... Live...
San: That's enough! I'm not listening to you any more! (presses blade tip to his Adam's Apple)
Ashitaka: (opening his eyes, on the cusp of unconsciousness, he gasps with the sincerity inherent only to the dying) ... You're... beautiful...
San: (gasps, and jumps away from his felled form as if burned)
Boar in Okkoto's Tribe: We are here to kill the humans and save the forest. Why are there humans here, Moro?
Moro, The Wolf Goddess: Humans are everywhere these days. Go back to your own mountain, kill them there. The girl is San, my daughter.
Boar: We will kill them here, we will save this forest. What is that other human doing here?!
San, The Mononoke Hime: He was shot and then the Great Spirit healed his wound. This man is not our enemy!
Boar: The Forest Spirit saved him? Saved the life of this loathsome runt? Why didn't he save Nago? Is he not the guardian of the forest? WHY!?!
Moro: The Forest Spirit gives life and takes life away. Life and death are his alone. Or have you boars forgotten that?
Boar: YOU LIE! You must have begged the Forest Spirit to spare his life! But you did not beg for Nago, did you?
Moro: Nago was afraid to die. Now, I too, carry within my breast a poisoned human bullet. Nago fled, and the darkness took him. I remain, and contemplate my death.
San: Mother, please ask the Forest Spirit to save you!
Moro: I have lived long enough, San. Soon, the Forest Spirit will let me rest forever.
San: All these years, you've defended the Forest Spirit! He must save you!
Boar: You are not fooling us! Nago was beautiful and strong! He would not have run from anything! You wolves must have eaten him!
San: Quiet! Watch what you say, you filthy pig!
"Look on my tribe, Moro. We grow small, and we grow stupid. We will soon be nothing but squealing game... that the humans hunt for their meat."
— Okkoto, The Boar God
"Haritsumeta yumi no
Furueru tsuru yo
Tsuki no hikari ni zawameku
Omae no kokoro
Togisumasareta yaiba no utsukushii
Sono kissaki ni yoku nita
Sonata no yokogao
Kanashimi to ikari ni hisomu
Makoto no Kokoro wo
Shiru wa Mori no sei
Mononoke tachi dake...
Mononoke tachi dake..."
{"In the moonlight I felt your heart
Quiver like a bow string’s pulse
In the moon’s pale light you looked at me
Nobody knows your heart...
When the sun has gone I see you
Beautiful and haunting but cold
Like the blade of a knife so sharp so sweet
Nobody knows your heart...
All of your sorrow, grief and pain
Locked away in the forest of the night
Your secret heart
Belongs to the world
Of the things that sigh in the dark...
Of the things that cry in the dark..."}
— もののけ姫, Mononoke Hime. Sung by - Masako Hayashi (JP)
,Sasha Lazard (EN)'
,Sasha Lazard (EN)'Moro, The Wolf Goddess: You know, you could always jump, boy. End it all. As soon as your strength returns, the mark will spread and destroy you.
Prince Ashitaka: It feels like I must have been asleep for weeks. I had a dream that San was by my side, nursing me...
Moro: I was hoping you'd cry out in your sleep. Then I would have bitten your head off to silence you.
Ashitaka: It's a beautiful forest. Are Okkoto and the boars on the move yet?
Moro: Yes, the boars are marching. The trees cry out as they die, but you cannot hear them. I lie here. I listen to the pain of the forest... and feel the ache of the bullet in my chest... and I dream of the day when I will finally crunch that gun woman's head in my jaws.
Ashitaka: Moro, why can't the humans and the forest live together? Why can't we stop this fighting now?
Moro: The humans are gathering for the final battle. The flames of their guns will burn us all.
Ashitaka: And what happens to San? What's your plan, to let her die with you?
Moro: Typical. Selfish. You think like a human. San is my daughter. She is of the Wolf Tribe. When the forest dies, so does she.
Ashitaka: You must set her free! She's not a wolf. She's human!
Moro: SILENCE, BOY. How dare you speak to a god like that? I caught her human parents defiling my forest. They threw their baby at my feet as they ran away. Instead of eating her, I raised her as my own. Now, my poor, ugly, beautiful daughter is neither human nor wolf. How could you help her?
Ashitaka: I don't know... But at least we might find a way to live.
Moro: HA! HA! HA! HAA! How? Will you join forces with San and fight the humans?
Ashitaka: No. All that would do is cause more hatred.
Moro: Then there is nothing you can do, boy.
"LORD OKKOTO! CALM YOUR FURY! Almighty Lord! Let me have the girl, I beg of you! Please, let her go! San, are you there?! It's me, Ashitaka!" (Okkoto roars at the boy in his path and the young warrior, to his unmatched horror, spots San's foot wriggling in the mass of corruptive blood tendrils bursting from the god turned demon's mouth and skull) SAAAAAAN!"
— Prince Ashitaka
"Here I was saving the last of my strength to bite off that damn woman's head. But I must save San..."
— Moro, The Wolf Goddess
"Now watch closely, everyone. I'm going to show you how to kill a god. A god of life and death. The trick is not to fear him."
— Lady Eboshi
San, The Mononoke Hime: (as Ashitaka brings the maimed Eboshi to safety, she tears off the crystal necklace he gifted to her as a token) GIVE HER TO ME! I'LL CUT HER THROAT!
Prince Ashitaka: Your Clan has been avenged, your mother saw to that. (takes off his tunic to use as a tourniquet for Eboshi's severed arm)
Gonza: (ever concerned with his mistress) Lady Eboshi!
Ashitaka: Help me. (they staunch her bleeding together)
San: (stands aloof, betrayed by her friend's fence-saddling, silent with grief and fury)
Eboshi: (to Ashitaka) Don't waste your sympathy... (gasps in agony as he ties off the ruptured blood vessels)
Ashitaka: (firmly explaining the only reason he didn't leave her and Gonza to die) I promised Toki that I'd bring you back to Iron Town. (turns to see the headless Night-walker laying waste to the forest across the pond's glade, toppling trees) He's searching for his head. We can't stay here. San...
San: (she recoils at his address)
Ashitaka: You have got to help us.
San: NO! You're on their side, you always were! Take that damn woman and just go away!
Ashitaka: (beseeching) San...
San: NEVER! I hate ALL of you humans!
Ashitaka: Yes, I'm human, San. And... So are you.
San: STOP IT! I'm a wolf, you hear!
Ashitaka: (reaching out to her, imploring) San...
San: Stay back! (tries to drive the tiny wedge of crystal through his chest, Ashitaka endures the assault stoically and San whimpers as she realises her folly, meeting his eyes of understanding with her own, brimming over with regret and hopelessness)
Ashitaka: (embraces her) I'm sorry... I tried to stop it...
(the Night-walker continues his rampage, killing every ounce of greenery in sight and beyond)
San: It's over... Everything's over. The forest is dead.
Ashitaka: Nothing is over. The two of us are still alive. Now will you help me, San?
