Many of us have seen Howl’s Moving Castle created by Miyazaki. But did you know it was based on the book by Diana Wynne Jones?
For a while I didn’t until I finally owned a DVD of it. Then I realized there was a book! Can you believe that? I couldn’t.
It took me a little to find it and then read it, but here it is!
A Short Summary for Both Versions
Sophie, turned into an older woman by the Wicked Witch of the Waste, must leave home, where she stumbles into Howl’s castle and eventually stays there.
If you haven’t seen the movie or read the book, I’d recommend that you do so and then return. If you don’t care about spoilers, then please read on!
What’s different with the book?
The introduction feels longer. It took a bit before Sophie gets transformed into her old self and sets out on her journey. We get to meet both of her sisters, Martha and Lettie, and there is a whole backstory to what the three girls are doing and why they ended up where they were. I felt sorry for Sophie in the hat shop because she was talking to them a lot more than in the movie. But that is a foreshadow to a scene later!
Diana is very good at foreshadowing, using all the info in the story, and tricking me! And believe me, it’s very rare that I can be tricked when reading a story! It’s especially impossible to trick me twice with the same trick in the same story, but somehow, she did it. I’ll explain in a moment.
Continuing. A few chapters in, we get that shop visit from the wicked witch of the waste. It’s a little shorter than what I recall of the movie. I haven’t watched that movie recently for our brief review here today, but I’ve seen it enough to know that it’s very similar and yet shorter.
In the movie, the witch has two gooey black servants, but in the book, those servants seem like real people. Even by the end of the book, I wasn’t sure if they were real, but I know at least one of them was. One of them tries to warn Sophie to not challenge the witch, which has consequences for both. Later in the book, it is revealed that the witch switched up random body parts with Wizard Sullaman and the missing prince. These somewhat new creations were then turned into the scarecrow and a dog (that appears much earlier in the book).
The scarecrow was much scarier and not as friendly. He didn’t play a big roll either, and his curse wasn’t broken by a kiss from Sophie. Miyazaki made that up.
The dog came in after Sophie had made her visit to the king (which was slightly different in the movie, still don’t know that one character’s name she was talking to lol). This dog was not the same dog and never was the same dog throughout the book! Every now and then the dog would change back into its human form to say a few words then be forced back into a new random dog form. So Howl would have to comment on the new dog following Sophie.
Another major change was with Howl and the witch. Howl’s curse was different. We don’t get that big monster bird form of his or the odd, beautiful room he lives in. His room is extremely dirty, by the way! I won’t reveal too much about the room because there is an interesting secret there that hints at his personality even though he shows a completely different one. Honestly, I’m not sure if I fully understood the curse myself. I know it would involve the witch owning Howl and Calcifer.
However, Calcifer and Howl are still bound to each other by the contract. Calcifer still holds Howl’s blackened heart, too. Diana hints at it (even though I knew he had it) through Howl’s glassy eyes and the various clues left by both Howl and Calcifer. I kind of wandered if they knew what the other was doing at times because they seemed to be intentionally leading Sophie. Calcifer was trying to break his curse, but Howl gave way too many clues about his heart.
The witch also has a fire demon bound to her by a contract. This seems to be a minor fact and point up until the end. Diana intentionally led us on by not making it a big deal until the last chapter or two. I won’t give away the ending because there is a plot twist. I will say is that the ending for the witch is way different! Miyazaki is much kinder to her than Diana.
Howl’s black door was different too. I don’t think we ever get to see where it goes up until the end of the movie. Even then, the destination feels different from where it goes in the book. Howl is from a very advanced society, so it was weird (but cool) to have Diana describe a video game which is something Sophie has never seen.
I think that is most of the major differences besides a few details I intentionally skipped. I don’t want to spoil everything; ya know.
How I felt towards the end
I won’t give away the ending, but yes, Howl and Sophie do fall in love. It happens early in the movie compared to the book. I got down to the last five chapters and I’m sitting there thinking, “It’s going to be this chapter”. Then I got to the last two chapters and I’m like “Where the fu*k is the romance, Diana!”
I was a little upset and thought it wasn’t going to happen until the last few pages. She waited until the last few pages, and it felt right for this version! Miyazaki does highlight that more than Diana, which I’m fine with. It makes them both unique in a way.
Other then that, this is also where a major twist happened and I won’t elaborate on it anymore. Emoji’s were high!
How did Diana trick me?
As I said, Diana tricked me. She did a great job in leading me on into thinking Howl was this big player up until over halfway through the book. Then we learn all the woman that Howl had been seeing was him trying to get more information on Sophie and her curse. I should have seen it coming because they were all related to Sophie in a way (family or a onetime event). I was very proud of Diana when I found out what she was doing. I thought she wouldn’t get me again, but she did.
When the schoolteacher came into play, things changed. Because Sophie believed Howl was in love with her, I believed it! I didn’t find out differently until the last two chapters. Diana tricked me again lol! I think it may have been in the last chapter after I had started to think there was no romance between Sophie and Howl lol.
Did the flying scene in the intro of the movie happen?
Remember when Howl and Sophie meet, and the witch is chasing them then after he takes Sophie away from a couple of creepy dudes? Yeah, that never happened.
Howl was the one creeping on Sophie lol and called her ‘little mouse’. It was that scene where I realized just how different the book was going to be lol. I was a bit disappointed because I wanted to see how Diana would write a scene like that, yet I’m glad it didn’t happen. The flying scene is Miyazaki’s magic at work.
Do I see where Miyazaki got his magic from?
Oh, hell yes! The ending scene when the pair fall in love is that same magic that Miyazaki uses in his own version. That must be where he got his main inspiration from, then picked out a few scenes that fit that magic and changed the rest that didn’t.
Am I happy with Diana’s version of the stories?
Yes. Yes, I am! It’s different from the movie and I appreciate that. As fans, we often get caught up in seeing a movie in a negative light if it doesn’t follow the book exactly. Yet, Miyazaki’s version compliments what Diana wrote. Now that I’ve read both, I love them for the unique versions they bring out. I love Miyazaki’s romantic magic and it’s defiantly my ‘feel-good’ story to go too on bad days. Diana’s version hits deep on a more emotional side of Howl that I appreciate. We see a much darker and deeper version that Miyazaki doesn’t explore.
I’d love to see what a movie would look like if Miyazaki’s and Diana’s versions were combined. We get that princely romantic Howl combined with his deep dark natures and secrets. I might have to write my own prince story now lol. Then again, I already have a prince in my oversized multiverse. Might just have to pull him out for a short readable in a month or two.
In conclusion
You should read it! No more questions and no more yapping from me. Find that book and read it. See if you enjoy it as much as I did!
I think I learned more from reading this then a modern story to be honest. I haven’t seen writing like this in a very long time.
Anyway, go and read this story and thanks for reading! If you’ve read this book already or have seen the movie, leave a comment on your favorite part!