He wasted no time in trying to strike a bargain with her ("How about making a bargin with me? I'll break your spell if you agree to break this contract I'm under."). Although he is bound to the hearth, Calcifer possesses a great amount of magic, which allows him to recognise the fact that Sophie is under a strong curse, along with her special abbility to talk life into things. Whereas Calcifer is forced to do all the strong magic to keep the moving castle going and has no real freedom of his own.
Due to his lack of heart, Howl cannot truly love a woman (he goes after them and loses interest as soon as he had made them love him in return). However, as they both realised some years after the deal was made, that "the contract isn't doing either of us any good in the long run". Calcifer's only thought at the time was for him to do anything to stay alive, which caused him to agree to the deal immediately. Howl felt sorry for Calcifer and made a bargain with him to save his life: Howl gave Calcifer something very precious to him, his heart, and in return, Calcifer has to stay within the castle and heat and power it. It is revealed later in the novel that Calsifer used to be a shooting star and was caught by Howl on his way down to Earth. Sophie encounters Howl's fire demon, Calcifer, when she first enters the castle. There are four doors to his castle, only one of which is real, and which is enchanted to open to four different places at one time. Sophie soon learns that Howl spreads these rumors about himself to keep his privacy. Sophie leaves the shop and finds work as a cleaning lady for Wizard Howl, famous in her town for eating the hearts of young women. That is, until she is turned into an old lady by the Witch of the Waste, a powerful witch.
As the eldest, she is resigned to the fact that she will have no chance of finding her fortune, accepting that she will have a dull life running the family hat shop. The novel is about a young woman named Sophie Hatter who is the oldest of three daughters living in the town of Market Chipping in the kingdom of Ingary where many fairy-tales are accepted ways of life. Along the way, she discovers that there's far more to Howl-and herself-than first meets the eye. To untangle the enchantment, Sophie must handle the heartless Howl, strike a bargain with a fire demon, and meet the Witch of the Waste head-on. Her only chance at breaking it lies in the ever-moving castle in the hills: the Wizard Howl's castle. But when she unwittingly attracts the ire of the Witch of the Waste, Sophie finds herself under a horrid spell that transforms her into an old lady. All in all, I highly recommend this novel if you're looking for a light, magical read.Sophie has the great misfortune of being the eldest of three daughters, destined to fail miserably should she ever leave home to seek her fate.
I've also seen the Studio Ghibli film version of the story, and I think that both the film and book versions were equally as charming. I enjoyed how eccentric Howl was, and it was very entertaining to read through his and Sophie's bickering. I enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere of the fairytale-like novel, and each of the characters all held a special place in my heart. Howl's Moving Castle is truly a very lovely story, and as I read the story, I found that it was very easy and light to read. Sophie quickly decides to appoint herself as Howl's castle cleaner, and we follow Sophie and Howl through their escapades, rooting for Sophie's curse to be broken. Howl, rumored to be an evil wizard who eats the hearts of young women turns out not to be so harmless after all. Sophie, seeking out an end to her curse, finds her way into Howl's mechanical moving castle, and in it, she meets Calcifer, a snarky fire demon, Michael, Howl's kind apprentice, and of course, Howl. However, she gets cursed one day by the Witch of the Waste and is turned into an old woman. Sophie Hatter is a pretty average girl whose been left to maintain her family's hat shop. Howl's Moving Castle is a fantasy novel about the infamous wizard Howl, and a cursed hatmaker named Sophie.
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