Watch anime in detail and you will find more. Next, I will take you into Hal's world, bringing you the most detailed and innovative interpretation, why did the war start? The secret of Sophie's changing age...
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > Hal's Moving Castle worldview (the world in which it is located</h1>).
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki and roughly adapted from the 1986 novel of the same name by Diana Wayne Jones, it can be said that the scenery is endless, and the moving castle is ever-changing, and has become an indispensable dream of childhood. Although the film based on the anime is not as detailed as the novel, it is also exciting enough.
➤ Causes of war
Sophie (the protagonist) is a young woman who works in a hat shop. At the moment, the Sufi nation was at war with another kingdom. The war began with the disappearance of Prince Justin, another country. That kingdom put the blame on the Sufi nations, and they declared war on each other.
➤ Who is Hal?
He is a powerful wizard with several pseudonyms. Hal owns a mobile castle powered by a fire demon named Cassifah. The Halle's Gate is essentially the entrance to different cities, and in each city, people know a different name for Hal. Many years ago, Hal had a brief relationship with the Wilderness Witch. When he met her, she was still a young and beautiful woman, but when he found out that it was all an illusion, he ran away.
➤ Legend of the Wilderness Witch
The Wilderness Witch is also one of the most powerful magicians in the kingdom. Fifty years ago, however, the king sent her to the "wilderness" and forbade her to enter the kingdom because he thought she was dangerous. Although Hal is completely uninterested in her, the Wilderness Witch insists on stalking Hal and does everything in her power to snatch his heart.
➤ The strongest in the wizarding world - Shaliman
Lady Sulliman was the King's advisor and the highest authority in the wizarding world. Hal was her apprentice in her youth, but never completed her training. If Sulliman thinks wizards are selfish and unfit to use magic, she can strip them of their abilities and be said to be the king of the wizarding world.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > Har's Moving Castle – a summary of the details</h1>
➤ Reasons why Sophie left home
Sophie is an introverted little girl. On her way to meet her sister Letty, two Royal Guards stopped her. They harassed her, but a young man named Hal came and rescued her from the situation.
After visiting Letty, Sophie went home. At the hat shop, a woman known as the Witch of the Wild walked in. The woman cast a spell on Sophie and turned her into a very old woman. Fearing her family's reaction, Sophie left the house and headed for the countryside.
➤ Meet friends on the road
During the journey, she encounters a turnip-headed scarecrow. She became friends with the Scarecrow, and he took her to Hal's castle. Sophie enters the room and encounters a fire demon named Cassifah. He offers to help Sophie lift the curse, provided she agrees to help him lift the curse, i.e. to undo the curse from each other.
The next day, Sophie meets a young boy named Maruk, who is Hal's apprentice. When Hal returns home, Sophie introduces herself as a cleaning lady.
➤ Hal's heart
Hal often left home to stop the war between the two kingdoms. The king summons all powerful wizards to fight, including Hal, but he refuses. Therefore, as a messenger of peace, he single-handedly confronted both sides to prevent the escalation of the conflict.
During the cleaning process, Sophie changed several Hal's bottles (hair dye products). This operation causes Hal's hair to change color, which makes him very upset. After he calmed down, he admitted that he could not face others and was accustomed to avoiding problems.
➤ Sophie learned about Hal's curse for the first time
Hal opposed the war, but he was too afraid to face the king. So Hal sent Sophie (as his mother) to convince the king that her "son" was too cowardly to fight.
On the way to the palace, Sophie encounters the Witch of the Wild, apparently having received an invitation from the king and is about to meet him. Meanwhile, an old dog follows Sophie to see the king. In the palace, Sophie meets Lady Sulliman, the king's wizard and Hal's former mentor. During their meeting, Sophie learns of Hal's curse (he has no heart).
➤ Sulliman's plan
Sulliman reveals that she wants to deprive Hal of her powers, just as she did with the Wilderness Witch. However, Sophie disagrees with Sulliman's words, and she defends Hal. Hal then disguised himself as king to take Sophie out of the palace. His disguise plan failed, because the real king came and he had no choice but to show his true form. Sulliman tried to stop them, but eventually let them escape. Later, Hal gave Sophie a ring pointing to Casifah (the location of the castle).
➤ The Mystery of Hal's Heart
Hal eventually learns that Hal often turns into a bird and fights on both sides of the war. However, with each transformation, it became increasingly difficult to change back into human form. At the same time, Hal altered the interior of the castle to make it look like Sophie's hometown.
Later, the enemy bombed the town of Sophie. Hal rescues Sophie from attacking and Sulliman's followers. Soon after, it set out to protect them, but unfortunately, with both fists unable to defeat them, a desperate Sophie tried to take her friends out of the castle. However, when she removed Cassifah, the entire castle collapsed. In the process, the Wilderness Witch realizes that Cassifah is a fire demon holding Hal's heart, and without thinking, she feels Hal's heart as she grabs Khalifa. When Sophie saw that the witch was on fire, she poured water on her and poured Kasipha down. Without an active fire demon, the castle split in two, and Sophie left the party.
➤ Travel through time and learn the truth
The magic ring carried Sophie back to the past. She saw Hal grab a falling meteor (that is, Cassifah) and give him her heart. After seeing this, Sophie fell into a dark abyss that teleported her back to the present. She then discovers Hal waiting for her and tells her to take them to see Cassifah. Sophie reunites with her friends and pleads with the Wilderness Witch to give her Hal's heart back, and she agrees. Sophie picked up the heart and put it back where it was.
Hal regained his body and Casifah was now free. Although the Fire Demon flew away, it eventually returned because it was reluctant to do so. Sophie regains her youth. Because of the severe damage caused by the fall, the radish head almost lost its life. Sophie kisses him, and as a result he becomes a handsome man who reveals himself as the missing Prince Justin, who stops the war and returns to his kingdom. The old dog reported the incident to Sulliman, and the king's wizard decided to end the war. With the end of the war, Hal, Sophie and others fly in a new moving castle.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > Hal's Moving Castle – Ending Explanation</h1>
➤ The main threads of this movie focus on Hal's heart. However, how did Hal lose his heart? Who has Hal's heart?
In the flashback, Sophie sees Hal grab and swallow a falling meteor, so it's not the woman who stole Hal's heart, it's the fire demon. So, what prompted Hal to do this? It's not very clear in the movie, but the novel explains it better.
➤ Why did Cassife carry Hal's heart?
When Hal was young, in order to save it, he gave his heart to Cassifah. When he touches Cassifah, he feels like a falling (dying) meteor, so Hal feels sorry for it and gives Cassifah his heart to prolong his life. In exchange, Cassifah gave him more power and agreed to help him do whatever he needed, such as powering the castle, a mysterious agreement to tie them together, and if Cassifah died, Hal would die too, and vice versa.
Mrs. Sulliman's comments about Hal's Heart (or lack thereof) stemmed from the wizard's deal with the Fire Demon. That's why Sulliman wants to deprive Hal of his powers, fearing that Hal will eventually use his powers to do evil, eventually acting like a Wild Witch.
➤ How did Sophie unravel the curse?
❤ Now there are two kinds of curses: Sophie's curse and howling's curse. Let's start with Sophie, what happened to Sophie? The Wilderness Witch cast a spell on Sophie, turning her into an old woman. This has to do with the nature of the spell, which sophie did not actually grow old because of the spell, which was limited to her appearance.
At first, Sophie was not a very confident young woman. She rarely says what she thinks, and most of it is hidden in her heart. Eventually, however, when she confronts her true self and the people she loves, Sophie finally breaks the curse and returns to her true age.
Hal and Cassifah can't live without each other, and if one dies the other will die too– it's a curse. In addition, Hal uses a portion of his humanity as a price to gain more power, which is why it becomes increasingly difficult for him to transform back into human form each time he transforms.
When Sophie poured water on the witch, she accidentally weakened Casifa. Cassif became unconscious, which is why the castle split and Hal lost consciousness. When Sophie took Hal's heart (Kashifa) from the witch, she made a wish before returning it to Hal. That wish is a spell. It broke the curse of Cassifah and Hal by enabling them to live independently.
➤ Is Sophie a witch?
The novel suggests that Sophie is also a witch. Throughout the film, there are also some indications that Sophie has superpowers. For example, when she meets Radish Head, when Sophie speaks to him, he wakes up. Another example of Sophie's abilities is the scene where she whispers to Cassifah: her wish comes true and Cassifah and Hal can coexist. That being said, Sophie's abilities are largely related to her ability to give life to inanimate objects.
➤ Sophie – Personality Analysis
❤ Sophie is an introverted young lady whose dress choice reflects her view of herself: ordinary. Sophie's behavior was almost painful, and she often stripped herself of the right to feel beautiful, which was evident in her interactions with her sister Letty. When Sophie tells Letty that Hal escorts her to her destination, her sister warns her that Hal has a strange habit of eating pretty girls' hearts. But, Sophie disagreed, saying that she wasn't pretty enough for Hal to eat her. This shows that Sophie's self-confidence level is very low.
❤ Another example of Sophie's inferiority complex is the hair coloring incident. When Hal gets angry at the color of her hair, Sophie goes mad and rushes out of the castle, crying and complaining about her "horrible" appearance, however, when she falls in love with Hal and starts doing what she really wants to do instead of what people expect her to do, everything changes.
➤ Hal – Personality Analysis
❤ Hal is a charming wizard with his own inner demons. At first, he seemed powerful, and it was, but he also had a side like a little boy, for example, the orange hair incident, and it turned out that Hal also had self-image problems. Hal was born with black hair, but he liked blonde hair. Therefore, he often stained it. So, when Sophie replaced his hair bottle and turned his hair orange, Hal lost his temper and almost went into a state of catatonia.
❤ By the way, Hal is very afraid of confrontation, and whenever he encounters a problem, he runs away. Hal just fled the witch, hoping she would leave on her own, but apparently she didn't. In addition, he uses pseudonyms in his personal and professional life, and Hal is basically far away from everyone, and he will take extreme measures,
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the final idea</h1>
➤ Hal's Moving Castle is a beautiful coming-of-age story that touches on related themes such as war, aging and compassion.
War is ugly, and most of the time unnecessary, and Prince Justin's disappearance proves it. Neighbouring countries have waged wars without concrete evidence and have also caused havoc on others without cause for any reason.
➤ Another interesting theme of Hal's moving castle is aging. There is an interesting aspect of Sophie's curse: getting older is actually good for her, the older Sophie no longer worries about what others think, and besides, the older age also makes Sophie more natural, without invitation, the young Sophie will not enter Hal Castle, however, the old Sophie does not care.
➤ The film shows that compassion is not a weakness, and sophie's strength lies in her ability to empathize with others. Take the Wild Witch as an example, Where Sophie hates the woman to the bone, and when Lady Sulliman deprives the Witch of her powers, you think Sophie will be happy about it and take revenge on the Witch. However, Sophie did not do so, and instead she took the witch to Hal's castle and took care of her.
Another example of Sophie's big heart is the last scene, when the witch carries Hal's heart and wreaks havoc in the castle, sophie hugs her and pleads with her to give her heart back. A natural reaction was to resort to violence to solve the problem, but Sophie chose the opposite approach, thus saving Hal.
Overall, "Hal's Moving Castle" is a very gorgeous work of art by Miyazaki Hayao, which lingers in the hearts of the audience and will not leave for a long time, making people can't help but savor three points. In addition, by watching the film over and over again, new details or nuances can still be discovered, which is a story of growth and a war romance, and Hal's Moving Castle is undoubtedly a timeless masterpiece.