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galdorleod) wrote2018-09-18 02:26 pm
General Info about Howl
  
galdorléoð |
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BACKGROUNDThis follows the canon of the movie, but includes non-contradictory details from the novel to fill in the gaps. Howl was born as Howell Jenkins. Little is known about his family or early childhood, but by the age of ten, he was in the care of his uncle. As a wizard in the service of the King, his uncle had little time to take care of him, and for the most part Howell grew up as a "latchkey kid." During the summers he lived alone in a cottage situated in the mountains, beside a lake surrounded by muddy marshland. During his uncle's long absences, he enjoyed long periods of unsupervised freedom. It was during this time that Howell discovered his talent for magic and taught himself many of the fundamentals of wizardry, having nothing else to do but read his uncle's dusty books. One summer night, while alone at the cottage, ten year old Howell watched shooting stars begin to fall from the sky. He knew from reading his uncle's books that shooting stars were actually demons falling to earth, desperate for a few precious moments of freedom even if it meant that they would fizzle out and die within seconds of coming into the world. He ran out into the marsh surrounding the lake and managed to catch one in his hands. Feeling sorry for the demon, he offered to make a bargain with him: he would give him his heart (both in the metaphorical sense and the literal sense), and in exchange, their lives would be bound together. This would allow the demon to live much, much longer than he would ever be able to otherwise, and at the same time, Howell's magical power would be multiplied a hundredfold. The demon accepted. After Howell swallowed the shooting star, the demon emerged from his chest with his heart in tow in the form of a soft, black lump. From that point on, Howell and the demon, named Calcifer, were bound together by their agreement. If Calcifer were to die, Howell would die as well, and vice versa. With a demon contract secured in secret, Howell quickly began to excel in his studies and impress the adults around him with his magical abilities. His early aptitude and his uncle's connections brought Howl to the attention of the elderly Madame Suliman, the King's Royal Sorceress. Madame Suliman decided to take him in as her final apprentice, implicitly choosing Howell as her replacement after she died and giving him an unmatched magical education. Howell traveled to the capital city of Ingary, both to enroll in the Sorcerer's Academy and to study under Madame Suliman, and returned to his uncle's cottage whenever school was not in session. However, as Howell aged, he became more and more interested in using magic to entertain himself and make himself happy. The young man was already without a family and a sense of belonging, and raising himself had not given him any tolerance for rules or routines. On top of that, as long as his heart was in the possession of a demon, it was frozen in time, never able to mature beyond that of a child. His inexplicable talent gave Madame Suliman extra incentive to be patient with him, but he was a difficult student, easily distracted by indulgences and frivolities. He formally graduated from the academy when he was twenty-one years old. His graduation reaffirmed the oath he took when he enrolled: to serve the Kingdom of Ingary whenever called upon, specifically, in times of war. Unfortunately, shortly afterwards, Madame Suliman discovered Howell's contract with Calcifer. Demonic contracts were known to slowly taint the minds of humans, and with Howell having given away something as precious as his own heart, the risk of him turning monstrous and evil at a relatively young age was high. Madame Suliman's response to the revelation was heavy-handed and did nothing to de-escalate the situation. She ordered Howell to be captured, detained and subjected to known methods of breaking demonic contracts, none of which are pleasant for the wizard, nevermind the demon. While this was intended to be in Howell's best interests, the prospect terrified him. He could not face the embarrassment of being exposed for what he really was and did not want to lose either his immense power or his friend. Howell escaped before he could be caught, effectively abandoning his apprenticeship with Madame Suliman and becoming an unofficial fugitive. Using the cottage from his childhood as a starting base, he channeled his power together with Calcifer's to construct a magical, portable, inter-dimensional castle, made from random rooms, rooftops, cannons, smokestacks and other bits of architecture, that could move about on two pairs of metal chicken legs. To support himself, he set up shops in several different cities under different aliases, selling potions and spells to the general public. Each storefront connected magically to the front door of his castle, which roams the countryside he grew up in. With his newfound freedom, Howl was able to pursue his own interests. He intentionally spread rumors about himself as a dangerous wizard who consumed the hearts of maidens, hoping it would keep people from bothering him while allowing him to conduct business under his pseudonyms. In the meantime, Howl continued to follow his impulses, chasing skirts and spending every coin he made on trinkets and clothing. As he aged into an adult, the fact that he'd sold his heart to Calcifer as a child was catching up to him, and he began to desperately search for a way to fill the sense of emptiness that was growing inside. From there, the events of the movie happen, which are summed up here. PERSONALITYThe most significant driving factor of Howl's personality is the fact that he sold his heart to a demon when he was ten. Both the book and the movie strongly imply that he is emotionally stunted or hindered due to his contract with Calcifer. In the movie in particular, Howl displays a smile in most situations, maintaining a calm and confident veneer whenever possible. But in more intimate moments, he is revealed to be flighty, selfish, vain, and easily distracted. Howl is quick to pity himself or blurt aloud insensitive thoughts. He struggles to open up to others or seek help when he needs it. He doesn't think twice about using his power for entirely selfish purposes - which other wizards in more honest employ (such as Madame Suliman) refer to as "dark magic." This isn't to say that Howl is a "child trapped in an adult's body", as all other aspects of his psyche have matured like normal. Still, his emotional immaturity seeps into other aspects of his life. Howl loves money and is a successful entrepreneur; but the kinder, more childish side of his heart allows him to undercharge the poor at his own expense. He has an intense interest in women; nevertheless, he's actually very bad at romance in the long-term - when a relationship begins to go wrong, he will simply ghost her, effectively making the problem go away without having to deal with it. On the other hand, when Howl himself gets dumped, he can collapse into a melodramatic magic-fueled temper tantrum, with no sense of how his behavior could have been responsible or how his reaction affects the people around him. He is materialistic and superficial, spending hours of every morning alone in the bathroom, casting various grooming spells on himself to improve his hair, his eyes, his skin, and who knows what else. Howl is so vain and stuck on his own appearance that he believes, childishly, that life isn't worth living if he can't be beautiful. He spends money lavishly on fashionable clothes and novelties, to the point that he may not always have money for basic necessities like food. His immaturity and his enormous magical power often cross paths. As mentioned above, when something goes wrong for Howl, he can explode into an absurd magical display of emotion. Howl seems not to fully appreciate the danger he can bring to others or himself during his outbursts. Instead, he relies on others to clean up after him and will rarely acknowledge that it was an inappropriate outburst in the first place. Despite Howl's faults, he has strong moral convictions and a pure-hearted perspective. He despises conflict of all kind, and is usually too cowardly to face intimidating situations, but if circumstances are dire enough, his strong principles win out and he's willing to defend the people and ideas he cares about. Even then, he acts impulsively, without thinking about the risk to himself. For example, during the course of the movie, Howl transforms into a monstrous bird form to disrupt a war he disagrees with - even though it becomes harder and harder for him to retain his humanity and change back with each subsequent transformation. He is so committed to saving lives through this self-destructive method that he begins to plan for his death, or at least the loss of his humanity, by getting his affairs in order and setting up a way for his "family" to survive after he is gone. Howl earnestly wants to see others prosper and be happy, as long as their happiness doesn't require any disruptions of his personal habits or desires. He intentionally undercharges the poorer people who come to his magic shops asking for spells, while intentionally overcharging any job that has connections to the wealthy, the government, or the King. In the same way that he doesn't think twice before buying a new toy to make himself happy, he doesn't think twice about helping someone in need, or even allowing them into his castle to spend the night. His two roommates in the castle, Markl and Sophie, were both "adopted" after they wandered inside - and Howl, sensing that they needed help, never told them to leave. Howl values his personal freedom more than almost everything else. He spreads rumors about "the Wizard Howl" around the country, purposefully leading others to believe that he's both a malicious heartbreaker who should be avoided at all costs and a bumbling useless coward who can't be relied on - or required - to do anything. In the meantime, he operates his business behind numerous aliases in different cities; if one alias ever gets its reputation soured, he'd simply abandon it and open up a new shop under a different name elsewhere. What Howl would call freedom and spontaneity, others would call cowardice and impulsivity, but Howl doesn't care about what others think as long as he's comfortable, happy, handsome, and doing good deeds in the world in his own special way. His inner childish nature and demonic secrets are kept hidden behind a cool, confident, playful veneer from anyone but those closest to him. ABILITIESHowl is an incredibly powerful wizard, thanks to his magical link with the demon Calcifer. While he's capable of many numerous common spells and incantations, he has a few major powers in the movie. For information on Howl's spellcasting abilities in Shapeshifting - Howl has the ability to transform himself into a large bird-like monster. The monster has the wings and tail of a swallow, but no legs, and Howl keeps his human face while transformed. Howl can fly while in this form and engage in air combat with other flying beings. However, there is a risk of this form overpowering Howl's mind and making him unable to transform back into a human. When the form is beginning to overpower him, he becomes more and more bird-like, sometimes having his human face buried in feathers or being replaced with a monstrous bird face entirely. Howl's skills in shapeshifting are tied to other related abilities. He can disguise himself to resemble other humans. Or, relatedly, he can cast illusory spells on himself to change his hair color, eye color, or complexion - usually for the sake of making himself more beautiful and alluring towards women. Potions and spells - Howl's main method of supporting himself financially is to sell spells and potions. Neither the movie or the book go into the limits of these spells, but it's safe to assume that they can affect a wide variety of things, from helping a sailor have a safe voyage by influencing the winds to making a man more beautiful towards women. In the book, some of Howl's spells depend mostly on a placebo effect, i.e., the purchaser's belief that it will work, but never entirely. Notably, potions are what Howl uses to improve his appearance every morning before going out. Portals and conjuring - These are related, but not the same. Howl has the ability to create rooted portals that lead to places they are not actually connected to, namely, the castle's door that can lead to numerous cities at the same time. Relatedly, Howl can also conjure objects from elsewhere, although this is only seen in the book. For example, in a scene where he discovers he's out of firewood, he conjures some logs from the storage of someone who owes him money. I'd lump these two powers together since they relate to the manipulation of space and distance. MISCELLANEOUS✶ Although I'm playing movie!Howl, I fill in the blanks of his backstory with complimentary details from the book. If you think he ever starts to get too close to book!Howl, please give me a heads up! ✶ Image reference for Howl's bird form. ✶ |
