Protagonist

Character Role Analysis

Sophie Hatter

Protagonist 

Even though the title of this book is Howl's Moving Castle, the story is really about Sophie Hatter as she comes to accept her magical talent and to let go of all of her weird, self-defeating prejudices about being a fairytale-style ugly sister doomed to failure. Sophie's perspective provides the main focus for the narrator, and she appears on every page of the novel. There's no real question that Sophie is our main character—her point of view influences our perspective on every other character in the novel.

Howl

Protagonist 

Even though Sophie dominates this novel, the wizard Howl makes a pretty good candidate for main character too. Not only do we follow Sophie's emotional development as she matures from an anxious girl into someone less terrified by everyday life, but we also get to see Howl's character shift from feckless and irresponsible to brave and committed. Howl's clear affection for Sophie changes him—or at least it helps to bring out the good points that his generally careless behavior often hides.