What is the name of the girl who becomes the new owner of the moving castle? The answer is Sophie. Sophie Hatter is a young milliner and the eldest of three sisters who becomes connected to Howl’s magical castle after the Witch of the Waste curses her into an elderly woman.
Seeking a way to break the curse, Sophie leaves home and encounters a living scarecrow. He leads her to Howl’s moving castle, where she meets the apprentice Markl and the fire demon Calcifer. Sophie announces that she has “hired herself” as the castle’s cleaning lady, gradually becoming its practical heart and caretaker.
Her role is more than domestic. Sophie helps reconcile the castle’s inhabitants, discovers the connection between Calcifer and Howl, and repeatedly acts with courage and compassion. Her changing appearance also reflects one of the film’s central ideas: confidence and self-worth can affect how a person appears to others and to herself.
The character comes from Diana Wynne Jones’s 1986 novel, though the film changes many details. In the novel, Sophie’s sisters and family story are developed differently, while Miyazaki’s adaptation places greater emphasis on war, pacifism, love, and personal loyalty.