Haku

Role in Movie
A young boy who is a dragon in the disguise of a human, who helps Chihiro after her parents have transformed into pigs. Haku works as Yubaba's direct subordinate, often running errands and performing various missions for her. He has the ability to fly in his true form, which is a dragon. Over the course of the movie his relationship with Chihiro becomes stronger, especially after she learns he is a dragon. This bond eventually leads to them falling in love, for it was their love for each other that broke Zeniba's spell on Haku. Haku was originally the spirit of the Kohaku River and knows Chihiro because he once saved her from drowning. When the river was destroyed and filled in with apartments, he no longer had a home and went to the spirit world, where he became Yubaba's apprentice. Toward the end of the story Chihiro recalls her memory of falling into the Kohaku (コハク lit. "amber") river, of which Haku was the spirit; she thus frees him from Yubaba's service by helping him remember his real name and past, which he had forgotten due to the name change and the curse which Yubaba has placed on him. Haku was once a river spirit who had entered the spirit world seeking to learn magic from Yubaba, and as a result became a worker who followed her every command. When Yubaba is nearby, Haku is as sharp-voiced and stern to Chihiro as to anyone else.

Character Description
Haku appears firstly to Chihiro as a boy, around age of 13, 3 years older than Chihiro herself. He has pale skin, compared to Chihiro's slightly tanned one, dark-green/forest green shoulder-length hair with straight bangs and deep emerald green eyes. His clothes can be considered as traditional japanese clothing. He wears white hakama which covers his blue clothing and it's tied by a purple ribbon belt. He often uses a pair of traditional sandals.

The dragon version of Haku resembles a Chinese dragon. His head shape is similar to a wolf's, but he has two sharply pointed horns that slant backwards, positioned beside his ears to the inside; he also has two long whiskers attached to either side of his muzzle, similar to those of a catfish. His body is long and slender, with silvery white scales, gray stomach scales, and a sea green fur as a mane that follows the majority of his back, as well as a large tuft on his tail. He has 2 pairs of feet which are similar to bird's feet.

Character Trivia
Haku's past is still unknown until now. There are some contradictions about his being after Chihiro left the spirit world, based on the japanese and english conversations. In English version, when he intrigued Yubaba to release Chihiro out of her contract, Yubaba responded that if Chihiro failed, she would become hers. But, in Japanese, her respond is a promise, to kill and tear off Haku by herself. We can see both relieved and sad looks from his eyes when he lets go of Chihiro's hand in the final scene, both because he was glad that Chihiro can let her parents free and her memories of the spirit world, will be deleted after she passed the tunnel. Haku's promise to her that he'll meet her again someday, sometimes, is questionable, either it means that they'll meet in no other way, except reincarnation and Chihiro's death. This is somewhat, a clue fro Hayao Miyazaki himself, that will make us think about how their relationship will go on. We also have to remember that Haku is a spirit and Chihiro is a human. Only a miracle that can make them meet each other again and recover Chihiro's memories.

The name Haku means "master, lord, overseer" which can refer to his position as Yubaba's feared and respected apprentice. It can also be a reference to his power as spirit of the Kohaku River.