Sophie Hatter

"A heart's a heavy burden."

Sophie Pendragon (nee Hatter) is the main protagonist of Howl's Moving Castle. She and her family run the hat shop in her town. When the Witch of the Waste curses her with a spell that turns her into an old woman, Sophie goes to the Waste in search of a cure. She was voiced by Chieko Balsho in Japanese and Emily Mortimer as Young Sophie and Jean Simmons as Old Sophie in English.

Appearance
She is a plain looking 18 year old youth, who passes all of her time working. She has big brown eyes and matching hair, tied with two pink ribbons, in a long braid. She also has quite thick eyebrows, and Howl says that her smile is beautiful. She wears a cerulean dress with a white neck and black buttons.

After getting cursed by the Witch of the Waste, she gains the appearance of a 90 year old woman (with a similar appearance to Yubaba, with visible wrinkled skin, and a lot of pain on her spine. According to her, she becomes more cunning as she has grown older. She still wears her dress, and now she wears her straw hat. The straw hat has a red ribbon on it.

Due to her love for Howl, Sophie de-ages randomly depending on her emotional state. When defending Howl to Sullivan, Sophie briefly regained her original appearance. Throughout the rest of the film, her old form doesn't suffer back pain and she stands straighter; her wrinkles also lessen. Sophie's braid is shorter in her old form.

Her hair becomes silver as a side effect of the curse; Howl likes it because it looks like starlight. She later cuts her hair and gives it to Calcifer so that he can move the castle. Her hair then reaches her shoulders, and she tucks it behind her ears.

Personality
Sophie is a gentle, quiet young woman who doesn't like being in the spotlight. She is mature, and wears clothes meant for a woman older than her, despite her sister, Lettie's, protests. Sophie also initiates cleaning the massive castle.

Relationships

 * Honey (mother): A loving mother, a loving daughter. They have a good relationship but betrays Sophie at the end.
 * Lettie Hatter (sister): They treat each other with kindness.
 * Markl (apprentice): Almost like a son to her.
 * Howl Jenkins Pendragon (wizard): At first, they don't seem to like each other much, and simply view each other like strangers. But later, the two fall in love, and marry at the end of the movie. In the sequel (novel), they have a son.
 * Calcifer (fire demon) Sophie and Calcifer are relatively good friends.

Gallery
See Sophie Hatter/Gallery