Yubaba

"So, your name's Chihiro... This is a pretty name... And belongs to me now!
 * —Yubaba, after having Chihiro sign her contract."

Yubaba is the main antagonist of the film Spirited Away. She is an old witch with an inhumanly large head and nose, who supervises the bathhouse.

Towards the beginning of the film, she reluctantly signs Chihiro into a contract. Yubaba then takes Chihiro's name and renames her "Sen" in order to hold power over her for the duration of the contract, as she does to her other workers, so she can keep them in service forever. Yubaba has an over-bearing and authoritarian personality, but does show a soft side toward her giant baby, Bō. In contrast to her simple and hospitable sister Zeniba, Yubaba lives in opulent quarters and is only interested in taking care of guests for money.



Appearance
Yubaba has beige hair and brown eyes, she wears a blue dress with slip and large yellow earrings.

Personality
She is the main antagonist in the movie, Spirited Away. Yubaba starts off as a cruel, cold, inconsiderate being, who is only kind to the paying spirit customers. She runs a very tight ship and works all of the bathhouse employees to the bone. She has very strong feelings of dislike towards humans and is not pleased when Chihiro and her parents wander into the spirit realm. After dark, she transforms Chihiro’s parents into pigs. The same would have happened to Chihiro, if it were not for Yubaba’s apprentice, Haku. Chihiro needs to find a way to stay in the spirit realm, while also finding a way to save her parents. To protect her while she is in the spirit realm, Haku instructs Chihiro to get a job at Yubaba’s bathhouse. When Kamaji turns her down, she rides multiple elevators to the top floor, and requests a job from Yubaba herself. Yubaba immediately turns her down and orders her to leave. However, Chihiro is relentless. When her screaming for a job wakes Yubaba’s baby, Bō, Yubaba’s attitude changes. She becomes a kind and caring mother. She finally gives in and tells Chihiro she can have a job as long as she stops screaming. Yubaba uses a name stealing curse when Chihiro signs her name to a contract. Yubaba controls everyone who works for her in this way. She uses her curse to take their name and therefore their identity.

Chihiro's new given name, is Sen. She would have forgotten her name completely, but luckily Chihiro happens to have a reminder, a goodbye card from her friend, with her name on it. She pretends to forget her name and begins work at the bathhouse under the name “Sen.” Little does Yubaba know that her staff members Lin, Kamaji and even her own apprentice, Haku are helping Sen to work in the bathhouse so that she can find a way to free herself and her parents. Most do not know that Yubaba has an identical twin sister, Zeniba. Though they look the same, their personalities are polar opposites. Haku had stolen something of importance to Zeniba. She came to the bathhouse to get it back. Yubaba’s baby, Bō, got in the way, so she temporarily transformed him into a mouse-like creature, and made another being look identical to Bō. When Yubaba, finds out, she is furious. When Haku informs Yubaba that Sen and her real child had gone to confront Zeniba, Yubaba offers a deal. If Sen brings Bō back unharmed, and passes one final test, Yubaba will break Sen’s contract and allow her and her parents go home. When Sen succeeds, Yubaba has no choice but to live up to her deal. However, at this point in the story Yubaba has warmed up to Chihiro, and is not as cold as before. In return, Chihiro has no feelings of resentment towards Yubaba. Yubaba's personality probably changed the most out of all the Spirited Away characters from the beginning of the film to the end.

Relationships

 * Bō (son)
 * Zeniba (Twin-sister)