Honey

""Sophie! Thank goodness you're here! I searched everywhere for you! Everyone's saying it's my fault that you left! You'll forgive me, oh won't you?""

- Honey

Honey Hatter (ハニー・ハッター, Hanī Hattā) is a minor character in the film, Howl's Moving Castle. She is the stepmother of Sophie and Lettie.

She is voiced by Mayuno Yasukawa in Japanese Version (seiyu) and Mari Devon in English version.

Her name in the original novel is Fanny Hatter.

She owns a steam-powered car, and is driven around by a chauffer.

Personality
Even though she is not the biological mother of Sophie, she cares deeply about her daughter. She is worried about her when she finds out her daughter is a cleaning worker in Howl's Castle. She has a close relationship to Sophie that you can see in her tears on their reunion.

She wears the newest fashion of Kingsbury to get admiration. Sophie, on the other hand is modest. You see her patriotism by her hat that has two toy cannons on it. She was forced by Suliman to smuggle a Black Worm into Howl's castle, otherwise she would never see her husband again.

Film
She owns a hat store in Market Chipping, which she inherited from her former husband. She suddenly shows up to meet her stepdaughter Sophie after she settles in with Howl and their new makeshift family. After her initial shock at her appearance, she insists they all live together, but Sophie refuses, stating, "I like the way I am now." The truth of her visit is revealed as she inserts a "peeping bug" inside the castle. She later realizes she had been entranced into participating in Madame Suliman's plot.

Novel
In the novel, Fanny Hatter is the second wife of Mr. Hatter. She works with her husband in the hat store. Later on, she married a wealthy man and sold the hat store. Martha is her only biological child.

Behind The Scenes
According to supervisor animator Akihiko Yamashita, "I like middle-aged women so I did the character design for her [laughs]. I ended up drawing her stepdaughter Lettie, too. Miyazaki said that Honey was 'cute'. He must have been charmed by her ability to assert herself without being tied down to norms the way the Japanese are. When Honey finds Sophie, Miyazaki told me to 'make her lips flutter like a brilliant butterfly."

Quotes
""You sound ghastly! Like some ninety-year-old woman!""

- Honey

Relationships

 * Sophie (elder daughter)
 * Lettie Hatter (younger daughter)
 * Martha (youngest daughter)

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Honey ハウルの動く城 哈妮