Heen

Heen
Japanese name	ヒン (hin)
Species	Dog
Gender	Male
First Appearance	Howl's Moving Castle
Role	Supporting character
Voice actor (Japanese)	Daijirō Harada
Voice actor (Disney)	Dee Bradley Baker

His name is Heen. He's my errand dog. I had him escort you [Sophie] here.

Heen is the "errand dog" of Suliman in Howl's Moving Castle, film directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. Heen appears only in the movie. He works for Madame Suliman as an errand runner and an inconspicuous, though unreliable, spy.

Personality

Heen is silent, kind, and happy. He also seems rather lazy, making Sophie carry him up the stair cases and really not doing too much afterwards. Though, he can fly with his big ears. Later on, he befriends Markl and he become part of Howl's household.

He is much smarter than a normal dog. He calls Suliman on her crystal ball. Sadly he couldn't speak. He can only communicate through wheezing and gasping, jumping and scraping. He is voiced by Harada Daijiro who said Heen's gasping sounds like asthma.

Appearance

Heen, Madame Suliman's personal errand-dog, is sent out from the palace to escort Sophie Hatter, who is posing as Howl's mother. However, Sophie thinks that Heen is Howl Jenkins Pendragon in disguise, so she begins a one-sided conversation with him, and even drags him up the endless stairs to the palace with her. Heen leads her away from the Witch of the Waste through a secret entrance to Madame Suliman herself.

Madame Suliman reveals the dog's true nature during their discussion, which certainly surprises Sophie but she doesn't voice this. She then explains that she has drained the Witch of the Waste's magical powers, restoring her to her original appearance, a harmless old lady. This is when Howl comes into the palace, disguised as the King.

When they make their escape from the palace, Heen jumps onto their Flying Kayak just as they take off, and comes to the castle with them. He lives there for some time, doing nothing more, it seems, than act as a family dog.

When the castle collapses after Calcifer is nearly extinguished, Heen jumps after Sophie, and points out to her that her ring is glowing when she is too grief-stricken to notice. He leads her into Howl's past through the door, and leads her back out when their journey into the past is over.

At the end of the movie, Madame Suliman is shown looking into the orb in her staff to see him, asking him why he did not report in earlier, implying that she sent him to go with Sophie to act as a spy in Howl's Castle. He reveals the scene behind him of a happy ending, for which Suliman calls him a "little traitor," though does not seem terribly upset.