Lettie Hatter

Lettie Hatter
Species	Human
Age	Around 16 (under 18)
Gender	Female
First Appearance	Howl's Moving Castle
Role	Supporting character
Voice actor (Japanese)	Yayoi Kazuki
Voice actor (Disney)	Jena Malone

Lettie Hatter (レティー・ハッター , Retī Hattā) is Sophie's younger sister and daughter of Honey, as seen in the film, Howl's Moving Castle. She is a chocolate sales clerk at a large café called Cesari's. Cheery and outgoing, she takes after her mother. She is popular and adored by café's patrons. She is voiced by Yayoi Kazuki in Japanese version and Jena Malone in English version.

Appearance

Lettie and several of her admirers at Cesari's.

Lettie has strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. She wears a light blue eye shadow and salmon colored lipstick. She wears a dress with a darker salmon/light pink dress and a light pink apron over it. Her dress has a few matching accessories. She also wears big red, spherical earrings.

History

Film

Lettie Hatter is Sophie's sister who works as a sales clerk in Cesari's café. She doesn't have a large role in the movie, appearing only in the beginning when Sophie comes to see her at the bakery. Lettie is presented as nearly a complete opposite of Sophie, she is a conversationalist, wears bright colors, is seemingly happy with her appearance and is popular with all the customers, the males in particular a male customer commenting, 'Hey I'm over here where are you going?'

She is polite to everyone and is deeply concerned when she hears about a 'wizard' rescuing Sophie. Lettie warns her to be careful about wizards and witches who are 'on the prowl'. As Sophie leaves Lettie questions her about what she wants out of her life, if the hat shop is really where she wants to spend the rest of her life.

It's your life Sophie do something for yourself for once will you

The contrast between the two sisters in the movie highlights Sophie's responsible personality of being the eldest and therefore taking over the hat shop her father formerly owned. Lettie tries to make Sophie realize her own dreams rather than thinking about their father but Sophie ignores this bidding Lettie farewell.

Lettie is voiced by Jena Malone in the English dubbed version.

Novel

Howl's Moving Castle

Lettie Hatter is Sophie's seventeen-year-old sister. She is considered the most beautiful of the three Hatter sisters, and has dark hair and blue eyes. Initially, she is an apprentice at Cesari's, a pastry shop in Market Chipping, but because she wishes to learn magic, she and Martha Hatter switch places using a temporary appearance altering spell. A strong minded young woman, Lettie becomes fond of a stray dog which is in fact a bespelled human. When she finds out Sophie has been bespelled and lives in Howl's castle, she sends the dog to protect Sophie from Howl's charm. Though she has a pretty mild role in the novel she only has a small appearance in the movie. At the end of the novel, Wizard Suliman takes Lettie on as a pupil, and there are hints of a future romance between them.

Castle in the Air

Lettie has married Wizard Suliman and is pregnant with his child. She greets Abdullah when he comes to their house to warn them of the djinn's threat. She immediately recognizes Sophie, who is in the form of a cat, and with Suliman's help changes her back to her true form. 

After a brief conversation with Sophie, Abdullah and Suliman, the Princess Valeria is kidnapped and Wizard Suliman is being blamed for it. Lettie is worried for him. When Lettie, Abdullah and Sophie go to the inn where Adbullah has been staying at, the police arrive to arrest Abdullah and the soldier. Lettie stays behind in the inn while Sophie and Abdullah travel to the Castle in the Air on the flying carpet, because she is too heavy, and gives the police a piece of her mind when they arrive.

At the end of the novel, Lettie goes into labour while yelling at the King of Ingary who is accusing Wizard Suliman of treason. As a result, Lettie and Suliman miss Princess Beatrice and Prince Justin's wedding ceremony, and also Abdullah and Flower-in-the-Night's wedding ceremony, and Lettie safely gives birth to a baby girl. 

Behind the Scenes

Supervising animator Akihiko Yamashita, "I'm not very interested in drawing beautiful girl characters with large round eyes. But I really enjoy drawing girls like Lettie who actually might exist. Many of Miyazaki's characters seem so real. Sophie might looko cute on her own, but when she's next to her younger sister Lettie, she gives the impression she's 'plain'. I enjoyed that contrast."

Relationships

• Sophie Hatter (sister): She is a loving sister. Sophie is kind towards her.
• Honey (mother): Not much is revealed about their relationship, but it is said that they love each other.

Quotes

"I want to know what you want. It's your life, Sophie. Do something for yourself for once, will you?"

—Lettie Hatter