#also the way Howl keeps sneaking the randomest thing from Wales here and there

[nadiajustbe]

Also can we talk about the guitar, please? I know that in it's usually a part of a joke of Howl keeping this instrument around even though he can't even play it, but I think people keep forgetting that the said guitar is the only thing Ben took from Wales to Ingary.

Or at least the only thing we absolutely sure he took with him. And he, apparently, was attached to this guitar so much that he took it with him on his mission to the Wastes, giving the Witch a chance to sell it after capturing him. I don't think she would waste her time visiting his home just to take the guitar.

Ms. Angorian canonically stating that he could never parted his guitar. And, although ms. Angorian is never the most reliable source (I mean, I dobt she actually was Suliman's late fiancé), that's one of her statements that we're actually required to believe. Because he wouldn't, because he didn't.

Ben is not Howl. He's actually settled in Ingary, years ago, adapted to their norms and ways of life. Not a thingle modern thing in his house, described in CITA, not even a poster or a ballpoint pen — and yet he kept the guitar.

This small, old piece of wood and strings might have been the only thing connecting Ben to his culture, his people and his past life. The one that's also connected him to his own hobbies and favourite things to do in a spare time, as he's definitely a great guitar player, judging on Percival's immediatel ability to play on it and adjust it.

The musical's instruments in Ingary, made by actual masters of the craft, probably differ horrifically from the ones made on fabrics in 70s or early 80s. That was the reason Howl bought it in a frist place — he started he's sure that the guitar came from "there", meaning our world, because it most probably stood out, looking in a way only Howl could call "usual" or "ordinary".

That could also be the reason of Ben taking it with him — maybe he didn't know If there would be a single instrument he would be able to comfortably play here, except for his own.

And then that guitar just. Exploded. With the whole meanings it could have carried and the whole importance it held for its original owner. Because of ms. Angorian.

And I actually feel sad for Ben wheh it comes to it.