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ereviewsach · 1 year ago

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A Literary Review of "Lâu Đài Bay Của Pháp Sư Howl" by Diana Wynne Jones

In the realm of fantasy literature, there are a plethora of captivating and enchanting novels that transport readers to magical worlds filled with unforgettable characters and breathtaking adventures. One such novel that has captivated the hearts of readers worldwide is "Lâu Đài Bay Của Pháp Sư Howl" by Diana Wynne Jones. Published in 1986, this spellbinding tale has continued to enthrall both young and old with its unique blend of imagination, wit, and charm.

Unveiling the Magical World of "Lâu Đài Bay Của Pháp Sư Howl"

Set in a fantastical land where magic and technology coexist, "Lâu Đài Bay Của Pháp Sư Howl" takes readers on a journey through the enchanting adventures of Sophie Hatter, a young hat-maker who finds herself cursed by a wicked witch. Transformed into a ninety-year-old woman, Sophie embarks on a quest to break the curse and discover her true destiny. Along the way, she encounters the enigmatic wizard Howl and his peculiar moving castle, which becomes the backdrop for a thrilling and whimsical tale.

The Artistry of Diana Wynne Jones

Diana Wynne Jones, a masterful storyteller, weaves a complex and intricate narrative in "Lâu Đài Bay Của Pháp Sư Howl." Her prose is both elegant and engaging, drawing readers into a world where magic and reality seamlessly intertwine. Jones' vivid descriptions bring the fantastical realm to life, allowing readers to immerse themselves in the enchanting landscapes and vibrant characters that inhabit the story.

Characterization and Growth

One of the strengths of "Lâu Đài Bay Của Pháp Sư Howl" lies in its well-crafted and memorable characters. Sophie Hatter, the protagonist, undergoes a remarkable transformation throughout the novel, evolving from a timid young girl to a strong and resilient woman. Her journey of self-discovery and empowerment resonates with readers, inspiring them to embrace their own inner strength and courage.

Additionally, the enigmatic wizard Howl adds an element of mystery and intrigue to the story. Jones skillfully develops his character, imbuing him with depth and complexity. Howl's internal conflicts and vulnerabilities make him a relatable and compelling figure, leaving readers eager to unravel the mysteries that surround him.

Themes of Identity and Acceptance

At its core, "Lâu Đài Bay Của Pháp Sư Howl" explores themes of identity and acceptance. Sophie's physical transformation forces her to confront societal expectations and definitions of beauty. Through her journey, readers are reminded of the importance of self-acceptance and embracing one's true identity.

The novel also touches upon the consequences of greed and the power of love and friendship. These universal themes resonate with readers of all ages, offering valuable lessons and insights into the human experience.

Influence and Legacy

Since its publication, "Lâu Đài Bay Của Pháp Sư Howl" has garnered a dedicated fan base and has been recognized as a landmark work in the fantasy genre. Its unique blend of fantasy, romance, and adventure has inspired countless readers and writers alike.

The novel was adapted into an animated film by renowned director Hayao Miyazaki in 2004, further cementing its place in popular culture. The film received critical acclaim and introduced the enchanting world of Howl's Moving Castle to a wider audience.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Who is the author of "Lâu Đài Bay Của Pháp Sư Howl"?

The author of "Lâu Đài Bay Của Pháp Sư Howl" is Diana Wynne Jones.

When was "Lâu Đài Bay Của Pháp Sư Howl" published?

"Lâu Đài Bay Của Pháp Sư Howl" was published in 1986.

Is "Lâu Đài Bay Của Pháp Sư Howl" part of a series?

No, "Lâu Đài Bay Của Pháp Sư Howl" is a standalone novel. However, Diana Wynne Jones has written other books set in the same universe.

What inspired Diana Wynne Jones to write "Lâu Đài Bay Của Pháp Sư Howl"?

Diana Wynne Jones drew inspiration from various sources, including Welsh folklore and her own vivid imagination.

Is there a film adaptation of "Lâu Đài Bay Của Pháp Sư Howl"?**

Yes, "Lâu Đài Bay Của Pháp Sư Howl" was adapted into an animated film by Hayao Miyazaki in 2004.

Conclusion

"Lâu Đài Bay Của Pháp Sư Howl" is a literary masterpiece that continues to captivate readers with its magical storytelling and memorable characters. Diana Wynne Jones has crafted a world that combines elements of fantasy and reality seamlessly, leaving readers enchanted and inspired. With its themes of identity, acceptance, and the power of love, this novel has earned its rightful place as a beloved classic in the realm of fantasy literature.

So, if you're seeking a captivating and enchanting adventure, look no further than "Lâu Đài Bay Của Pháp Sư Howl" by Diana Wynne Jones. Allow yourself to be transported to a world of magic and wonder, where anything is possible, and where the power of the human spirit prevails.

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sorrowmarked · 3 years ago

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tag drop redux pt 2!

#i have someone i want to protect || riza x roy #gear head || winry rockbell #never mind half! i'll give you all of it! || winry x ed #everyone has a side of themselves they don’t want others to see || kyouko hori #miyamura's mine you can't have him! || kyouko x izumi #promises must be kept || belldandy #we can belong to each other’s happiness || belldandy x azrael #lord of terror || urd #to make her own destiny || sophie hatter #i think we ought to live happily ever after || sophie x howl

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kelseyeroberts · 4 years ago

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Pointless War in Howl’s Moving Castle

How Miyazaki Renegotiates Imperialist Assumptions By Kelsey Roberts When the 75th Academy Award for Best Animated Feature was declared to be Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, the room erupted into enthusiastic applause for the director and his passionate team at Studio Ghibli. However, neither Miyazaki nor any of his employees stepped forward to receive the award. In fact, his presence, or lack thereof, was quickly and conspicuously glossed over by the Award announcer, Cameron Diaz, who accepted the award on behalf of the Academy before the show continued on. That Miyazaki would miss an invitation to his first nomination, and only win, at the Academy Awards was indicative of something much more powerful than recognition for the arts. Two years prior, on September 20th, 2001, United States President George W. Bush addressed the nation after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. In his impassioned speech, Bush declared that any forces opposed to the United States and their War on Terror, were choosing to side with terrorism. With lines clearly drawn in the sand, Hayao Miyazaki stood back and said “no” to making any decision at all. In fact, he made it very clear on several occasions that he would not visit a country that was dropping bombs on another. At the time of the 75th Academy Awards and the success of his movie Spirited Away, Miyazaki remained resolutely in Japan, working on an emphatically pacifist cinematic reply to the ultimatums presented by the world’s most boisterous military presence.

English poet and novelist Diana Wynne Jones published Howl’s Moving Castle, the first novel in a series of magical children’s books, in April of 1986. The plot centers around a young woman named Sophie Hatter and her dealings with the eponymous Howl Jenkins, a womanizing wizard who travels through time and space via a magically “moving” castle. Ingary, the fictional country in which the story takes place, is full of magic and fairytales, supplying a handy backdrop for deeper questions the character’s face throughout the story. Does a character’s agency matter if fairytales are true and magic supplies near limitless power to some and not others? Sophie, believing a fairytale assumption that she has nothing to achieve other than quiet spinsterhood, resigns herself to this fate, just before being dumped headfirst into an epic romance featuring curses, witches, and kings. Howl, with the might of magic on his side and no earthly consequence to face in result of his endless agency and selfishness, realizes the impressive force of responsibility, though only when it comes to the people in his care. He willingly chooses to lessen his own agency to protect and provide for Sophie and his family. The end finds them reaching an equilibrium of agency and responsibility, of destiny and magic, to live happily in their mystical country. Unfortunately, Wynne Jones’ novel remained unawarded during the original print of the novel, and faded quietly to the shelves of children’s libraries until Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki happened to read it while visiting Strasbourg, France.

Struck by the magical environment of Ingary (no doubt flavored by his recent trip to Strasbourg) and the question of just how a magical castle would move, Miyazaki quickly had Studio Ghibli purchase rights to a feature length film. In 2001, the studio announced that it had begun production of the film with Miyazaki at the helm as director and featuring a musical score created by the equally prolific Joe Hisaishi. Entranced by Wynne Jones’ descriptions of Ingary, Miyazaki chose to return to France, this time to Alsace, to study both architecture and surrounding natural settings to use in his storyboards. The film’s castle designs, and by extension all representations of both technology and magic throughout, were heavily inspired by the French artist and novelist Albert Robida. Robida, a futurist who died in the 1920s, envisioned future technology to be integrated more fully into the everyday, rather than the notions of mad-scientists and scientific abominations that were more popular with his peers. This naturally absorbing technology is reflected in the aliveness of Miyazaki’s interpretation of the moving castle and the visual incorporation of Industrial-era technologies into the practice of Ingarian magic. After spending 3 years in production, and consisting of approximately 1400 storyboards, Howl’s Moving Castle was released to Japanese audiences on November 20th, 2004vi. The film was distributed by Toho in Japan before being dubbed into English by the Walt Disney Company for release in the United States on June 10th, 2005. Howl’s Moving Castle was nominated for Best Animated Film at the 78th Academy Awards and as of 2020, it stands as the fifth most successful film released by the country of Japan.

Methods

By choosing to create a film to critique the war practices of the United States of America, Miyazaki is likewise critiquing the ideologies that lead nations like the United States to interfere politically, economically, and militarily in other countries. These ideologies, also called hegemonic structures, work to perpetuate themselves in the minds of the privileged that enact these ideologies upon the oppressed. In an effort to define the differences between those privileged by Western ideology and those oppressed under it, Albert Memmi suggests that he doubts that an entitled citizen’s “gullibility can rest on a complete illusion.” In other words, those that privilege from Western ideologies are at some level aware of this inequality and choose to deny its existence to preserve their own benefits. While the recent actions of the United States military, including the invasion of the country of Iraq, have been analyzed and critiqued politically, there have been few direct consequences to those that directed the military. In fact, military expenditure in the United States is still the highest of any country in the world. Only by directly confronting the concept of war, without valorizing or propagandizing the actions and reactions of countries or ideologies, can violent hegemonies be broken down and effective discussion can truly begin.

The strength of these hegemonies is aided by the continuous circulation of information and media that reinforces them. Western education and Western art, including cinema, reinforce the economic, moral, political, and militaristic dominance of the Western culture. One of the only ways to actively combat these hegemonic mediascapes is to produce and analyze media from outside Western structures of thought. Ella Shohat and Robert Stam call this active combat “multiculturalism” in their book on Unthinking Eurocentrism. Eurocentrism, this continuous domination of Western ideology, “sanitizes Western history while patronizing and even demonizing the non-West.” By choosing to represent Western cultures as the only morally correct and only forward moving culture, while systematically infantilizing other cultures and ideologies as “developing,” Western education and media pick and choose exactly what histories and lessons deserve legitimacy and which do not. Hayao Miyazaki was born in Tokyo in 1941 to a father that manufactured parts for Japanese imperial fighter planes. By the time he was four years old, he had been evacuated from three different homes and had witnessed the fire-bombing of his country. As such, Miyazaki has a significant perspective about Western notions of war, having experienced both sides of an imperialist military force. Imperial Japan provided his father with a job and his family with protection, until United States militarism tore through his home, his family, and his national identity. Eurocentrism, particularly the valorization of the United States’ Pacific campaign during World War II, would not allow for Miyazaki’s unique perspective on imperialist war practices to be critically disseminated. Shohat and Stam’s call for multiculturalism as the solution opens the door for Hayao Miyazaki to provide many varied filmic representations of his unique perspective of both Japanese and United States imperialist hegemonies.

Hayao Miyazaki, in looking to discuss these significant concepts from a safely fictional distance, actively confronts both his own Japanese cultural identity, and the individual identity of the spectator. The encouragement of this feedback loop of dialogue is reminiscent to Stuart Hall’s considerations of cultural identity in his essay, Cultural Identity and Cinematic Representation. Singularly important to Hall’s analysis of cinematic representation is a duality of identity that could be similarly identified as a feedback loop. First of these cultural identities is the concept of a “shared culture, a collective ‘one true self,’ hiding inside the many other...selves.” This shared culture is rooted deeply into common experiences and social codes that allow society to continue functioning with relative stability. The discovery and expression of this deepest cultural identity is attributed to powerful creative and representative force that allows marginalized peoples and ideas to express themselves outside of the more restrictive hegemonies of cultural identity. The second definition of cultural identity conversely involves strong points of difference and individuality present in each person, which as previously noted, are entirely at the mercy of hegemonic structures looking to reinforce their own supremacy. Hall calls this second definition a “becoming” of identity, that is continuously redefined and negotiated in relation to both recent history and present considerations. Miyazaki, choosing to confront both definitions of cultural identity with his cinema, presents his audiences with the tools to renegotiate their own cultural identities and preconceived notions.

One of the most intense differences between Diana Wynne Jones’ original novel and the filmic adaptation of Howl’s Moving Castle is the narrative inclusion of war. The original novel talks about war only tangentially, with Ingary’s King requesting Howl’s help to find his missing war-general of a son. With impending war relegated to a sub-plot, the bulk of the story focuses on how Sophie and Howl grow closer together through prolonged disagreements and magical shenanigans. The narrative of the novel paints a distinctly Western perspective on the valorization and presumed agency of those involved with war, by choosing instead to focus on a relatively privileged wizard who can shirk responsibility in favor of womanizing and magical travel. Memmi likewise considers a colonizer to be a man of this type: “If he preferred to be blind and deaf to the operation of the whole machinery...; he is then the beneficiary of the entire enterprise.” Ignorance of the harmful constructs of war, using war as a subplot as though there are not direct consequences to war, makes the original plot compliant with hegemonic constructs. Conversely, Hayao Miyazaki’s adaptation of Howl’s Moving Castle drags the war to the forefront of the narrative. Fear of war and death is the motivation for Howl’s selfishness, and the motivation for him to gain responsibility for the safety of Sophie and his country. By bringing war to the forefront of a children’s narrative about assuming responsibility for power and the abuses of those powers, Miyazaki creates an environment to confront the complex duality of his own cultural identity as a Japanese man, and to confront the similar injustices he saw in the United States occupation of Iraq.

Analysis

Hayao Miyazaki is a master of visual shorthand; every shot does as much heavy lifting as possible to assist the audience towards personal connections. From the first second Sophie’s hometown, a village in Ingary, appears on screen the audience is bombarded with militaristic propaganda, including an ever-present national flag. Featuring unfamiliar and highly visible strips of pink and yellow, hardly a shot of Ingarian civilization is shown without one or many Ingarian flags hidden in plain sight. Miyazaki elevates this level of nationalism to uncomfortable levels early on, highlighting his own experiences with imperialism. Soon after we meet Sophie, we witness her pass by a highly detailed grand parade of troops and war tanks. A crowd of civilians cheers the soldiers’ uniforms and perfectly timed goose-stepping, waving Ingarian flags as heavy brass trumpets play something heroic and distinctly European in style. Throughout the film, as the war causes casualties, Sophie overhears civilians casually discussing the lack of motives for the fighting and their superior military technology. In 2004, this kind of patriotism may have seemed familiar to the population of the United States. After the attack on the World Trade Center, Walmart sold approximately 116,000 American flags, and another 250,000 the next day. Nationalism was pouring through the streets of America, and that nationalism looked like stars and stripes. Concurrently, anti-Muslim hate crimes in the United States rose by over 800%, and the Patriot Act was implemented, removing safeguards against government surveillance and seizure. Shocked beyond reason, United States citizens overlooked the stripping of their own rights under the guise of national security and patriotism.

While it is quite clear that Miyazaki recognizes the visual affect that is attached to military performance, he does not hide his distaste for the valorization of war. Everything outside of the Castle seems to be focused exclusively on Ingarian nationalism and wartime propaganda, and yet inside there is a distinct absence of hegemonic structures of any sort. When Sophie first enters the Howl’s abode, she immediately learns several seemly disconcerting things; Howl is a terrible housekeeper, and a sarcastic fire demon pilots the whole Castle. A small child named Markl is left alone to watch Howl’s business aliases while the wizard disappears for days on end. Within a few scenes, Sophie’s previously “predetermined” constructs of home, trust, and family are broken almost beyond repair. Two of these hegemonies just happen to be civic duty and citizenship. Howl elects to keep the Castle moving through the untamed Wastes of Ingary, far from military occupation and government control. Rather than the lawless and desolate wasteland that Sophie first believes, the Wastes prove to be glorious mountainsides and lush green lands, reminiscent of Miyazaki’s travels to France. Though extremely capable of leaving his country entirely, Howl chooses to remain in the countryside of Ingary, removing any reminders of the violent constructs which he does not feel represent the natural beauty of his home. In this way, Miyazaki contrasts two drastically different forms of nationalism. One is focused on the outward enforcing of hegemonic constructs on other countries, and the other is focused on the inward appreciation of the natural resources and beauty that a country can provide its citizens.

Unfortunately, Howl is not able to fully escape his own moral imperative to help people. Though he hides from the draft notice issued by the King of Ingary, Howl travels to the frontline to protect civilian homes from the carnage of battle. Scenes showcasing indiscriminate battleships dropping firebombs punctuate Howl’s interactions with his family, providing a clear connection to his reason for fighting. While in battle he confronts several less powerful wizards that are mutated with magic. Later, Howl comments sadly that these wizards readily turned themselves into monsters under the King’s orders, and as such will never regain their humanity. Throughout the film it is implied that Howl’s dedication to Sophie and to his own personal freedom are the only things that prevent the loss of his own fragile humanity. The emotional and physical cost of war is not limited to either side of the confrontation. All individuals that take part in the structures of violence are affected. Clear connections between these wizards and the soldiers that fought in the War on Terror are made, focusing on their difficulty to return to civilian life and their struggles with the atrocities that they commit. A database called the Iraq Body Count has been working diligently to try to document the countless Iraqi civilians that were killed by the United States invasion. Unfortunately, they are only able to provide a rough estimate of between 185,497 – 208,547 deaths from violence. Miyazaki’s urge for victims of war and soldiers to lean on family and nation while under these stressors, while a bit simple in concept, reflects a lack of compassion shown in Western media for both the civilians of foreign nations and soldiers who do not return proud of their accomplishments in war.

Comparisons could be drawn between Howl’s active pacifism and general Japanese cultural identity post-World War II. After the total annihilation of two of their cities by nuclear bomb, and the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians by firebombing, the Japanese Imperial Government surrendered to the United States on August 15th, 1945. After their country brutalized in the name of imperialism, it was likewise brutalized in the name of Western democracy. Soon after, a constitution was put into place to usher in new political constructs, one of which being the intensely debated Article 9. Within this article is the assertion that the Japanese government will never again have a standing military presence, or more specifically: “Aspiring sincerely to an international peace...the Japanese forever renounce war as a sovereign of the nation.” In choosing to directly confront the ideological structures that preclude war as a part of politics, Japan opens larger conversations about pacifism that Miyazaki makes great narrative use of. Outwardly expressing his opposition to amending Article 9 of the Japanese constitution, Miyazaki emphatically declared that “Japan is not a country where a war can be fought.” Unlike the boisterous, illogical military might continuously pushed into the audiences’ face, Howl exists as a direct example of the Japanese ideal of active pacifism, to actively choose peace in the face of injustice and violence.

The simplest way to illustrate Miyazaki’s own difficult reckoning with his unique cultural identity is in comparing the depiction of technology in the beginning and ending sequences of the film. Howl’s Moving Castle begins as many Miyazaki films do, with an introduction to a main character. However, the main character portrayed in this first shot is neither Sophie Hatter nor Howl Jenkins, but the infamous Moving Castle, stalking its way through a heavy fog in the Ingarian countryside. Direct attention is paid to the lifelike mechanics of the Castle’s movement, the creaking and groaning of enormous gears and bellows of its anthropomorphic “face,” as four spindly chicken legs hold up the incomprehensible weight of the underbelly and spike-like towers. Each mechanical piece, though entirely disparate and featuring a slap-dash sort of connectivity, works together within the whole of the Castle to provide an astounding feat of both the technology and magic that permeate the narrative’s universe. In these first shots, the audience is introduced to the “human technology” favored by Albert Robida; a living, breathing home for the other protagonists, something that audiences can connect to. Technology of this sort is the technology that Miyazaki experienced as a child; watching his father create flying machines that he envisioned as vehicles to adventure. Quickly, as in life, the peace of these beginning shots faces a violent juxtaposition, and in the next sequence spectators watch as the Castle hefts its girth behind a cloud of fog, just as two small military planes bearing Ingary flags pass by.

The final shots of Howl’s Moving Castle, after Sophie has successfully restored Howl’s heart and the family has both actively and passively saved their country from catastrophic destruction, feature a reversal of the initial sequence. Through a thick blanket of thunderhead clouds, a hole reveals enormous and anonymous battleships flying in formation. Their muted sounds and shiny seamless technology, seen throughout the film in direct contrast to the hodge-podge hominess of the Castle, is rendered soulless. None of the life of the Castle is present in the machines of war. For Miyazaki, technology used for the object of violence and death cannot be alive. Instead, the technology is stripped of all liveness, just as the wizards who submit to Madam Sulliman lose their humanity. With the war ended and yet not won, these violent machines are castrated, and their purpose has ended. They disappear, covered by the blanket of darkness that their purpose has covered them in. Then, from behind a curling tuft of cloud emerges the newly restored Castle, into an endless bright blue sky. This third iteration of the Castle, featuring sweeping wings, is no longer tied to the ground. Instead, Howl and Sophie stand romantically at the helm, watching as Calcifer pilots their home towards a brilliantly sunny horizon.xxv While this ending may seem saccharine in comparison to the more realistic ambiguity of the outcomes of war, Miyazaki seems to favor the notion that those who fight for the safety of their country deserve a measure of peace at the end of their service. Whether or not Miyazaki thinks that measure of peace should be afforded to those in control of these soldiers is decidedly less certain.

Conclusion

Hayao Miyazaki’s distinctive personal history, coupled with his complex cultural identity as a Japanese citizen, makes him uniquely determined to speak on matters of pacifism and war. As an animated film director, his medium allows him a certain distance from distinct hegemonic structures and allow him to confront difficult concepts in a gentler fashion. This is not to say that Miyazaki is in any way ambiguous about his intentions. As depicted in Howl’s Moving Castle, Miyazaki uses visual storytelling to paint the country of Ingary to be a fictional mirror of the nationalism present in the United States in the early 2000s. Ingarian flags hang from every building outside of Howl’s sheltered Castle, reminiscent of the patriotic fervor that gripped the citizens of the United States at the beginning of the War on Terror. Howl himself provides the audience with a character that reflects Miyazaki’s own distaste for this sort of brute nationalism, instead choosing to appreciate his country in more passive, classically romantic ways. Soldiers and wizards that brazenly choose to fight for their King are treated with compassion and pity, lamenting their lost humanity, while Howl’s dedication to his family and his country are the only thing that prevent him from meeting a similar fate. With design cues and philosophy borrowed from Albert Robida, Miyazaki crafts clever shorthand to portray technology in both militaristic and humanistic ways, highlighting the liveness and the hominess of humanist technology, and shunning the militaristic technology as sleek but soulless. Doing so provides Miyazaki an outlet to confront his own disconcerting childhood, having spent his youth connecting the technology of adventure to the machines of imperialism. Though his opinions on war, pacifism, and the United States brand of nationalism are overt in this film, Miyazaki as a single director is unable to completely dismantle the hegemonic structures that he critiques. However, Howl’s Moving Castle does provide a thoughtful and methodical meditation, allowing for the beginning of discussions about the ideologies that power the machine of war. Bibliography

Cavallaro, Dani. Hayao Miyazakis World Picture. McFarland & Co., 2015.

Cavallaro, Dani. The Animé Art of Hayao Miyazaki. McFarland & Co., 2006.

Hall, Stuart. “CULTURAL IDENTITY AND CINEMATIC REPRESENTATION.” Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media, no. 36, 1989, pp. 68–81. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44111666. Accessed 26 Jan. 2021.

Iraq Body Count, www.iraqbodycount.org/database/.

MacCarthy, Helen. Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation ; Films, Themes, Artistry. Stone Bridge Press, 2010.

Memmi, Albert. The Colonizer and the Colonized: Introd.by Jean-Paul Sartre. Beacon Press, 1972.

“Miyazaki, Hisaishi, and Their Collaboration.” Joe Hisaishi’s Soundtrack for My Neighbor Totoro, 2020, doi:10.5040/9781501345159.0008.

“President Bush Addresses the Nation.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 20 Sept. 2001, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/specials/attacked/transcripts/bushaddress_092001.html.

“The United States Spends More on Defense than the Next 10 Countries Combined.” Peter G. Peterson Foundation, 15 May 2020, www.pgpf.org/blog/2020/05/the-united-states-spends-more-on-defense-than-the-next-10-countries-combined.

Yazbek, Yara. “Miyazaki Hayao's ‘Howl's Moving Castle’: Environmental, War-Related, and Shojo Discourses.”

#miyazaki #hayao miyazaki #howl's moving castle #essay #graduate seminar paper #seminar paper #research #english research #graduate research #film #imperialism #film analysis

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casadefreewill · 4 years ago

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So I sat down and read Howl’s Moving Castle yesterday and I had some ideas for a Zukka AU. The story would obviously have to change a bit but here were the basics of the idea:

Howl —> Sokka

Howl’s sister —> Katara

——> Wales is the South Pole/village

Howl’s sister is also kind of GranGran

Sokka’s Magic is very science/intellect based like Howl’s

Sokka is still a drama lama but way less so than Howl — this time is TWO drama lama’s living together and everything just imploded more

—> Sokka still gets all the girls,

Curse is from Hama

Hama is the Witch of the Waste (yeah, she seems fucked up enough to make a human puppet out of chopped up people) —> still wants to get Sokka’s head for her human doll - the curse is the same, to bring Sokka to the Waste so she can get his head.

Hama’s Fire/Star is Koh! Takes the form of Kuruk’s wife when seducing Sokka

Sokka’s Fire/Star is actually Yue

Hama curses Zuko with old age, she got her hands on Ty-Lee and LongFang, Ty-Lee thought of Azula when interrogated which brought Hama to the family shop to catch Zuko in a mood while attending the shop. He offends her, she curses him to be old to get him out of her way.

Martha —-> Kiyi

Lettie —-> Azula

Sophie —-> Zuko

Zuko - first born, doomed to fail first, feels as if they can never do anything right, whatever they do blows up in their face, wants to please their parent but may be being taken advantage of, kind of a little bit angry at everything - very explosive/destructive anger. Side note: second half of the book Sophie is kind of the definition of “aren’t you tiered of being nice, don’t you just wanna go ape shit”

Zuko’s Magic is still gives things life by rambling to them (emotion based magic).

Azula - is strong willed, doesn’t feel uncle knows what is best for her, decides to make her own way in life becoming powerful under her own power, she will not bend to the “fate” of a middle child. Is actually really good at magic.

Kiyi - doesn’t want the burden of a great destiny of the youngest child. Just wants to have fun, meet someone nice, and settle down. Cares deeply for her oldest sibling and just wants them to make good life choices that center on themself for once. Kiyi is aged up in this so it’s not like a bunch of guys crushing on a 5 year old.

Fanny —> Iroh, he does love the children, he’s just kind of also really into living life to the fullest. Both Kiki and Azula bad mouth him to Zuko who isn’t sure how to feel about him at that point.

Iroh is still the only one to recognize Zuko on sight, hug him, and then threaten to beat the shit out of whoever cursed him (good parallel to the terrifying protective aunt thing they have going in the books)

Ozai and Ursa are the original parents - Ozai dies first, Ursa remarries and has Kiyi, Ursa and new Husband (Noren) die and Iroh comes to help with the children and the shop.

Character Summary:

Sokka - Howl Jenkins

Katara - Megan Jenkins

Hama - The Witch of the Waste

Yue - Calcifer

Koh/Kuruk’s wife - Mss Angorian

Long Fang - Prince Justin

King Kui - The king of Ingary

Bosko - Princess Valeria

“Wang also says he won’t do it unless he gets your child’s hand in marriage!” The king gained a look of confusion, “my . . . do you mean my bear?” At that moment grunting and shuffling could be heard from under the table, a bear’s nose jutted out from beneath the table cloth, soon followed by the rest of the furry glory that was Prince Bosco. “Oh” said Zuko weakly, suddenly feeling very foolish.

Ty-Lee - Ben Sullivan

Azula - Lettie Hatter

Kiyi - Martha Hatter

Zuko - Sophie Hatter

Iroh - Fanny Hatter

Master Piandao - Mrs. Pentstemmon

Aang - Michael Fisher —> he’s still into Katara not Kiyi in this, Sokka is less, ‘I’m separating my two lives’ in this one, he lets them visit his home more than the one time and Aang just fell head over heals for his sister, she thinks he’s cute and funny and is kind of into him too. This does however make it easier for Hama to locate her.

Lo and Li - Mrs. Annabel Fairfax

Mai - another apprentice of Lo and Li

Ozai and Ursa - the parents

That’s what I got so far.

#Howl's Moving Castle AU #Zukka #Sokka #Zuko #atla #avatar: the last airbender #just thoughts

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madamhatter · 4 years ago

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IN WHICH SOPHIE HATTER REALIZES HER TVTROPES.

RULES: List five tropes applicable to your character, then tag others to do the same. (Tropes Wiki) REPOST! DO NOT REBLOG. *BOOK SPOILER(S) AHEAD.

tagged by: @memorylost / tysm and I’m so sorry with how late this is -- ! tagging: @crystalburdened / @subserviiient / @curiousitykilledthecheshire / @bigcasinc (for Falborg!) / @more-than-a-princess / @adagaium / @anhedonialunatic / @medicus-mortem / @miraruinada (for Tatyana!) / AND YOU !

Honorable mentions, being the tropes already found under her entry on TVTropes: Berserk Button, Beware the Nice Ones, Cool Old Lady, Determinator, Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?, Heroic Self-Deprecation, Oblivious to Love, Never Mess With Granny, Silk Hiding Steel, Team Mom, Took a Level in Badass, The Unfavorite, You Are Better Than You Think You Are.

i. Stepford Smiler / Stepford Snarker - Relatively speaking, Sophie Hatter in either material is shown to be rather warped by a lie that she tells herself. She consistently states that she is fine with their current circumstances and isn’t bothered by it. To which is a complete farce, so much so, that her sisters, Martha in the book and Lettie in the movie, call her out on her behavior. Her form of expression is layered by how she perceives herself and she does not want to let it out. The movie variant capitalizes on the smiler end, the book variant capitalizes on the snarker end. Sophie creates distance between her true thoughts and feelings in order to fulfill what is expected of her (which is, admittedly, misfortune) and rationalizes how she’s been treated. She is unhappy, but she will up on a front as easily as she can to continue appearances and keep everybody else happy. ( This could be read as a sugar-and-ice personality. )

ii. Reality Warper / Compelling Voice - Another trope combination by the sheer fact that these two together are essentially Sophie’s magic. The simplest way that it can be described, and directly from the book, is that “everything she says comes true.”

The movie implies the magic itself in one aspect, by how her emotions have a major role in how she interacts with things (in the movie’s case, it was her curse). The book makes it more prominent by her: “coding” her hats by saying how the future purchaser is going to live their life, turning plant fertilizer to weed killer (without a command), talking out the poison in the air, giving a demon a thousand more years to live, breaking a deadly curse (without any formal study/intense training), saying Howl would be royal sorcerer to the King and he did become one, etc.

Notice one thing: none of these instances give particular rules and limitations to her magic; it is literally the fact she speaks magic. There are quite literally nothing bounding her magic to reality because it, frankly, affects/alters/bends reality. Her magic is remarkably reactive and there is no shortage of how much she can use it and if it’ll ever run out.

Her magic is absolutely rare and was so noticeable that the top sorcerers and sorceresses of her damn nation went after her. It is an omnipotent voice and I can see why people would flock to either A) exploit her or B) stop her before she realizes her potential.

( This reeks of Screw Destiny but it’s just her magic. )

TLDR: Sophie has powers that says ‘fuck you’ to fate and her defiant/spiteful nature is backed up by a magic that will ensure that anything and everything she says happens.

iii. Promotion to Parent / Parent Substitute - Extended in the book version but not really touched upon in the movie. Sophie Hatter raised her two younger sisters in wake of her stepmother being outright negligent and has been doing it ever since she was young. From mending their clothes, breaking apart fights, disciplining them, and to offering advice, Sophie played her role not only as the eldest daughter, but her sisters’ parent, and is also given credit for this large role by the end of the book by Fanny.

( This also includes Mama Bear. In this case, Mama Panther since Sophie was cursed to be a cat in the second book while pregnant. After Morgan was born and she was STILL a cat, her form drastically changed into a black panther to attack anyone who endangered her baby :D ).

iv. Trespassing Hero - I wasn’t able to find a particular trope that goes ‘hero frequently breaks laws without care’ without it going into chaotic good. However, once Sophie is cursed and she decides ‘fuck it, I need this fixed,’ she does end up breaking-and-entering into Howl’s castle. There’s no work around that. My girl’s a criminal, I’m so proud! She literally implants herself into Howl’s life and declares herself as his new cleaning maid, to which he actually doesn’t properly react to in both book and movie. Really, who would just let a random old woman drop into your home and hire herself to your service?

v. Defied Trope - Ingary’s customs are quite literally fairy-tale tropes that are socially ingrained and enforced. This mainly is best seen with how Sophie is treated as the eldest daughter and how her life is dictated to be of misfortune and there’s nothing to seek out in her life. However, once cursed, she quite literally defies her trope that is woven into her story and goes out to do her own thing. While this trope usually requires meta knowledge, DWJ made this possible as she provides the subversion context for readers, but makes it a defiance for the character because her character development revolves around defiance as a theme, among many.

#( the shenanigans of a sorceress ; dash games )#[ TV.Tropes already had some I wanted to use in mind ; so WE'RE GOING ALL OUT NOW ; FOLX ]#long post tw #long post

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xhairlikestarlight · 5 years ago

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— ✧ Introducing SOPHIE HATTER-PENDRAGON the THIRTY THREE year old canon character from HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE. She is a CO-OWNER of PENDRAGON AND CO. She is known to be CARING and WARMHEARTED and SNARKY AND SELF CONSCIENCE . In another universe they’d be known as JENNA COLEMAN.

Distorted image, broken mirror and a cracked facade. There are words that RANG in her head. Worthless. Each day was a struggle to clean out those thoughts. She is the most quiet heroism, the softest belief that others deserve better and second chances. She is stand up, heart beating, legs shaking, but shout it out kind of saving love. Her words have power, each sound that escapes her mouth a magic spell, pouring with compassion, overflowing with it. She is the kiss that breaks the spell, the unwavering determination, exasperated and always filled with good intention.

Meet Sophie Hatter-Pendragon(howl’s idea)

No longer is she the timid mouse of a girl that she was now she is a crazy, overworked, chaotic and exasperated shop owner, wife of Howl, friend to Calcifer and caretaker of a dog, child and old woman. It never ends with her.

And she can complain all she wants but Sophie loves it.

She’s magical. Well sort of.

Sophie can “breathe” life into objects. It’s hinted at in the movie that Sophie has some sort of magic. It’s really subtle but when Sophie takes Calcifer out of the Moving Castle, he claims that he doesn’t think it would work if anyone else did it. Sophie believes he can and tells him that. He eventually does what she asks. When she douses Calcifer with fire he doesn’t die only because she wanted him to live. It’s a nod to the books, there are also other little moments. She can’t do it willy nilly though. It’s a powerful magic that usually manifests itself when she’s under intense emotion. Basically she’s just giving the item a destiny. She has other magic, learning from Howl, but she’s naturally talented(though she’ll never say so) but for the most part she’s not using her magic.

She talks to hats. Do not question it. It’s just what she does. She talks to everything. She’s got a lot going on. Let her be okay.

She’s been married to Howl for a few years now. And things are still as chaotic. They argue because they are both strong willed people but two minutes late they are making up. In Auradon they own a little shop, it acts like both potions and magical things as well as Sophie’s hats, flowers and sewing. It’s basically a mismatch of things like the Castle.

In her house she has, Markl, The Witch of the Waste and Heen the Dog. She takes of them, Howl, the Shop and barely has a moment for herself. So she’s always exasperated. Sophie wouldn’t mind a day off

Sophie is a good person, has a lot thoughts about Auradon’s policy on VKs and has a lot to say but Howl thinks she needs to keep her mouth shut and Sophie thinks Howl needs to stop talking.

They love each other.

(bring me howl)

#descendcnts:intro

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acepalindrome · 5 years ago

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I got tagged by @brightandshinynewstories!

Name ten favorite characters from ten different things (books, tv, film, etc.) then tag ten people.

These are not in any particular order, because I love all my favs in their own special ways.

1. Caduceus Clay (Critical Role.) My very special cow boy. I love his chill, I love how he takes on the caretaker role for his messy little found family, I love his 9 intelligence and getting distracted by moss in a life and death situation, I love his faith and belief in destiny, but possibly what I love the most is his views on nature that align so much with my own.

2. Oscar François de Jarjayes (Rose of Versailles.) Listen, Oscar spends all her time fucking with gender roles in 18th century France, fighting injustice, getting on board with the revolution and flirting with every woman in a 50 mile radius up to and including Marie Antoinette. She’s a big wlw icon and I long for a reboot where she ends up with Rosalie instead of fucking Andre.

3. Brienne of Tarth (ASOIAF.) Isn’t it a shame GOT ended after season 6, Gwendoline Christie is so gorgeous. Anyway, I was definitely too young to be reading these books in high school but I did anyway and Brienne was both my hero and fictional crush. She’s so strong and brave and more noble than any ‘true knight!’ I love Brienne with my whole damn heart.

[[MORE]]

4. Auron (FFX) God I love this bitter disillusioned undead ronin who’s consumed with guilt and self loathing because God Lied and he was fooled just like everyone else and he wasn’t able to save his lord who he was definitely in love with!! He literally fucking dies in a tragic desperate attempt to avenge Braska and the. decides that no, fuck this, he’s failed everyone else (in his mind) and he’s gonna keep one last promise to his friend and being dead is not gonna stop him!! He hates himself so much but he’s so goddamn loyal even death doesn’t stop him.

5. Sophie Hatter (Howl’s Moving Castle.) Book version, because Miyazaki did my girl wrong. Sophie’s whole story is about her assuming that she’s doomed to failure in everything so she never tries for a better life and just expects that her life is never going to amount to much of anything. And then she gets cursed and it ends up helping her realize how stupid a lot of her fears and insecurities were and she’s finally able to discover that all that shit about failure was just in her head! The only thing holding her back was herself!! Also she has really powerful magic in her own right and later gets to consult with kings and do important work and why did the movie take away all the best things about her!!!

6. Dr. Kenzo Tenma (Monster.) The poster child for ‘No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.’ Risks his whole successful career as a brain surgeon to save the life of a child and he’s rewarded for his altruism by getting sucked into the middle of a brutal murder mystery that paints him as the prime suspect. The thing that makes Tenma so special is that he starts off believing that all lives are equal, and after going through absolute hell and seeing the worst of humanity...HE STILL BELIEVES IN IT. It would be so easy to have him become disillusioned and abandon his ideals, but no! They’re challenged in the worst possible way, but at the very bitter end, he doesn’t lose his belief in the inherent value of all human life.

7. Granny Weatherwax (Discworld.) I want to be half as fierce and strong as Granny when I’m old. She’s not nice and she’s tremendously stubborn but she’s a DAMN good person who won’t let anyone take away another person’s free will and steps up to do the right thing when no one else will because she’s GOOD. Even when she doesn’t want to be. She’s powerful and proud and knows exactly who she is. She’s amazing.

8. Samwise Gamgee (LOTR.) FRODO WOULD NEVER HAVE GOTTEN FAR WITHOUT HIS SAM. God, Sam is so full of love and strength and courage. He follows Frodo literally to the end of the damn world and when Frodo can go no further, Sam carries him on. I can’t think about Sam too long without crying. He’s so very good.

9. Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender.) So we all agree Zuko got the best redemption story of all time, right? It’s so, so good watching this angry mess of a kid grow and heal from his trauma and learn to open his heart and love and finally have the courage to confront his abusive father and tell him to his face that what he did was wrong! After spending so long trying to prove himself and win his father’s love on an impossible quest! Zuko’s growth is just the best. And he’s such a lovable awkward goof. That’s rough, buddy.

10. Beatrix (FFIX.) Did Beatrix make me gay as a wee innocent baby child? Probably. I fell in love pretty much the minute she shows up, calls you insects and completely destroys your party without breaking a sweat. She starts out as a villain but everything she does is out of misguided loyalty to her queen, and once she finally realizes how wrong she was she busts her ass to try to redeem herself! She loves Alexandria so much and she’s 100% willing to fight to the death when the city is attacked. She’s honorable and loyal to a fault and she’s absolutely the reason I’m weak for lady knights.

Tagging: @maeofthedead, @youngsterhammy, @saint-tibbles, @quarterpasttired, @disasterhumans, @skygemspeaks, @megneato, @kimabutch, @pastellieria, @fwishbone

If I didn’t tag you and you wanna do it, consider yourself tagged!

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ucflibrary · 6 years ago

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For the month of December, the UCF Libraries Bookshelf celebrates the favorite books of employees of the UCF Libraries. And you know a major thing about librarians? They love talking about their favorite books. The books listed below are ones we have (and will continue to) read many times over the course of our lives. The genre for our 2018 staff favorites is science fiction and fantasy.

Click on the link below to see the full list, descriptions, and catalog links for the staff favorite science fiction and fantasy titles suggested by UCF Library employees. These 30 books plus many, many more are also on display on the 2nd (main) floor of the John C. Hitt Library next to the bank of two elevators.

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray It’s 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma’s reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence’s most powerful girls—and their foray into the spiritual world—lead to? Suggested by Dawn Tripp, Research & Information Services

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor Twelve-year-old Sunny lives in Nigeria, but she was born American. Her features are African, but she's albino. She's a terrific athlete, but can't go out into the sun to play soccer. There seems to be no place where she fits in. And then she discovers something amazing—she is a "free agent" with latent magical power. Soon she's part of a quartet of magic students, studying the visible and invisible, learning to change reality. But will it be enough to help them when they are asked to catch a career criminal who knows magic too? Suggested by Rich Gause, Research & Information Services

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon Aster has little to offer folks in the way of rebuttal when they call her ogre and freak. She’s used to the names; she only wishes there was more truth to them. If she were truly a monster, she’d be powerful enough to tear down the walls around her until nothing remains of her world. Aster lives in the lowdeck slums of the HSS Matilda, a space vessel organized much like the antebellum South. For generations, Matilda has ferried the last of humanity to a mythical Promised Land. On its way, the ship’s leaders have imposed harsh moral restrictions and deep indignities on dark-skinned sharecroppers like Aster. Embroiled in a grudge with a brutal overseer, Aster learns there may be a way to improve her lot—if she’s willing to sow the seeds of civil war. Suggested by Rachel Mulvihill, Teaching & Engagement

Born of Legend by Sherrilyn Kenyon Hunted. Hated. Betrayed. Outcast Dagger Ixur is on the run for his life. As one of the most recognizable members of his royal house, he has a bounty on his head that guarantees him no quarter from any friend or even family. But surrender isn’t in him. He will fight to the bitter end. A resolve that is sorely tested when he narrowly escapes a trap that leaves him severely wounded. With what he believes is his dying breath, he saves a boy born to an extinct race from a group out to enslave the kid for his legendary abilities. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

Dune by Frank Herbert Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides—who would become known as Muad’Dib—and of a great family’s ambition to bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream. Suggested by Shane Roopnarine, Rosen Library

Ender’s Game by Scott Orson Card In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut--young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training. Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers, Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister. Suggested by Mary Rubin, Special Collections & University Archives

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid In a country teetering on the brink of civil war, two young people meet—sensual, fiercely independent Nadia and gentle, restrained Saeed. They embark on a furtive love affair, and are soon cloistered in a premature intimacy by the unrest roiling their city. When it explodes, turning familiar streets into a patchwork of checkpoints and bomb blasts, they begin to hear whispers about doors—doors that can whisk people far away, if perilously and for a price. As the violence escalates, Nadia and Saeed decide that they no longer have a choice. Leaving their homeland and their old lives behind, they find a door and step through. Suggested by Andrew Hackler, Circulation

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television. When Mildred attempts suicide and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life. Suggested by Larry Cooperman, Research & Information

Galactic Pot-healer by Philip K. Dick A powerful and enigmatic alien recruits humans and aliens to help it restore a sunken cathedral in this touching and hilarious novel Sometimes even gods need help In Galactic Pot-Healer that god is an alien creature known as The Glimmung which looks alternately like a flaming wheel a teenage girl and a swirling mass of ocean life In order to raise a sunken city he summons beings from across the galaxy to Plowmans Planet Joe Fernwright is one of those summoned needed for his skills at pot-healing-repairing broken ceramics But from the moment Joe arrives on Plowmans Planet things start to go awry Told as only Philip K Dick can Galactic Pot-Healer is a wildly funny tale of aliens gods and ceramics. Suggested by Seth Dwyer, Circulation

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones In the land of Ingary, such things as spells, invisible cloaks, and seven-league boots were everyday things. The Witch of the Waste was another matter. After fifty years of quiet, it was rumored that the Witch was about to terrorize the country again. So when a moving black castle, blowing dark smoke from its four thin turrets, appeared on the horizon, everyone thought it was the Witch. The castle, however, belonged to Wizard Howl, who, it was said, liked to suck the souls of young girls. The Hatter sisters--Sophie, Lettie, and Martha--and all the other girls were warned not to venture into the streets alone. But that was only the beginning. In this giant jigsaw puzzle of a fantasy, people and things are never quite what they seem. The Witch has placed a spell on Howl. Does the clue to breaking it lie in a famous poem? And what will happen to Sophie Hatter when she enters Howl's castle? Suggested by Emma Gisclair, Curriculum Material Center

Kindred by Octavia Butler Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back repeatedly through time to the slave quarters, and each time the stay grows longer, more arduous, and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana's life will end, long before it has a chance to begin. Suggested by Rachel Edford, Teaching & Engagement

Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin A lone human ambassador is sent to Winter, an alien world without sexual prejudice, where the inhabitants can change their gender whenever they choose. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the strange, intriguing culture he encounters. Suggested by Athena Hoeppner, Acquisitions & Collections

Lie Down with Lions by Ken Follett Ellis, the American. Jean-Pierre, the Frenchman. They were two men on opposite sides of the Cold War, with a woman torn between them. Together, they formed a triangle of passion and deception, racing from terrorist bombs in Paris to the violence and intrigue of Afghanistan—to the moment of truth and deadly decision for all of them. . . . Suggested by Ven Basco, Research & Information Services

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. The Lord of the Rings tells of the great quest undertaken by Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf the Wizard; the hobbits Merry, Pippin, and Sam; Gimli the Dwarf; Legolas the Elf; Boromir of Gondor; and a tall, mysterious stranger called Strider. Suggested by Raynette Kibbee, Administration

Mars Attacks! The Art of the Movie by Karen R. Jones Looks at the development of the motion picture "Mars Attacks," and discusses the work of illustrators, costumers, computer artists, and model builders in creating the science fiction comedy Suggested by Sandy Avila, Research & Information Services

On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony Shooting Death was a mistake, as Zane soon discovered. For the man who killed the Incarnation of Death was immediately forced to assume the vacant position! Thereafter, he must speed over the world, riding his pale horse, and ending the lives of others. Zane was forced to accept his unwelcome task, despite the rules that seemed woefully unfair. But then he found himself being drawn into an evil plot of Satan. Already the prince of Evil was forging a trap in which Zane must act to destroy Luna, the woman he loved. Suggested by Martha Cloutier, Circulation

Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle In the not-too-distant future, three astronauts land on what appears to be a planet just like Earth, with lush forests, a temperate climate, and breathable air. But while it appears to be a paradise, nothing is what it seems. They soon discover the terrifying truth: On this world humans are savage beasts, and apes rule as their civilized masters. In an ironic novel of nonstop action and breathless intrigue, one man struggles to unlock the secret of a terrifying civilization, all the while wondering: Will he become the savior of the human race, or the final witness to its damnation? In a shocking climax that rivals that of the original movie, Boulle delivers the answer in a masterpiece of adventure, satire, and suspense. Suggested by Jon Hanie, Circulation

Red Dwarf directed by Ed Bye Notoriously, and entirely appropriately, the original outline for Doug Naylor and Rob Grant's comedy sci-fi series Red Dwarf was sketched on the back of a beer mat. When it finally appeared on British television in 1988, the show had clearly stayed true to its roots, mixing jokes about excessive curry consumption with affectionate parodies of classic sci-fi. Indeed, one of the show's most endearing and enduring features is its obvious respect for genre conventions, even as it gleefully subverts them. The scenario owes something to Douglas Adams's satirical Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, something to The Odd Couple, and a lot more to the slacker sci-fi of John Carpenter's Dark Star. Behind the crew's constant bickering there lurks an impending sense that life, the universe, and everything are all someone's idea of a terrible joke. Suggested by Robin Chan, Research & Information Services

Seraphina: a novel by Rachel Hartman Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high. Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life. Suggested by Lily Flick, UCF Connect Libraries

Slippage: previously uncollected, precariously poised stories by Harlan Ellison Harlan Ellison celebrates four decades of writing and publishes his seventieth book, this critically acclaimed, wildly imaginative, and outrageously creative collection. The Edgar Award–nominated novella Mefisto in Onyx is the centerpiece, surrounded by screenplays, an introduction by the author, interspersed segments of autobiographical narrative, and such provocatively titled entries as “The Man Who Rowed Columbus Ashore,” “Anywhere But Here, With Anybody But You,” “Crazy As a Soup Sandwich,” “Chatting With Anubis,” “The Dragon on the Bookshelf,” (written in collaboration with Robert Silverberg), “The Dreams a Nightmare Dreams,” “Pulling Hard Time,” and “Midnight in the Sunken Cathedral.” Suggested by John Venecek, Research & Information Services

Stardust by Neil Gaiman Tristran Thorn will do anything to win the cold heart of beautiful Victoria Forester—even fetch her the star they watch fall from the night sky. But to do so, he must enter the unexplored lands on the other side of the ancient wall that gives their tiny village its name. Beyond that stone barrier, Tristran learns, lies Faerie...and the most exhilarating adventure of the young man's life. Suggested by Christina Wray, Teaching & Engagement

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang Stories of Your Life and Others delivers dual delights of the very, very strange and the heartbreakingly familiar, often presenting characters who must confront sudden change—the inevitable rise of automatons or the appearance of aliens—with some sense of normalcy. With sharp intelligence and humor, Chiang examines what it means to be alive in a world marked by uncertainty, but also by beauty and wonder. Suggested by Selma Jaskowski, Administration

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein Raised by Martians on Mars, Valentine Michael Smith is a human who has never seen another member of his species. Sent to Earth, he is a stranger who must learn what it is to be a man. But his own beliefs and his powers far exceed the limits of humankind, and as he teaches them about grokking and water-sharing, he also inspires a transformation that will alter Earth’s inhabitants forever. Suggested by Tim Walker, Information Technology & Digital Initiatives

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden Winter lasts most of the year at the edge of the Russian wilderness, and in the long nights, Vasilisa and her siblings love to gather by the fire to listen to their nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, Vasya loves the story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon. Wise Russians fear him, for he claims unwary souls, and they honor the spirits that protect their homes from evil. Then Vasya’s widowed father brings home a new wife from Moscow. Fiercely devout, Vasya’s stepmother forbids her family from honoring their household spirits, but Vasya fears what this may bring. And indeed, misfortune begins to stalk the village. But Vasya’s stepmother only grows harsher, determined to remake the village to her liking and to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for marriage or a convent. As the village’s defenses weaken and evil from the forest creeps nearer, Vasilisa must call upon dangerous gifts she has long concealed—to protect her family from a threat sprung to life from her nurse’s most frightening tales. Suggested by Cindy Dancel, Research & Information Services

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin This is the way the world ends...for the last time. A season of endings has begun. It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester. This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy. Suggested by Schuyler Kerby, Rosen Library

The King Must Die by Mary Renault Renault starts with Theseus' early years, showing how the mystery of his father's identity and his small stature breed the insecurities that spur his youthful hijinx. As he moves on to Eleusis, Athens, and Crete, his playfulness and fondness for pranks matures into the courage to attempt singular heroic feats, the gallantry and leadership he was known for on the battlefield, and the bold-hearted ingenuity he shows in navigating the labyrinth and slaying the Minotaur. In what is perhaps the most inventive of all her novels of Ancient Greece, Renault casts Theseus in a surprisingly original pose; she teases the flawed human out of the bronze hero, and draws the plausible out of the fantastic. Suggested by Brian Calhoun, Research & Information Services

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the days before, when she lived and made love with her husband Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now…. Suggested by Jacqui Johnson, Cataloging

The Illustrated Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams The off-beat and occasionally extraterrestrial journeys, notions, and acquaintances of galactic traveler Arthur Dent are illustrated with digitally generated graphic images and tricky visual puns Suggested by Missy Murphey, Research & Information Services

The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's classic tale of true love and high adventure: the "good parts" version, abridged by William Goldman Anyone who lived through the 1980s may find it impossible—inconceivable, even—to equate The Princess Bride with anything other than the sweet, celluloid romance of Westley and Buttercup, but the film is only a fraction of the ingenious storytelling you'll find in these pages. Rich in character and satire, the novel is set in 1941 and framed cleverly as an “abridged” retelling of a centuries-old tale set in the fabled country of Florin that's home to “Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passions.” Suggested by Jamie LaMoreaux, Acquisitions & Collections

Twentieth-century American science-fiction writers. Pt. 1, A-L edited by David Cowart and Thomas L. Wymer The two-volume “Twentieth Century American Science Fiction Writers”, edited by David Cowart and Thomas L. Wimer, was published in 1981 and consists ofVolume 8: Part 1: A-L and Vol. 8: Part 2: M-Z of the Dictionary of Literary Biography. Michael Rogers wrote that "it is hands-down the best overall literary reference work ever published" but that many reference librarians had probably never heard of it. Choice has named the DLB an Outstanding Academic Book four times and The American Library Association's Reference and User Services Association has twice named it as an Outstanding Reference Source. Suggested by Mary Lee Gladding, Circulation

#ucf libraries bookshelf #staff favorite #science fiction #fantasy #booklr #neil gaiman #reading #tumblarians

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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Batwoman Season 3: Batwing, New Gotham Villains, Promise Wild Year

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Batwoman‘s second season had a lot of ground to cover following the departure of Ruby Rose as Kate Kane post-Season 1. Let’s recap! Season 2 introduced Ryan Wilder (Javicia Leslie) as the new titular hero with Ryan finding the Batsuit among the wreckage of Kate Kane’s crashed plane. From there, she decides to use the suit to get justice for her adoptive mother’s death. Mary and Luke let Ryan keep the suit warm and keep the city safe while they wait for Kate to return, eventually growing into a tight team of their own.

Season 2 had to ask the question: what happened to Kate Kane? And devoted much of its top half exploring the answer. Kate was presumed dead after the plane crash, then thought to be Safiyah’s captive, then presumed dead again, until it was ultimately revealed that she was brainwashed by Roman Sionis to believe she was his late daughter, Circe.

Ryan and Alice confronted Circe and were able to dose her with aerosolized Snakebite, which finally brought Kate back. Mary, Luke, Sophie—and the audience—were all able to get closure with Kate, and Kate gave Ryan her blessing, officially passing the torch. Season 2 was one of reinvention, and it solidified Ryan Wilder as Batwoman. The finale also left us with some major clues as to what to expect in the forthcoming third season, which is set to premiere in October. Let’s discuss all of the major happenings set to occur in Batwoman Season 3, from new villains and heroes, to which mysteries could be solved…

Luke Becomes Batwing

One of the biggest moments in the Batwoman season 3 finale came when Luke finds a Batsuit created for him by his late father. He suits up for the first time and saves Mary from a Bane-ified Tavaroff, signaling his introduction as a new hero, Batwing.

Luke comes out of the season with a new suit and a new outlook on life, but it wasn’t without some major derails. After surviving near-fatal gunshot wounds, Luke went a little dark side until a run-in with John Diggle (David Ramsey) reminded him of who he was.

“I think that scene between them was one of the best parts of the episode,” Ramsey told us when we spoke to him about a potential relationship between Diggle and Luke.

“Both of them are still on a journey,” Ramsey says. “Part of Luke’s journey, part of that transition, John Diggle’s already made.”

Diggle started out as Oliver Queen’s bodyguard and evolved into the hero fans know and love. Luke Fox was Batwoman’s “Man in the Chair,” and helped both Batwomen make the suit their own before stepping into a suit himself.

“For Fox to begin to walk those same steps and to have a man that looks like him, that sounds like him, that lost his father like him, to have those similarities… I think it’s good writing for Fox, specifically, because he doesn’t know John Diggle,” Ramsey says. “So this will be a totally new relationship.”

Luke is a Black man in a notoriously corrupt city who will be taking up the mantle of Batwing. Without the direct guidance of his late father Lucious Fox, or the original Batman, Bruce Wayne, Diggle could serve as a mentor, a role we’re not used to seeing that character in.

“I think in terms of our universe we haven’t really seen that. Just having this character begin to grow into a Batman, and to have someone who’s already done it, that has been through the same thing he’s been through, looks like him, can talk to him, I think that kind of mentorship on television, I think, is just rich.”

Ultimately, the people behind the mask are who we root for and who we tune in to see week after week. Batwoman has given us characters and relationships that are compelling and resonant. Luke has always been integral to the team, and his experience in becoming Batwing will be important to explore.

“To come back [from what Luke experienced] and then find another Black man who took interest in him, who sees the similarities, and can speak to that, can speak to fatherhood, can to speak to mentorship, can speak to losing his own father, can speak to coming into his own heroship, if you will… it’s great because ultimately you can see them fight together,” Ramsey says. “All the superhero stuff is there, but I just think about it on the other side of it, in terms of storytelling between these two Black men, one younger, one older, I just think it’s great for TV.”

There’s a lot of potential for Diggle to mentor Luke, especially as Diggle makes his own heroic transformation.

“Obviously, John Diggle has his own destiny that he’s going into,” Ramsey says, hinting at the Green Lantern journey Diggle is on. “But how he fits, going into the mythos of other shows, I think that’s one of the things I would love to recreate, just that relationship between Diggle and Fox.”

The Truth About Ryan’s Mom

After Ryan and Alice temporarily team up to rescue Kate and recover her memories, Alice is arrested by GCPD, and Kate leaves Gotham to find Bruce, officially passing on the Batwoman mantle to Ryan. When Ryan visits Alice at Arkham Asylum, Alice reveals that Ryan’s birth mother, presumed to have died in childbirth, is alive and well. That’s a major revelation for Ryan and it’s going to be a major part of her story going forward.

Robin Givens was recently announced as a series regular, Jada Jet who is described as “passionate and hard working, a woman who has worked her way through life’s ups and downs to climb her way to the top — all while being extremely protective over her impetuous son. A woman with a deep past that forced her to give up her first-born child, Jada is a woman with a good heart, but will do whatever it takes to protect her family.”

Ryan has survived a lot of trauma, and overcome a lot of personal obstacles. The discovery that her biological mother is not just alive, but thriving, could completely upend her reality.

Batwoman Season 3 Villains

Batwing will feature prominently in Batwoman season 3 and he’ll be likely recovering the villain trophies Circe stole from the Batcave. If the items that washed up on a Gotham river are anything to go by, the Bat Team may be facing off against iterations of Penguin, Mad Hatter, and Poison Ivy. The latter seems especially likely, given that Poison Ivy was name-dropped in an earlier episode, and may have existing ties with the current crop of Bat heroes.

Poison Ivy and Penguin are both iconic Batman villains, and bringing them to Batwoman is a strong declaration of faith in Ryan Wilder⁠.

Poison Ivy is a meta who can manipulate greenery, and control people using pheromones. Penguin is a physically-deformed criminal mastermind.

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Both characters have been mentioned in the Arrowverse before⁠⁠—Lex Luthor wrote about Pamela Isley/Poison Ivy in his journal, pre-Crisis, and Penguin was name-dropped by Cluemaster. There is also an inmate in Arkham Asylum named O. Cobblepot⁠—but they haven’t yet appeared on-screen. Allowing Ryan and Luke to face-off against A-list villains shows confidence in the show and in the characters.

Batwoman Season 3 New Characters

Dougray Scott (Jacob Kane) exited as a series regular post-Season 2, but Batwoman is shoring up the ranks with a new series regular: Victoria Cartagena will be joining the cast as Renee Montoya for the third season. Montoya has seen several on-screen incarnations in recent years, including in Birds of Prey and Gotham, where she was—pause for dramatic impact—also played by Cartagena.

I guess #Reneemontoya and I have some unfinished business❤️ So very excited to join this new group of talented artists, writers & crew who are doing their thing over here! They have welcomed me wholeheartedly! Grateful, humbled, hype AF… #batwoman #fullcircle https://t.co/eeNCmptT7v

— Victoria Cartagena (@VickiCartagena) July 20, 2021

This version of the character is not intended to be related to the Gotham version. She is (via Deadline) a “former GCPD officer who left the force when she could no longer stomach the corruption inside the department. She now runs the ‘freaks division,’ which hasn’t seen a lot of action… until now. Righteous and pragmatic, and LGBTQ+, she’s a woman with a very personal (and mysterious) mission to help clean the streets of Gotham in the right way, by whatever means necessary.”

We’ll also get Nick Creegan as Marquis Jet, who, according to Deadline: “A sexy playboy who grew up in a lavish lifestyle, Marquis is too charming for his own good and wields his power with a ne’er do well attitude. He views life as one big joke and that sense of recklessness has a tendency to clash horribly with his no-nonsense mother Jada Jet. When he meets Ryan (Leslie), he sees in her a like-minded young go-getter who like him is just waiting for the right opportunity to make his mark on Gotham.”

What are you excited for in Batwoman Season 3? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Batwoman Season 3: Batwing, New Gotham Villains, Promise Wild Year appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2V2jB9z

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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yensid-institute · 7 years ago

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“A heart’s a heavy burden…”

Sonia Sparks // Sophie Hatter

Profile

Age: 18

Height: 5’4”

Element: Water

Season: Winter

Animal: Mouse

Alignment: Lawful Good

Biography:

Sonia is from a long line of hatters, with a shop in London England that she and her family have lived above for generations. They have made hats for everyone who is anyone, from the Queen of England to the Kardashians and as the eldest, it has been Sonia’s destiny to inherit this small but lucrative business. Sonia’s younger sister is bound for bigger and better things than making hats and talk’s all the time about her big dreams, dreams that weren’t for the eldest of any family for they had responsibilities younger siblings didn’t have. Sonia had always been at peace with her lot in life, being an old soul and was never one to rage against the machine, things were they way they were for a reason and it wasn’t sensible to be selfish about the future.

One day while she was closing up for the night, she was faced with a particularly nasty customer who “cursed” her. Days passed and nothing transpired, she thought the person had just been off their rocker but she began to have nightmares, persistent ones. She kept dreaming that she turned old, rather suddenly and then, one day, she looked in the mirror and for a split second saw it while she was awake. Shortly afterwards, she was approached by the Institute and they offered to help her and give her an adventure. Eager at least for some help, she chose to go without a second thought.

Facts:

She is very tidy and fearless in the face of the toughest messes, even the moldiest toilet couldn’t make this girl gag.

She was a slightly above average student.

She has an intense bee allergy and needs to carry an epipen.

She get’s sunburns incredibly easily and can’t for the life of her tan so she always needs to wear sunscreen.

She is a tea person and a cat person.

Magic Touch: She has no magic of her own but she has a horrible curse that will one day, in the next few years or less, make her ninety nine years old, permanently.

Fate: To die young, of old age.

FC: Natalia Dyer

#howlsmovingcastle #openf #openm #natalia dyer #nataliadyer

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mediaevalmusereads · 4 years ago

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Howl’s Moving Castle. By Diana Wynne Jones. New York: One World, 2018.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Genre: YA fantasy

Part of a Series? Yes, Howl’s Moving Castle #1

Summary: Sophie has the great misfortune of being the eldest of three daughters, destined to fail miserably should she ever leave home to seek her fate. But when she unwittingly attracts the ire of the Witch of the Waste, Sophie finds herself under a horrid spell that transforms her into an old lady. Her only chance at breaking it lies in the ever-moving castle in the hills: the Wizard Howl's castle. To untangle the enchantment, Sophie must handle the heartless Howl, strike a bargain with a fire demon, and meet the Witch of the Waste head-on. Along the way, she discovers that there's far more to Howl—and herself—than first meets the eye.

***Full review under the cut.***

Date of Original Review: June 5, 2014

18 year old Sophie Hatter is turned into a 90 year old woman by the wicked Witch of the Waste. To seek her fortune, and break the spell, Sophie becomes employed as the new cleaning lady for the mysterious and lecherous Wizard Howl, who lives in an ever-moving castle.

The first thing that stood out to me in this book was Jones’ style. She writes in a way that is very humorous and engaging, which gives the overall novel the appearance of a story that doesn’t take its own use of fantasy tropes seriously. For example, the back of the book reads: “As her younger sisters set out to seek their fortunes, Sophie stayed in her father’s hat shop. Which proved most unadventerous, until the Witch of the Waste came in to buy a bonnet, but was not pleased. Which is why she turned Sophie into an old lady. Which was spiteful witchery.” The whole novel reads in this style, which I found to be very enjoyable.

Second, Jones is very good at world-building. Her ideas are creative: a moving castle, enchanted suits, doors that lead to multiple places. I especially liked her character, Calcifer, a fire demon who is confined to the fireplace as a result of a contract. All of these elements are very interesting and serve as stable building blocks for a fun fantasy adventure.

The major downfall of Howl’s Moving Castle, in my opinion, is the lack of a plot. The novel begins brilliantly: a witch turns Sophie into an old woman, causing her to seek out Howl and make a deal with Calcifer to help him break his contract. However, Jones does her readers a disservice by pushing these major issues to the background and instead choosing to focus on the more mundane elements of living in a moving castle. She goes to great lengths to describe events such as cleaning the castle, going into town, running a flower shop, etc. Thus, when the “big” things occur, such as the conflict with the Witch and Howl’s curse, they seem out of place.

Furthermore, Jones’ characters are sadly one-dimensional. The majority of the novel spends time telling instead of showing, and readers do not get to explore the characters in much depth. We know nothing about Howl’s motivations, his past, his feelings, and we most certainly don’t receive much insight into Sophie, despite her being the central character of the book. Combined with the lack of an exciting plot, this drawback is highly damaging to the novel as a whole.

Evaluation: While enjoyable to read and very humorous, Howl’s Moving Castle falls short of its goal of inspiring adventure and courage, combating fate, and portraying a world of magic.

Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you are a fan of/interested in: young adult literature, children’s literature, fantasy, magic, Hayao Miyazaki's Howl’s Moving Castle, destiny, plot-driven stories (as opposed to character-driven)

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xhairlikestarlightx · 7 years ago

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— ✧ Introducing SOPHIE HATTER (PENDRAGON) the THIRTY-THREE year old aka SOPHIE HATTER from HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE. She is a SHOP OWNER/SEAMSTRESS at PENDRAGON AND CO. and has been residing in Auradon for ONE YEAR. She is known to be DUTIFUL & COURAGEOUS and RESERVED & SNARKY. In another universe they’d be known as FELICITY JONES.

Here’s Cordelia bringing you Sophie Hatter-Pendragon

She needs some friends.

Connections HOWL MARKL WITCH OF THE WASTE FRIENDS MORE PEOPLE TO TAKE CARE OF

#descendcnts:intro

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madamhatter · 4 years ago

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Witch of the Cosmos: Overview 1

An expansion on an AU version of Sophie that has long been on this blog, but hasn’t been fully explored. In the wake of Roxy’s ( @fcirylxghts ) return to Tumblr, and her Kohaku, this ever more an appropriate time to open up about it.

This acts as a potential plot for Sophie’s modern-supernatural variant verse (to explain in next post). But, this isn’t the ‘postmodern witchaholic’ verse tag. This plot stays exclusively tagged as ‘witch of the cosmos’ and neither verses overlap.

This AU expands on the effects of the curse that the Witch of the Waste inflicted on Sophie. Not only had it aged Sophie significantly and kept her at a ripe age of ninety, and even grayed her hairs, it has also left her disconnected from her mortality.

Sophie’s own life expectancy was distorted because of how incredibly powerful the curse was, and given the abilities of Sophie’s own magic, both melded and created an irreversible effect. She has been utterly removed from the cycle of life and death.

Given that she is now outside the boundaries of mortality, the realization of her magic’s limitlessness is now recognized and available. Creating, bending, adjusting, altering, destroying, reviving, and any way she can speak she, she can do. Reality, time, and, space are all at whim of her lips. Her own magic isn’t tied to any particular source and has infinite supply.

Her unique position as an ‘undone mortal separated earthly life,’ as she once put it, makes her a liaison commonly for different supernatural entities and mortals -- gods dare seek her. And why? Because all that breathes and moves are connected to the cloth of fate and gods are no greater than what they’ve created.

“Defier,” “Contractor of the Immortals and Mortals,” “The Weaver and Deceiver of Fate,” “Silver-Tongued Sorceress,” “Witch of Life,” and much more have been associated with her. However, she would always prefer to be called Miss Hatter and doesn’t wish to fret people over formalities.

We will be calling her Sorceress for the rest of the overview posts. It will be explained in the next post.

She is not bound to one world and is known to travel many at her leisure. The only permanent place she calls home is a small pocket of her own creation. It’s quite cozy, actually. ( Here’s a post describing the area in length. It’s basically her recreation of a greenhouse turned cottage nearby the densest forests known to any existing species and race. And, yes, she made that forest herself + everything around you. Be careful.)

There is another location that you can end up in that designed by her. She refers to it as “her office.” If you end up there, you shouldn’t be.

How you may approach her varies. She likes to say “That those who need her have destiny guide them.” Which isn’t saying much when she can alter that and have you dragged to her even if you’re not nearby. She tends to have specific areas that she ‘flourishes’ to her liking. She likes areas stuck between dusk or dawn. ( This is a post explaining what usual environment she can be found in and her relationship to Kohaku as a deity. )

This form is hers is not bound to one appearance, but she is most happy being perceived at a ‘younger’ age when she looks unaged and well into her late 20s to 30s.

Her body can still be harmed, can get sick, and can have the ‘human experience’ as she puts it. However, it is mostly out of her own will that she experiences something (or she’s been too careless with herself).

#( verse: witch of the cosmos )#( in which we learn about the eldest ; headcanons )#long post tw #long post

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madamhatter · 5 years ago

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hc. ??? - in which sophie manages fate.

One of her most reliable weapons rests, inclined against the side of her shelf. Easily gripping her broom, the Hatter swirls it between her fingers nonchalantly. It’s been a while, she muses to herself, but I should still have it.

A promise made for her sister, late in her life, never to invoke the sheer cold rage that now slumbered. Refusal to bend the knee, adamance to not follow through, anger and regret boiled over her mind and bubbled her resentment to her current condition. She was made to be a puppet and be so willingly played to it. Her reason was purely her sisters, she wouldn’t do it for any other reason.

Yet, if there were her sole purpose, the extent to which she’d do for them, where she needed to make up for the lack of parents, for the lack of protection, for the lack of support, was beyond mortal comprehension. She was no less her sister now than she was a mother and father back in her childhood.

Martha and Lettie are invaluable and she was worthless, in the grand scheme of things. ‘Twas the most bile truth that she had to swallow; her existence was the key to continue the cycle, to maintain the family, and to be used thoroughly and fully to anyone’s pleasure. No purpose to live, besides from being miserably in forever knowing that misfortune marked her.

Pity, pity, pity. Yet, what could she do of it? She’s as well marked as being human; the range of emotion was far more impressive than most living species on Earth. So, she did what any frustrated, scarred, regretful person would do: vent. Take it out on those who decided to trifle with her sisters’ happiness, insult her family, or ruin her life’s work of keeping the family secured and stable.

Clawing, kicking, biting, punching, swatting, bludgeoning...By her own hands, the scissors in her pockets, the broom in her hands, or anything she could get her scarred hands on, there was a release. She remembers. A twist of relief and guilt knots her stomach whenever she returns home, marred with bruises and dragging herself to cover the marks and dried blood on the side of her head or from her nose. Each centimeter of her body aches and the departure of adrenaline reminds her once more of the emptiness she carries.

It was the feeblest means of choice. To rebel against what came before her and what she had to accept. She swung her fist, swiped her scissors in the air, raised a wooden plank, all on her own terms. A breath of freedom was intoxicating, maddening, terrifying. It left her curled in bed, covering herself promptly with her clothing, covering up with amateur make-up skills.

Her adolescence and early teens saw the rise of circumvented childish fury that laid in suffering wait and silence. So old at 18, already an old maid with how unkempt and sickly she feels and looks, she’d sooner wish that the equivocal thoughts of her mind would extinguish. Yet, even taking her sisters’ word to heart, fixing herself a better mask, why must still continue to dance between content and contempt?

How sooner could she find herself dancing with Death? How sooner would her usefulness expire the older her sisters get? How sooner could she retire from this role bestowed upon her by folks long absent from this world? Why does it still ache her that she accepted these conditions? Why does she still find herself as weak to consider how ‘unfair’ life is when this how life was? She was even lucky to be where she is now, despite all the gaps and missing pieces she needed to crudely fill in her childhood.

The Sophie Hatter that stands now, idly turning her broom and dancing to a lonesome song in her mind, is the eldest of three, seamstress and hatter, and destined for nothingness. The actress takes her stage, dawning herself a new role. Even as disobedience laid dormant, faintly asleep, the emotions must be relinquished for complacency. The sooner, the better. But it all be hard. Life never treated anyone easily.

Bristles of the broom drift as the hatter saunters with a gentle twirl of her body, the melody of her mind audible with wearied tune slipping past her partially parted lips. Her sight is fleeting, her eyes close, returning to her once-found remedy. Her imagination, her get-way to the different lives and faces she could’ve been other than the mundane, plain face she wears and the miserable life that was her’s.

However, neither rage and bliss will ever be the truth behind her life. Simply put, as she retires her broom against her broom, it was exhaustion. Tired of this life, of this body, of these circumstances, of the anxious wait, of the unfairness....of everything, truthfully.

No matter how her mind slowly loses itself, growing compliant and sooner to be drenched in apathy, the struggle of ambivalence was all she wanted. Alas, the folly of man was well her own and it is to feel, to listen, to respond. All three she could do, yet all three lead her to empty endings.

“Oh, so much to do,” Sophie sighs, resting her hand above her heart, feeling the erratic palpitations. She skims over her shoulder, locating the greatest activity she spent her entire life with: work. Her other hand rests above the other, closing in as she grabs the fabric of her dress. Her lip quivers, a hairline fracture in her finest work: her facade. Her brows lower and her lips part, breathless and wanting.

“I should...start soon.” Sophie solemnly walks to her chair, her fingers softly grazing across the top of the table. The only sure thing in her life, it was all of this. So much to do, so little time before destiny strikes. The corner of her eyes wrinkle, melancholy laces her thoughts at such a truth. One that was slightly easier to accept.

“I should, I should.”

#( in which we learn about the eldest ; headcanons )#violence tw #violence

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madamhatter · 6 years ago

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2.a relieved hug

hug prompts (send a number for a hug! feel free to combine prompts.) / accpt / @crystalburdened / #2 - relieved hug

For a lifetime, she practically lived in the family’s hat shop when she realized at a young age through all the books she read that that would be her fate. Misfortunate Ms. Hatter, mistress of the mundane, mediocre, and mishaps. What more could she have sought past the truths in societal conventions that dubbed her dreams and insight obsolete? She should've been happy with her arrangement, set on never seeking out any fortune.

Fate. however. was a character of a trickster kind, the roads of life they made were never straight cobble line. There were always forked roads, detours, shortcuts, twists, and corners. Destiny, instead, swept her off of her feet and her lithe body felt weightless in the moments where the weights of the world didn’t drag her back down to Earth. But, she found herself not alone.

She, once more, diverged from the path when she first agreed to the free-hand’s offer for adventure – or in his case, his daily work. Most of their times were spent on dirt roads and serene fields, traversing through the backdrops of idyllic towns. Their heads sometimes butted but, they were relatively fine.

Trouble did arise in the form of thieves and highwaymen bargaining for their goods or their lives. The blond, in his hubris, partook in their threats. All the while the crystal embedded in his cheek gleamed azure and a sphere of blue manifested around his hands. The seamstress, in the meanwhile, preferred diplomatic resolutions since she wouldn’t waste time (and energy) on such matters. But, even she swung her white flag if push came to shove.

Yet, now, the road split again from uproar in the large city they were visiting. In the vein of their own strengths, or by bad luck, they separated last minute when Sophie first heard distant cries. To aid the people came naturally if it meant getting out of there as soon as possible. It wasn’t long until Layle spotted suspicious bodies.

No promises, no assurances, he nonchalantly said he’ll return – even if she clung onto his sleeve and asked him to wait, to reconsider. But, who was she to try to tame the wind? She begrudgingly let him go, shouting him reminders of where they could meet. She recalled how he shrunk the further he got away, she couldn’t make out the emblem on the back of his bomber jacket.

It’s been more than four hours. Smoke has consumed every one of their sights, the city was burning brightly against the evening sky, and herds of civilians regained themselves at the now ruined welcome gates to the trade city. Sophie was among the many covered in ashes, cuts, bruises, and sweat. But, she was the (stupidly) few who refused treatment as it was pointless for someone who kept running back to the flames.

The flames of amber orange and ruby red danced in the reflection in her tired eyes. Her expression was steeled, calm in the face of calamity. One of her hands was drawn over her mouth as she sat pensively on the ground, gazing down now unusable routes. Between the spaces of her left hand was the bottom of her gray dress as she squeezed it so tightly.

Tasting the embers on the tip of her tongue, Sophie’s flat palm pressed against her forehead. She pushed back her locks, murmuring to herself: “I shouldn’t have.” There were many choices that she shouldn’t have made. Like avoiding her fate, fighting against the custom, and letting Layle run off.

Part of her mind considered if the latter was a result of punishment. If she hadn’t made discrepancies and challenged life, maybe Layle would’ve returned – maybe they wouldn’t have come here, maybe he would’ve been safe, maybe he wouldn’t be dead. ‘Sophie, no,’ she shook her head and looked down, biting her tongue. ‘There’s no way he could be. No, no, no, no.’

‘..But, what if it’s true? It wouldn’t be the first time something went wrong because I didn’t do something, because I wasn’t being careful.’ Sophie squeezed her eyes shut, breathing in deeply, to only then cough.

However, a familiar voice caught her attention. Her head perked up as she peeked from behind the gaps of her fingers. Her body slowly rose and she was on her feet. Bruised but alive, confidence and pride intact, Layle returned.

Sophie hurried over, only hearing his tongue-in-cheek one-liner, but she failed to reply. Her hands cupped his cheeks, meticulously checking over each blemish and cut. Her gaze was held while her irises glistened from the distant fires the longer she looked at him. Overcome with silence, she brushed back his hair, continuing to investigate every inch of his face with her sight and touch.

Her arms soon lowered, to only then weave around his torso as she embraced him softly. Though her arms were hidden underneath his jacket and her fingers gripped onto his shirt. Nestling her face against her collarbone, Sophie finally breathed. One deep painful inhale and exhale as her controlled state crumbled with each second spent holding him.

A soft sniffle could be heard as hot tears quietly streamed down her cheeks, wetting his neck. Bristles of silver rose and tangled as her face sunk against him and she breathed in his scent. Her figure soon shook as she drew in her lips, trying to hold herself from whining and sobbing.

No matter what happened, what mattered was that he was back. Enjoy each opportunity she could have, she knew better than to take for granted her time with someone. Relationships were fleeting, be it by mortality or decisions, but nothing was ever truly permanent. And she’d rather spend it holding him.

Sophie whispered loud enough for Layle, her fingers now untangling from his shirt with her palms resting on his chest. She looked up to him as she spoke:

“Please don’t ever do that again. Layle, I don’t think I’ll be able to handle that again.”

#( checkbooks inquiries and much ; answered asks )#( verse: the witch of the halidom )#( the ones brighter than crystals && stars )#[ sophie koala clings and doesnt let go of layle mgdkgf ]#crystalburdened

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