Sophie Hatter
Age: 21
Sin: Envy
Lost thing: Straw Hat
Face Claim: Lily Collins
"They say that the best blaze burns the brightest when circumstances are at their worst."
Film
Sophie, a needlewoman who works at her family's hat shop, is a responsible-yet-plain 18-year-old girl who goes to Cesari's café to visit her sister Lettie when she encounters by chance a mysterious wizard named Howl. This encounter arouses the evil Witch of the Waste, who later enters the hat shop and transforms Sophie into a 90-year-old woman. As the curse prevents her from telling anyone of her condition, Sophie decides to leave her home of Market Chipping and seek out a cure out in the waste.Along the way, Sophie meets upon the hill the scarecrow Turnip Head. She passes the mysterious moving castle and enters it. At this point, she meets the enchanted fire demon named Calcifer, who powers the castle and recognizes that Sophie has been cursed. Calcifer offers to break the curse in exchange for Sophie's help in breaking the spell he's under, which keeps Calcifer bound to the house. She also meets Howl's young apprentice Markl.When Howl appears, Sophie announces that she is the castle's new cleaning lady, hired by Calcifer because he was sick of how dirty the castle was.Meanwhile, in Sophie's home country of Ingary, the beginning of a war has sparked against another neighboring town - following the disappearance of the other realm's Crown Prince. Slowly the war begins to creep into Sophie's country itself. Howl receives summons from the King, who orders his various assumed identities to fight in the war. However, Howl cowers in his bedroom and comes up with an idea to send Sophie to pose as his mother, announcing that he would be useless. At the palace in the capital of Kingsbury, Sophie runs into an asthmatic dog, Heen, who she thinks is Howl undercover. She also meets the Witch of the Waste, who rides on a palanquin carried by two blob men. Magical wards disintegrate the Witch's henchmen and she is forced to travel by foot. They begin to race up the stairs.Once they are inside the castle, Heen and Suliman's servant Kosho lead Sophie to the greenhouse while the Witch of The Waste finds herself a place to sit down - only to find her magical powers drained by Suliman as a punishment. This causes her to regress into a harmless old woman with few memories of her past actions. Suliman tells Sophie that Howl will meet the same fate if he does not contribute to the war. As Sophie vehemently protests these measures, the Witch's spell temporarily weakens due to the love in her words. This causes Sophie to change briefly to her younger self, then regress to her older persona. Madame Suliman realizes Sophie's true relation to Howl and her romantic feelings towards him. Howl then arrives to rescue Sophie, Suliman tries to entrap Howl by summoning star children and revealing his monstrous form, but with Sophie's help, they escape. Howl suggests drawing their pursuers away as Sophie make her way back to the castle. He offers her a magic ring which would help guide her back safely.Sophie learns that Howl is able to transform into a bird-like creature to interfere in the war, but each transformation makes it more difficult for him to return to human form. Howl, in an attempt to appease Sophie, transforms a part of the castle's into her old home by the hat shop, and even shows her a secret garden he used to stay in his childhood. Sophie fears that Howl is preparing to leave them, as his remaining time as a human is limited, and he returns to interfering in the war. Sophie's mother Honey shows up under Suliman's control and leaves behind a bag containing a "peeping bug" under her orders. The former Witch of the Waste discovers it and promptly destroys the bug by tossing it into Calcifer who gets sick, rendering him unable to conceal the castle.A few hours later, the city is carpet-bombed by enemy aircraft while Suliman's Blob men invade the hat shop. After arriving just in time to protect the shop from the bombing, Howl draws the guards away after healing Calcifer. He tells Sophie he is not going to run away anymore because he has something he wants to protect before leaving to interfere with the war. Deducing that Howl must be saved, Sophie moves everyone out of the castle and removes Calcifer from the fireplace, destroying the castle. She offers Calcifer some of her braided hair to give him enough strength to power a portion of the castle. They head toward Howl when the former Witch of the Waste discovers Howl's heart within Calcifer. Sophie pours water on Calcifer to make her let go of the heart, making Calcifer lose his power. The segment of the castle splits, and she and Heen fall down a chasm.Using her magic ring, Sophie makes her way toward Howl's heart, and enters through the door into Howl's childhood. She stumbles into his old cottage and looks upon his old things. Outside the marshlands, she sees dozens of falling stars vanish as they land on the earth. She then sees Howl and Calcifer meet: Howl eats Calcifer, who gains his heart. Sophie finds Howl, having now lost his human consciousness in bird form. They head back to the group, and Sophie asks the Witch for Howl's heart. She gives it to her and places the heart back in Howl, resurrecting him and freeing Calcifer. She kisses the scarecrow who reveals that he is actually the missing prince. Heen shows the scene of their happy end to Suliman, and the war is finally over. Howl, Sophie, and the others return home from the end of the war, flying high above the bomber planes in a moving house.
Fatal Flaw
Hypocrisy
Sophie doesn't feel beautiful, her parents and neighbors never made her feel like she was especially when it came to her younger sisters. As the older sibling, she can't stand to see her sisters sad, so she ends up comforting them. She continued to mother her classmates and make sure everyone was taken care of, comforting everyone yet not listening to her own words when giving advice.
Occupation
Tailor - Hat Designer
Sophie works in the hot shop her parents own. She grew up learning how to create hats and fix them when a client comes in. At the age of sixteen, Sophie was creating her hat designs. She enjoyed learning how to create items that people would love and feel beautiful in. At eighteen, she started altering clothing to get a feel for what it felt like to design clothing. The majority of the time, Sophie is creating and fixing hats in her family's shop.
Connections
Calcifer - Best Friend
Howl - Best Friend's Brother.
Merlin - Friend
Biography
Sophie is the oldest of three children. They spent most of their time playing in their family's hat shop. When she was old enough, she started helping out and learning how to sew. This came in handy when she was out playing on the street and she ran into a boy crying. He held in his hands a stuffed cow that had ripped. Without saying a word, Sophie ran back to the shop and grabbed a needle, thread, and fabric placing them all in a basket and running back to the boy.She held her hand out and asked kindly if he'd let her see the stuffed animal. He was hesitant at first, but eventually, he handed it over when he noticed the supplies she had brought with her. Sophie sat on the ground and got to work. Seeing that it was her first time repairing anything, she didn't make it seamless but she was able to repair the cow. She handed it back with a smile stating the cow had some battle scars but it was good as new! She was proud of her work and wanted to help in the shop. If she could repair a stuffed animal, surely she could repair a hat.She gave a small hug to the boy then ran home to try to convince her parents to let her work in the back repairing hats. It took some time and practice to convince them, but by the age of thirteen, Sophie was in the back repairing hats.One day she got bored and started putting some fabrics together. She created a hat all by herself, she wore it out to show her parents when she was stopped by a client who ripped it off her head stating "This hat should only be worn by beautiful women." The women ended up buying the hat. It was then that she realized she liked making hats, however, that was the start of her people making it obvious she wasn't beautiful. Never once did she let it bring her down...at least on the outside.Just before graduating high school, Sophie had asked if her parents would allow her to make alterations to clothing to see if she could do it. She was already set on going to fashion school where she would learn eventually, but she wanted to get a head start on learning. There weren't many people seeking that service at a hat shop, but she did get a few which helped her realize that clothing was another way to feel beautiful and she wanted to create those outfits; and bring joy to others if she could.Starting college terrified and excited her. She stayed in the back and quiet during most of her classes until one day a vibrant man came up to her and introduced himself to her. She couldn't help but smile and shake his hand offering her name as well. After that meeting, Califer wouldn't leave her alone and they soon became best friends, doing many things together on campus. He soon realized what she thought of herself and tried to combat those thoughts by getting her out and more comfortable in her own skin.While at work one day, a customer appeared who seemed shell-shocked when he saw Sophie. She didn't realize it was because of her and not the hat she held in her hands. The shop had been notified to make a special hat for a movie. Sophie had stayed up all night creating it. She handed over the hat to the actor with a smile. He tried to speak to her but ended up stumbling over his words. She was polite to him while he talked but eventually brushed him off saying she needed to head to the back for more clients.For New Year's Eve, Calcifer dragged her out where she was introduced to the actor as Howl, Calcifer's brother. She recognized him from the shop. She had given Calcifer hell for not telling her that he had a brother or that he was an actor. She had thought he just worked on the movie when he came into the shop. She remembered their last interaction and stirred clear of him a bit, though, she was still polite when he came near or engaged in small talk with him.