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50 free Howl's Moving Castle trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Howl's Moving Castle began when a schoolboy asked Diana Wynne Jones to write a book called The Moving Castle, and it became Hayao Miyazaki's answer to the Iraq War — a film he expected America to dislike, which instead earned an Oscar nomination and $236 million worldwide. Along the way it gave us a fire demon voiced by Billy Crystal, a castle on chicken legs and a heroine who finds freedom in old age. These 50 questions cover the film's plot and production — Sophie's curse, Calcifer's bargain, Turnip Head, Madame Suliman, Howl's aliases, the Venice premiere, Joe Hisaishi's score, the Alsace research trip and the director who quit before Miyazaki took over — plus the English voice cast and the novel it loosely follows, with its Welsh wizard, the kingdom of Ingary and a very different Miss Angorian. Easy questions stick to the characters everyone remembers; the hard tier asks about storyboard counts, awards and the book's sequels. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation that adds one more detail.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who wrote and directed the 2004 film Howl's Moving Castle?
Hayao Miyazaki
Mamoru Hosoda was originally chosen to direct but quit after Ghibli rejected many of his concepts.
Q 02Which British author wrote the 1986 novel the film is based on?
Diana Wynne Jones
Neil Gaiman called her 'quite simply the best writer for children of her generation'.
Q 03What is Sophie's trade at the start of the film?
Milliner
She is the eldest of three sisters and works in the family hat shop.
Q 04What is Sophie unable to do once the Witch transforms her?
Reveal the spell
In the novel the Witch mistakes Sophie for her sister Lettie.
Q 05What kind of being is Calcifer?
A fire demon
He is the source of the castle's magic and movement, and bound to its hearth.
Q 06What name does Sophie give the living scarecrow she meets?
Turnip Head
He leads her to the moving castle and, at the end, turns out to be the missing prince Justin.
Q 07What is the name of Howl's young apprentice in the film?
Markl
In the novel he is an adolescent named Michael Fisher who courts Sophie's sister Martha.
Q 08What job does Sophie claim Calcifer has hired her for?
Cleaning lady
She invites herself into the castle and announces the position when Howl appears.
Q 09What deal does Calcifer offer Sophie?
Break his link with Howl and he breaks her curse
Neither Howl nor Calcifer can reveal the main clause of their contract, so Sophie must work it out.
Q 10Under what pretense does Howl send Sophie to see the King?
As his mother
She is meant to tell the King that Howl is too cowardly to fight in the war.
Q 11Who is the King's head sorceress in the film?
Suliman
She merges two characters from the novel: Mrs. Penstemmon and the wizard Suliman.
Q 12What is the name of the head sorceress's dog who joins Sophie's household?
Heen
Dee Bradley Baker provided his wheezing voice, uncredited, in the English dub.
Q 13Jenkins and Pendragon are what, in the film?
Howl's two aliases
Soldiers raid both addresses and find only abandoned buildings in disguise.
Q 14What does Howl transform into to interfere with the war?
Q 21Which science-fiction writing award did the film win for its script?
A Nebula
It also collected four Tokyo Anime Awards.
Q 22Roughly how much did the film gross in Japan?
$190 million
Another $46 million came from outside Japan, for a $236 million total.
Q 23Which two films out-grossed it in Japan at the time of release?
Titanic and Spirited Away
It grossed $14.5 million in its first week in Japan.
Q 24Which Pixar director supervised the English dub?
A giant bird
Each transformation makes it harder for him to return to human form.
Q 15What does Sophie see a young Howl catch and give his heart to?
A falling star
The charmed ring leads her into the scene from Howl's past.
Q 16What remains changed about Sophie after her curse is broken?
Her hair stays silver
Miyazaki said he liked how positively the story treated growing old.
Q 17What breaks the scarecrow's curse?
A kiss from his true love
Sophie's kiss on the cheek reveals him as Prince Justin, who then heads home to end the war.
Q 18Which real-world conflict fueled the film's anti-war themes?
The 2003 Iraq War
Miyazaki said he had 'a great deal of rage' about it and expected the film to be poorly received in the US.
Q 19At which festival did the film premiere in September 2004?
Venice
It opened in Japan on 20 November 2004.
Q 20Which film beat Howl's Moving Castle to the Best Animated Feature Oscar?
Wallace & Gromit
It was Ghibli's second nomination in the category after Spirited Away won in 2003.
Pete Docter
Disney released the dub in the United States on 10 June 2005.
Q 25Who voices Howl in the English dub?
Christian Bale
Takuya Kimura voices him in Japanese.
Q 26Who voices Calcifer in the English dub?
Billy Crystal
Tatsuya Gashūin voices the fire demon in Japanese.
Q 27Which Hollywood legend voices the Witch of the Waste in English?
Lauren Bacall
Akihiro Miwa, a singer and drag performer, voices her in Japanese.
Q 28Who voices the older Sophie in the English version?
Jean Simmons
Emily Mortimer voices young Sophie; Chieko Baisho voices both ages in Japanese.
Q 29Which future Hunger Games star voices Markl in English?
Josh Hutcherson
Ryūnosuke Kamiki voices Markl in Japanese.
Q 30Who composed the film's score?
Joe Hisaishi
The New Japan Philharmonic performed it; the main theme is 'The Merry-Go-Round of Life'.