#house of many ways

[bubblesandpages]

Can't believe we're getting non-weird fantasy-core covers

#after a hundred million years #Howl's Moving Castle #hmc #Diana Wynne Jones #Castle in the Air #House of Many Ways #books #Fizzy talks #dwj #hmc's is my favorite

[ladymissnose]

The fact that he's Welsh just... I don't know makes everything

#hmc book #howl's moving castle book #howlscastle #book howl #howl series #howls moving castle #sophie hatter #castle in the air #house of many ways #howl's moving castle

[kimbapisnotsushi]

some of the best/funniest moments in house of many ways, the final book in the howl's moving castle trilogy:

charmain convincing peter that waif is magical just so that he HAS to share food with her

when aunt sempronia and mrs. baker check on charmain after a few days and mrs. baker says that she feared charmain left a window open, charmain goes "no no i closed it" and then IMMEDIATELY goes, in her head, 'fuck. peter is DEFINITELY opening it'

peter nearly coming in on aunt sempronia's and mrs. baker's visit and being HORRIFIED by their "respectability" and charmain shooing him off by pretending he's waif, made even funnier when you remember that at this moment the kitchen is being invaded with angry kobolds and peter had to WAIT with them for charmain to finish

honestly the entirety of the visit had me in hysterics it was amazing

okay this isn't even funny but when you reread and realize aunt sempronia was 100% serious when she said nobody needed to fear for charmain when waif was around --

"i told them that you were in charge and they had to wait until you had finished being polite to those witches." "witches!" said charmain. "one of them was my mother!" "well, my mother's a witch," peter said. "and you only had to look at the proud one in silk to see that she was a witch."

peter getting defensive about gardening i LOVE this kid

charmain suggesting that peter sit on the trolley to find out where things disappear to when they put stuff on it

the supremely random fact that, for some reason, people of high norland are great on clocks and charmain's house itself had seventeen of them

waif running after charmain every time charmain tries to get her to stay at the house on her first day of helping the king in the library

the fact that princess hilda and the king wanted to poach HOWL?? howl jenkins pendragon??? the most pathetic cringefail man in all of ingary??? which sure they don't realize. but the idea that they want to after everything WE know is so fucking funny

sophie struggling with the butter dripping down her fingers

"charmain could not think why mrs. pendragon was staring at him in such horror. he was surely a truly enchanting child. and what long, curly eyelashes! 'with my husband and his fire demon,' mrs. pendragon finished. her face had gone fiery red, and she glared at the little boy across the toddler's head."

"i have no opinion of men's ability to manage anything." - princess hilda 2023 (or 2008, when this was published)

anyways this entire thing with 'twinkle' was fucking hilarious oh my god

SOPHIE STAMPING HER FOOT AND CALLING HOWL "disgustingly pretty" WHEN HOWL ASKS HER IF SHE THINKS HE'S PRETTY AT ALL

the whole pipe scene when charmain gets home and everything is flooded. also, charmain using a bath brush as a wand

howl sitting very politely on the roof waiting for charmain to rescue him while charmain is panicking about getting him down

THE FACT THAT HOWL IS APPARENTLY SCARED OF HEIGHTS BUT CLIMBED THE ROOF ANYWAYS JUST SO HE COULD TALK TO CHARMAIN IN PRIVATE

bakery apprentice timmy cuddling waif when charmain comes back out to the front and her thinking it means they won't be lifelong enemies after all

all the rocking horses. for protection, obviously

prince ludovic using the kobolds to steal the money from high norland and timminz going "well, nobody asked" when charmain wanted to know why he hadn't told anyone

when all the lubbockins reveal themselves and literally everything dissolves into absolute chaos, particular moments including: - the king and princess hilda shouting "not in the library!!" so imperiously that the lubbockins actually changed direction - "i had a miserable childhood, nobody loved me" and "don't listen to him it's all a pose" - morgan revealing that prince ludovic wears a wig - HOWL SWITCHING PLACES WITH MORGAN, NOT AS TWINKLE BUT HIMSELF, SO THAT LUDOVIC FINDS HIMSELF WITH AN ARMFUL OF HOT WIZARD WHO IMMEDIATELY PUNCHES HIM IN THE FACE. FUCK YEAH HOWL - to which ludovic whines "how DARE you do that!" and howl goes "bad luck" and punches him AGAIN - waif committing murder, twice

peter barreling into the room long after everything had ended and feeling quite proud of himself for finally getting some magic right, about twenty pages from the end of the book

and when he DOES come barreling in he immediately narrows in on charmain ("i knew she was making a stupid fuss, she's never sensible about things")

#peter barreling in is genuinely one of my top moments in the whole book #this whole thing is insane i love it #howl's moving castle #house of many ways #diana wynne jones #sou says stuff

[hmcbook]

#howl's moving castle book #castle in the air #house of many ways #mine #polls #listen I meant to post this after the first one is over but. I can't stop. let's goooo

[przeuszczski]

Just a normal Royal Wizard and his normal family portrait.

#howls moving castle #hmc book #howls moving castle book #sophie hatter #morgan pendragon #calcifer #castle in the sky #house of many ways #Ann draws #diana wynne jones

[lenoreamidala]

howl's and moving castle // castle in the air // house of many ways

#howl's moving castle #castle in the air #house of many ways #hmcedit #studio ghibli

[lavenderfables]

Sophie Hatter deserves financial compensation for everything Howl puts her through in House Of Many Ways.

#house of many ways #diana wynne jones #novels #sophie hatter #howl pendragon #sophie x howl #words from alice #text #y'all can reblog this if you want

[windsroad]

I just want to say—in howl’s moving castle, Sophie doesn’t have the brain cell. Howl is a mess but he’s operating on three different levels of weird gambit while sophie is bumbling around and shouting at stuff.

But, by house of many ways? THERE sophie has the brain cell. Howl is still working hard but it’s overpowered by his antics.

In castle in the air, no one has ANY brain cells.

#pointlesspointless #diana wynne jones #howl's moving castle #castle series #house of many ways #castle in the air

[flowerish-cherry-blue]

howl's moving castle by diana wynne jones

«i think we ought to live happily ever after,» and she thought he meant it. sophie knew that living happily ever after with howl would be a good deal more hair-raising than any storybook made it sound, though she was determined to try. «it should be hair-raising,» added howl.

«and you'll exploit me," sophie said.

«and then you'll cut up all my suits to teach me.»

#diana wynne jones #howl's moving castle #castle in the air #house of many ways #sophie #howl #howl x sophie #books #literature #fiction #fantasy #ya #romance #magic #middle grade #classic #book quotes

[sophiesweedkiller]

#Y'all already know who I'm gonna pick #who i NEED to win #text #poll #howls moving castle book #howls moving castle #house of many ways #the chronicles of chrestomanci #witch of the waste #charmain baker #sophie hatter #Gwendolyn Chant #diana wynne jones

[allovesthings]

#hmc #howl's moving castle #hmc books #howl pendragon #howell jenkins #twinkle #castle in the sky #house of many ways

[kjmellow]

Let's talk

Magical systems

I have been considering this for some time, because I'm reading, watching and writing things that have magic in them, and I have managed to single out three categories of magics that seem basic:

Intention-based refers to the type of magic where you picture the result and it just happens. No specific rituals or magical words required.

Word-based refers to spells, when a specific spell-word yields specific results.

Sign-based is a somewhat broad category, which includes magical signs and sigils, runes, chalk circles, ingredients required to work a specific spell or a special movement that you have to do to perform magic.

And here are a few examples that came to my mind as I was making this, and I do encourage additions and speculation:

Let's elaborate!

Okay Diana Wynne Jones has probably written every single one of these magical systems, it's just that they're too confusing for me to classify each and every instance, because there are hardly any descriptions. It doesn't help that all her stories are more or less like So they usually do magic this way BUT our protagonist has their own way. But Christopher Chant aka Chrestomanci, for example, is very clearly an intention-based enchanter, because he just makes things go his way. In The Magicians of Caprona they specifically sing spells, and their quality depends on how well they are sung (written spells are still word-based spells, by the way). In House of Many Ways doing a spell is described in detail (which doesn't mean much since Charmain has her way of making magic anyway, but it's there, to show how spells were supposed to work all along), and it has ingredients and special actions and words to say or write. Then, since it's all the same universe as Howl's Moving Castle, I'm just singling out Sophie for intention+words, because what she uses is not necessarily spells, but she just magically talks things into being a certain way, so they also kinda are.

Harry Potter had brave attempts at a straight-forward wagical system, but then some spells require unnecessarily difficult and precise wand movements to move a fricking feather, while you just point at someone to unalive them. Still, sort of falls into this crossover of categories, I GUESS.

Doctor Strange was the only example of sign-based magic that came to my mind, but I think it's a very good example. They literally wave their hands around in a certain way and make glowy things out of thin air. Amazing. Wish I could do that.

The Owl House, in my opinion, is a prime example of intention+sign, because it literally said so in the show. I think it was when Luz was trying to teach Eda and Lilith wild magic, because there are only four basic sigils, and they make so many combinations, yes, but you can ALSO shape the outcome by picturing what shape you want your spell to take. And I think they do pretty much the same thing when they draw those circles and imagine what they want to happen, so here it is.

Addition that's not on the graph: Carrionites from that one Doctor Who episode about Shakespeare are word-based. That was the whole plot point.

Anyway, here's my take on a topic which I mostly cleared up into a system for myself, and I would love to see what others think about it. Maybe there's a secret fourth thing I have somehow overlooked... And I would also love to see people add their fandoms to the pile :)

#I feel like Howl who wrote his thesis on spells and charms #magical systems #Harry Potter #Howl's moving castle books #hmc book #house of many ways #diana wynne jones #chrestomanci #the owl house #doctor strange #I hope there's something to speculate about in this post

[crisdrawsandcries]

Starting the year with the most random piece I've posted (not the most random piece in my drafts tho)

featuring~:

Jinx & Vi (Arcane - show)

Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades & Alucard (Castlevania -show)

Charmain Baker (House of Many Ways - book)

#how to tag #arcane #castlevania #jinx arcane #vi arcane #trephacard #house of many ways #alucard #trevor belmont #sypha belnades #diana wynne jones #lol this is a mess but I still like the bg

[an-idiot-173]

Everyone: Oh, Howls Moving Castle was amazing, I just wish they gave us a better ending!

Me: ...there's a sequel, she wrote a sequel! It's called Castle In The Air! Then after that it's House Of Many Ways! Gods damn, it is a trilogy! Just because Hayao Miyazaki didn't make two other movies, doesn't mean it's over!

#howls moving castle #studio ghibli #castle in the air #house of many ways #diana wynne jones #hayao miyazaki

[ladymissnose]

My black cat is named Morgan I don't have to say anything else

#hmc book #howl's moving castle book #howlscastle #book howl #howl series #howls moving castle #sophie hatter #castle in the air #house of many ways #howl's moving castle #does someone wants to see photos of him? #hes just so sassy and cute i could die😭

[caramelcuppaccino]

finally finished reading house of many ways, the third and last book of howl’s moving castle series! it’s a fun book to read. especially howl being a kid named sparkle, and the mcs, charmain and peter, are both chaotic and fun too. i’ll miss the series though</3.

#lunlunreads #reading #house of many ways #howl’s moving castle #books #reading aesthetic #bookblr #booklr