Sophie Hatter

Player Information
Name: Fiona
Age: 32
Contact: PM or hardtostarboard
Other Characters: Ignis Scientia, Mogget

Character Information
Name: Sophie Hatter
Canon: Howl’s Moving Castle
Canon Point: After being cursed and entering Howl’s castle, following him finding her there and not kicking her out
Age: 18
History: Linky

Personality: Sophie is a naturally pretty girl who believes herself to be quite plain, and tends to wear plain grey or otherwise dull-coloured clothes in response to this belief. She is a kind, good-hearted young woman who will do anything for anyone if they need her help even if they have wronged her severely in the past, and she forgives very easily. Despite her lack of confidence in herself and her future prospects she always manages to see the absolute best in (almost) everyone else, and is very compassionate towards others. She works hard at what she's good at and abides her sister's constant bickering with almost maternal patience, never resenting the two of them for being younger than her (and therefore bound for better futures, as per tradition).

As the eldest of three girls, Sophie had always resigned herself to leading an unimpressive life and doing the most poorly in terms of wealth and prospects out of the three sisters. For a while that seemed to be how it would play out, and while she was never happy about it, it was simply how it was and she was determined to make the best of it. She was on the route to inherit her father’s hat shop and spend the rest of her days there when her life took a very dramatic left turn.

Despite the impressions she gives initially, deep down Sophie is strong-willed and incredibly stubborn, and these traits come to the fore after she is cursed by the Witch of the Wastes to appear as an old woman. She uses her elderly appearance as a kind of shield, but strangely it also gives her a kind of confidence that she didn’t have before as she cares much less about what anyone else thinks of her.

She is very brave, and often walks into situations that scare her despite the fact they scare her, because she has a goal in mind or knows that something needs to be done. This is particularly true after she meets Howl and begins falling in love with him.

Sophie is also unfortunately impulsive, a difficult thing to combine with occasionally foolhardy bravery, and she sometimes says and does things without fully thinking the potential consequences through. She will always try to fix problems that she causes or happens to come by, often with disastrous effects. Despite this she continues to try, because it goes against her nature to give up in those kinds of situations.

Abilities & Skills: Sophie is an excellent hat maker and can sew very well, able to fix clothes and make them. She can also make felt, and is experienced with many different kinds of fabrics.

In terms of magical talent, while it is her magic that gets her into her first bit of trouble in the canon she isn’t actually aware of what she can do until much later. Sophie is able to ‘talk life into objects’, giving them a purpose or quality that they would not have ordinarily had (for example, while making a hat, she might talk to it about how it would attract a handsome young man to its buyer. This would happen, but she didn’t realise it was because of her magic).

Inventory/Companions: Just the clothes on her back.

Choice: Luna moth Fae (merrow as backup)
Reason: Much of Sophie’s story revolves around illusion and pretending/appearing to be something else. She also has magical powers which are able to change the properties of objects, which become quite powerful once she knows about them and is able to develop them. I felt that this aligned well with the Fae’s natural magical talents in illusion and blessings, and that it would give her an opportunity to follow a path that would be familiar and yet very strange to her at the same time.

It would also be a challenge for her as Fae are rare and different, and Sophie is very used to fading into the background. The kind of insect I would choose (luna moth) is also part of the ‘notice me’ side of things that I would love to explore with this monster type. The innate mischievousness of Fae would also be a challenge in itself, particularly as I am taking Sophie from so early in canon where she is very much resigned to just being a spinster and handing the hat shop off to a niece or nephew when she retires.

Sample: Linky link!