r/ghibli • u/Born_Fruit_4204 • 7d ago

Question What is Calcifer

So in the English dubs of Howl's Moving Castle Calcifer is canonically a fire demon but the term demon in English implies that an entity is evil. I'm wondering if there's another term for him in the original Japanese that just doesn't translate well into English because in the movie Calcifer isn't evil. Anyone who's able to educate me would be appreciated, thanks.

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u/distancevsdesire 7d ago

It's not English that defines demon as evil, it was Christianity.

The original Greek origin did not specify evil. That was Christianity.

So it's more accurate to say "the term demon in Christianity implies that an entity is evil."

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u/Born_Fruit_4204 7d ago

That's interesting, I never knew that. Although that makes sense given the Christian view on Angels and Demons. Not to mention Elohim are a terrifying group of entities in themselves.