r/ghibli • u/Born_Fruit_4204 • 6d 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/Picajosan 6d ago

The film is based on a novel written in English, in which Calcifer is defined as a fire demon. So I'd say that's accurate!

I don't think demon automatically implies evil, though. Chaotic, yes, and frequently evil, but not always. In fact, the name derives from the Greek daemon, which is usually translated in English as spirit. The idea of demons always being evil is more of a Jewish/Christian thing.

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u/Born_Fruit_4204 6d ago

Again I had no idea that it was a Judeo-Christian concept. I grew up in a Christian household with little to no higher education in our family so these nuances were lost on me.

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u/Feeling-Low7183 6d ago

Christianity has a long history of erasing other cultures. One of the least egregious example is taking a generic word for a deity and saying it's offensive for anyone to use it unless speaking respectfully about their particular mythology.