Princess Mononoke’s Lady Eboshi Is The Ultimate Studio Ghibli Anti-Hero (Not A Villain)

Lady Eboshi (Mini Driver), one of the main antagonists in Hayao Miyazaki Princess MononokeMay cause a lot of trouble for San (Claire Danes), Ashitaka (Billy Crudup) and the environment in general, but she’s such a complex and sympathetic character, I can almost see her being the hero of another Studio Ghibli film. Boy, I love Princess Mononoke. It was the first Studio Ghibli movie I ever saw and in a ranking of Miyazaki movies I wrote a year ago, I had it in my top three. An editor decided that Kiki’s delivery service should take his place. I’m still bitter.

I can’t be sure why my parents allowed a young child to see this terrible film. Obviously, they regretted it though, because I had to wait years before I was finally allowed to see Collateral. Miyazaki’s historical epic follows Ashitaka, a prince of a tiny and almost legendary band of people in a mythological version of feudal Japan. On a journey to heal himself from a curse placed on him by a bachelor god, he encounters Lady Eboshi. Eboshi runs Iron Town, but not with an iron fist like you might expect from the movie’s antagonist.

Dame Eboshi’s belief in her mission and her people is heroic

Eboshi wants to make a home in Iron Town, she does not enjoy destruction

When a gentile god attacks Ashitaka’s village and puts a curse on him that will turn him into a demon and then kill him, Ahsitaka finds an iron ball in his body as the only clue he needs to heal. He tracks the ball to Iron Town, a massive settlement on an idyllic lake between scenic and lush mountains. there, Lady Eboshi leads the powerful villageMining ore from the surrounding area, polluting the lake, deforesting the mountains, and creating new weapons to kill invading samurai and the encroaching nature gods.

Am I talking about Saruman or Lady Eboshi? Despite what it all sounds like, Lady Eboshi is not a cruel overseer. In the eyes of the townspeople, she is a savior. The people were there long before Lady Eboshi arrived, and their mining efforts drove the local Kaban clans to invade the small town. They would have all been killed if not for Lady Eboshi’s arrival with her gun-toting warriors. She earns the trust and respect of the fledgling village and All she asked in return was for everyone to continue doing what they were doing before.

That’s right, it was not even Lady Eboshi’s idea to start mining, she just saw a struggling people and offered her expert, and admittedly cruel, help. She doesn’t see anything wrong with destroying nature and disrespecting the gods, but she doesn’t enjoy it either. Lady Eboshi is charged with protecting the people of Iron Town, and she takes the charge seriously. So seriously, in fact, that she elevated women to an equal position with men. In one of her most favorable circumstances, she gives the lepers of the country a home and a life.

The lepers tell Ashitaka that they were cast out by the world for their disease and appearance, but Lady Eboshi took them in, cared for them, and loved them. The loyalty of her followers is enough to say how great of a leader she is. They will kill for you, obey your commands, and still are not afraid to ask you. Lady Eboshi is no tyrant, all she wants is for her people to thrive and survive. Like everyone in Princess MononokeHowever, she is poisoned, whether by iron or greed, and is headed for destruction if she does not change course.

There are no villains in Princess Mononoke, everyone is a shade of grey

Ashitaka comes to understand that everyone is to blame for the degradation of the world

There are really no evil in it Princess Mononoke. Studio Ghibli villains are rarely straightforward antagonists and that goes double for that Princess Mononoke. I can’t even think of anyone who is a complete villain. Maybe one of Jigo’s soldiers who tries to shoot Ashitaka after he frees one of the wolves or one of the samurai who slashes an unarmed woman. Both these guys are “disarmed” pretty quickly, however, so they don’t rate. But who else?

Jigo? He is a mercenary, not a villain. He’s almost swashbuckling, a “man with no name” kind of character who would probably fit into the deck of the Black pearl in Pirates of the Caribbean. The only reason he wants the forest spirit’s head is for a Friday and when push comes to shove, he lets Ashitaka give it back. Gonza (John Dimaggio), Lady Eboshi’s bodyguard? He’s just a fool, don’t pay him any attention anyway. The demonic pig gods? Not choosing to become demons, they are overtaken after facing the fury of war.

Even the snake-like goo that converts anyone it touches into demonic entities seems to be a similar substance to what explodes out of the forest spirit when its head is removed. It is life and death all wrapped up in one. The substance itself is not necessarily evil, however It is the stormy thoughts of the consumed by which it converts into a demonic entity. Or it just kills you. Six of one or half a dozen of the other.

As the Pig God is blinded after years of war, Lady Eboshi is also blinded, unable to see she’s causing her own destruction. That’s why it’s such a cathartic moment at the end of Princess Mononoke When Lady Eboshi realizes that Ashitaka was right all along and promises to remake Iron Town, but this time with consideration for the rest of the world around them. Ashitaka almost lost his arm to demons, but his understanding of love, unity and conflict allows him to keep his life. Eboshi has to lose her arm before she understands the lessons.

Lady Eboshi may have good intentions, but her actions are still destructive

Eboshi has a penchant for violence

Lady Eboshi is not without her faults and the degree to which she is willing to destroy the natural world is incredible and terrifying. She is often framed against blazing fires, stoically watching trees, animals and gods burn. Lady Eboshi may not hate the natural world, but she sure doesn’t stop stepping over it. The first time we meet her, we see that she angrily warns, “It’s moro!“, a line that has always been stuck in my head thanks to Minnie Driver’s incredible delivery and vocal performance, before she shoots the attacking wolf herself. Eboshi has no problem with violence.

This is her most villainous trait. Lady Eboshi does feel love and has humanity in her, but she performs wild acts of violence. In fact, this is usually her solution to everything. When Ashitaka stops her from fighting San with his demonic arm, her solution is to, “Cut the damn thing off!“She loves the lepers she took into her care, and she especially appreciated how they make her weapons. When the people come to the Foothills to plant trees, she effortlessly fires at them to scare them. Violence is all she knowsUntil Ashitaka shows her another way.

How other Studio Ghibli anti-heroes stack up

Miyazaki’s movies are filled with gray characters

There are a long line of anti-heroes in Hayao Miyazaki movies and Even the biggest antagonists in Studio Ghibli films have a soft side or are offered some sort of redemption. The witch of the waste in Howl’s Moving Castle is petite and tall, but she is also afraid of getting older. No-Face is monstrous and greedy, but he is also lonely and unaccustomed to people noticing him. Curtis is pig-headed and clueless, but he is loyal and puts others before himself at the end of the day.

Miyazaki’s filmography is filled with incredible villains and anti-heroes, but Lady Eboshi might just be my favorite. Her role in Princess Mononoke It is crucial to show the various sides of the complex conflict Ashitaka finds himself dragged into. She is the villain in The Boars Story, a hero in Iron Town, and a wayward soul in Ashitaka. The fact that she comes to terms with her part in hurting the world is a moment of brilliant clarity and paints Lady Eboshi as not the villain, not even the antihero, but possibly, a hero.