| “ | Look, everyone! This is what hatred looks like! This is what it does when it catches hold of you! It's eating me alive, and very soon it will kill me! Fear and anger only make it grow faster! | „ |
| ~ Ashitaka |
| “ | Forest Spirit! We give you back your head! Take it, and be in peace! | „ |
| ~ Ashitaka, with San, giving the Forest Spirit's head back. |
Prince Ashitaka is the main protagonist of the Studio Ghibli feature film Princess Mononoke.
He was voiced by Yōji Matsuda in the Japanese version and by Billy Crudup in the English version.
What Makes Him Pure Good?[]
- Started the film by saving his (potential) younger sister Kaya and the rest of his village from a cursed boar.
- He deeply respects the Forest Spirits and treats them as he would with regular people.
- He's a very determined young man who never gives up on any goals that he sets his mind to, no matter what he must face in the process.
- When he found Kohroku and his badly wounded friend in the aftermath of an attack led by Moro, he brought them with him to Irontown so they could have their injuries tended to.
- He stops Lady Eboshi and San from killing one another by knocking both of them out, preventing further hate and bloodshed between the two sides.
- He only resorts to fighting or violence as a last resort when there's absolutely no other option, such as during Lady Eboshi and San's fight. And even then, he tends to only retaliate in a non-lethal way, though he will kill in select circumstances when it's absolutely necessary, such as when a corrupted Nago attacked their village and nearly killed his sister after he tried asking it to leave them in peace, or when bandits were attacking him and wouldn't let up even after he implored them to let him pass.
- After taking a defeated San away from Irontown after her fight with Lady Eboshi, he simply ignores a shot in the back from another villager, not wishing to continue violence between them.
- After recuperating from his injuries, he saves one of the wolves by lifting the dead body of a boar that it was trapped under enough for it to free itself, despite being threatened by Jigo's men (though the other men from Irontown support him by stopping and incapacitating them). He then goes with that wolf to save San from a corrupted Okkoto.
- After the Forest Spirit is decapitated by Lady Eboshi and starts bleeding lethal ooze that kills everything it touches, he first gets Lady Eboshi to safety and prevents San from killing her after the former loses her arm as a result of Moro's head biting it off, then proceeds to Irontown where he instructs the citizens to make their way to the center of the lake where they'll be most safe from the lethal ooze, indirectly saving many of them as a result.
- He and San confront Jigo, get him to relinquish the Forest Spirit's head and return it to it. The appeased Spirit's form then washes over and heals the land, finally lifts Ashitaka's curse, and of course, this saves everyone who had still survived both from Irontown and elsewhere.
- Was able to bring out the best in San in spite of her extreme hatred of humans.
- Ultimately was responsible for ending the war between Iron Town and the forest and the two making peace with one another (as well as Iron Town changing their ways for the better afterwards).
External Links[]
- Prince Ashitaka on the Heroes Wiki
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 Pure Goods
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