Prelude
The Forest spirit turns its neck, leaves and tiny branches suddenly sprouting from all crevices of the rifle. I quickly brushed them away.
“ooh..”
There is something in its eyes. It looks at me intently with such sympathy. It knows something.
“You WILL die!”
BOOOMMM
Dropping the weapon, I look down at my hands. My fingers are still clutched tightly around the rifle, and my knuckles turn white as my hands begin to tremble.
Oh….w…..what have I done?
Earlier
As I stood there waiting for the right moment, it occurred to me how long I had waited for this very moment.
I was 15 when Okasan sold me to a man who ran the village brothel for a debt she could not repay. It was in this house that I quickly learnt to never speak my mind. The old man did not like that I was not demure or as compliant as the others and would not be easily manipulated. That I would not be easily persuaded to service the beady eyed men whose pungent odour of fish and sweat pierced my nostrils as they groped aimlessly at my body in search of satisfaction and release.
When business was slow, I would climb the walls surrounding the village and steal away to the lake, and spend many hours under the sakura tree. I would close my eyes and think about my dear chichi. As a child he taught me how to tend to the animals on the farm and look after my younger 4 younger siblings as they set off to work in the village garden. Okasan did bother with such things; she was more concerned with the protocols of being a woman, and what one must do keep her image clean. But, that required a lot of money, and my loving father could not afford such luxuries that did not benefit the family.
“Baka!” okasan yelled as she stormed out of the house, in search of a patron willing to pay for her finery.
“Daijouka?” I asked.
“Hai, daijouba” he whispered, his face crest fallen as he stares at the closed door.
I did not worry about the womanly things. My life was on the farm and helping my father prepare the fields for the crops. He was a good man who never raised his voice at okasa and I. He taught me the value of human nature, and to respect my surroundings. That to be humble is a sign of true humility. Chichi was very wise. One winter, he passed away and I was left all alone. Okasan never came back unless it was to gather a few trinkets in the hopes they had some monetary value to trade for silk. It was not long after this that she sold me to the brothel.
I had befriended an old woman who lived outside of the village. She wore bandages around her face, legs and arms. She spoke with a soft voice which was almost drowned by the thin piece of dirty cloth covering her mouth. I never learnt her name, but that did not matter. This woman taught me how to sew, how to hunt small animals for food, and most importantly how to remain strong like a tree on the inside. She had seen teeth marks on my body and with quiet disposition and sadness in her voice say “What may happen outside”, as she rubs lotion on the marks, “Should not affect your inside”, as she holds a bandaged stump of a palm against my chest. She is speaking of my soul. I was slowly beginning to realize that this woman was not making conversation out of being lonely. She was giving me principles that I should abide by. It is on this day, that as I left her shack, I realized that I wanted to do for others what my father and this woman had done for me. Chichi had begun my destiny as a child; preparing me for all the work ahead of me. And this woman was sent to me for the sole purpose of allowing me to realize my journey. She said I was to face the greatest challenge of my life in a place far away, that I must seek it to understand. That I must not be afraid, for I was a good person, and that she will never forget the joy my presence brought her. But what was I to understand?
The following night, the old woman did not open the door. She did not greet me with a small of milk or tea. Concerned I slowly pushed the slight door open, looking around the room my eyes take in the unkempt floor and the bowls on the table. I look again and there she is, still lying on her makeshift mattress, in the same position I had left her in the night before. Her body lifeless and cold under the tread bare material. After sitting next to her for hours and holding her cold bandaged hand, I thought about our conversation the night before. I did not want to seek a challenge. But that night, I slowly walked back to the brothel, with a renewed purpose. I saved as much money as I could and bought a home, and saved other working girls from other homes like the one I was sold to. They looked to me as if I were a hero, their savior.
Since then, I have made a lot of money from the operation of the mill in Iron Town. I feed the women, I clothe them and I train the guards. But lately….lately I feel a darkness in my soul; an unidentifiable feeling of anger, and hate. All I wanted was to clear the forest of those blasted beasts so we can extend Iron Town once the forest is cleared out. An extension would bring more money, and allow me to save more women from the brothels in the villages and towns. Yet it is a child, San, who stands between me and my vision. Am I wrong to want to feed my people; the lepers and the women of the brothels that I have saved from societies cruel taunts? It is so wrong to want to stop this girl child warrior; although I know I know deep in my soul it is I who is wrong? But my people have come to expect me to react in a war like manner. We are here in the sacred place of the Forest Spirit, and as I look back at them, they stare me wide eyed with mounting expectation as does Gonza, my faithful soldier. Yet I cannot ignore the sinking feeling deep in my heart, that the outcome will ultimately be my undoing.
I close my eyes and glance back at the creature.
“Now watch closely everyone. I’m going to show you how to kill a god; a god of life and death. The trick IS not to fear him.”
Clutching the rifle close to my chest, I quickly ran to the edge of the lake. From the corner of my eyes I see Ashita burst through the top of the lake with San lying helplessly against him.
I look ahead and the Forest Spirit continues its transformation, neck graciously extending towards the opening of the forest ceiling with the moon guiding the way, unaware of its fate at my hands.
I run faster.
“NO DON’T!”
Silver light crosses the path between the god like creature and I, the gleam sealing itself to my rifle. It is Ashitakas blade.
“Eboshi!”
A blade cannot stop destiny Ashitaka, I thought to myself as I watched him stagger out of the water in an attempt to stop me, San still lifeless in his arms.
I look up and take aim.
The Forest spirit turns its neck, leaves and tiny branches suddenly sprouting from all crevices of the rifle. I quickly brushed them away.
“ooh..”
There is something in its eyes. It looks at me intently with such sympathy. It knows something.
“You WILL die!”
BOOOMMM
Dropping the weapon, I look down at my hands. My fingers are still clutched tightly around the rifle, and my knuckles turn white as my hands begin to tremble.
Oh….w…..what have I done?
Now I see.
Okasan – mother
Chichi – father
Sakura – cherry blossom
Baka – fool, idiot (insult)
Daijouka – are you ok?
Hai – yes
Daijoubu – don’t worry, I’m ok, I’ll be alright
Commentary
Act I:
It starts off with Lady Eboshi reminiscing about the past as a child, to a time when her mother did not care about her, and her father whom she loved in an ordinary world.
- She is told by the old leper woman that great adversity was awaiting her in a far off land, which she was to seek out to understand. A call to adventure.
- When the old passes away, she remembers the conversation and initially thinks it a bad idea and almost refuses the call.
- That threshold is crossed when she decides to save the brothel women and sets up a town outside a forest which houses magical beasts
Act II:
- At this point, the only enemy is Eboshi herself as she struggles with her inner conflict of right and wrong. Her allies are Gonza, the only one mentioned in this fanfic, and her enemy San.
- Eboshi looks deep within herself (inner cave) and discovers that she cannot turn away from what has already begun. She decides to shoot the Forest Spirit, and to suffer the consequences.
- As the bullet is fired from the rifle, her supreme ordeal is her unanswered question in which she asks herself “what have I done?”
My fanfic centers around Voglers (1998) Mythic Structures of Set Up and Development as shown above. A good portion of the fanfic revolves around ACTII which according to Vogler (1998) occupies 50% of an entire film, and the other 50% divided between ACTS I & III. In this case, I have not included ACT III, because I wanted to showcase the turmoil Eboshi felt the moment she pulled the trigger, and I wanted an ending where the reader could decide on an appropriate ending.
In terms of Mythic Structure, I have painted Eboshi as the hero because that is what she is to the people of Iron Town. She is the unconventional hero with a humble pitiful beginning. Her father was a humble man who married a woman who found material items more precious than family. When her father passes away, Eboshi is left alone until she is sold to a brothel to recover her mother’s debts.
It is while she works at the brothel that she meets an old woman diseased with leprosy who lives near the village that teaches her humility. Since the passing of her father who she loved dearly, then the old woman who substituted a mother Eboshi takes it upon herself to save money in order to buy the contracts of the women in the brothels so that they too may have a good life. It’s not until she realizes the Forest Spirit is looking at her in a way that belies what it knows that she finally realizes what needs to be done. This was the destiny the old woman foresaw.
That Lady Eboshi will only understand the true nature of being a human when she kills the Forest Spirit. That is when her eyes become wide open.
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