Lady Eboshi (Minnie Driver), one of the major antagonists in Hayao Miyazaki's 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 its place. I'm still bitter.

Why my parents allowed a young child to watch the extremely violent film, I can't be sure. Clearly, 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 near-legendary band of people in a mythological version of feudal Japan. On a journey to cure himself of a curse put on him by a boar god, he encounters Lady Eboshi. Eboshi runs Iron Town, but not with an iron fist as you might expect from the movie's antagonist.

Lady Eboshi's Belief In Her Mission And Her People Is Heroic

Eboshi Wants To Make A Home In Iron Town, She Doesn't Enjoy Destruction

When a boar god attacks Ashitaka's village and gives him a curse that will turn him into a demon and then kill him, Ahsitaka finds an iron ball in the boar's body as the only clue he has to cure himself. He tracks the ball to Iron Town, a massive settlement on an idyllic lake set between scenic and lush mountains. There, Lady Eboshi leads the powerful village, mining 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, here? Despite what it all sounds like, Lady Eboshi is not some cruel overseer. In fact, in the eyes of the townspeople, she's a savior. The people were there long before Lady Eboshi arrived, and their mining efforts drove the local boar clans to attack the small town. They would have all been killed if not for Lady Eboshi's arrival with her gun-toting warriors. She earned the trust and respect of the fledgling village and all she asked for in return was for everyone to keep doing what they were doing before.

That's right, it wasn't even Lady Eboshi's idea to start mining, she just saw a struggling people and offered her expert, and ittedly ruthless, help. She doesn't see anything wrong with destroying nature and disrespecting the gods, but she doesn't delight in it either. Lady Eboshi is charged with protecting the people of Iron Town, and she takes that charge seriously. So seriously, in fact, that she's elevated women to an equal position with men. In one of her kindest gestures, she offers a home and life to the lepers of the country.

Lady Eboshi is no tyrant, all she wants is for her people to thrive and survive.

The lepers tell Ashitaka 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 suggest just how great of a leader she is. They'll kill for her, obey her commands, and yet are unafraid to question her. Lady Eboshi is no tyrant, all she wants is for her people to thrive and survive. Like everyone in Princess Mononoke, however, she has been poisoned, whether by iron or greed, and is headed toward destruction if she doesn't change course.

There Are No Villains In Princess Mononoke, Everyone Is A Shade Of Gray

Ashitaka Comes To Understand That Everyone Is At Fault For The Degradation Of The World

There really aren't any villains in Princess Mononoke. Studio Ghibli villains are rarely straightforward antagonists and that goes double for Princess Mononoke. I can't even think of anyone who's a total 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 those guys are "disarmed" pretty quickly, though, so they don't rate. But who else?

Jigo? He's a mercenary, not a villain. He's almost swashbuckling, a "Man with no name" kind of character who would probably fit in well on the deck of the Black Pearl in Pirates of the Caribbean. The only reason he wants the Forest Spirit's head is for a payday and when push comes to shove, he lets Ashitaka give it back. Gonza (John DiMaggio), Lady Eboshi's bodyguard? He's just a jerk, no one pays him much mind anyway. The demonic boar gods? Neither choose to become demons, they're overtaken after facing the wrath of war.

Even the snake-like goo that converts whoever 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's life and death all wrapped into one. The substance itself isn't necessarily evil, but it's the rageful thoughts of those consumed by which it converts into a demonic entity. Or it just kills you. Six of one or, half dozen of the other.

Like the boar god blinded after years of war, Lady Eboshi has also been blinded, unable to see she's causing her own destruction.

Like the boar god blinded after years of war, Lady Eboshi has also been 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 Ashitaka had been right all along and promises to remake Iron Town, but this time with consideration given to the rest of the world around them. Ashitaka nearly lost his arm to demons, but his understanding of love, unity, and conflict allows him to retain his life. Eboshi has to lose her arm before she understands these 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 frightening. She's 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 mind stepping all over it. The first time we meet her, we see her angrily warning, "It's Moro!", a line that's 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.

Yūko Tanaka voices Lady Eboshi in the original Japanese dub of Princess Mononoke.

It's her most villainous trait. Lady Eboshi does feel love and has humanity in her, but she performs wanton acts of violence. In fact, that's 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's taken into her care, and she especially appreciates how they make her weapons. When ape men come to the foothills to plant trees, she emotionlessly fires upon them to frighten them. Violence is all she knows, until Ashitaka shows her a different way.

How Other Studio Ghibli Anti-Heroes Stack Up

Miyazaki's Movies Are Filled With Gray Characters

There are a long line of antiheroes 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 petty and haughty, but she's also frightened of growing older. No-Face is monstrous and greedy, but he's also lonely and unaccustomed to people noticing him. Curtis is pig-headed and obnoxious, but he's loyal and puts others above himself at the end of the day.

Miyazaki's filmography is filled with incredible villains and antiheroes, but Lady Eboshi may just be my favorite. Her role in Princess Mononoke is critical to showing the various sides of this complex conflict Ashitaka finds himself dragged into. She's the villain in the boars' story, a hero in Iron Town's, and a wayward soul in Ashitaka's. The fact she comes to with her part in harming the world is a moment of brilliant clarity and paints Lady Eboshi as not the villain, not even the antihero, but possibly, a hero.