So I do think he realized early on (hello ladies and gents welcome to my Ted Talk I HAVE read this book about 80 times in the past 3 years and I WILL analyze it)
First of all, like one post a long time ago said; I think Calcifer fell for Sophie first (and he also had a huge role on Howl’s feelings for Sophie, I mean it is his heart after all.)
Howl probably realizes early on that Sophie has a spell on (I think once in the book after they found out about Percival not being a dog he says “this is twice you’ve let me down/not told me something etc” and I think we can assume the first thing was Sophie being under a spell.
We also know he loves teasing Sophie after figuring out she’s not a threat or something the WOTW sent, because this man literally spends the whole book rousing her holy shit.
And I do believe that by the time he shows her the garden he’s fully fallen for her- so it’s between the hair accident (when he starts to at least trust her because it’s when he begins his teasing) and the garden that this big dumbass becomes head over heels for Sophie.
I think he must’ve known what it was, but that he truly didn’t admit it until Sophie was taken by the WOTW that he went “oh alright I am fully in love with this woman. Fuck me.”
As for when he starts falling for her I think he starts like catching fondness of her when he helps her after she nearly had a heart attack (that’s probably when he and Calcifer tried to take the curse off). So by then he knew what kind of spell Sophie had (and probably had his suspicions about her being the “pretty girl” he saw on mayday.)
He also at one point says, when he’s talking about Sophie interrupting his time with Lettie “if I were to court a girl who lived on an iceberg in the middle of an ocean I’m sure sooner or later -probably sooner- I’d look up to find you swooping overhead on a broomstick. In fact by now I’d be disappointed if I didn’t see you.”
By this point I think he definitely likes her in like a cute crush sort of way (I mean cMON he totally wants her to interrupt him) but I don’t think he knows it and like a 7 year old schoolboy he shows it by teasing her. (Yes he is a man-child.) I also think this is when the nicknames start and oH MY GOD am I a sucker for nicknames this guy is getting them feelings lmao.
Now I am a bit conflicted by Miss Angorian.
I mean the book is told from Sophie’s amazingly biased pov so we don’t know what Howl was thinking- but I think he knew Miss Angorian was some sort of…thing sent by the witch.
He does stare at her for a few seconds before beginning the flirty act- and Howl IS smarter than he looks (even if he doesn’t act like it <_<) so I think he does know Lily is some sort of distraction sent by the witch, especially after she places the curse on him. (Also the line “Lily Angorian has a heart like a boiled stone -look I’m quoting this from memory aight- and I think that was him having figured out she’s a fire demon at least.)
That, however, doesn’t stop him from flirting (though I do think he did do it to one, make Sophie jealous and two, figure out more about the witch’s plan. He knew she’d try to get him where he was weak and she believed it was Wales, which is why I think he says when he’s in the wind “I left that deliberately”. He knew what the witch would do which is why he left the opening in Wales and why he kept going over to see Miss Angorian).
aNYWAY I’m rambling so later on he takes Sophie to his mentor (I’m sorry DWJ I cannot write the name iM SORRY) and he brings her solely for the purpose of getting the spell off her (when Michael nudges him and they see Sophie is still her old self he does say like “maybe we should head back home” which makes me think that it was the only reason he had her come. He probably planned to later go to the king because he mentions blacking his name himself or something but after Sophie says no he probably thinks “oh well at least it’ll maybe help me.”)
ALSO THE FREAKING- when he’s all wet and going like Sophie please be the wifey material you are and get me a cup of water please I love you 🥺👉👈 and Sophie is like NO is literally the funniest thing ever and by now he even wants to get pampered by her like I CANNOT WITH HIM 💀
The cold I think is also a really important part.
Iirc someone else also said that the cold was when he began/realized he was falling for her, and I do think it’s a game changer for him because I think he does kind of know at that point ( I mean it’s a cold you get a lot of thinking time during those lmao.) He probably thought something like “I wish she would always take care of me 🥹💕” and then when he could think clearly he was probably like “oh wait what. Oh no. Oh god no. Please nO SOPHIE.”
Then by the time he does the whole garden stuff and such he’s full on flirting. He probably won’t openly admit it but he DOES have feelings and wether he’s flirting automatically and without knowing I have no idea but this man was on a mission to 👏make👏her👏 happy.
Then like I said before by the time Sophie gets taken by the WOTW he’s like “oH GOD I DO LOVE THAT DUMB IDIOT WHY” and that’s why later on he’s all flirty and stuff lol.
Also listen. Listen. Sophie is also head over heels for this man but will not admit it early on.
“He smiles sunnily at her”????
“Gives her a smile which no doubt charmed the WOTW and Lettie”????
“If that smile works on me then it’s on no wonder Lettie smth smth”???
Ma’am??? What is this???? Can you- can you explain that? Please? Charming? Sunnily? hELLO?!
This dumbass is head over heels for him early on and just does not realize it and I love it.
Anyway yeah thank you for hearing me ramble- in conclusion I think Howl falls early on and admits it to himself from the cold on and openly admits it when Sophie gets taken in by the witch (also someone mentioned he starts wearing the suit a LOT after Sophie mends it and I think that’s just- omg adorable 🥹🥹)
Like the way he does so many things subtly for her- changing the shop name to something simple, bringer her to his mentor to get the curse off, gets her a big field of flowers, a fancy manor that he later cleans up for her, hE EVEN BUYS HER CHILDHOOD HOME! He has fallen so far he’s hit the floor ladies and gentlemen and people of the jury he is in LOVE.
Anyway sorry for the ramble- its 2pm and I’ve just woken up so uh that’s probably why its all over the place lol (I also have not eaten yet which I should but I needed to get it out pfttt) but also I do love speaking about this book and it gives me serotonin so yeah.
