SPOILER ALERT: the following article contains massive spoilers, including the ending. If you have not yet seen the movie, proceed at your own risk, or better, come back to this article later!
A prince becomes involved in the struggle between a forest princess and the encroachment of mechanization.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Princess Mononoke Plot Summary and Synopsis
In Muromachi Japan, an Emishi village is attacked by a boar-shaped demon.
The last Emishi prince, Ashitaka, kills it before it reaches the village, but it manages to grasp his arm and curse him before its death. The curse grants him some superhuman strength combined with great pain, and will eventually spread through his body and kill him.
The villagers discover that the demon was a boar god, corrupted by an iron ball lodged in his body.
The village’s wise woman tells Ashitaka that he may find a cure in the western lands Nago came from, and that he cannot return to his homeland.
Heading west, Ashitaka meets Jigo, an opportunist posing as a monk, who tells Ashitaka he may find help from the Great Forest Spirit, a deer-like animal god by day and a giant Night Walker by night.
Nearby, men herd oxen to their home of Iron Town, led by Lady Eboshi, and repel an attack by a wolf pack led by the wolf goddess Moro. Riding one of the wolves is San, a human girl. A brief melee ensues with Lady Eboshi wounding Moro, and a few men being thrown over the cliff’s edge.
Down below, Ashitaka encounters Moro, San and the wolves; he asks about the Forest Spirit but is rebuffed. He then manages to rescue two of the men fallen from the cliff and transports them back through the forest, where in the distance he sees for the first time the Great Forest Spirit.
As he and the Spirit spot each other his arm reacts violently before the Spirit moves on. Soon after, Ashitaka and the survivors arrive at Iron Town where he’s greeted with fascination. Ashitaka learns that Eboshi built the town by clearcutting forests to produce iron, leading to conflicts with Asano, a local daimyō, and a giant boar god named Nago.
Iron Town is a refuge for outcasts and lepers employed to manufacture iron and firearms; one of the same that wounded Nago. Eboshi explains that San, Princess Mononoke, was raised by the wolves and resents humankind. She admits she shot Nago, incidentally turning him into the demon that attacked Ashitaka.
At the same moment, San infiltrates Iron Town to kill Eboshi. Ashitaka intervenes and quickly subdues Eboshi and San while they’re locked in combat. Amidst the hysteria, he’s shot by a villager but the curse gives him strength to carry San out of the village.
San awakens and prepares to kill the weakened Ashitaka, but hesitates when he tells her she’s beautiful. She decides to trust him after the Forest Spirit heals his bullet wound that night. The next day a boar clan, led by the blind god Okkoto, plans to attack Iron Town to save the forest.
Eboshi sets out to kill the Forest Spirit with Jigo, working for the government, and intends to give the god’s head to the Emperor in return for protection from Lord Asano.
Ashitaka recovers and finds Iron Town besieged by Asano’s samurai. The boar clan has been annihilated in battle, and Okkoto is badly wounded. Jigo’s men then trick Okkoto into leading them to the Forest Spirit.
San tries to stop Okkoto but is swept up as his pain corrupts him into a demon. As everyone clashes at the pool of the Forest Spirit, Ashitaka saves San while the Forest Spirit kills Moro and Okkoto.
As it begins to transform into the Night Walker, Eboshi decapitates it. Jigo steals the head, while the Forest Spirit’s body bleeds ooze that spreads over the land and kills anything it touches. The forest and kodama begin to die; Moro’s head comes alive and bites off Eboshi’s right arm, but she survives.
After Iron Town is evacuated, Ashitaka and San pursue Jigo and retrieve the head, returning it to the Forest Spirit.
The Spirit dies but its form washes over the land, healing it and lifting Ashitaka’s curse.
Princess Mononoke Ending
Ashitaka stays to help rebuild Iron Town, but promises San he will visit her in the forest. Eboshi vows to build a better town. The forest begins to grow, as one kodama emerges within the forest.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).