Wild Women and Iron Will: The battle for nature in Princess Mononoke

Spoilers for Princess Mononoke

In Princess Mononoke, two women are contrasted and placed in opposition to one another. The first is San, the wild woman given to the wolf goddess as a sacrifice, and the second is Lady Eboshi, a woman trying to survive in a masculine world. To paraphrase Clarissa Pinkola Estés, author of Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, the conflict between the civilized, or contained, woman and the wild self is a battle every woman goes through in her journey towards finding her soul. Princess Mononoke reflects these themes, and its narrative about forces of nature gains intriguing additional layers because it has these well-developed female characters at the forefront.

Estés grew up in nature and draws on the wisdom of the curandero (or folk healer) as well as Jungian analysis when explaining the fairy tales which define a woman’s experience. Over and over again Estés has shown the importance of the wild woman: the woman with twigs in her hair and moss in her teeth, the woman at home with the wildness found in nature. 

Both Lady Eboshi and San are outsiders who have taken roles not consistent with their assigned and chosen gender. Lady Eboshi’s public and private life are divided as she is forced to take a much more traditionally masculine role outside of her home. In Women Who Run with Wolves, Estés argues that this is frequently true for women trying to make it in a patriarchal society. And while women may be able to create spaces to share their talents, they are forced to adjust to masculine values nonetheless. When “a woman’s natural rhythms and cycles are forced into unnatural rhythms to please others” (p3) strong women often become outsiders in their own culture. 

Unlike Lady Eboshi, San is deeply connected to her wild essence. She’s a fierce defender of nature, a living embodiment of the wild woman archetype—one who literally runs with wolves. San’s bond with her animal companions teaches her how to move through the world with strength and instinct. Estés describes the healthy woman as a wolf—alive, territorial, inventive, loyal, and aware—and that’s exactly how San moves, with fierce integrity. She challenges the destruction of nature because it’s a part of who she is.

The question is, which roles can be given to women in a masculine, capitalist world which is set on actively destroying the entirety of nature? Neither of these women, pitted against each other, can truly belong without changing themselves to meet patriarchal demands or simply remaining an outsider. Despite being pitted against each other from the outset because of the roles they have taken, neither woman can belong while remaining her true self. 

Estés points out that patriarchy, through capitalism and war, damages both women and nature. Lady Eboshi and San are set against each other from the start—one as a protector of nature, the other as a destroyer . But they are so driven to secure their immediate survival that neither sees that the real problem lies in the patriarchal system itself, which harms both women and the world around them

In Princess Mononoke, we see a confrontation between Lady Eboshi, the wolves, and San, highlighting the clash between the wild, feminine spirit and the woman navigating a world shaped by masculine power. But their conflict isn’t just about nature—it’s also reflected in their responses to Prince Ashitaka, who is searching for a cure for the curse he’s acquired.

When Ashitaka first meets San, it’s in the presence of the Kodama spirits, emphasizing nature as something vibrant and full of life, not just an object to be controlled. Ashitaka recognizes San’s spiritual power, but she rejects him, still bound to the wildness of her world. Later, in Iron Town, Lady Eboshi shows Ashitaka kindness, revealing her compassion and care for her people. While San plays a heroic role in defending the forest, it’s Lady Eboshi who, despite her masculine role in managing Iron Town, demonstrates the strength of her traditionally feminine traits. She also seeks to transform the city under her rule into one where women’s labor is valued—but can only conceive of doing so by continuing to replicate systems of war with female laborers.

The dynamic is clear: Lady Eboshi’s grace is contrasted with San’s scorn. The threatening wild woman who would save nature contrasts with the civilized woman who would destroy it, and yet both women hold value. Neither is all good or bad: both are stuck in the roles presented to them. The two women are again pitted against each other. Social norms often mean that women challenge each other rather than the patriarchal values which uphold the destruction of both soulful feminine beings and the natural world. 

It’s important to consider the role of anger in the fight for justice, especially when it comes to women. Too often, anger is seen as something negative, especially when women express it. Society condemns an angry woman, even when she’s at her most powerful, as though her rage is inherently dangerous. Estés acknowledges that unchecked rage can be destructive, but she also argues that anger can be a woman’s greatest strength when fighting for what she believes in. San embodies this wild woman energy—her anger is righteous, and she’s fighting for a just world. Even so, she’s condemned for her rage. 

In Princess Mononoke, nature is portrayed as harmonious, but the words of environmental philosopher David Abram come to mind. Abram argues that everything that’s been suppressed or forgotten has the potential to rise up and fight back. Just as a gentle breeze can ruffle our hair, so too can hurricanes shake the earth. Nature is not always calm and gentle, it  can also be fierce and destructive. In channeling this wild, destructive energy, San becomes a force of nature herself: angry, powerful, and ready to fight for her beliefs, even if society rejects her for it.

In contrast, Lady Eboshi, who had to deny her feminine nature, chooses to shoot the Forest Spirit in a profound act of destruction versus San’s reconstructive actions. The decision functions as a means of controlling nature. Similarly, the decision to control is often undertaken by human beings working in a capitalist and patriarchal system. Both San and Lady Eboshi have caused destruction, though it’s for different reasons, yet both are unable to use their wild and feminine powers to truly protect nature and preserve the feminine. As a result, the forest is devastated and the destruction continues. 

However, there’s a bridge between San and Lady Eboshi: Ashitaka. Although Ashitaka is a man, his role is not only one of male savior, but a human being who embodies a new means of trying to find peace. His inciting incident of being cursed leaves him on the fringes of society, just like San and Lady Eboshi, and within the wildness of nature. Yet he doesn’t take up his weapon in violence: instead, Ashitaka goes on a journey towards peaceful healing.

Ashitaka’s ability to bridge divides without resorting to rage, war, and destruction showed that he was willing to move beyond patriarchal values and into the ability to work towards establishing new relationships and healing bonds, something Estés argues is a part of the wild feminine, and a means of controlling the harmful effects of anger. Ashitaka reminded us that masculine and feminine values are not limited to embodiment. A fight against the patriarchy is not a fight against masculine bodies, just as feminine actions are not limited to feminine bodies.

The myth of the male hero does, however, show that women were limited in the roles they could take and the agency open to them while fighting for their separate worlds. Lady Eboshi, while privately feminine, is not willing to use her power to challenge and transform the masculine world to fight for her deeper beliefs of care and compassion. San was unable to move beyond attack as a means of trying to transform society. Indeed, once her role as challenger had been fulfilled, San does not want to move into Iron Town to work towards a new world. She prefers to remain on the margins. 

After Ashitaka brings healing and harmony to the forest, San remains in the forest and away from a capitalist world. Lady Eboshi, meanwhile, wishes to build a new and better town. While both women had fought and hoped to destroy the other, neither wanted to, or knew how to, move away from their original role. 

Estés argues that the true wild woman is wounded and creative, capable of making a new world by trying again and again. It is not failure which would prevent creation, she argued, but the refusal to get up and try again. If she failed, so what? While Lady Eboshi is willing to try again with Iron Town, building a new and better city, she is less willing to look at creating an ecological and non-capitalist world where she, and other wild beings, might find a soulful home. San, too, prefers to stay in the forest rather than work towards a world where she would no longer be an outsider, and where other women (and men) could join her in her fight against the destruction of nature and femininity. 

Ultimately, Princess Mononoke demonstrates the harm patriarchal values create to all who align with them, as well as how bearing witness and consciousness can bridge the gap between wild nature and the rights of all beings. The opportunity to create a deeper consciousness was embraced by Ashitaka, whose destructive acts lead to a curse. It was initially rejected by both San and Lady Eboshi, who did not know how to move towards a new way of being. In the end, Princess Mononoke reveals both the transformative power of the feminine and the destruction present within a patriarchal society, and the ongoing battle of how so many people on the margins of society continue to fight to find new ways of existing within a patriarchal society.