San
San is the central female protagonist of Studio Ghibli's animated feature film Princess Mononoke. Abandoned by her biological parents during infancy and raised by the giant wolf goddess Moro, the fifteen-year-old human girl considers herself a true wolf rather than a human. Driven by a deep commitment to protect the sacred forest from destruction, she wages a constant struggle against human encroachment, earning her the terrifying title of Princess Mononoke among her enemies.
Overview
San is the central female protagonist of Studio Ghibli's animated feature film Princess Mononoke. Abandoned by her biological parents during infancy and raised by the giant wolf goddess Moro, the fifteen-year-old human girl considers herself a true wolf rather than a human. Driven by a deep commitment to protect the sacred forest from destruction, she wages a constant struggle against human encroachment, earning her the terrifying title of Princess Mononoke among her enemies.
Appearance
San has short brown hair, dark eyes, and distinctive red triangular facial markings on her forehead and both cheeks. Her outfit, which resembles clothing from the Jomon period, consists of a sleeveless upper garment, a wolf-fur cape, large earrings, and a tooth necklace. She carries a red mask featuring ear-like shapes and wields a sharp dagger crafted from a wolf's canine tooth.
Personality
San exhibits extreme hostility toward humans who ruin the natural wilderness, firmly rejecting human identity in favor of her wolf heritage. Despite her aggressive and wild demeanor toward outsiders, she shows profound affection and loyalty to her adoptive mother Moro and her wolf brothers. Her encounters with Ashitaka gradually soften her disposition, causing her to experience emotional conflict between her hatred of humanity and her growing care for him.
Abilities
San is a skilled fighter who uses a dagger crafted from a wolf's tooth in combat. Possessing remarkable agility and physical prowess, she excels at infiltration and assassination, as shown when entering fortified settlements to target human leadership. She is also capable of riding giant wolf gods into battle, fighting adeptly alongside her adoptive family in open combat.
Background
Abandoned as a baby by her parents to appease the wolf goddess Moro, San was adopted and raised alongside Moro's cubs. As she grew older, she dedicated herself to stopping the destruction of the forest, repeatedly attacking the iron-making settlement of Tataraba and targeting its leader, Lady Eboshi. During the climactic war involving the boar god Okkoto-nushi, San was saved from demon corruption by Ashitaka and Moro. After helping return the severed head of the Great God of the Forest, San admitted her feelings for Ashitaka but chose to remain in the woods, unable to forgive humanity's actions.
Relationships
San views the wolf goddess Moro as her mother and considers Moro's two offspring her true brothers. She harbors deep hatred toward Lady Eboshi, the leader of Tataraba, viewing her as the primary threat to the forest. While initially aggressive toward Ashitaka, San gradually develops strong affection for him after he saves her life, though she remains incapable of forgiving human society. She also fought alongside the boar god Okkoto-nushi to protect their shared domain.
Trivia
The character's name, San, stems from early production concepts where she was designed as the third princess, a concept carried over into her narrative role as the third child of the wolf goddess Moro. Her visual appearance was directly inspired by the character Kodowa from the manga Madmen by Daijiro Morohoshi, a work fondly admired by director Hayao Miyazaki.
