Colonel Muska is the main antagonist of the film Castle in the Sky. He has the dubious honor of being one of the few truly evil villains created by Hayao Miyazaki. He is a colonel whose goal is to take over Laputa using the largest aetherium crystal. It is also revealed that he is biologically related to Sheeta, as his full name is Romuska Palo Ul Laputa ("Ul" meaning "ruler" in Laputian). He was voiced by Minori Terada in Japanese and Mark Hamill in the English version.
Appearance
Muska has brown hair and black eyes. He wears glasses, a brown suit with a white scarf and brown pants.
Film
In the beginning he is seen with Sheeta, and with his men when Dola and her gang attack the airship. He is knocked out by Sheeta with a glass bottle, and she takes back her aetherium ("volucite" in the original Japanese) crystal necklace. He later reappears after Sheeta and Pazu return to the surface through a hill entrance. He has a word with the General about convincing Sheeta into cooperating, and blaming the General's militia for allowing the information to get to Dola, and states "as a government official I'm in charge of you!". He meets Sheeta again and informs her that Pazu is safe (in the dungeon, and was lying about being treated as royalty). He then takes her down into the cellar and shows her a robot with the same emblem as her crystal necklace and tells her the same technology that Laputa used to dominate the world, and makes her think he's trying to stop it. He tells her to cooperate and uses her true name to show he knows the truth. His plan works when he and Sheeta tell Pazu that they'll do it without him. As Sheeta tearfully leaves, he gives Pazu two golden doubloons to bid him farewell. He then tells the General that it will take time, but doesn't realize that Sheeta had said the words brought the robot to life. Amazed, he mentions the ancient writings, then demands to know the how she activated the stone. He notices the robot attacking his men and is awestruck by its power. He is then attacked by the robot and flees. It is later revealed that he was the one who told the pirates about the militia's workings, but cut off the general's phone line.
He and his agents find the dropped crystal, and use it to locate Laputa. When they find the cloud containing Laputa, he uses the crystal to pass safely, and lands the Goliath on the area where the treasure hoard is. Using the militia's greed as a distraction, he then tries to find the heart of Laputa, but while also capturing Sheeta in the area to open the doors, he double crosses his fellow agents when they reach the scientific part of Laputa where metallic squares are shifting, leading them to their deaths. As he and Sheeta explore the royal passage to the gigantic Atherium Crystal, Muska notices that roots and vines dominate the area, and are surrounding the control panel. He then reveals himself to be a distant relative of Sheeta, who declares that her ancestors were cowards and fools to leave Laputa crumbling to ruin. He then uses the control panel to take out the General and brings the robots to life to attack the survivors.
Sheeta stops him and takes the crystal from him. Muska is agitated by Sheeta's naive nature on how the world would work, and tells her that he'll find a way to restore its order, then shoots her hair off. He is caught off guard by Pazu, and calls his bluff and threatens Sheeta. When he agrees to give them time to talk terms, Pazu and Sheeta recite the Destruction spell. Blinded by the light, Muska heads west only to fall to his death over the sea.
Trivia
- Muska is shown to be a government agent based on either European or even nineteenth century officials.
- Colonel Muska is widely considered one of, if not the darkest and most evil in any of the Studio Ghibli movies, and by far the most out of any film directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
- His outfit is similar to that of Count Cagliostro from Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro.
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