Understand the turning point: who Haku really is, why he stole Zeniba's seal, and how Sen saves him with the bitter medicine.
A bloodied white dragon
Haku is wounded, and Sen learns his secret
One night Sen sees a flock of paper birds in the sky, chasing a white dragon. The wounded dragon flies into the bathhouse — and Sen realizes it is Haku in his true form. He is barely alive and bleeding.
It turns out that Yubaba forced Haku to serve her and carry out dark errands. On her orders (more precisely, as her apprentice in sorcery) Haku sneaked off to her twin sister, Zeniba, and stole her magic golden seal. The paper birds are Zeniba's guardian spells, and a deadly curse lies on the seal; that curse is what is killing Haku from the inside.
Sen doesn't hesitate. She remembers the bitter dumpling, the medicine the River Spirit gave her, and makes Haku swallow it. The medicine makes the dragon throw up, and along with black slime out come the seal and a magic “black slug” — the spell Yubaba used to control Haku. Sen crushes it. Haku is saved from immediate death but is still unconscious. Now Sen must return the seal to Zeniba and ask her to forgive Haku.
Lesson notes
Haku is wounded, and Sen learns his secret
One night Sen sees a flock of paper birds in the sky, chasing a white dragon. The wounded dragon flies into the bathhouse — and Sen realizes it is Haku in his true form. He is barely alive and bleeding.
It turns out that Yubaba forced Haku to serve her and carry out dark errands. On her orders (more precisely, as her apprentice in sorcery) Haku sneaked off to her twin sister, Zeniba, and stole her magic golden seal. The paper birds are Zeniba's guardian spells, and a deadly curse lies on the seal; that curse is what is killing Haku from the inside.
Sen doesn't hesitate. She remembers the bitter dumpling, the medicine the River Spirit gave her, and makes Haku swallow it. The medicine makes the dragon throw up, and along with black slime out come the seal and a magic “black slug” — the spell Yubaba used to control Haku. Sen crushes it. Haku is saved from immediate death but is still unconscious. Now Sen must return the seal to Zeniba and ask her to forgive Haku.