Yubaba

As the main villainess of the film, Yubaba has an extremely overbearing and intimidating personality. Like many other workers of her infamous bathhouse, Yubaba obsesses greedily over gold and is shown to be willing to view gold as a priority over her own family (especially Zeniba, whom she expresses hatred for). However, she shows a great amount of motherly care for her first and only son, Boh, and is seen completely devastated when the latter states that he "won't like [her] anymore" if she continues to treat Chihiro Ogino unfairly or like a slave towards the end of the film. She is quite selfish and frugal (when it comes to her workers), having given herself an opulent office with immeasurable amounts of unoccupied space and her many workers a single, cramped room as living space. From the other side, however, she also readily takes both disgusting and dangerous tasks herself (like meeting the Stink Spirit or attempting to shield her workers from the rampaging No-Face). She appears highly professional in these tasks. Despite her greed, she readily offers her workers to drink following their success with the Unnamed River Spirit. Her magical capabilities have allowed her to "steal" the names of her workers, binding them in a contract to her bathhouse forever unless they manage to miraculously recall their full names (the only two people seen doing so are Haku and Chihiro, both of which relied on each other to remember). She is also seen to be able to spit fire when angered to a certain extent (seen when Haku mentions that her precious son, Boh, has been "taken" from her). When she goes out to fly, she wraps herself in a cloak and makes herself look like a large bird. While her attributes are seen as incredibly antagonistic and misanthropic, Yubaba has (on occasion) shown several redeeming qualities, such as her willingness to praise Chihiro after her excellent work with helping the Unnamed River Spirit and motherly softness for her first and only son, Boh. In the end, she simply places gold over most things, causing others to disagree with her due to their varying mindsets.

Yubaba is an extremely powerful witch whose magic could only be matched by that of her older twin sister, Zeniba. Yubaba is formidably skilled in manipulating supernatural energy that enabled her to alter the fabric of reality and defy the laws of nature. In fact, it would seem that she was notorious in the spirit world for her magical aptitude, for Haku (a powerful spirit in his own right) willingly entered her service to learn magic, and even after he was freed from her control, he was still unable to break her magical hold over Chihiro and her parents. Examples of abilities Yubaba derived from her magic are: * Transformation: Yubaba had the ability to manipulate reality to transform any object or being into something else - when Chihiro's parents greedily ate the food meant for the spirits, Yubaba punished them by transforming them into pigs, and it was shown that only she was able to undo the transformations. Haku also confirmed that she was notorious for transforming non-spirit beings who crossed her path into animals. * Sensing: Yubaba had the ability to determine the location and status of other beings by concentrating on them - she was shown to be able to sense Chihiro at a proximity. She was also the first to instinctively sense that there was more to the "stink spirit" than met the eye, and finally managed to identify it as a river spirit. * Telekinesis: Yubaba had the ability to move objects as well as individuals with her mind, which she channeled through her hands - with a mere hand gesture, she had Chihiro dragged into her office without physically touching her, and even had the doors that Chihiro passed through shut and locked. She also levitated a paper contract with a pen to Chihiro so she could sign her name. Later on, she used this ability to lift a chair off the ground so she could sit on it. * Pyrokinesis: Yubaba had the ability to create and manipulate fire at will, which she channeled through her fingers and mouth - she lit a cigarette with a tiny flame conjured at her fingertip, and breathed tremendous streams of fire through her nostrils upon realising that her son was missing. * Energy Projectile: Yubaba can shoot a ball of condensed energy at targets. Although she performed this attack against No-Face, it didn't have much effect on him. * Flight: Yubaba had the ability to defy gravity and propel herself through the air at tremendous speeds and heights. * Contract Bestowal: Yubaba's most significant power in the film was the ability to give a person a certain status (usually as one of her bathhouse's employees) or change an event (such as reversing a transformation) through an agreement. This was shown to be one of the most dangerous abilities she possessed, for it was her primary means of controlling her employees, rendering them unable to defy or rebel against her. Examples of other abilities she derived from this province are: ** Infestation: Yubaba had the ability to infest any being with a Black Worm - after Haku entered her service as both her apprentice and employee, she placed such a slug within him so she could control him, and he was either ignorant of, or unable to, or unwilling to remove the slug, which bound him to do her every bidding. ** True Name Manipulation: Yubaba had the ability to manipulate the true names of others, which enabled her to control any sentient being by modifying or changing its identity through manipulating its name - as explained by Haku, if Chihiro failed to recall and secretly retain her true name, she would be doomed to be under Yubaba's control forever, as she would never be able to return home without her true name. ** Memory Manipulation: Yubaba had the ability to control the memories of others, enabling her to erase entire memories, and heal memories that had been altered or deleted - after transforming Chihiro's parents into pigs, she also erased their human memories. Later on, she restored their human memories along with reversing their animal transformations, but also completely erased their memories of their encounter in the spirit world. This was shown to be also one of the most dangerous powers Yubaba possessed, given that she was even able to make those who entered into contract with her forget their true names, and actually believe that the new names she gave them were their true ones. Haku, for instance, was unable to recall his true name after becoming her apprentice, and only managed to do so with Chihiro's help. Chihiro herself forgot her true name after only a night spent in Yubaba's service and was only able to recall and secretly retain it through Haku's timely assistance. * Cleanliness Inducement: Yubaba had the ability to induce cleanliness upon anything or anyone, which she channeled through her hands - after calming down Boh's tantrum, she fixed her messed up hair and her ruined office by gesturing at them, causing them to automatically clean themselves up. * Conjuration: Yubaba had the ability to materialise imagina...