King Jihl

King Jihl is a pivotal supporting character in Hayao Miyazaki’s 1984 animated film Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, based on Miyazaki’s own manga series that began serialization in 1982. He rules the Valley of the Wind, a small and isolated nation with fewer than 500 inhabitants, slowly shrinking as the toxic miasma of the surrounding Toxic Jungle seeps into daily life. As the father of Princess Nausicaa, King Jihl serves as both the emotional anchor of the story and a symbol of a civilization on the edge of collapse.

Throughout the film, Jihl appears as a frail, bedridden king whose health has deteriorated from years of exposure to the Sea of Corruption’s poisonous spores. He had eleven children, but Nausicaa is the only one who survived to adulthood, making her his sole heir and the future of the Valley. His declining condition forces him to hand off nearly all governing duties to his young daughter, setting the story’s events in motion. In the film, his fate takes a darker turn compared to the manga: Torumekian soldiers murder him during their invasion of the Valley, a moment that triggers Nausicaa’s grief-fueled rage.

In the manga, Jihl’s death is more drawn out and tragic. Long-term poisoning from the Sea of Corruption causes his bones to ossify and eventually robs him of his sight before he finally passes. He still finds the strength, in his final moments, to counsel Mito and agree with the other chieftains on a plan that might protect Nausicaa and the Valley’s people. His friendship with Master Yupa, the wandering swordsman who regularly visits the Valley, adds warmth to a character defined largely by suffering and quiet dignity.

Voice Cast

In Japanese, King Jihl is voiced by Mahito Tsujimura, a veteran actor born in 1930 who spent decades in anime and tokusatsu productions. He is known for voicing Daikaioh in Dragon Ball Z, roles in Porco Rosso, and appearing across the Ultraman franchise. Tsujimura passed away on November 27, 2018, at the age of 88, leaving behind a career that spanned over five decades of Japanese voice acting.

In the English dub produced by Buena Vista in 2005, King Jihl is voiced by Mark Silverman. Silverman is a longtime Disney voice actor best known for voicing Friend Owl in Bambi projects and for portraying Rod Serling’s narrator in the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attractions at Disney parks. He also voiced the King in the English dub of Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle, making King Jihl part of a broader history of Ghibli dubbing work.