Would have been very tragic for him to lose his someone he considered son. His whole life, he was alone. And finally when he found peace again, it was taken from him

definitely. i think with " how do you live", Hayao Miyazaki once again put his whole life, past and future condensed into a single beautiful monolith ( like the ancient volcanic rock that was full of magma hanging above great grandpa in the film) for me it's about how to let go of a longing to keep something alive after you're gone. every genius worries about what happened to the world, to art, to their own works, to the future... after they are gone. but he is also giving himself peace and comfort in the fact that he had to let go. if he is no longer there he has to let it go. the most beautiful thing for me is that the boy, even though he chose to not follow the old man, still remembers all the dreams and adventures the old man built for him to experience. that is also the message that maybe even Hayao Miyazaki don't intend. but it is an arrow straight through my heart that even if the boy will choose and build his own future, independent of what comes before him, he still has all the memories of living through all this beautiful sensory sensations and dream like harmony of nature, and what he will do with his life is up to him. i think it is not true that after one dies the castle collapses. people are meant to die. but ideas live on forever. that's why we create, that's why we sacrifice everything for dreams, ideas, and to build so that it could exist. Hayao Miyazaki just keep getting better and better at translating, transcribing and expressing his emotions, ideas and thoughts. he truly has unlimited potentials and never-ending creativity. he has no limits, and he has been fearless and do whatever the hell he wants. it was his fate to be unrivaled, unmatched by everything. long live art.

@@tng2022 that is so beautifully put.

absolutely bro, the rest of the anie was boring