< Mulan

Mulan/Characters


Fa Mulan / "Ping"

  • Action Girl: Not initially. But eventually, Shang successfully trains her to be a warrior. She actually ends up surpassing him.
  • Anti-Hero: The Emperor is well-aware of Mulan's more questionable actions. For example, she stole her father's armor, destroyed half of his palace, and deceived her commanding officer. But if she didn't do all those things, she could have never saved China from Shan Yu.
  • Awesome Moment of Crowning: When the Emperor gifts her with his dragon pendant and Shan-Yu's sword.
  • Badass
    • Badass Princess: Not really, but since she is part of the Disney Princess line-up...
  • Bifauxnen
  • Cool Sword
  • Daddy's Girl: What leads to her deciding to go to war in her place...by disguising herself as a man.
  • Determinator
  • Fire-Forged Friends: She doesn't start off as friends with Yao and Ling (Chien Po is willing to befriend her but they don't interact much before they become capable warriors), but Yao and Ling both come to respect her.
  • Foil: To Shang (being chaotic while Shang is a stickler to the rules, though the two of them actually aren't so different. Both of them are loyal to China for a fault, for instance.
  • Friend to All Children: Proven during "Lesson Number One".
  • Guile Heroine
  • Important Haircut: She gives herself a haircut to make disguising herself easier.
  • Journey to Find Oneself: Happens along the way, but she initially leaves to save her father.
  • Lady of War: She kills Shan Yu of all people.
  • The Lancer: She initially serves as this to Shang, but she eventually proves herself to be an even better leader than he is, which is really saying something.
  • Pink Means Feminine: Her matchmaker dress, although she doesn't wear it voluntarily.
  • Plucky Girl
  • Sarashi: And yes, it's relevant.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: Looks really nice in her matchmaker ceremony dress.
  • Sweet Polly Oliver: Everyone's surprised to find out she's a girl.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to the princesses' Girly Girls in the sequel.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Courtesy of Shang.
  • Yamato Nadeshiko: Tried to be one in the beginning. It didn't suit her.
    • Actually, she has more traits than you see at first sight. While she's not super ladylike and demure, she fits the "core of steel" and "devotion to her family" parts almost perfectly - after all, the reason why she went to war as a Bifauxnen was not to get glory or escape her family situation, but to save her aging father from sure death.

Mushu

Cri-Kee

Cri-Kee: (chirping noises)
Mushu: What do you mean, a loser?

Khan

Li-Shang

  • Adorkable: His interaction with Mulan after defeating Shan-Yu has him stammering and not knowing what to say her to her.
  • Badass: Not as much as Mulan though.
  • Badass Cape: Surprisingly, it never gets snagged, as opposed to Shan Yu who does.
  • Badass in Distress: A few times...
  • Badass Long Hair: In the sequel.
  • The Captain: His father put him in charge, presumably.
  • Cool Horse: He has a White Stallion, but unlike Mulan's it doesn't have a name.
  • Disney Death: In Mulan 2. Ironically, it also overlaps with Disney Villain Death.
  • Drill Sergeant Nasty: This is justified, as the Huns have no intention of taking prisoners of war...or plan to torture their prisoners.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Though he at least gives Mulan the generous offer of leaving the military, because apparently he can't make a man out of her. Mulan would have accepted but she then realized that none of the soldiers had managed to reach the arrow yet.
  • Love Makes You Dumb: He is usually The Stoic but when he tries to talk to Mulan after Shan Yu's defeat, he doesn't have a clue what to say.
  • Military Brat
  • Mr. Fanservice: Mulan certainly thinks so.
  • Official Couple: With Mulan by the sequel.
  • Parental Abandonment: His mom wasn't shown or mentioned, but we all know what happened to his Disappeared Dad.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: Yao lampshades it, claiming that he'll retrieve the arrow and keep his shirt on.

Yao, Ling and Chien-Po

  • Acrofatic: Chien-Po to some extent; despite his size, he's seen doing cartwheels in the later half of Be A Man. He claims in the first half of the song that he doesn't know how to swim...but based on the skinny dipping scene, Shang taught him how.
  • Becoming the Mask: When they disguise themselves as women, Yao asks him if the dress makes him look fat.
  • Big Eater: Chien-Po. Of course, you could probably tell that just by looking at him.
  • Big, Thin, Short Trio. Chien Po is the big one, Ling is the thin one, and Yao is the short one.
  • Birds of A Feather: Despite what the Matchmaker says, each of them find their ideal girl by the end of the movie. Ting-Ting at first doesn't seem to be Ling's type but it turns out that she actually withhold her laugh because she doesn't like her own laugh. Ling causes her to change her mind, and she reveals that she's secretly just as silly as he is.
  • Casanova Wannabe: Ling is a milder example, if a couple lines of A Girl Worth Fighting For are any indication. He finds his ideal girl in the sequel.
  • Character Development: All three of them go from being commoners to being ideal members.
  • Comic Trio. They're a big source of the movie's comic relief...along with Mushu himself.
  • Eye Scream: Less violent than some other examples we could list, but Yao has one of his eyes permanently blacked out. It's implied that he was getting into fights before he was conscripted...which itself implies that he volunteered for his family.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: Subverted, they probably would be friends with each other even if they hadn't been conscripted. But being in a war was probably an indication.
  • Foil: All three of them contrast with each other in personality...not that it stops them from being friends.
  • Gentle Giant: Chien-Po, in contrast to Yao.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Yao. Averted with Chien-Po...but he doesn't have hair to begin with.
  • Large Ham: "And I am Yao! King of the Rock!"
  • Lean and Mean: Ling before his Character Development.
  • Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Ironically enough they serve as this to Mulan during the Be A Man reprise. They dress like concubines. Yao even becomes the mask to some extent.
  • The Napoleon: Yao. It doesn't much to set him off...not that he's a bad person though.
  • Official Couple: With Mei, Ting-Ting and Su respectively by the end of the sequel.
  • Plucky Comic Relief
  • Teeth Flying: Ling during the camp brawl scene.
  • Three Amigos
  • True Companions

Fa Zhou

  • Cool Old Guy
  • Generation Xerox: It's indicated that Mulan inherited traits from him. It takes some time for her to become a capable soldier, unsurprisingly...but she learns faster than everyone else, and actually manages to surpass Shang.
  • Handicapped Badass: He was injured during a previous war, though he was lucky enough to come back alive. Mulan decides that he won't be going to a second one and goes in her stead for this reason.
  • Honor Before Reason: "I will die doing what's right!"
  • Retired Badass: Until the next war.

Fa Li

Grandmother Fa

  • Cool Old Lady: It's pretty impressive that she manages to jaywalk down a street without so much as a scratch. And she's actually willing to participate if there's a following Chinese war after Mulan ends up bringing a man home.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Less so than Mushu, but still a little bit. "Who spit in her bean curd?"
  • Generation Xerox: It's possible that Fa Zhou gets his bravery from her. Though she happens to be a bit fearless.
  • Miniature Senior Citizens: She is much shorter than Mulan as seen during the "Honor To Us All" sequence when she gives her the jade necklace.
  • Speak of the Devil: When she says that she's disappointed that Mulan didn't bring home a man (though her son was happy that she brought back the sword of Shan Yu), Shang reveals his presence, who had come to pay Mulan a visit.

The Ancestors

First Ancestor: (speaking to Mushu) You had your chance to protect the Fa family!
Female Ancestor: Your misguidance led Fa Deng to disaster!
Fa Deng: (carrying his head under his arm) Yeah. Thanks a lot.

Chi Fu

  • Deliberately Bad Example: He serves as an example of how people should not treat women or a soldier. Luckily, Shang is in charge of the troops, not him.
  • Effeminate Misogynistic Guy: Chi-Fu is a Non-Action Guy known for his Girly Scream, yet when told that Mulan is a hero he simply says "'tis a woman, she'll never be worth anything." Granted, there is some room for interpreting this as something he doesn't quite mean, and more so says out of contempt for Mulan as an individual, but still...
  • Girlfriend in Canada: He claims that he has a girl back home, but it's implied that he's lying. Yao thinks that the only girl that would love him was his very own mother.
  • Hate Sink: None of the conscripted soldiers really seem to like him, though they get along with Shang.
  • Jerkass: Unlike Shang, he's a jerk with a heart of jerk.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: He wasn't wrong to be angry at Mulan for deceiving everyone.
    • He's not wrong to say that being the captain of a military squad was an enormous responsibility, though he wasn't so willing to let the squad go off to battle.
  • Lawful Stupid
  • Nice Hat
  • Non-Action Guy: Justified. He's the Emperor's aide, not a soldier.
  • Noodle Incident: "You men owe me a new pair of slippers!"
  • Squeals Like a Little Girl
  • Would Hit A Girl: When Mulan is ousted as a girl, he's the only one who wants her dead.

General Li

The general of China's army.

  • Didn't Think This Through: It never occurred to him that his army might be outnumbered by the Hun army, though unlike Chi-Fu, he seems to anticipate that somebody would be able to mount over the Great Wall.
    • Though it ultimately doesn't come to Tung Shao Pass, it never occurs to him that the Hun army could simply go around his and reach the imperial city, though at least chose to guard the quickest way to the emperor.
    • He wasn't wrong to make Shang the captain of the squad though.
  • Killed Off For Real: By his own hubris, basically.
  • The Lancer: To the emperor, the Big Good.
  • Underestimating Badassery: Unlike the emperor, General Li believes that his army can take on the Hun army by themselves. Not only is the Hun army able to predict that the Imperial army is lying in wait to ambush them, but they're apparently able to set up an ambush of their own instead.

The Emperor

Shan-Yu

  • Authority Equals Asskicking: He's the most deadly out of all the Huns.
  • Big Bad: There wouldn't be any conflict in the movie if he wasn't trying to seize China.
  • Badass: You'd have to be to be the leader of the Huns.
  • Badass Boast: Is fond of making these. In fact, he makes one in all of his (speaking) appearances.
  • Badass Long Hair
  • Badass Mustache
  • The Berserker: While normally cold and collected, he really loses it when his plans are foiled. YMMV as to whether this counts as a Villainous Breakdown, since he does actually recover from it, and due to his fairly bestial appearance the before/after difference is less pronounced than in most villainous breakdowns.
  • Big Badass Bird of Prey: Has one for a pet.
  • Big Entrance: And how!
  • Black Eyes of Crazy: His irises are yellow, but his pupils and the "whites" of his eyes are black. Unusual example in that this is actually his eye colour, and consequently they stay this way all the time, even when he is totally calm, rather than turning this colour when he loses it.
  • Blood Knight: His first two scenes suggest him to be this (see Establishing Character Moment below), and he later confirms it when he rejects a suggestion to avoid the Imperial army rather than meet them in combat. Shortly before the avalanche wipes out his army he personally leads the charge against the heroes, and is so far in front of his horde when he does so that it is very clear he wants to fight them himself.
  • Cool Sword
  • The Dreaded: Though the Emperor is too dignified to have a true Oh Crap moment, his expression and actions when General Li says the Huns are being led by Shan Yu shows that he is aware that China could be in a lot of trouble.
  • Establishing Character Moment: In the very first scene of the film he leads an attack on the Great Wall of China, and does not stop a sentry who lights the signal fire. When the sentry defiantly says "Now all of China knows you're here", Shan Yu says "Perfect."
  • Evil Laugh: He does one after he successfully captures the Emperor.
  • Eyes of Gold
  • Famous Last Words: "It looks like you're out of ideas."
  • Four-Star Badass: He is the supreme leader of his army, and he personally leads the attacks. When we finally see him in action it is clear that he is extremely Badass
  • Genius Bruiser
  • Guttural Growler
  • Implacable Man: He really wants the Emperor to acknowledge his superiority, and minor inconveniences like being buried alive in an avalanche of freezing snow which kills almost his entire army only make him angry, and cause him to re-evaluate his strategy. He nearly manages to win even then!
  • Killed Off for Real: He was thought to be dead after being buried in an avalanche, but he turns out to be alive. Mulan, however, finishes him for good by blowing him up with fireworks. Though it has been established that spirits exist in this universe, so it's plausible that he could return as one.:
  • Large and In Charge: He towers over much of the cast.
  • Le Parkour
  • Lightning Bruiser: Shan Yu may look like a Big Guy Mighty Glacier, (and he shows himself to be just as strong as he looks,) but he's as agile as a monkey.
  • Made of Iron: The avalanche should've kill him. Shan Yu simply get out showing not even a scratch.
  • No Song for the Wicked: Notably the only villain in a Disney Princess (even a retroactive Disney Princess) movie other than Maleficent (whose poem might count) not to have a Villain Song.
  • Obviously Evil: It'd be surprising if he weren't.
  • Oh Crap: Has a glorious one when he sees an avalanche destroying his army.
    • And an even better one when Mulan launches the rocket at him.
    • There's also a good one when Mulan reveals that she is the soldier who caused the avalanche.
  • Politically-Incorrect Villain: Averted/Inverted; he's one of the few male characters in the film who never outright says anything sexist towards Mulan.
  • Skyward Scream: When he believes that his army has been wiped out by an avalanche that Mulan caused, he lets out a scream. Unfortunately, this attracts the attention of his surviving men, and they march off towards the Imperial city together.
  • Unstoppable Rage: When he gets angry, little obstacles like a massive barred door, thick columns and a tiled roof don't slow him down all that much.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Arguable, see the "Berserker" entry above.
  • Would Hit a Girl: The poor little girl and Mulan are examples. Though in Mulan's case, she had wiped out the vast majority of his army.
  • Would Hurt a Child: The little girl will be missing her doll. We should return it to her.

The Huns

Shan-Yu: (throws one of them the Tung Shao Pass doll) What do you see?
Hun #1: Black pine. From the high mountains!
Hun #2: White horsehair. Imperial stallions.
Hun #3: Sulfur. From cannons.

Matchmaker

  • Hypocrite: She's pretty fussy about appearances...but she's not a really attractive woman herself. it's indicated that she eats a lot like Chien Po.
    • On that same note, when she meets Chien Po, she tells him that he'll never find a bride, even though he's not more chubby than she is.
    • She calls out Mulan's name, but when Mulan informs the Matchmaker of her presence, the Matchmaker docks her points for doing so, because apparently women are to be seen and not heard.
    • Though she insists that women be quiet, she immediately yells at Mulan when tea is spilled on her.

Mei, Ting-Ting and Su

  • Birds of a Feather: They turn out to have many things in common with Yao, Chien Po, and Ling respectively. It's not immediately obvious with Ting-Ting, but it turns out she was deliberately trying to keep herself from laughing.
  • Color Coded for Your Convenience: Mei is pink, Ting-Ting is purple and Su is yellow.
  • Everything's Better with Princesses
  • Freudian Excuse: Why does Ting-Ting not laugh at Ling's jokes? It turns out that it's not because they're unfunny, but because she doesn't like the sound of her own laugh. Ling persuades her otherwise.
  • Genki Girl: Mei and Su. Ting-Ting turns out to be not so above it all.
  • "I Want" Song: "I Wanna Be Like Other Girls". Ting-Ting initially doesn't join but she decides to do so when she discovers that being like other girls means not having to wear platform shoes.
  • Ms Exposition: Ting-Ting.
  • The Stoic: Ting-Ting for about three-quarters of Mulan II. "Just get your pomegranates in the carriage."
  • Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Ting-Ting.
  • The Three Faces of Eve: with Ting-Ting as the Wife, Mei as the Seductress, and Su as the Child. They're not unlike that of the soldier trio themselves.
  • The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask: Ting-Ting, for a long time.
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