Fa Mulan

Fa Mulan is the protagonist of Disney's 1998 feature film Mulan and its direct-to-video sequel. She is inspired by the legendary Hua Mulan from the Chinese poem The Ballad of Mulan. She was voiced by Ming-Na in all three titles, with her singing voice provided by Lea Salonga.

Mulan is the eighth official Disney Princess and is one of two characters in the line who are not actual royalty through birth nor marriage, along with Belle (who never marries the Beast, however, it is assumed she does.)

In the Japanese dub of the movie, Mayumi Suzuki does both her singing and speaking voices.

Personality
Mulan is atypical to previous female roles in Disney films; she is courageous, more self-reliant, and does not focus on marriage. She does not fit in with the expectations of a young Chinese girl of the time; despite her beauty, she is clumsy, outspoken, and independent rather than graceful, silent and demure. Her courage, intelligence, and determination also help her through her adventures. She is the first and only Disney Princess of Asian descent.

Appearance
Mulan is a slender, beautiful Chinese girl. In the original film, Mulan is about 16 years old, with the action of the sequel film taking place one month after the events of the first. Initially, Mulan had long hair. However, she cut it short in order to pass as a man in the army. Her hair is slightly longer in the sequal, though it's not as long as it initially was, her appearances in the Disney Princess line feature her with her original, longer hairstyle. It could still be short because it's only been a month since the events of the first film. She typically wears various Chinese style dresses, but has been seen wearing armor, as well as a kung-fu styled outfit.

Mulan
Mulan is the only child of Fa Zhou, a former war hero, and Fa Li. Mulan is sent to the town Matchmaker to find her a husband, which ends in humiliating failure. Shortly after, the Chinese Emperor's counselor, Chi-Fu, arrives in her village to announce that the deadly Huns, led by Shan Yu, have invaded China, and that one man in every family must serve in the war. Despite her protests (which the Emperor's consul Chi Fu silences), her father, says that he will go in spite of his old age and old war wounds. Mulan decides to go in his place posing as a man, cutting her long hair with a sword, stealing her father's armor and riding away on her horse, Khan, so she will keep him from risking his life.



On her way to the army camp, Mulan meets Mushu, a small dragon who claims to be a guardian sent by her ancestors. He agrees to help her pass as a soldier. Though Mulan fails the army training at first, she uses her intelligence and becomes the first soldier to solve a puzzle set by Li Shang, her unit's commanding officer.

Afterwards, she rapidly progresses to become one of the best soldiers in the unit. She also makes friends in Yao, Ling and Chien Po, three fellow soldiers, though she is forced to hide her gender. Through the machinations of Mushu, the soldiers are called to the war front.

After finding that the Chinese Army, led by Shang's father General Li, has been completely destroyed by the Huns, Shang leads Mulan and the other soldiers to stop them. Despite the unit being outnumbered, Mulan is able to defeat the Huns by crushing them in an avalanche by way of a rocket. However, she sustains an injury from Shan-Yu, which results in her gender being revealed. She is spared death, which was the punishment for a woman joining the army, as Shang's way of repaying the debt from Mulan rescuing him during the previous battle.

Mulan is left behind by the army and prepares to return home. However, she discovers that Shan-Yu and his five generals have survived and are heading towards the Imperial City. Mulan attempts to warn Shang, but she is not listened to because she is a woman. When Shan Yu captures the Emperor, however, Shang, Yao, Ling, and Chien Po join her in a rescue attempt. Mulan disguises herself, Yao, Ling, and Chien Po as concubines and take out the Hun guards, allowing Shang to reach Shan Yu and the emperor. Yao, Ling and Chein Po escape with the Emperor, but Mulan remains behind after Shang is knocked unconscious by Shan Yu. She reveals herself as the soldier who took down the Huns, which angers Shan Yu. While running from Shan Yu, she comes up with a plan to kill him by means of fireworks. While Mushu goes to get the fireworks, Mulan faces Shan Yu on the roof of the Emperor's palace. She disarms him with a paper fan and uses his sword to pin him to the roof, allowing Mushu to fire fireworks at Shan Yu, presumably killing him. Mulan is oppressed by Chi Fu for the final time when he arrogantly says that as a woman, she is unworthy of being called a hero and being worth anything.

Mulan is then confronted by the Emperor with her various crimes, having heard about them from Chi Fu. At the same time, he acknowledges that she saved all of China and bows to her out of respect. His gesture results in all the gathered people bowing as well. The Emperor first offers Mulan a council position then a job as consul, both of which Mulan refuses. The Emperor instead gifts her with his personal crest, and Shan Yu's sword. Mulan returns home, and is able to reconcile with her father. The end of the film shows Mulan inviting Shang, who had followed Mulan under the guise of returning her helmet, to dinner.

Mulan II
The beginning of the sequel shows Shang, now a General, proposing to Mulan, and they begin preparing for a marriage. However, the Emperor tasks them both with escorting his three daughters to the neighboring kingdom of Qui Gong in an attempt to form an alliance. Should the alliance fail, the Mongols would invade China. Mulan and Shang ask Yao, Ling, and Chien Po to accompany them. Shang and Mulan's relationship becomes somewhat strained during the trip, as the couple has differing views on various issues, particularly on the subject of the arranged marriages the princesses are being forced into. Meanwhile, Mushu is informed that if Mulan marries Shang, he would cease to be a guardian, instead being returned to his former job of Gong Ringer. Mushu takes advantage of Mulan and Shang's differences and tries to break them up. However, Mulan soon discovers Mushu's plans and tries to reconcile with Shang.

Before she can talk to Shang, bandits attack the group. Shang and Mulan are able to save the princesses, but are left hanging from a broken bridge. Shang chooses to sacrifice himself, as the bridge can only support one. Mulan and the princesses continue towards Qui Gong. Seeing that the princesses have fallen in love with Yao, Ling and Chien Po, and believing that Shang is dead, Mulan prepares to offer herself as a bride in their places. However, Shang is revealed to have survived his fall, and travels to stop her. Mushu is able to fix things by masquerading as the Golden Dragon of Unity, and forces the King to stop the wedding. The princesses are released from their vows and Shang and Mulan are married.

The end of the film, reveals that Mulan has told Shang about Mushu, and that Shang combined the family temples, allowing Mushu to remain a guardian.

House of Mouse
Mulan makes cameos in the House of Mouse television series and the direct-to-video release Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. In Ask Von Drake, Mulan was seen with Mushu and Cri-Kee during the Ludwig Von Drake Song. In Salute to Sports, Mulan briefly appeared on stage with Donald to give a martial arts demonstration.

Disney Princess Enchanted Tales
Mulan was planned to star in the second installment of the Disney Princess Enchanted Tales series of DVDs with Cinderella. However, the film was canceled due to poor sales of the first DVD.

Kingdom Hearts II
Sora, Donald, and Goofy meet Mulan as "Ping" outside the army's camp with Mushu. Sora and Donald are shocked when Goofy reveals to them that she is actually a girl but promise to keep her identity a secret. The group join the army, where Mulan almost blows her cover after breaking up a massive brawl between Sora, Donald, and two other military recruits. Captain Shang has little faith in "Ping", despite the constant comments from Sora, Donald and Goofy. Mulan slowly impresses Shang, defeating Shan-Yu and his Heartless single-handedly by causing an avalanche, and even saves Shang's life. But Mushu accidentally gives away Mulan's identity. Shang, outraged of her deceit, chucks her and the others out of the army before leaving. Mulan and the others see Shan-Yu and several surviving Heartless emerge from the mountain and make their way to the Imperial City. Mulan fails to convince Shang to believe her, but she soon gets his trust again when the Emperor is kidnapped. Mulan, Sora and the others battle and kill Shan-Yu, Mulan being thanked personally by the Emperor who bows respectfully. Shan-Yu's sword then suddenly glows and gives Sora access to another world.

Mulan is reunited with Sora during his second visit to her world. Mulan is hunting a cloaked man who she believes is an enemy spy, but Sora knows it is a member of Organization XIII. Following the cloaked man to the mountains, they see a Heartless Dragon called the Storm Rider head for the Imperial City. They head there where they find the cloaked man (there are actually 2, one being Riku) who reveals himself to be Xigbar. Mulan and the others battle the Storm Rider and defeat it. Mulan gives her support to Sora when he leaves to continue his journey to find Riku and Kairi.

In order to thank her for her unconditional loyalty, the Emperor makes her Captain Shang's partner, with the 2 of them serving beside him.

Songs
Songs preformed by Fa Mulan
 * 1) Reflection
 * 2) A Girl Worth Fighting For
 * 3) Honor to Us All
 * 4) I'll Make a Man Out of You
 * 5) Lesson Number One
 * 6) If You Can Dream

Disney Parks and Resorts
Mulan appears regularly for meet-and-greets, parades, and shows at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, especially at Walt Disney World in Florida. Mulan and Mushu (as a kite) make cameo appearances in the Hong Kong Disneyland and Disneyland Resort versions of It's a Small World. She is usually dressed in her bridal costume from the Honor to Us All musical number.

Mulan has her own spell card known as "Fa Mulan's Dragon Cannon" in the attraction Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.

In Fantasmic!, Mulan makes a notable appearance during the bubble montage having her bubble scenes nearly the longest in the montage.

On the Disney Cruise Line ships, Mulan and Shang appear in the stage show The Golden Mickeys. Mulan is also known to come out for meet-and-greets on the ships as well. Mulan also has an extended section in the show Wishes where she performs both Honor to Us All and Reflection.

Disney On Ice
Mulan is also featured in the Disney on Ice shows Princess Classics and Princess Wishes, as a Princess, despite her lack of royal ties.

Trivia

 * Mulan is first Disney Princess to be of East-Asian descent
 * Mulan is not one of the European setting along with Pocahontas, Tiana, Jasmine.
 * Mulan is the only princess with martial arts skill, except for Jasmine
 * Mulan is the first Disney Princess to not be an actual princess, for she was neither born into royalty, nor did she marry a prince. She is the third Disney Princess to not be of royal descent (the first being Cinderella, the second being Belle, and the fourth being Tiana), as well as the third to not to marry a prince (the first being Jasmine, the second being Pocahontas, and the fourth being Rapunzel).
 * Mulan is the first Disney Princess to cut her hair, the second being Rapunzel. However, Rapunzel did not cut her own hair, while Mulan did.
 * Mulan has a well known brave and sweet personality.
 * Mulan is the second princess to have her mother in her first film after Aurora. The third is Tiana and the fourth is Rapunzel.
 * Mulan is the first Disney Princess to disguise herself as a boy. And the second Disney Princess to disguise herself into another person, after Jasmine.
 * Mulan is the second Disney Princess to be seen wearing pants after Jasmine, except that she wears them for the most of the film while she wore dresses in other parts.
 * Mulan is the first princess to be seen wearing shorts and a tanktop
 * Mulan is the second Disney Princess to have both parents present during the entire film, the first being Aurora in 1959 and the third being Rapunzel in 2010.
 * Mulan is the only Disney Princess to be raised by both of her parents for her entire current life. (Aurora was raised by the faries for most of her life, Rapunzel was kidnapped and raised by Mother Gothel)
 * Mulan is the third Disney Princess to be played by two actresses, the first being Jasmine in 1992 and the second being Pocahontas in 1995. Ming-Na provides her speaking voice, and Lea Salonga provides her singing voice. Coincidentally, Lea Salonga also provided the singing voice for Jasmine 6 years prior.
 * Mulan is the first Disney Princess to kill the film's villain, before Tiana in 2009.
 * Mulan means "magnolia blossom" in Chinese. It could also mean "wood orchid."
 * While her name is "Fa Mulan" in the Disney film, in the actual Chinese legend her name is "Hua Mulan", though they are both pronounced similarly. This was probably done to avoid copyright issues with Chinese historians, so that Disney could have full ownership of the Disney adaptation of the legendary figure.
 * Mulan is the only Disney Princess to have a known family name.
 * Mulan is the first Disney Princess to be visibly wounded.
 * Mulan is the third Disney Princess to have a horse companion, the first being Cinderella and the second being Belle.
 * Although Mulan cuts her hair, it remained long in Disney Princess merchandise.
 * Mulan is the second Disney princess to leap from a high location with Pocahontas being the first and Rapunzel the third.
 * Mulan is the second Disney princess after Belle to come in contact with snow.
 * Out of the 10 Disney princesses, Mulan is the only one to feature writing down her nationality's language. Ariel just signed her name and Tiana just wrote one word ("OK"), though it was only during her theme dream song number. Although Belle wrote a book in french and the viewer sees the words, you don't see her write them and it is not in the main feature film, but in "Beauty and the Beast- The Enchanted Christmas". Aurora also wrote her name, and her nationality is presumed to be British thus making her the second princess to write her name in her nationality's language, though it was not in her feature film it was in "Disney Princess Enchanted Tales"
 * Mulan is the second Disney Princess to get married in a sequel to her film, the first being Jasmine, and the third being Rapunzel.
 * She shares many similarities to Tiana. Tiana being a second of what Mulan does as firsts for Disney Princesses. (Tiana being the second princess to have her father in the army, and the second to have her mother alive, etc.)
 * Mulan is the second Disney princess (after Cinderella) with the biggest number of animal companions, which include Mushu, Cri-Kee, Khan and Little Brother.
 * Mulan is shown in several deleted scenes in which one she is daydreaming of how she wants to be showing her adventurous/tomboyish spirit.
 * In many comic strips, Mulan is shown around her farm usually barefoot.
 * Mulan is left-handed. She has been seen using the sword in her right hand and may be amidextorous or possibly just taught to use it that way.