Shan-Yu

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Shan-Yu
Japanese	シャン・ユー
Rōmaji	Shan Yū
Voice actors	(Ja:) Hiroshi Fujioka (En:) Corey Burton
Homeworld	The Land of Dragons
Origin	Mulan (1998)
Game	Kingdom Hearts II

Shan-Yu
Kingdom Hearts II
Mulan (1998) Leader of the Huns. He wants to take over all of China. Shan-Yu and his enormous army are fearsome fighters who have defeated some of the Emperor's best troops. Now Shan-Yu plans to use the Heartless to invade the Empire. Shan-Yu has fierce eyes, and is always seen with a hawk who serves as his eyes and ears from above.

"Now you'll bow to me!"

—Shan-Yu

Shan-Yu appears in Kingdom Hearts II as the main antagonist of The Land of Dragons. He originates from Disney's Mulan. Instead of being the leader of the Hun army like he is during the film, he possesses an army of Heartless. Shan-Yu's eyes and ears is his loyal pet peregrine falcon, Hayabusa. Hayabusa appears as an ominous warning to others that Shan-Yu and his army are approaching.

Story

Kingdom Hearts II

After burning down a village, Shan-Yu stands among the ruins with his falcon, Hayabusa. Later, Mushu tells Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mulan how he saw Shan-Yu enter a cave near the Village. As the party heads into the cave, they fall into a trap, and when they return outside, they witness how Shan-Yu had attacked and burned down the village. The party follows Shan-Yu to the mountain's summit, where Mulan uses fireworks to cause an avalanche, swallowing Shan-Yu and his army of Heartless.

Mulan notices Shan-Yu had survived the avalanche, and is headed towards the imperial palace. As the party catches up with Captain Li Shang to warn him, his soldiers transform into Heartless. After taking care of them, the party finds Shan-Yu holding The Emperor hostage, but Li Shang knocks him back, and brings the Emperor to safery, leaving Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mulan to protect the palace doors and fight Shan-Yu, eventually defeating him.

This information is based on alternate scenes or materials and is not considered canon within the overall plot of the series.

In the Kingdom Hearts II manga, While Shan-Yu gains control of the Heartless and creates an army of them through the darkness in his heart, his army is made up of his compatriots. Through Xigbar, he learns about the power of darkness and receives a fraction of it in exchange for his help. When he rushes at the mountaintop with his people to attack Sora and his friends, his soldiers transform into Heartless. After he frees himself from the snow caused by the avalanche, he summons the Storm Rider. When he is defeated and the Storm Rider is destroyed, he asks Xigbar to give him more power over the darkness, but is killed by him for his failure.

Design

Shan-Yu is a large, muscular Hun with greyish skin, thick, black eyebrows, and a black Fu Manchu mustache. His eyes peculiar colors; the irises are an eerie orange color and his sclera are black. The top of his head is bald, but the hair on the back of his head is quite long and black. He often wears a black hood with grey fur lining and what seem to be two raccoon tails dangling in the front. He wears grey pants and black, knee-high boots with grey soles and a vertical grey stripe up the front. Shan-Yu also wears a coat that is pale yellow on the left side and the front and black on the right side. It has tattered, brown lining and is kept closed by a brown belt. He wears a single black glove on his left hand, presumably for the same reasons falconers use them

Directly before fighting him, Shan-Yu is seen to glow with an eerie purple light.

Personality

Shan-Yu is a cold-hearted, cruel warrior, ruthless in battle. He cares for himself and his army only. He is aggressive, violent, and rather silent, having no more than five lines in his appearances. He cares greatly about causing chaos and depression. Like his people, Shan-Yu is trained in living off the Earth, possessing heightened senses and a saker falcon as his pet. He's rather cunning and manipulative, luring Sora and his friends into a trap so he can destroy the village without their aid with the others.

Abilities

Shan-Yu is a skilled swordsman who is both very strong and agile. Shan-Yu also has a great amount of endurance, being able to survive an avalanche. Like other Disney villains, he has the ability to control an army of Heartless and use darkness to power up his attacks.

Origin

"Your walls and armies have fallen. And now it's your turn. Bow to me."

—Shan-Yu to the Emperor

Shan-Yu is the primary antagonist of Mulan, with plans to invade China with his army of Huns. While he has very little screen time until the second half of the movie, he is still the catalyst for almost all the events. During his army, he and his army slay General Li (Li Shang's father) and his men, devastating the nearby village. He attacks Mulan's party on the mountain but is defeated when Mulan causes an avalanche. In retaliation, he wounds Mulan with his sword before being buried underneath the snow, which leads to her exposure as a woman. Surviving the avalanche, he and his remaining men attack the Imperial Palace and take the Emperor hostage, but he is foiled once again by Mulan, Mushu, Shang, Yao, Ling and Chien-Po. Enraged, Shan-Yu corners Mulan on the roof of the palace, where they briefly fight until Mulan traps him long enough for Mushu to launch a firework directly at Shan-Yu, which rockets him straight into the firework tower, where he is killed in an ensuing explosion.

"Hayabusa" is the Japanese word for "Peregrine Falcon".