Shan-Yu

"Now you'll bow to me!"

—-Shan-Yu

Shan-Yu is a villain from Kingdom Hearts II. He originates from Disney's Mulan. His antagonism in the game is very similar to the movie. Shan-Yu is the leader of the Hun army, and plans to attack and take over China (The Land of Dragons in game). He is large and burly, and wields a blade with zigzag shaped edges. His eyes and ears over China is his pet falcon, Hayabusa. Hayabusa appears as an ominous warning to others that Shan-Yu and his army are approaching.

Journal Entries

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.

Story

Kingdom Hearts II

Shan-Yu appears in Kingdom Hearts II as the main antagonist of The Land of Dragons. Instead of Huns, he possesses an army of Heartless at his command. The story follows the movie for the most part, except the shadow of a Heartless has possessed him.

Shan-Yu first appears at the beginning of the world with his falcon, Hayabusa. He had burned down a village and was standing in the ruins. He next is seen by Mushu walking into a cave outside the village they were in. Sora, Fa Mulan, Donald, and Goofy. However, it was in actuality a trap. While the heroes are trapped in the cave battling Heartless, Shan-Yu attacks the village, burning it, and turning everyone into Heartless except for Captain Li Shang, Yao, Ling, and Chien Po, who managed to survive. Once the party sees the destruction they charge to the summit of the mountain to encounter the Hun. Although he charged with a mass army of Heartless, Sora and company destroy most of them and Mulan's quick thinking sends Shan-Yu and the rest of the Heartless over the edge of a ridge in an avalanche.

After surviving the avalanche as in the movie, Shan-Yu attacks the Imperial Palace and distracts Sora with a group of Captain Shang's soldiers, who were actually Heartless. But he is defeated by Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mulan in a climatic boss battle. After his defeat, the fate of him exactly is unknown, and Sora receives the Hidden Dragon Keyblade.

Trivia

• "Hayabusa" (隼) is actually the Japanese word for "Peregine Falcon", indicating that Shan-Yu obtained him from Japan.

• Shan-Yu is one of the five Disney villains in the series whose relations to the Heartless have nothing to do with Maleficent, the others being the Master Control Program, Chernabog and Clayton. His situation is similar to the latter's, in that the Heartless are drawn to the darkness in his heart, and he uses his military expertise to command them. This also seems to reflect Clayton's activity in the first game, as he is probably considered too weak to be of any consequence by Maleficent. Indeed, the two have never been shown to meet.

• Directly before fighting him, he is seen to glow with an eerie purple light similar to the light that glows around Scar when the latter started becoming a Heartless.

• His battle theme is Vim and Vigor, the same as Barbossa's, making them the only Disney villains in Kingdom Hearts II to not have The Encounter played when facing them.