Mushu
Oh no! The water! I'm in big trouble if I don't fetch it!
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Mushu is a recurring character in the Kingdom Hearts series, and a summon in Kingdom Hearts. He is the guardian of Fa Mulan and one of the characters residing in The Land of Dragons. He first appeared in the Disney film Mulan.
Story
Kingdom Hearts
Mushu survived the destruction of his world, The Land of Dragons, and became a Summon Gem. After the death of Maleficent in her Dragon form, the Fireglow Gem is left behind. When delivered to the Fairy Godmother, she restores his spirit and allows Sora to call forth Mushu in battle. Mushu is one of the strongest of the summons, capable of continuously shooting fireballs from his mouth. He returns to his world when it is restored after the defeat of Ansem.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Mushu appears as a figment of Sora's memories as a summon card, during his visit to Castle Oblivion. The player can obtain his summon card in the Key to Rewards room on the Hollow Bastion floor.
Kingdom Hearts II
When Sora, Donald, and Goofy visit The Land of Dragons, Mushu is mistook for a Heartless at first due to his giant shadow cast on a rock. He is shocked to see his old friends in his world and introduces Mulan to them and explains her situation. Mushu's poor attempts to teach Mulan to act like a soldier consequentially instigated brawl at the training camp. Later, he then tells Mulan that he saw Shan-Yu in a cave which turns out to be a trap.
Mushu accompanies Mulan, Sora and the others to the icy mountains when they are attacked by Shan-Yu and his army of Heartless. Mulan sees a way to defeat the army by causing an avalanche. She grabs a missile, lights it with Mushu and then launches it to a nearby mountain, Mushu accidentally going with it. He later returns and accidentally gives Mulan's identity away to Captain Shang, who leaves her behind. Mushu dreads returning to face his fellow spirits, but knows he must. Shan-Yu and a few Heartless reveal to have survived the avalanche and head for the Imperial City to capture the Emperor. The heroes race to save the Emperor and defeat Shan-Yu. Mushu blurts out to the group unintentionally he is actually not a guardian anymore and is chased by Sora in a fit of rage.
Mushu doesn't take part in the events of Sora's second visit, but he continues to support Mulan and Sora in battle.
Appearance
Mushu is a small, red, serpentine Chinese dragon. He has spindly limbs, two-toed feet, and four-fingered hands. His claws are dark red, as is a small tuft on the tip of his tail. His belly and two whiskers are yellow-orange. His eyes are large, close set, and appear to be a very dark shade of brown or red. Mushu's teeth are sharp and white, and his floppy ears have dark red tips. The bottoms of his feet and the insides of his ears are pink. Mushu's nose is dark red-violet, and he sports two small, sky blue horns with a dark blue tip on the top of his head.
Personality
Mushu is the overconfident, impulsive friend of Mulan who strives to help Mulan in hopes of reclaiming his family guardian position. Although selfish and careless at times, he means well and seeks to help his friends. If needed, Mushu resorts to lies or blanking details in order to put forth a better image of himself.
Abilities
Kingdom Hearts
As a Summon, Mushu appears on Sora's head and spits fireballs from his mouth at his targets. While Sora is using him, he cannot attack directly but rather let Mushu attack from a distance.
Mushu's fireballs are only ineffective against those that are immune to fire magic, such as Wizard Heartless, Red Nocturne Heartless or Leon.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Mushu's ability to shoot fireballs is available again after Sora summons him for aid. His Sleight for multiple cards is Flare Breath and he is also used in the Firaga Break and Mega Flare Sleights.
Kingdom Hearts II
In this game, Mushu serves as Mulan's guardian and becomes her source of power after her identity as a female is exposed to Captain Shang, which enables her to use fire-based attacks. He can also be used to unleash the fiery blows of Red Rocket.
Although he is not used directly as an ally, Mushu is used in the last stage of Mulan's Limit move, launching a series of fiery attacks at foes which ends with a downpour of large fireballs.
Origin
Mushu orginates from the Disney original movie Mulan. Prior to the start of the film, Mushu once a guardian spirit of Mulan's family, but he was demoted to the humiliating position of an incense burner and gong-ringer for Mulan's deceased ancestors when he failed to protect a family member, a soldier named Fa Deng, resulting in his death by decapitation. Shortly after Mulan runs away from home to serve as a soldier in her father Fa Zhou's place in war against Shan-Yu and the Huns army, the spirits of the ancestors choose to send the Great Stone Dragon to simply bring her back safely and tasks Mushu with awakening it. After several unsuccessful attempts, he ends up accidentally destroying the dragon statue. Although Cri-kee (Mulan' family's pet cricket and "good luck charm") suggests that Mushu brings Mulan back home himself to avoid punishment, Mushu decides to make Mulan a war hero to earn his position as a guardian again.
After meeting her in a bamboo thicket overlooking the army camp, Mushu assists Mulan in keeping her true identity as a female from being revealed and helps her in her training in preparation for war. When Mushu hears from the Emperor's advisor Chi-Fu feels the troops are still unqualified for the war, he creates a false message alerting Captain Li Shang and the troops to head to the front to keep his plan intact. However, after being ambushed by the Huns and Mulan's secret exposed, Mulan is left on a mountain summit as punishment and Mushu reveals the real reason he chose to help on her mission. Having come to realize his own selfish nature, he apologizes to her and vows to stay by her side. During the film's climatic battle at the Emperor's palace, Mulan leads Shan-Yu onto the roof where Mushu fires a rocket at the villain, blasting Shan-Yu in fireworks tower (which kills him in the explosion). Once Mulan is deemed China's bravest warrior, Mushu regains his job as guardian and rejoices.
In the film, Mushu was voiced by veteran actor and comedian Eddie Murphy. To date, this is the only media in which Murphy voiced Mushu, the role being taken afterwards by Mark Moseley, Murphy's voice double.
Trivia
- Mushu is one of the three characters to break the fourth wall, alongside Genie and Donald Duck. Mushu pulls out a Kingdom Hearts manga and realizes that he was cut from the first book.
