History NightmareFuel / Mulan

** Shan-Yu has enough NightmareFuel on his own. And it's not just from the fact that Creator/MiguelFerrer's performance is just so gravelly and husky that it gives you the chills. In one scene, his men capture two Imperial scouts, and mockingly congratulates them on discovering the Hun army before telling them to return to the Emperor and send his strongest armies, because he's ready.

** Shan-Yu has enough NightmareFuel on his own. And it's not just from the fact that Creator/MiguelFerrer's performance is just so gravelly and husky that it gives you the chills.
--->'''Shan-Yu''': ''(watching two Imperial scouts running off)'' How many men does it take to deliver a message?\\

--->"How many men does it take to deliver a message?"\\
"... ''[[InTheBack One.]]''"

* Chi-Fu ordering Shang to execute the exposed Mulan. Despite it being the law that women who join the army are sentenced to death, Yao, Ling and Chien-Po are horrified and try to rush to defend Mulan, but Chi-Fu reminds them of the law and they can only watch. The look on Shang's face is cold and scary as he slowly and menacingly walks toward Mulan with the sword in his hand. Mulan closes her eyes, ready for death as Shang raises the sword...then flings it to the ground in front of her.

--->'''Epic Voice Guy:''' Good Lord, Disney! These were an actual people, not the [[Literature/LordOfTheRings Uruk-hai!]]

* The avalanche, once Mulan triggers it. It wipes out most of the Huns, yes, but it also nearly wipes out Mulan's entire battalion. Shang has a moment to comprehend the danger before Mulan tries to pull him away. They and Khan get caught by the snowdrifts, while the rest of the battalion takes cover behind a rock. It's one of the few times "Ping" calls out to Shang in her real voice on seeing him unconscious and being carried away. If not for Yao shooting that arrow, and Mulan shooting it back in record time, she, Shang, Khan, Mushu and Cri-Kee would have fallen off the cliff. Even so, the safety rope nearly pulls Yao, Ling and the men off as well until Chien Po picks them up and walks backward. It's hard to blame Shang for afterward calling Ping "the craziest man I know."

* Mulan [[AdultFear is clearly horrified to hear]] the family name being called, meaning that her elderly father will have to go to war and will likely die.
* The [[AdultFear reaction of Mulan's mother, father and grandmother]] when she has gone off to join the army. Especially given the time period.

*** And the scene cuts to black ''right there''! Brr...

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* During the scene where the battalion encounters the destroyed village, the moment when the camera pans over the ridge to the ''entire Chinese army lying dead in the fields beyond.''

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/649655_1298617004919_full.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Is Shan Yu ObviouslyEvil enough for you?]]

* During the scene where the batallion encounters the destroyed village, the moment when the camera pans over the ridge to the ''entire Chinese army lying dead in the fields beyond.''

* During the scene where the platoon encounters the destroyed village, the moment when the camera pans over the ridge to the ''entire Chinese army lying dead in the fields beyond.''

* Despite being protagonists, Mulan's friends can occasionally be disturbing:
** The bathing scene is a shining example of this; no matter ''how'' good their intentions were, any sixteen-year-old, male or female, would be quite disturbed if three older men they barely knew (and who had, only just a short time ago, taken great pleasure in bullying them) suddenly barged into their secluded bath buck-naked and started acting unusually chummy with him or her. And they want the sixteen-year-old they barely know to climb up onto a very small rock -- ''again'', naked -- in very close proximity, with the ring leader who just made a show of flashing his genitalia into his/her face. How was Mulan/Ping supposed to know they were just genuinely immature as opposed to genuinely creepy? ''Yikes''.
** Yao gets a special mention before becoming Mulan's friend. He has some pretty ''nasty'' expressions before inflicting pain on someone else, like the evil smile he gets when another recruit was innocently (if naively) believing that a tattoo would protect him from harm. Yao wasn't mad; he just saw an opportunity to hurt someone, and he did very clearly enjoy it. Ling, too, has no sympathy for the other man's misfortune.
*** So what is Yao like when he ''is'' angry? Well, if he even ''thinks'' you insulted him, like mistaking Mushu's "limp noodle" remark, he gets consumed with rage and quite literally tries to beat the living daylights out of you.
*** And even his friends aren't safe: Mulan ducks, and Yao is so blinded by fury that for a full few seconds he is pummeling Ling instead.
*** His tranquil fury is far less scary, but just as potent. When Ling sarcastically calls him "some king of the rock" after they have clambered out of the water -- ''thinking that a poisonous snake is in it'' -- Yao shoves Ling back in. It's your call whether Yao forgot that they were avoiding the water because of the "poisonous snake" in his haste to get back at Ling, or whether he was just ''that'' mad, but neither one does any favors for his character.
** Also, when Shang has Mulan standing on the edge of a cliff, as a training idea of his, Yao, Ling, and Chien Po are chosen to throw rocks at her. Chien Po seems disturbed, but the looks that Yao and Ling have at the idea of potentially killing a fellow soldier "accidentally" are downright sadistic.
** And there's one moment even ''after'' they become her friend: they have an unusual idea of snowball fights: For one, the snowballs are the size of basketballs, for two, in their game, "Ping" doesn't know that the four of them are having a snowball fight, three, they all quite literally sneak up on "him" and, before the song cuts off, are just in the middle of smashing three basketball-sized tightly-packed chunks of snow over the blissfully unaware Mulan's head...at the same time. Luckily, they abort the operation when they see the village, but still, it was a close call -- they could easily have broken her nose, or even smothered her. Again, this is after they've become Mulan's allies; this is their idea of a ''[[DeadlyPrank joke]]''?

* Mulan and her comrades are singing a cheerful marching song when [[MoodWhiplash WHAM]], they come across a burned-out village, the aftermath of a Hun massacre - not just of the villagers, but of the army led by Shang's father. ''There are bodies on the ground. In a Disney film.'' And then Mulan [[WouldHurtAChild finds an abandoned doll among the wreckage]]...
** And all those casualties? They're from the Imperial Army. ''The Huns single-handedly destroyed most of the Chinese army in one battle, with little to no casualties of their own.''

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MkurYLnW9o The Huns crawling out of the snow like frigging zombies.]] While it's only Shan Yu and his elite (the credits directly call them that), it's still unsettling how these guys just. Won't. Die.

** The bathing scene is a shining example of this; no matter ''how'' good their intentions were, any sixteen year old, male or female, would be quite disturbed if three older men they barely knew-and had only just a short time ago taken great pleasure in bullying them! suddenly barged into their secluded bath buck-naked and started acting unusually chummy with him/her. And they want the sixteen-year-old they barely know to climb up onto a very small rock, ''again'', naked, in very close proximity with the ring leader wh just made a show of flashing his genitalia into his/her face. How was Mulan/Ping supposed to know they're just genuinely immature as opposed to genuinely creepy? ''Yikes''.
** Yao gets a special mention before becoming Mulan's friend: He has some pretty ''nasty'' expressions before inflicting pain on someone else, like that evil smile he got when another recruit was innocently, if naively, believing that a tattoo would protect him from harm-he wasn't mad, he just saw an opportunity t hurt someone and he did very clearly enjoy it. Ling, too, has no sympathy for the other man's misfortune.
*** So what is Yao like when he ''is'' angry? Well, if he even ''thinks'' you insulted him, like mistaking Mushu's limp noodle remark? He gets consumed with rage and quite literally tries to beat the living daylights out of her.
*** And even his friends aren't safe-Mulan ducks and Yao is s blinded by fury that fr a full few seconds he is pummeling Ling instead.
*** His tranquil fury is far less scary but just as potent-when Ling sarcastically calls him "some king of the rock" ''after they have clambered out of the water thinking that poisonous snake is in it'' Yao shoves Ling back in-it's your call whether Yao forgot that they were avoiding the water like the plague because of the "poisonous snake" that in his haste to get back at Ling or he was just ''that'' mad, but neither one does any favors for his character.
** Also, when Shang has Mulan standing on the edge of a cliff, as a training idea of his, Yao, Ling, and Chien Po are chosen to throw rocks at her. Chien Po seems disturbed, but the looks that Yao and Ling have at the idea of potentially killing her "accidentally" are downright sadistic.
** And there's one moment even ''after'' they become her friend: They have an unusual idea of snowball fights: For one, the snowballs are the size of basketballs, for two, in their game, "Ping" doesn't know that the four of them are having a snowball fight, three, they all quite literally sneak up on "him" and, before the song cuts off, are just in the middle of smashing three basketball-sized tightly-packed chunks of snow over the blissfully unaware Mulan's head...at the same time. Luckily, they abort the operation when they see the village, but still, it was a close call. Again, this is after they've become Mulan's allies-this is their idea of a ''[[DeadlyPrank joke]]''?.

** And there's one moment even ''after'' they become her friend: They have an unusual idea of snowball fights: For one, the snowballs are the size of basketballs, for two, in their game, "Ping" doesn't know that the four of them are having a snowball fight, three, they all quite literally sneak up on "him" and, before the song cuts off, are just in the middle of smashing three basketball-sized tightly-packed chunks of snow over the blissfully unaware Mulan's head...at the same time. Again, this is after they've become Mulan's allies-this is their idea of a ''[[DeadlyPrank joke]]''?.

*** His tranquil fury is far less scary but just as potent-when Ling sarcastically calls him "some King f the Rock"
''After they have clambered out of the water thinking that poisonous snake is in it'' Yao shoves Ling back in-it's your call whether Yao forgot that they were avoiding the water like the plague because of the "poisonous snake" that in his haste to get back at Ling or he was just ''that'' mad, but neither one does any favors for his character.

** And there's one moment even ''after'' they become her friend: They have an unusual idea of snowball fights: For one, the snowballs are the size of basketballs, for two, in their game, "Ping" doesn't know that the four of them are having a snowball fight, three, they all quite literally sneak up n "him" and, before the song cuts off, are just in the middle of smashing three basketball-sized tightly-packed chunks of snow over Mulan's head...at the same time. Again, this is after they've become Mulan's allies-this is their idea of a ''[[DeadlyPrank joke]]''?.