Everyone here knows me to be the Shan Yu fan (Probably the biggest on this spot) with the unpopular opinion that Shan Yu is the best disney Princess villain and the segundo best disney villain. I am always asked why, so I decided to make this articulo giving a lot of the reasons why I have this opinion. I know a lot of tu will probably not read this all the way through, but if tu do, I was not holding a dictionary as I was escritura this, I just got very serious on this topic.

So I hope tu like it

When the term disney villain comes to mind, people usually think of Scar, Ursula, Maleficent, Hades, o all those other “iconic” disney villains usually come to mind. As a big Shan Yu fan, I find it quite sad how severely underestimated, under appreciated, and immensely forgotten Shan Yu is as a villain. I for one thing have never seen someone más versatile, competent (he actually get’s the job done!) and all round villain like Shan Yu. He has the strength, the bravery, the brains, the ruthlessness, and so many amazing villain qualities in him that make him so versatile. Yet despite how successfully portrayed as a villain he is, he ranks as number eighteen on the official villain countdown. tu think that’s it? Well in all my time browsing articulo after articulo and seeing all the comentarios on youtube and so many other disney websites, I have come to the conclusion that Shan Yu is unwarrantedly underrated and deserves recognition as one of Disney’s best villains. Being the Shan Yu fangirl I am, seeing nobody defending Shan Yu as a villain and nobody praising him the way he should be praised, I figured I needed to give my reasons to why he is my favorito! villain and the best after Frollo of course.

Looking at his character, it’s pretty obvious Shan Yu was based off of Attila the Hun; plunders, pillages, loots, and unjustifiable destruction are what they pretty much both are known for. For those of tu who don’t know who he is, he is the leader of the Huns during the fifth century who struck fear into the Roman Empire and caused massive destruction just like Yu. One thing I amor about Shan Yu’s character is that he is so malicious and terrifying but not in an artificial way (*cough* *Maleficent*). Shan Yu commits the most brutal acts in the smuggest way, it just shows how much confidence he has and even how fearless he is. “The little girl will be missing her doll, we should return it to her!” With the little dialogue he is given, he shows what kind of a person he is and I amor that about him.

Shan Yu is a lot like Frieza from Dragon Ball Z in the sense where he commits horrible atrocities and acts so insensitive towards these actions. He uses a dark type of humor to joke about it too. “How many men does it take to deliver a message? ONE” To be honest, I never even understood what even happened during this dark scene until just recently. His sardonic way of talking makes him really boss, like one of those mafia bosses. Heck, screw mafia bosses, he’s ATTILA THE HUN, the man who struck fear into the roman empire, the greatest BOSS. His dialogue and demeanor alone is a unique dimension to his character, his talk is as dark as his actions. In the mafia they have a unique jargon to how Shan Yu talks. In some mafia cine I have watched, when the villains refer to killing, they don’t bluntly say “I am gonna kill you.” They have a unique repertoire of dark sardonic phrases that means the same thing. Some could say the dialogue is pretty trivial, while for Shan Yu the very few dialogue he is dado it is a unique addition to his character.

actuación like a strutting peacock (earl of comadreja town) doesn't earn major points in my book. The exception is King Candy, whose quirky character was really just a facade. I label Shan Yu as the quintessential criminal boss. The Huns back then were the baddest criminals of the day, so having Shan Yu be a criminal boss and war symbol is rather befitting. Heck, bosses can learn a thing o two from Shan Yu on how to be evil.

Tough talk and projecting yourself as a terrifying devil alone does not do tu any good when tu can’t couple it with grotesque actions. Another thing I amor about Shan Yu is that his bite was más intimidating then his bark. Shan Yu never gave monologues to strike fear in his people. As soon as tu see him, tu know what he is going to do and tu become terrified. The Tung Shao Pass villagers would attest to that… if they were alive that is.

Shan Yu is vastly underrated for a realization I recently had: Shan Yu was censored to not scare the audience. I’ll elaborate. I brought up the Tung Shao Pass because that was probably the darkest and most mortifying scene in Disney. Doesn't seem like it, does it? Their were no skeletons rising from the dead, but if tu pay attention and take a moment of thought on this scene, tu will know what I mean. Now when we saw the Tong mostrar Pass there was literally NOTHING left. Everything was reduced to debris and rubble. Some may think the Tung Shao Pass wasn't even populated, pretty much like the town in Robin hood, a small town. A few things to remember: one, China is the most populated country on earth. It’s fair to assume China at that time it had a relatively large population. Also, the village was on the road to the imperial city, so it’s legit to assume it was very populated. The imperial vanguard led por Shang’s dad also reinforced the city. Keep this in mind: The Chinese were highly aware that the Huns were rampaging imperviously across China. Shang's dad knew what he was up against and amassed the strongest cavalry and army he can imagine. Remember, the Huns were feared across China so no one was willing to take chances with them and go easy. Now we have a dense village reinforced with a mighty cavalry of some of the most skilled warriors China has to offer. por the time Shang and his newly trained recruits arrived all we see of the scene is a ravaged and utterly destroyed remain of the carnage done to the city and army in other words Shan Yu wiped an army and a village off the map. However because of Disney’s censorship we don’t get to properly behold the carnage and corpses.

All we see is the scattered remains lying there after the destruction of the city. We didn’t even get to see Shan Yu’s men confront the village, let alone the army! Why? Well, if tu paid attention closely you’d realize there was a glimpse of the carnage. Just pay attention to how it looked! I actually never even realized those were corpses until just last year! No lie! When Chien Po brought the casco of the general to Shang we see Ling, Yao and mulan stand in shock and bewilderment at the edge of the cliff. If tu look hard enough you’d see a glimpse, albeit censored, of the dead bodies of the army that was massacred por Shan Yu. But what about the civilians and kids? disney illogically censored that. Yeah, I dicho illogically. Because where did the children and civilians go? Did they magically disappear? I agree that the censorship was necessary but it was inevitably illogical. Since we didn’t see the atrocities perpetrated por Shan Yu, let’s use our imagination.

Imagine a bustling peaceful village teeming with kids and men and women farming, playing etc. The army is there protecting the city. All of a sudden a horde of Hun cavalry strikes the village, penetrating the army. Before they reach the village they massacre the army guarding the pass of the village. The villagers are swept in a frenzy of fear and panic. “The Huns have arrived”. The villagers take shelter in their homes. Despite the imperial army being well trained the Huns make short work of them and proceed to pillage the village from the ground. The Huns go from house to house burning it to the ground, slaughtering any moving target regardless of age. They stab and impale babies, decapitate men, loot and steal whatever the villagers have, and I don’t even want to mention what they did to the women. That sounds gruesome, but if tu know anything about warfare you’ll know when an army goes through a city it’s anything but pretty. Just imagine an army of bloodthirsty savages wrecking mayhem and havoc on a city so ruthlessly that we go from this to this. tu can probably picture the this in your head por yourself, no need for pictures. The Huns did the same to every village and city they came across. In history the Huns struck terror into the Roman empire for their notorious reputation for wiping entire cities off the map. Shan Yu is easily the most genocidal maniac disney has produced and none of us can possibly fathom the full extent of the atrocities he’s perpetrated. Pretty much every evil thing he’s done has been censored; him presumably slaughtering the Great Wall’s guard wasn’t shown; his “returning the doll to the little girl” wasn’t shown, but rather the village’s destruction was left as a reminder; the “sending a message to the emperor” wasn’t shown (why do tu think I never understood that part as a kid!!). Shan Yu was rarely shown because if we showed Shan Yu más frequently we would see nothing but gruesome carnage and remnants of genocide. No disney villain to my knowledge has reached this level of genocide, except maybe Frollo.

But if I were to say what Shan Yu’s most defining trademark is, it would be his efficacy and versatility. Efficacy is a big word I know, but I just gotta use it for no other word does justice to Shan Yu. All it means is that he’s effective in accomplishing a task and is perfect at getting the job done. Shan Yu is also versatile, meaning he’s extremely adaptable and all round very proficient in a variety of fields. He’s very cunning no doubt about that. His perception and senses are very acute and sharp, por simply analyzing a doll from a village he deduced that the imperial army was guarding the Tung Shao Pass.

He’s very durable; he survived an avalanche despite being buried under it for HOURS. Think about it, after hours he still did not give up. Him and his confidence popped right out of the snow just like daisies!

He’s a lethal warrior; he’s slaughtered thousands of people and defeated Shang in a close combat fight when he got serious. He’s valiant; he knew that the imperial army was waiting for him and rather than avoiding them he engaged them in battle. There’s a fine line between stupidity and bravery, Shan Yu was anything but stupid and his daring exploits weren’t stupid in the slightest.

Shan Yu is also the most persistent and adaptable villain, when his army was wiped out, him and 5 of his men headed straight towards the imperial city. Him and 5 men headed to the IMPERIAL CITY, which was teeming with millions of Chinese everywhere. Shan Yu coupled his persistence with wit as he somehow managed to infiltrate the imperial city, have his men enmascarados as a dragon and capture the emperor. Most villains in Shan Yu’s place would have dado up at this bleak moment. Shan Yu made the most of his situation and didn’t let this stick in the road hinder him. Shan Yu represented Bruce Lee’s quote and brought it to life “to hell with circumstances, I create opportunities”. When the guards of the Great muro lit the signal and alarmed everyone of the Hun presence did Shan Yu get worried? Nope, to him this was another challenge, sort of like a game to play. And he sure did play it. But never ever did he let his confidence blind him o catch him off guard. On the contrary he was level headed and properly evaluated his opponents, even when his opponent was a woman (for that time, women were considered as weaklings and were thought to not be able to fight). For example after bludgeoning Shang right before he was about to deliver the coup de grace he stopped in his tracks when he perceived the threat mulan posed to him. And this was hundreds of years hace when men were far más chauvinistic than now. Imagine, a bulky lethal warrior dropping everything in his tracks to pursue a woman! It goes to mostrar that as confident as Shan Yu was he wasn’t a blazoning idiot and didn’t get overly cocky, which led to the demise of nearly all villains.

Shan Yu was confident insofar as he knew that his confidence was warranted; for example him confidently engaging the imperial army in battle wasn’t foolish for him because he actually DID obliterate them with no difficulty. Shan Yu wasn’t superfluous; he was very efficient and didn’t fool around. All his setbacks were due to extenuating circumstances. Without mulan firing that cañón Shan Yu’s army would’ve wiped out China. mulan helping Shang and the gang (rhyme not intended) scale the palace prevented Shan Yu from killing the emperor; mulan firing the firework at Shan Yu was his demise. tu may say“every villain gets defeated por the protagonist”. In Shan Yu’s case he was literally unstoppable, and only thanks to Mulan’s ingenious wit did Shan Yu meet his match. No human would have ever come up with Mulan’s idea to fuego the cañón at the mountain to create an avalanche. Mulan’s other ideas were ingenious. Heck, mulan is one of Disney’s smartest characters imo. In the beginning of the movie she helped that guy win the checker match. That was a foreshadowing hint to her intellect. Shan Yu had the misfortune of being trolled por some of the most brilliantly ingenious strategies ever created por none other than mulan herself. Shan Yu still came reasonably close despite his circumstances and obstacles and fought tenaciously until the end.

Overall, Shan Yu may not have the most complex personality like Frollo, but he comes with a very interesting character, a symbol of war made up por his notorious actions. Most people don’t truly see the way his few actions creates such an interesting villain, one that in my opinion should be considered one of Disney’s greatest.