Mushu (Earth-101001)

Mushu is a recurring character in the Kingdom Hearts anime series. He is the guardian of Fa Mulan and resides in the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534). He first appeared in the Disney film Mulan.

Kingdom Hearts
Mushu adores his partner Marcus and considers himself to be "Marcus's best friend" (follower in the original).

Being the main Disney character in the series, Mushu is always the first amongst the partner dragon to reach a new level.

When Sora, Donald, and Goofy visit the 6th century, Goofy notices a young man cowering before a massive, dragon-shaped shadow. Donald believes the creature is a Heartless, and Sora decides to attack it, even though Goofy cautions him to reconsider this decision. Just as the trio is about to attack, the shadow reveals itself to be none other than Mushu. The "little, lethal, and legendary" dragon is delighted to see his old friends again, and the young man proudly introduces himself as "Ping, son of Fa Zhou." Ping states that Mushu is one of his family's guardians; Mushu declares that borrowing someone as important as a family guardian puts Sora, Donald, and Goofy in Ping's debt. Ping and Mushu ask Sora and company to join them as they attempt to enlist Ping in the Imperial Army, and it is soon after this that Goofy deduces Ping is a girl in disguise. Mushu is amused by Sora and Donald's shock when Ping confirms this to be true, telling her that "those two would fall for anything."

For the next couple of days, Mulan progresses along with the others in skills, but the Emperor's adviser Chi-Fu feels the troops are still unqualified for the war. To keep his plan intact, Mushu creates a phony message alerting Captain Li Shang and the troops to head to the front immediately.

Following a run-in with the Huns after he accidentally fired a cannon causing Li Shang and his troop's position to be given away to Shan Yu and the Huns, and Mulan being injured by Shan Yu, Mulan's secret is discovered, and she is left on a mountain summit as punishment. He abandons Mulan, Mushu, Sora, Donald, and Goofy in the mountains, and Mushu then takes the time to reveal the real reason he decided to help Mulan on her mission, but apologizes and promises to stay by her side no matter what. Just then, Mulan spots Shan Yu, the leader of the Huns, making way for the Imperial City. Sora, Donald, Goofy, Mulan, Mushu, Cri-Kee, and Khan make way to the city to warn Shang. At the Emperor's palace, Mulan battles Shan Yu and comes up with a plan. She leads him onto the roof, where Mushu fires a rocket at the villain. Shan Yu is then blasted to the New Year's fireworks tower and is killed in the explosion. Mushu accidentally reveals that he is truly no longer a guardian. This angers Sora, who starts to chase Mushu as Sora, Donald, and Goofy prepare to travel back to the present. Mulan is deemed China's bravest warrior, and Mushu regains his job.

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.

Origin
Mushu originates from the Disney 1998 film Mulan. Prior to the start of the film, Mushu was 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 (the Fa family's pet cricket and "good luck charm") suggests that Mushu bring Mulan back home himself to avoid punishment, Mushu decides to make Mulan a war hero to regain his position as a guardian.

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.