10 Greatest Disney Death Scenes

4. Mulan (1998): Shan Yu's Death Scene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bL5x0cPoTc This scene isn't the most human or even very sad (in fact quite the opposite) but the reason it features so highly on this list is because it is so epic. Mulan, being a woman, tragically struggled to gain respect throughout this entire film despite being singlehandedly responsible for ending the war and killing off most of the Hun army as mentioned earlier in this list. In this final scene from this incredible movie she finally gets the respect she deserved from the very beginning. Like I mentioned previously, this scene isn't even remotely sad. The leader of the Hun army Shan Yu is perhaps one of Disney's least likable villains with no real human qualities to him. He isn't the most complex Disney villain but I would argue that he probably is the most intimidating. At the very least, he is probably the one Disney villain I would be most scared to come up against in a fight. Arguably, the way Mulan ends Shan Yu's life is pretty stereotypically Chinese, but regardless of this fact it is still a wonderfully beautiful and epic moment. Mulan signals her spirit guardian Mushu to fire a rocket full of fireworks into him after she traps him on a rooftop. Shan Yu is then fired through the air into a tower with lots of fireworks inside, and explodes in a gloriously colorful and very celebratory Disney death scene. I personally can't think of a Disney death scene which is supposed to be as victorious and joyful as this scene, and in most of the other examples, even when the villain is killed, we at least feel a little bit of sympathy for the character. This scene confirms the fact that Mulan is the most bad-ass Disney hero (probably animated hero) there has ever been.