Summary
Chi Fu comes running towards Mulan and scolds her for endangering the Empire. "That creature's not worth protecting!" he yells, but Shang defends Mulan. Suddenly, they are both interrupted by the Emperor, who approaches and valorizes Mulan for her heroism. Everyone bows to Mulan, thanking her for all she has done.
The Emperor tells Chi Fu to make Mulan a member of his council. Mulan is flattered, but asks if she can return home. The Emperor gives her a pendant, so that her family will know what she has done for the Empire, and then a sword, "so that the world will know what you have done for China." Mulan embraces the emperor, excitedly, before going and hugging her soldier friends, who are still dressed as concubines.
When she goes to Shang, he simply says, "You fight good," and she mounts her horse, riding away. As she rides away, the Emperor approaches Shang and hints that Mulan is special and that Shang ought to pursue her.
Mulan returns home and faces her father, who can hardly believe she is still alive. She hands him the sword of Shan Yu and the pendant, the crest of the emperor. Mulan's father embraces her and says, "The greatest gift and honor is having you for a daughter." As Grandma and Mulan's mother watch, Shang approaches and asks to speak to Mulan. Seeing Mulan, he becomes tongue-tied, and can only tell her that she forgot her sword.
Grandma asks Shang to stay for dinner, as the ancestors watch from the temple nearby. As the ancestors assemble, the leader tells Mushu he can become a guardian again, and Mushu rejoices. Cri-Kee begins to play a song as the ancestors celebrate Mulan's success.
Analysis
In the end, Mulan's bravery is rewarded, and she emerges a hero in China. After all of the hardship she has endured, she becomes recognized as someone who has helped to elevate and protect the country from harm. Even though she broke a taboo, fighting in the military as a woman, her success as a soldier has made her an exception, and changed people's understanding of a woman's capabilities. The awkward and clumsy young woman from the beginning of the film finally comes into her own at the end of the film.
Even though the Emperor offers Mulan a position on his council, Mulan would prefer to return home to her family, having been away for a long time and having finally brought honor to her family name. At the very moment when she might become an elevated diplomat, she instead chooses to return to her family, whom she has tried to save by posing as a soldier.
The only part of Mulan's story that remains unsettled when she leaves China is the romantic tension between her and Shang. While Shang spent much of the film believing she was a boy, he seems to have grown attracted to her since learning her real gender, and as she walks away from the palace to return home, the only words he can think to say are, "You fight good." Even the Emperor, who has barely encountered Shang or Mulan, can sense that there is a connection between the two of them, and encourages Shang to pursue her.
While Mulan has brought honor to her family by fighting in the Imperial Army and emerging a hero, when she returns home, she finds that this distinction is not as important to her family as her safe return home. When she presents her father with her crest and sword, he puts them aside, embraces her, and tells her that having her for a daughter is the greatest gift and honor of all. In this, we see that the unconditional love of family triumphs over even prestige and Mulan's status as a national hero.
The film ends on a happy note. Not only does Mulan bring honor to her family, but she is embraced with open arms and unconditional love. Furthermore, Shang follows her home in the hopes of pursuing her romantically. Thus, by the end of the film, the awkward and ineligible bachelorette, Mulan, is not only a war hero, but romantically desirable. Here we see that she has successfully merged the two sides of herself, the feminine and the masculine, to become both a strong and an attractive woman.
