This, I must remind myself once again, is not a popularity contest. I am searching for the best Disney Big Bad Evil Guy. The meanie that would be the most suited for your Table Top Role Playing Game.
So, as I approach Shan Yu, I must remember to be impartial. I’m fairly certain he will score well, but I shall put my very fond feelings for this bad guy aside.
Presence – 4 out of 5
If your DM does voices, it adds a little extra to the role play of the RPG. If they can do a voice like this though, my goodness that’s a treat. Miguel Ferrer takes every line and chews it violently. And the angry roars? Perfection.
It’s not just the delivery though, it’s what is being said:
“How many men does it take to deliver a message?” – in other words, I’m not ordering you to kill these men, but I’ve nonchalantly decided one of those human beings is worthless.
“The soldier from the mountain.” – I don’t see a man or a woman, I see a foe I hate and also kind of respect.
But the one line I think about often: “Besides, the little girl will be missing her doll. We should return it to her.” – not only do I not have an qualms with massacring villagers and soldiers alike… I’m looking forward to the killing.
Add the physical stature, the movements and the sense of dread, and we have a really good looking and good feeling BBEG.
The loss of 1 point, and where I check my favouritism, is that we must remind ourselves that so much of Shan Yu is seen by a viewer, not a player. Unless the DM describes these scenes, a lot of what Shan Yu does is lost on them.
Atmosphere – 3 out of 5
So he’s not bringing dark clouds or causing the rivers to boil, but everywhere he goes there is chaos. That village he visits is an entirely different colour palette for the rest of the movie. On top of that, this is a story where the whole point is to stop his army, and all the young men leave their homes to face him. Disney villains often connive in the shadows, or come sideways at the protagonist, but Shan Yu is the direct reason Mulan/our player-characters are gearing up.
Omniscience – 3 out of 5
He’s got the Chinese army beat at every turn. He’s a keen tactician with a high bonus to his Survival skill checks. When the avalanche brings his army down, he shows his hand as a covert operative. It’s Mushu that gets the Batman reference, but Shan Yu pulls a Batman on the roof of the royal palace whilst being the size of Bane.
You could dock him a point for not seeing the rocket-to-avalanche maneuver coming, but honestly, no one would see that coming. There was a cliff behind those soldiers; he can’t be penalised for thinking Mulan would have more care for her friends.
He does not carry a crystal ball or all-seeing eye, he’s also tricked by a woman wearing her hair differently, so it can’t be a perfect score.
Henchmen – 4 out of 5
So there’s two layers to this. First, an entire army. Cartoon movie or historic reference, this is a good army, with mounts and ranged weapons. They put the entire Chinese army through trial after trial.
Above that, we have his closest supporters, the most henchiest of henchmen. Like Shan Yu, many of these guys are built differently. In Dungeons & Dragons these would be comparable to ogres, not humans. The regular sized members are still brutes or weapons specialists. And the bird is adding to his scouting abilities as well as generally adding to Shan Yu’s already terrifying contenance.
And all of them are capable of surviving a full scale avalanche. Unscathed. Wearing loin-cloths…
Got to deduct a point for their lack of awareness though. All these guys failed there Insight checks in the final act. There’s clearly a dip in their efficiency when Shan Yu is not around.
Threat Level – 4 out of 5
Early on, Shan Yu slices the top layer off a tree with a lazy swing of his sword. In a rage, he is able to slice-smash multiple pillars, thicker than a human torso, and punches through doors and tiled rooves. Though Captain Li Shang succeeds in surprising Shan Yu and pins him to the ground, Shan Yu responds by knocking Li Shang out cold with the demeanour of a man folding laundry.
Mulan realises the danger here too. She knows she’s not going take him on with martial arts. She picks up his weapon and decides against using it on him. Beating Shan Yu requires blasting him with a rocket.
I can’t call that thing a firework. It’s ten times larger than the actual rockets the army was using to blast the Hun army! And Mushu launches that rocket into an entire room of rockets just be beat this one man. Which I don’t blame them for, the entire mountainside of snow that collided with him didn’t even cause him to take an hour to rest…
Finale – 4 out of 5
A statement I’ve often repeated, is that the finale is often happening in a Disney movie with or without the villain. Judge Frollo is sneaking about whilst Paris burns. DOR-15 is completely absent. Frozone’s taking a nap. But not Shan Yu, he’s making us a finale when the rest of China thinks the story’s over.
As mentioned above, it’s a great ending. A palace is falling to pieces around the protagonists. There’s hostages and risk for the crowd looking on. There’s multiple Saving Throws required to even stay in the fight. Even if the heroes turn around and take Shan Yu on directly, they’d be in for a rough time of it.
So why 4 out of 5 for threat and finale? At the end of the day, he is just a very large, very capable warrior. There’s no magic or otherworldly patron providing a boost. If any player character in this story can cast spells or such, the playing field is levelled. And if the heroes do opt to stay and fight toe-to-toe, there’s a risk of omitting the most explosive aspect of the finale.
Final Score = 3.66
Shan Yu is a monster. He really is. He crawls out of a mountain of snow to tear a chunk off a palace. So he deserves monstrous monster stats.
Without trying, I’ve go Shan Yu, Ratican and Rourke sharing 4th place. Three men… and man-ish rat… that are physically formidable, dripping with malice and surrounded by impressive goons. Alone, these three would be daunting boss battles, and if they fought each other, I believe it would be a very close fight.
The important thing separating the top 3 is their power level. In a game full of magical misery like D&D, our BBEG needs to be larger than life in more ways than one. Which means that our Boss next week has his work cut out for him.
| Disney Villain | Score |
| Ursula | 4.16 👑 |
| Hades | 4.00 |
| Jafar | 3.83 |
| Shan Yu | 3.66 |
| Professor Ratican | 3.66 |
| Lyle Tiberius Rourke | 3.66 |
| Billy Pine, a.k.a Syndrome | 3.33 |
| Elsa of Arendelle | 3.16 |
| Hopper | 3.16 |
| Robert Callaghan | 3.00 |
Thank You For Reading
The other Disney BBEG contenders are right here.
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Gamer Peak 