After all, why does Shan Yu have black eyes?

Released in 1998, “Mulan” is the Disney film responsible for adapting the ancient Chinese tale “The Ballad of Hua Mulan”, which presents the story of a girl who, to spare her injured father, infiltrates the army as a man during a war, and becomes the nation’s hero.

In the animation, the Huns, a group led by the feared villain Shan Yu, invade China with the intention of overthrowing the current emperor. With this, the government began to call on one man from each house to enlist in the army, and help fight the onslaught.

For Mulan, the only man in her house was her father, who had been injured in previous conflicts and had impaired mobility. For this reason, afraid that the patriarch would lose his life due to his injury, she decides to steal his uniform, pretend to be a man, and secretly enlist in the army.

At the end of the animated film, the girl’s secret is revealed, however, thanks to her bravery, she manages to save the emperor before something worse happens.

However, something that draws attention during the plot is a physical characteristic of the villain: his black eyes with yellow irises. But, what is the reason behind the coloring?

Theories

Officially, there is no explanation as to why Shan Yu’s eyes are the way they are. Both in the film and in official Disney materials, it was never really explained why the character was that way. Therefore, fans resorted to theories that could justify the mysterious issue.

One of the most supported hypotheses states that the characteristic is related to a discarded scene from the film, where it reveals that Shan Yu would have the power to magically see things through Hayabussa, her falcon.

Meanwhile, other theories rely on more realistic causes, and state that the villain’s eyes may have adopted this color due to some illness. On the other hand, factors such as cultural marks end up being discarded, since the other Huns presented in the animation have normal eyes.