Or Slytherin, but I really see her as a Gryffindor.

She's not villainous but she personifies "ambition, cunning and resourcefulness" in my opinion. Also she does cheat for her test with the matchmaker and she is clumsy (at least in the beginning of the film) so I think she'd be a rare good person in the Slytherin house. She also has a very adaptable personality that makes her get along with most but not really get to close to any which is another reason I would pick Slytherin for her.

Her strongest traits consist of her bravery and her self-sacrificial nature. This makes her a Gryffindor. I don't quite see Slytherin in her, because while Mulan is resourceful, she definitely "lacks" the ambition half of things. She actually turns down becoming a council member for the Emperor. Mulan just wants to honor her family and make them proud. So it's Gryffindor mostly.

wavesurf: I agree with your points for Gryffindor but I disagree that Mulan lacks ambition as shown by her climbing that pole and overcoming the obstacle of adapting to the military? The fact that she turned down being a council member is why I think she would not fit in Gryffindor, personally, as I see the Gryffindor house as having people who are more willing to take on bigger responsibilities etc. I think it's more characteristic of a Slytherin to only want to honor their loved ones instead of the entire country?

^ Okay. I understand some of where you're coming from.... But I guess I see Mulan as "wanting to prove her own self-worth" during the instance of getting the arrow. I don't see it as ambition. Unlike you, I feel ambition is something you do that is "outside of the realm of just local and family concerns." During the movie, Mulan is mainly trying to 1) save her father, and 2) prove her own self-worth. If she had agreed to being a council member, I'd have said "the ambition thing" definitely worked its way in...but she flatly turned that down. Mulan helped her country while looking for her own self-worth. She is still very insecure, even at the end of the film, which does not seem to be a trait most ambitious people have.
Tiana, for instance, is an ambitious character. I would never call Tiana insecure.

To wavesurf and laylastepford: I think another thing we should think about is her actions on the mountain. She separated herself from her group and ran strait towards the front lines without any care to her own safety. She didn't do it for others to think she was a better soldier but because she knew she had to do something to prevent stop the Huns. And in running away from her fellow soldiers she increased her risk of injury/death astronomically. She very well could have died there. And then even after being injured she devotes all her efforts to chasing after Shang to save him. None of the other soldiers did that and they weren't even injured.

All of her actions there, and later on when she saves the emperor aren't done because she wants glory for herself. After saving him, the emperor could have very well banished her for her previous crimes of impersonating a soldier. Especially when such a thing carries a death penalty in that world. Overall she personally had more to loose by acting the way she did, but China as a whole had more to loose if she didn't. She did them because they were simply the right thing to do.

wavesurf: I just took the literal dictionary definition of ambition as "a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work". She had a very strong desire to achieve honor for her family and it did require a lot of determination and hard work. That's why I think she's ambitious. I think you are going off of a connotation of ambitious instead of denotation. She didn't set out to protect the country, she only set out to protect her father so she was limiting herself to "the realm of just local and family concerns", it just happened to have a national outcome (time & place). I see why you would connect ambition and security but I don't think they necessarily always go hand-in-hand as a rule.

Aang_Lite: Thank you for bringing up the mountain scene. I personally thought it exhibited her cunning (quick thinking and improve) and resourcefulness (using Mushu as a lighter/match) as well as bravery and daring characteristics. I have never doubted that she is brave. I just think she is more resourceful than she is heroic.

^ Hmm fair enough. I just find that quick acting self-sacrificing nature to be a very Gryffindor thing. Especially since it has purely selfless origins. I mean you're doing something that will help another person and likely hurt you in return. Such an action is the pure definition of a hero in my opinion. But that's subjective and I can see how you feel different.

I'd say.

Aang_Lite: I don't think Mulan isn't heroic, I just thought she was more ambitious and resourceful than heroic. I agree with you that she was heroic in her actions though.

will go for

Gryffindor totally makes a perfect match for Mulan.

It's a difficult choice because she fits Slytherin very well too.