Her story goes mostly how the Disney version went, except she didn’t go to war as a quest for self-discovery or because she felt as though she couldn’t make her parents proud. The sole and only reason she disguised herself as a young man was to take her Father’s place in the war.
So when she told her parents that she wanted to this, they were like wtf no you’re a girl and it’s chaotic out there. And you know what she did? She put on male clothes and challenged her own Father to a duel. Her dad was like ‘who the hell are you’ but accepted. When Mulan won and revealed herself as his daughter, he was like wOAH okay you can go. Basically she made sure to get her parent’s consent before going, so not only are her parents awesome, she was decent enough to not leave them hanging for 12 years.
Yes, she was at war for 12 years, but she not in fact meet a handsome general. Instead she BECAME a general. Eventually the war was won, and the Emperor was so impressed by her he wanted to wed the Princess to her. It was only then that she revealed she was in fact a woman. Then she accepted the rewards and went right back home to her normal life.
There is now even a crater on Venus named after her.
