1998’s Mulan and 2021’s Raya and the Last Dragon are, to date, the only two feature-length forays into East Asian culture by Walt Disney Animation Studios but the two movies have even more in common than their basis in East Asian folklore. In fact, their stories may even share the same universe, according to one theory centering on the similarities between certain characters in each film. A key folkloric element of both Mulan and Raya and the Last Dragon is the prominent role played by dragons in their respective plots.

These dragons aren’t the gigantic, dinosaur-like winged beasts of Western legend. They’re small but beautiful, lizardesque creatures of the kind we’re used to seeing in the famous dragon dances at Chinese New Year parades. Mulan even makes fun of how much smaller its adorable little red dragon, Mushu, is than audiences may have been expecting. The comedy moments delivered by the character, voiced by Eddie Murphy, are a major reason why Mulan is one of Disney’s best “weird period” movies. More significantly, though, Mushu has something fundamental in common with the тιтular creature in Raya and the Last Dragon.

Dragons Were Turned To Stone In Both Mulan & Raya & The Last Dragon

We See Dragons Brought Back To Life In Both Movies As Well

Mulan and Raya and the Last Dragon stand apart from most of Disney’s animated canon in various ways. They’re strong, independent heroines who eschew the tropes ascribed to traditional Disney princesses, while Raya is just one of two Disney female leads who don’t sing. It’s a mythical trope shared by their dragon characters which unites the two movies, however.

In Mulan, the great stone dragon guardian representative of the ancestral imperial power of Mulan’s family, is meant to guide her on her military mission. This plot point is inspired by the phenomenon of Chinese guardian lions, ornamental sculptures believed to have protective powers traditionally placed in prominent positions around Chinese imperial buildings (via University of Pennsylvania). Yet because Mushu fails to turn the dragon guardian from a stone statue into a living being again, he is sent to guide and protect Mulan instead.

Just as the dragon guardian of Mulan’s family was made into stone, the pre-credits prologue of Raya and the Last Dragon explains that all the dragons in the movie’s fictional world, Kumandra, have been turned to stone by an evil spirit known as the Druun. Hundreds of years before the events of the story, dragons are said to have lived in harmony with humans, bringing them “water and rain and peace.”

This premise is based on the role of dragons in Vietnamese mythology, in which one of the creatures rose from the sea and generated a storm that created the country’s mountain ranges (via Seasia). Sisu, the main dragon in Raya and the Last Dragon, has an appearance reminiscent of the Azure Dragon of Chinese folklore, and was also inspired by water spirits known as the Nāgas in Indian religions and Southeast Asia legends (via Disney Animation).

Mushu & Sisu Could Be Family

They Could Represent The Azure Dragon & Red Dragon Of East Asian Folklore

Although Disney has regularly featured powerful dragons in its animated movies, the striking similarities between Mushu and Sisu make them outliers in the studio’s canon. They’re the only two East Asian dragons in Disney’s entire animated output. What’s more, they may actually be related to one another. Like Sisu, Mushu seems to be based on one of China’s legendary colored dragons. Whereas Sisu is a manifestation of the Azure Dragon ᴀssociated with water and peace, Mushu is a red dragon, a creature meant to bring good luck and synonymous with Chinese New Year celebrations (via China Highlights).

One scene in Raya and the Last Dragon in particular supports the theory that Sisu and Mulan’s Mushu could be members of the same family. In this scene, Sisu introduces Raya to her brothers and sisters, Pengu, Jagan, Pranee, and Amba, all of whom have been turned to stone. She mentions other dragons, too, who had already become stone statues before her and her siblings. It’s highly plausible that Mushu is one of these other dragons she speaks of, since he first appears in Mulan as a copper ornament attached to an incense burner.

Perhaps not all dragons were made into stone, like Sisu’s siblings in Raya and the Last Dragon, and the great stone guardian in Mulan. Maybe some were also turned into other solid materials, such as the red metal Mushu is composed of when we first see him in Mulan.

Kumandra Is Located Near The Setting Of Mulan

Although Fictional, Kumandra Is Based On The Indochinese Peninsula

It’s just the apparent connections between their respective dragons that suggest Mulan and Raya and the Last Dragon could be set in the same world, though. As well as the shared backstories of their mythical creatures, the geographical settings of the two movies imply that they’re both part of one single cinematic universe. Were Disney to make a Raya and the Last Dragon sequel, it wouldn’t be entirely surprising to see characters or places from Mulan crop up in the movie, given the proximity of Kumandra to the territories of ancient China.

Mulan is set mostly in northern and central China, in and around the ancient Imperial City, which is now located within modern-day Beijing. Raya and the Last Dragon’s setting Kumandra, meanwhile, is based on the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia. Although Kumandra is a fictional place, its landscape and climate are reminiscent of Indochina, while its Dragon River is directly inspired by Southeast Asia’s Mekong River (via Disney Animation). In this way, Mulan and Raya and the Last Dragon effectively take place in neighboring regions of East Asia. It’s no surprise that they share the same mythological roots as a result.

In addition to geographical proximity, the settings of the two movies may also belong to similar historical eras. Mulan is explicitly set during the Han dynasty of ancient China, around 2,000 years ago. Raya and the Last Dragon is more ambiguous about the era in which it’s set. Nevertheless, we can infer from the period details in the movie, such as clothing and architecture, that its events occurred thousands of years in the past, possibly making it contemporaneous with Mulan. This shared universe theory certainly requires some lateral thinking, but it has plenty of evidence to back it up.

Sources: University of Pennsylvania; Seasia; Disney Animation; China Highlights