The Ballad of Mulan 9
Chapter: The Ballad of Mulan
Mulan has siblings. I added her older sister into the first scene of my comic so she would have someone to talk to, but that sister only exists in this scene as far as the poem is concerned. The younger brother was “too young to fight” when she left home. Probably a child. Still, her having such a big, supportive family seems important to me. If her family were awful, or if it were tiny, her sacrifice would make no sense. These are the people Mulan took a bullet for (well, an arrow).
No, that can’t be right. 50-odd years of Disney have taught me that all female protagonists have at least one dead parent and that any siblings are steps, and abusive, to boot. You (and by “you,” I mean the 800-year-old poet you’re translating from) are breaking the narrative! There will be consequences! Consequences, I say!!!