Brave Warrior

Brave Warrior is the femslash ship between Mulan and Merida from the Once Upon A Time fandom.

Canon
THE BEAR KING

Fanon
The two were shipped instantly by many after the reveal that they knew each other. The fact that they were both Disney Princess' who were both best known for fighting helped, as well as the two meeting in a fight that Merida loses, followed by her smiling when it's revealed that she was defeated by Mulan.

The episode where the ship was created also created another ship for Mulan. Mulan Rouge, the ship between Mulan and Red Riding Hood. Although the two ships are technically against each other, there were no ship wars between the shippers. This was due to the small size of both ships. It was also due to fans wanting Mulan to have a girlfriend since the reveal that she was either gay or bisexual. Fans would have likely been happy either way.

The ship is the third most written ship for the Once version of Mulan, and the second most written ship for the Once version of Merida. Given the amount of works on AO3, many would consider it a rare pair.

Fandom
AO3

Tumblr

Trivia

 * Merida was the first Disney Princess without a love interest
 * Mulan was the first canonically LGBT character in Once Upon A Time
 * Although Ruby was introduced in the Pilot, her bisexuality wasn't established till season 5