< The Lion King

The Lion King/Characters


Characters

Simba

Voiced by: Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Matthew Broderick

Scar: What are you going to do? You wouldn't kill your own uncle?
Simba: No, Scar. I'm not like you.

Simba: You think that because you killed my father, you're better than him? You're pathetic. You're weak. And above all, Scar, you're nothing but a coward!

Mufasa

Voiced by: James Earl Jones

Scar

Voiced by: Jeremy Irons

  • Ambiguously Brown: As far as lions go anyway. Also counts as Unfortunate Implications. Said Unfortunate Implications are reversed when you realize he's voiced by a white British actor while Mufasa's voiced by an African-American.
    • And they're lessened quite a bit when you realize he's just Color-coded for our convenience: Given how a lot of other Disney villains wear dark clothing, and lions don't wear clothes...
  • Ambition Is Evil: Though granted, Simba himself had ambition in his mouth.
  • Badass: His scheme took major guts to pull off, and he almost won in the end.
  • Bad Boss: Lets the hyenas run rampant over the Pride Lands until even they run out of food, casually manipulates all of them into helping his selfish scheme, was willing to condemn them to death along with the lions, and ultimately tries to pass the blame onto them when he tries to weasel his way out of justice.
  • Berserk Button: Mentioning how much better of a king Mufasa was than him, probably because he secretly knows it's true. Just using the M-word in front of him by itself sends him into a rage.
  • Big Bad
  • Black Sheep: We can probably assume that most lions in his family take after his brother, not him.
  • Brains Evil, Brawn Good: In his conflicts with both Simba and Mufasa. He even lampshades it.

"Well, as far as brains go, I got the lion's share, but when it comes to brute strength, I'm afraid I'm at the shallow end of the gene pool."

  • Cain: The Cain to Mufasa's Abel.
  • The Caligula: He is an absolutely terrible ruler, and he threatens or intimidates anyone who tries to tell him otherwise. The mere mention of Mufasa is enough to send him into a rage.
  • Camp Straight: Some believe Scar reflects Gay Male stereotypes [see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS4c05WPyRY here], but most Lion King Media makes him clearly heterosexual.
    • Elaborating on that, Scar never had a queen, despite being surrounded by lionesses. Also it's easy to forget, but Simba and Nala had an arranged marriage, which implies that Scar didn't just fail to get a queen, but refused to get one.
    • Though we do find out he had a mate in the sequel, and not having an Arranged Marriage might be justified by the fact that he's not first in line.
    • Busted! In a deleted scene found on the Diamond Edition Blu-Ray, Scar discusses his need to find a queen and then coaxes Nala into becoming just that. Needless to say, she angrily refuses and runs off. The scene would be the set-up for the scene where she finds Simba, but it was cut because it featured really creepy undertones (obviously), according to the commentary.
    • The aformentioned deleted scene was included in The Musical though, and it was also Refitted for Remake with Sarabi instead of Nala.
  • The Chessmaster
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder
  • Classic Villain: Envy and Wrath.
  • The Combat Pragmatist
  • Composite Character: The feline equivalent of Claudius and Macbeth mixed together, though compared to either of these characters, he's a lot worse.
  • Consummate Liar
  • Cool Uncle: Young Simba views him this way and he takes advantage of this.
  • The Corrupter
  • Dark Is Evil
  • Deadpan Snarker
  • Despotism Justifies the Means: Quite happy to let the Pride Lands go to hell in a handbasket if that means he can be King. He's also pretty up-front that he wants the job for the power, and refuses to even acknowledge that he's supposed to have duties and responsibilities to go with them.
  • Devil in Plain Sight
  • Dirty Coward
  • Disney Villain Death: Subverted. And he probably wishes it wasn't...
  • Evil Tropes:
  • Face Palm: After all, he's Surrounded by Idiots.
  • Family-Unfriendly Death: His own hyena minions tore him apart and ate him.
  • Fascist but Inefficient: He's an effective schemer right up until he actually gains power, at which point his disregard for anyone but himself runs the entire kingdom into the ground.
  • Fatal Flaw: Envy and Pride.
  • Fisher King: Whem Mufasa's in charge, everything is fine and dandy in the Pridelands. But when he's in charge, the Pridelands starts becoming gloomy very quickly.
  • Genre Blind: He sends his bumbling minions to kill someone whom they've already failed to kill, and just look at the results of the aforementioned Evil Gloating.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: Evil.
  • Green Eyes: Which is a bit of a stealth pun.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: Several lines in "Be Prepared" imply how jealous he is of Mufasa's success as king and the "injustice" that he's no longer next in line for the throne after Simba's birth. Heavy emphasis on the "monster" part,
    • And he's a literal example as well, since he really does have Green Eyes. Also notice that, in Real Life, lions don't have green eyes, making the use even more metaphorical.
  • Hannibal Lecture: Gives a nasty one to Simba upon his return. It's so effective, if he hadn't done his Nice Job Fixing It, Villain, he'd have killed Simba right then and there.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: He is mauled to death by his own hyena minions...after he tries to sell them out to Simba.
  • It's All About Me: "I'm the king, I can do whatever I want" sums his rule up. It's also a Deconstruction of the trope, as this view on life results in the Pride Lands going to heck and him having a 0% Approval Rating.
  • Jacob Marley Warning: Just as Mufasa is an example of how Simba should be king, Scar is an example of how he should not be king.
  • Jerkass
  • Karmic Death: Survives a fall off of Pride Rock only to be eaten by his own hyena minions, who overheard him blame everything on them.
  • Kick the Dog: So many times, but the moment when he strikes Sarabi for standing up to him really stands out.
  • Killed Off for Real: Though he does return as a spirit.
  • Large Ham
  • Lean and Mean: Compared to Mufasa, at least.
  • Manipulative Bastard: One of the classic movie examples, and fitting for a villain in a Shakespearean-style film. There are very few characters in the story whom he does not deceive, and he sometimes manipulates others purely for his own amusement.
    • He manages to persuade Simba to go to the elephant graveyard without making it obvious to him that he wanted him to go there.
    • He later persuades Simba to stay at a gorge for a surprise as he prepares a massive wildebeest stampede...which literally is to die for.
    • When Simba survives the stampede but does not, Scar persuades Simba that he was responsible for the stampede, and that the lion cub should leave the Pridelands and go somewhere else to atone for his sin.
  • Mark of Shame
  • Meaningful Name: He was re-named "Scar" because of the permanent scar on his left eye. According to the books, his real name is Taka, which means "trash" in Swahili.
  • Narcissist
  • Eucatastrophe: He gets everything he wants in the movie, and would have gotten away with it if not for a moment of gloating self-indulgence.
  • New Era Speech: He gives one to the pride when he takes position as leader. Originally delivered via a song that reprises "Be Prepared".
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Sure, telling Simba you killed his father is such a great idea. It's not like being liberated of a lifetime of guilt over his father's death will fuel him with righteous anger and allow him to kick your tail and reveal your lies to everyone! Moreover, who in the right mind would put the blame of everything that happened on your only followers left? However, both gloating and not accepting blame for his actions are in character for him, though.
  • Obviously Evil: Just in case you hadn't noticed all the Evil Tropes above. And yet his brother still trusts him. Though in his brother's defense, he's about as good of an actor as the actor who portrays him.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: According to a storybook published following the film's release, his birth name was Taka (Swahili for "trash" or "want").
  • Posthumous Character: In Simba's Pride.
  • The Psychopath
  • Psychopathic Manchild: Best exemplified by his "I am the King, I can do whatever I want" excuse, because it is essentially the attitude of Simba as a cub, even though Simba never meant it in such a bastardly way.
  • Pyrrhic Victory: His original fate in the Alternate Ending. He wins the fight with Simba by throwing him off Pride Rock, but is then burned to death himself when the fires surrounding Pride Rock engulf it. By throwing Simba off Pride Rock, he actually saves Simba from suffering that fate and allowing him to have his happy ending anyway, making Scar's victory in the fight meaningless.
    • His plan turns out this way. He succeeds in becoming King, but the once-bountiful Pride Lands quickly go to hell in a handbasket under his disastrous and self-serving leadership. Even the hyenas think that Mufasa's reign was better for them.
  • Red Right Hand: His scar, and his claws that are always bared (unlike the others).
  • Relative Button: You just had to get that last Kick the Dog moment in, didn't you Scar?
  • Reverse Psychology: How he tricks Simba into visiting the elephant graveyard.
  • The Resenter
  • Sanity Slippage: More obvious in the musical, but still visible in the movie. The musical has a number called "The Madness of King Scar", where he begins to go completely insane.
  • Sanity Slippage Song: "The Madness Of King Scar" in the musical version. He grows more insane as the song goes on, eventually seeing the ghost of Mufasa everywhere and becoming desperate to have cubs to continue his line. He also becomes increasingly paranoid, believing that the lionesses hate him (which they probably do) and are plotting to murder him.
  • Screw the Rules, I Make Them: "I'm the king, I can do what I want!"
  • Smug Snake: After becoming king. Although Scar was a master of manipulating everyone around him to seize the power he craved, he proved to be utterly incompetent at actually using the power once he had it, though this was more due to laziness and selfishness than a lack of intelligence. He hadn't been raised to be a king so he had no experience. Like Simba as a cub, he thought that it was just all about the power and the glory rather than actual hard work. He'd originally persuaded the hyenas to support him by promising that they'd never go hungry again, but the drought in the Pride Lands leads to a famine and causes the hyenas to begin grumbling about Scar even before Simba comes back.
  • Sssssnaketalk
  • Suddenly Shouting: When addressing the hyenas in "Be Prepared".

The future is littered with prizes
And though I'm the main addressee,
Point that I must emphasize is,
YOU WON'T GET A SNIFF WITHOUT ME! (a random hyena falls into the crack in the ground)

Nala

Voiced by: Niketa Calame, Moira Kelly

Zazu

Voiced by: Rowan Atkinson, Edward Hibbert

Rafiki

Voiced by: Robert Guillaume

Sarabi

Voiced by: Madge Sinclair

Timon and Pumbaa

Voiced by: Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella

Banzai, Shenzi and Ed

Voiced by: Cheech Marin, Whoopi Goldberg and Jim Cummings

Kiara

Voiced by: Michelle Horn, Neve Campbell

Kovu

Voiced by: Ryan O'Donohue, Jason Marsden

Zira

Nuka

Voiced by: Andy Dick

Vitani

Voiced by: Lacey Chabert, Jennifer Lien

Timon's Ma

Voiced by: Julie Kavner

Uncle Max

Voiced by: Jerry Stiller

Back to The Lion King
    This article is issued from Allthetropes. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.