Scar (The Lion King)
Scar is a fictional lion character and the primary villain of Walt Disney Pictures' popular 1994 animated movie The Lion King. He was voiced by Jeremy Irons and animated by Andreas Deja. He has since made appearances in other Disney media. Based on literary villains such as Claudius from Hamlet and Iago from Othello, Scar is widely regarded as one of the best Disney villains of all time. [1]
Voices of Scar
| Film | Voice Actor |
| The Lion King (1994) | Jeremy Irons Jim Cummings (singing voice. Last part of Be Prepared) |
| The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998) | Jim Cummings |
| Kingdom Hearts II (2006) | James Horan |
The Lion King
Template:Spoiler Scar was the younger brother of the lion king Mufasa, the uncle of Simba, and Great-Uncle of Kiara. Scar was jealous of Simba's position as the next king of the Pride Lands, so he plotted to overthrow his brother and nephew.
To do this, Scar recruited three hyenas — Shenzi, Banzai and Ed — who gladly did the scheming lion's bidding for food. At first, there were only three hyenas, but eventually Scar gathered a full army of them. The first attempt by the hyenas to kill Simba was foiled by Mufasa, so Scar lined up his ranks of troops and promised that, in the new era in which he would rule as king, the hyenas would never go hungry again.
With the help of the hyenas, Scar triggered a wildebeest stampede that was meant to kill both Simba and Mufasa, but Mufasa saved his son at the last minute. When Mufasa, clinging to a cliff, pleaded with Scar to help him, Scar leaned over the ledge, pierced Mufasa's paws with his claws, and flung his brother off the cliff to his death with the mocking words "Long Live The King". Scar then made Simba believe that the young prince was the one who caused the stampede and in turn killed Mufasa. Simba ran away, overwhelmed by guilt and fear. Scar then ordered Shenzi, Banzai and Ed to finish him off. Unknown to Scar, however, the hyenas did not succeed and allowed the cub to flee into the desert to apparent certain death. Scar returned to Pride Rock and claimed the throne for himself.
Under Scar's reign, the kingdom soon began to decline as droughts hit and food became scarce. Years later, to Scar's surprise, Simba returned to challenge his uncle for the throne. Scar threatened to reveal the "truth" about Mufasa's death and backing him to the cliff edge. As Simba fell backwards and desperately clung to the rock, Scar taunted him by revealing that he had in fact killed Mufasa. In a rage at both murdering his father and playing himself for a fool, Simba leapt upon Scar and forced him to admit his guilt. At that hyenas lunged at Simba while the lionesses join the battle.
Eventually Simba had Scar trapped on the summit and slowly approached his uncle. Terrified, Scar pleaded for his life, blaming his crimes on the hyenas, unaware that Shenzi, Banzai and Ed had followed him and heard Scar blame them. Simba, at last not willing to sink to Scar's level, spared his life and banished him from the Pride Lands. Scar began to walk off, but then suddenly flung some burning embers into Simba's eyes, and resumed the fight. A fierce battle ensued, but Scar seriously underestimates his young enemy's calculating fighting skill and was thrown from the summit by Simba.
The hyenas, determined to get revenge on Scar for denouncing them as "the enemy," surrounded their fallen leader. Scar tried to talk his way out of the situation, but the hyenas leapt upon Scar and tore into his body. His screams were drowned out by the hyenas' laughter.
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
In the direct-to-video sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, it is revealed that Scar had a group of lioness followers who were exiled by Simba after he became king. They were led by a lioness named Zira, who may or may not have been Scar's mate. It is unclear whether Scar and Zira had a son, Nuka, and a daughter, Vitani. In the film, Zira attempted to use Kovu, a lion originally chosen to inherit Scar's throne but of no relation to Scar, to kill Simba and become king. Kovu is very similar to Scar in appearance (despite not being his son) and even gains a scar on his eye after being slashed by Zira.
In the film Scar only appears twice, the first time in Simba's nightmare. In the nightmare, Mufasa clings to the cliff above the stampede as in the first film, and Simba tries to reach down to help his father. However, Scar appears on the ledge and grabs Simba's paws. Mufasa falls, and then as Simba looks at Scar, he changes to Kovu. Kovu then flashes an evil grin and throws Simba into the stampede, as a repeat of Scar's actions in the first film. He appears again when Kovu is banished from the Pride Lands by Simba. As Kovu looks into a stream, Scar's reflection is shown instead of his own, much like in the first movie in which Simba was instructed by Rafiki to look into the water and sees Mufasa's reflection. Given Kovu had rejected defending his legacy, the young lion flees that vision in panic.
The Lion King 1½
In the direct-to-video midquel The Lion King 1½ (2004), Scar makes a few brief, non-speaking appearances in the scenes for which he was present in the original film.
Kingdom Hearts II
Besides appearing in The Lion King video games, Scar also appears in the popular Disney/Square Enix game Kingdom Hearts II as the primary villain of the world Pride Lands, voiced by James Horan. Much like in the film, Scar murdered Mufusa to become king, with the Pride Lands suffering a drought and food becoming scarce.
Prior to Sora and company arriving to the Pride Lands, Pete, who appears in this world as a fat gray lion with Pete's face, offered Scar use of the Heartless to maintain his hold on the throne. Sora (in the form of a lion cub, a change brought on by his magical clothes) managed to bring Simba back to the Pride Lands so he could challenge his uncle for the throne. While Sora and his group were busy saving Timon and Pumbaa from Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, the battle between Scar and Simba took place, and in the end Scar was thrown from the summit by Simba.
But this was not the end. As Pete explains, the hate and jealousy Scar felt in his heart had turned him into a Heartless, and the eerily flaming lion attacked Sora and company. During the fight with Scar, the plateau all the combatants are standing on is surrounded by a dark sky, and elephant bones can be seen through the ground. Unfortunately for Scar, Sora and Simba won, and he died with a muffled "oomph" as his form hit the ground and faded away.
By the time Sora returned to see how Simba is faring, rumors of Scar's ghost haunting the Pride Lands drove Simba into doubt. But once he overcome this problem, the "ghost" is found to be the interaction of Simba's lack of confidence and Scar's spirit. Multiple copies of Scar's ghost then combine to form the gigantic Groundshaker Heartless that was defeated by Simba and Sora.
Backstory
According to the novel series The Lion King: Six New Adventures, Scar was once called Taka, which in Swahili for "dirt" or "trash". In A Tale of Two Brothers, one of the books in the set, Taka is upset that Mufasa was chosen to be king and not him. Taka wanders off to talk to the three hyenas Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, who tell him that if Mufasa is made to look like a failure, then he will look kingly in comparison and soon take the throne.
Taka tricks his brother into going down to the waterhole, where a Cape buffalo named Boma is refusing to share the water. The Pride Lands is in a terrible drought and any water there is is precious.
Mufasa begins reasoning with Boma, when Taka roars and says that Boma must move by order of the Lion King, or Mufasa will face Boma in combat. Boma charges out of the water at Mufasa.
Mufasa escapes to safety with Rafiki the mandrill, but Boma says that his herd will get Taka. Mufasa runs back to find Taka being attacked by Boma's herd. The largest of the buffaloes slashes Taka with his horns causing Taka to be knocked unconscious. Mufasa leaps in to save his brother and the buffaloes ready themselves to attack again.
Before they can do so, Taka and Mufasa's father King Ahadi appears with a large herd of animals. The herd surrounds the buffaloes.
After the fight, Rafiki examines Taka and finds a deep cut on Taka's face, which cannot be fully healed. Taka then asks that he be called Scar from now on as a reminder of how he foolishly allowed his anger to rule him.
In other media
Scar briefly appeared in the animated TV series House of Mouse (2001-2003). He also made a very brief, non-speaking appearance in an episode of the Timon and Pumbaa television series in which Timon tries to revive Pumbaa's wiped memory.
Scar also appears as one of the villains The Queen evokes to fight Mickey Mouse in the Disney-MGM Studios version of Fantasmic! Nighttime Show Spectacular.
Scar also briefly appeared in Disney's 1997 animated film Hercules as a mere lion skin, similar to the Nemean Lion. Hercules is wearing Scar's skin. That brief scene in which Scar's skin appeared was while Hercules was being sketched by an artist. Andreas Deja, an animator who worked on Scar, also animated adult Hercules.