The Lion King Versus Scar: The Hero King

A Thematic Analysis of The Lion King Versus Scar: The Hero King

In the children’s film The Lion King, directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff of the Walt Disney Company in 1994, we see young lion cub Simba deal with the murder of his father at the hands of his uncle. While Simba is the heir to the throne that his father wielded as king, his uncle seeks to be ruler himself, leading him to kill Simba’s father, Mufasa. To ensure that he becomes king, Simba’s uncle Scar tricks the young cub into believing that it was Simba who caused the death of his father. Feeling immense guilt for killing his father, Simba runs away to the jungle. It’s not long before he meets meerkat Timon and warthog Pumbaa. This duo teaches Simba to forget about any of his problems and live a carefree life. Simba gradually embraces this life philosophy and lives for years in a self imposed exile. It’s not until he reaches young

adulthood that a childhood friend finds him and attempts to convince him to return home and take back the throne from his uncle, Scar.

While Simba is initially reluctant to return after living such a peaceful life in the jungle, the spirit of his dead father speaks to him and convinces him to take back the throne from Scar. Simba listens to the words of his father and heads back to confront Scar for a final and decisive fight that will define who would be king for years to come.

Recently, I adapted the children’s story to show a lesser known perspective: that of Scar, the antagonist of The Lion King. In Scar: The Hero King, we witness the events of The Lion King unfold through the eyes of Scar, the uncle of Simba who is an outcast among the other animals. Throughout the story, we begin to see Scar not as the villain that he is

portrayed as in The Lion King, but a misguided hero who just wants to fight for what he thinks is right. Told through the first-person perspective of Scar himself, he explains in the story that he is friends with the hyenas, a group of animals that he believes has been mistreated. In order to aid these hyenas, Scar talks to the King Mufasa who is also his brother. When their discussion turns into a fight, Scar says that he didn’t think that he killed Mufasa, but instead just thinks that Mufasa ran away from embarrassment after being beaten in a fight. With Mufasa out of the picture, Scar takes the throne out of a feeling of necessity. He then improves the lives of the hyenas and does what he thinks is right as king. Despite this, the changes that Scar introduce cause a famine throughout the kingdom. Unfortunately, Scar doesn’t take responsibility for these actions and just blames it on the weather. After many years have passed, Mufasa’s son Simba, returns to confront Scar. Simba beats Scar in a fight and Scar lives out the rest of his life in exile, believing that the actions that he took were justified. While The Lion King tends to exemplify the how it is morally righteous to follow your fate and the natural order of the universe, Scar: The Hero King places an emphasis on how a refusal to objectively reflect and take responsibility for one’s actions leads to moral blindness.