Scar (The Lion King)

Template:DisneyChar Scar is an evil fictional lion and the primary villain of Walt Disney Pictures' popular 1994 animated movie The Lion King. He was voiced by Jeremy Irons in the original film and his supervising animator was Andreas Deja. He has since made appearances in other Disney media. He epitomizes the typical British villain: highly educated, well-bred, remorseless and cynical. Based on literary villains such as Claudius from Hamlet and Iago from Othello, as well as bearing some allegorical resemblance to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Scar is widely regarded as one of the best Disney villains of all time, and was the only animated villain nominated for an MTV Movie Award. Scar was originally intended to be a rogue lion, unrelated to Simba, Mufasa or the royal family, but the animators thought it would be more interesting if there "was a threat from the inside". He gets his name from the unexplained scar on his right eye and resembles a Barbary Lion.

The Lion King

Scar is the younger brother of the lion king Mufasa, the uncle of Simba, and second in line to the throne after Simba was born. Scar was jealous of Simba's position as the next king of the Pride Lands, so he plotted to assassinate his brother and nephew, in order to be the next successor in his lifetime.

To carry out his plans for regicide, 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 called up his troops who march past him in a setting similar to how Nazi troops marched past Hitler in the documentary Triumph of the Will. Scar promised that in the new era in which he would rule as king, the hyenas would never go hungry again in a scene also particularly reminiscent of Joseph Stalin.

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. As Mufasa tried to escape by climbing a cliff, Scar grabbed his paws and threw him into the stampede after whispering 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 chase the cub and kill him. Unknown to Scar, however, the hyenas did not succeed, as Simba evaded them and escaped into the desert. Scar returned to Pride Rock and assumed the throne.

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 forced Simba to reveal the "truth" about Mufasa's death and backed Simba towards the edge of Pride Rock's promontory. Scar, on believing he had won, admitted that he killed Mufasa. Enraged at Scar for both murdering his father and playing him for a fool, Simba leapt upon Scar and forced him to admit his guilt in ther hearing of the lionesses. A fierce battle ensued between the hyenas and the lionesses while Simba alone fought Scar.

Eventually, Simba trapped Scar on Pride Rock's summit. Terrified, Scar pleaded for his life, blaming his crimes on the hyenas, unaware that Shenzi, Banzai and Ed had followed him and heard Scar's condemnation. Simba, not willing to sink to Scar's level, spared Scar's life and banished him from the Pride Lands with exactly the same words Scar had used when banishing Simba so many years before. Scar began to walk off but then suddenly flung some burning embers into Simba's eyes, temporarily blinding him. The battle continued, but after Scar leapt in to finish Simba, the younger lion kicked Scar over a cliff where the hyenas were waiting.

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 apparently tore him to death. His screams were drowned out by the hyenas' laughter.

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride

File:Sp14 021.JPG

Scar appearing in Simba's nightmare in 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 was still fiercely loyal to Scar. Zira had three children: Kovu, Nuka and Vitani. It's strongly hinted that Scar was the father of Nuka and 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. When the film was first written Kovu was originally Scar's son, but the idea was dropped because it seemed too weird for two second-cousins to marry each other.

In the film Scar only appears three times, 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. Scar laughs and growls evilly, suggesting Simba trust him and let Mufasa fall. Mufasa falls into the stampede and the cackling Scar morphs into Kovu. Kovu flashes an evil grin, along with a snicker and throws Simba into the stampede, a repetition of Scar's actions in the first film, as Simba trusted Scar as a cub and Kovu being the tyrant's heir, though sharing no personality traits. He later appears when Kovu and Kiara are looking at the stars when Kovu mentions about the two lions fighting; the lions are Simba and Scar fighting for the position of King of Pride Rock. He appears another time 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 that Kovu had rejected defending his legacy, the young lion flees the 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.

The Lion King musical

File:ScarSimbatlkob.jpg

Scott Irby-Ranniar as Young Simba and John Vickery as Scar.

In the Broadway musical based on the original film, Scar is portrayed by a human actor in an African-style costume with a lion-face headpiece that comes down over the actor's face when activate a switch on a hidden remote control, giving them a more "animal" look. The original Broadway actor of Scar was John Vickery. The current Broadway actor of Scar is Patrick Page.Scar's black mane is now replaced with long yellow spikes. Scar also carries with him a cane (showing that he doesn't have much muscle).

Scar's role is expanded upon with the song The Madness of King Scar. In it, Scar begins to express doubts about his reign, highlighting that he might be losing the respect of the lionesses and that he needs a queen. He attempts to seduce Nala, only to be met with a scratch from her.

Scar in the musical is played more humourously and at times slightly more unhinged than Scar in the movie.

Kingdom Hearts II

File:Scarkingdomhearts.jpg

Scar (left) in Kingdom Hearts II

Besides appearing in various 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 Mufasa to become king, and under his reign the Pride Lands suffered a drought and food became scarce. It is by all means a parallel version of the film.

Prior to the game's main protagonists' (Sora, Donald Duck and Goofy) arrival at the Pride Lands, Pete (in the form of a lion) 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. The confrontation between Scar and Simba that followed, with Scar taunting Simba and Simba finding out Scar killed Mufasa, was almost identical to that in the original film, the only noteworthy exceptions being no hyenas for most of it and Sora and his group replacing the lionesses. Following it, Soras group found themselves saving Timon and Pumbaa from Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, while 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 explained, 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. Simba and Sora killed Scar once more. Sora, Donald and Goofy then left, assuming the world to now be safe.

By the time Sora returned to the Pride Lands to see how Simba was faring, rumors of Scar's ghost haunting the Pride Lands had driven Simba into doubt. But once he overcame 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 combined to form a gigantic Heartless that was eventually killed by Simba and Sora.

Backstory

File:Tlk6nataka.jpg

Teenage Scar, then known as Taka, talks to Banzai, Shenzi and Ed.

According to the novel series The Lion King: Six New Adventures, Scar's supposed original name was Taka, which is Swahili for "dirt" or "trash". In A Tale of Two Brothers, one of the books in the set, young, teenage Taka is angry that teenage Mufasa was chosen to be the heir to the throne and not him. He gets even angrier when his father King Ahadi breaks his promise of going hunting with him to solve the drought problems in the Pride Lands instead. Taka wanders off to talk to Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, who tell him that if Mufasa is made to look like a failure, then he will look good in comparison and soon take the throne.

Taka then 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 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 buffalos slashes Taka with his horns causing Taka to be knocked unconscious. Mufasa leaps in to save his brother and the buffalos ready themselves to attack again.

Before they can do so, however, Ahadi appears with a large herd of animals. The herd surrounds the buffalos and ends the fight. Later on, Rafiki examines Taka and finds a deep cut on Taka's left eye, 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.

Other appearances

File:ScarinHercules2.jpg

Scar's skin in Hercules.

Scar made very brief, non-speaking appearances in a couple episodes of the animated TV series The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa (1995-1999) in which Timon tries to revive Pumbaa's wiped memory, and when Zazu cleaned his trashcan. He also appeared briefly in another TV series House of Mouse (2001-2003).

Scar also briefly appeared in Disney's 1997 animated film Hercules as a mere lion skin, similar to the Nemean Lion. The cameo is ironic in the sense that, during the opening scene of The Lion King, Mufasa and Zazu fantasize about turning Scar into a lion-skin rug. In Hercules, Hercules wears Scar's skin while being sketched by an artist. It is possible that it was a deliberate inside-joke by Scar's supervising animator Andreas Deja, who was also the supervising animator of adult Hercules.

Scar appears in Festival of the Lion King, an attraction in Disney's Animal Kingdom and Hong Kong Disneyland. The attraction is a shortened version of the Broadway musical, and Scar is also portrayed by a human actor like in the musical. He 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.