Scar (Disney)

"Long live the King."

- Scar's most famous quote.

Scar  is the main villain of Disney's 32nd animated feature film The Lion King. He is Mufasa's envious younger brother and the uncle of Simba. Scar's desire to rule Pride Rock drives him to enact a plot to kill both his brother and nephew to leave himself the sole royal in line for the throne.

He was voiced by Jeremy Irons (who also portrays Randall Bragg and Simon Gruber) in the original film, Jim Cummings in the 1998 sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, and was portrayed by John Vickery in the musical adaption.

The Lion King
"Run away, Simba. Run. Run away, and never return."

- Scar banishing the young Simba after slyly incriminating the death of Mufasa on him.

In the original movie, Scar is first seen after the presentation of his nephew Simba, where he was confronted by Mufasa. After a brief argument between the two, Scar leaves. He later tricks Simba into going to the Elephant Graveyard so that Shenzi, Banzai and Ed will eat him, thus putting his plan into action; but before they can close in and kill them, Simba and his friend Nala are saved by Mufasa, who scares off the hyenas. It's then shown that Scar watched the whole thing on top, and he is angry that his plan had failed. He then sings his song "Be Prepared," revealing his intention to murder Mufasa and Simba and claim the throne to himself.

Scar then sets another trap for Simba by having him stay inside a canyon while Shenzi, Banzai and Ed chase wildebeests into the canyon, causing a stampede; but once again, Simba's saved by Mufasa. This time, however, Mufasa is injured and he winds up hanging onto the edge of a cliff. He looks up to see Scar and desperately begs for his help. Scar, seizing the opportunity presented by his brother's helplessness, grabs his brother with his claws and whispers, "Long live the King." Scar then hurls Mufasa off the cliff to his death. As Simba didn't see his uncle's action of throwing Mufasa, Scar manages to manipulate a devastated Simba into thinking Mufasa's death was his fault, and he tells him to run away and never return. The minute Simba is out of sight, Scar orders Shenzi, Banzai and Ed to kill him; but unknown to Scar, Simba escapes. Believing Simba to be dead, Scar takes over the throne to the Pride Lands and he lets the hyenas take over.

Though it would have seem that Scar has finally achieved his goal in becoming King of the Pride Lands and letting the hyenas hunt down whatever food they can, the Pride Lands start to grow barren due to over-hunting over the years, causing many herds of animals to wander off. A drought also has stricken the lands, and the animals (including the lions and hyenas) are complaining over the lack of food or water left for them to feed on. However, Scar completely ignores their pleas, as he still wishes to maintain his power of the lands.

However, Simba (who is now an adult) is talked into going back to Pride Rock to face Scar by his future mate Nala, Rafiki, and Mufasa's ghost. Simba arrives back at the Pride Lands to see Scar in the act of confronting Sarabi over the lack of food. Sarabi suggests that the entire pride must leave the Pride Lands to survive since there is nothing left, but Scar stubbornly refuses to leave his kingdom. After Sarabi unfavorably compares Scar to his late brother, Scar loses his temper and brutally strikes Sarabi. Furious, Simba confronts Scar, and Scar initially mistakes Simba for Mufasa himself before realizing his nephew survived. Simba confronts Scar and attempts to force him to resign the throne, but Scar manages to convince Simba into confessing about Mufasa's death. Scar backs Simba onto the edge of a cliff at the same time a rogue lightning bolt strikes the ground below and lights the surrounding area on fire. As Scar is about to throw Simba off, Scar reveals to him that he was the one who killed Mufasa. Hearing this, an angry Simba is motivated to jump up and pin Scar down, forcing him confess to Mufasa's murder. Scar has the hyenas attack Simba and a fierce battle ensues between the pride and the hyena clan. Scar uses the ensuing discord to attempt to escape, but Simba manages to corner him at the top of Pride Rock. Scar pleads for his life, blaming his evil plot on the hyenas (not knowing that Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed are overhearing, causing them to angrily back away).

However, not wanting to stoop to Scar's level, Simba refuses to kill Scar and instead tells him to leave the Pride Lands and never return (the same words that Scar said to Simba after Mufasa's death). Recoiling on this, Scar manages to ambush Simba by throwing burning embers into his face before attempting to kill him. The two engage in an intense fight, which ends with Simba managing to kick Scar off of Pride Rock to the ground below. Scar survives the fall and, as he struggles to his feet, the hyenas arrive. Scar greets his "friends" in a pleasant matter, but the hyenas are finally fed up with Scar's years of lies and treachery against them. Realizing that he is in danger, Scar desperately begs for his life to no avail as the hyenas close in on him and rip him apart before the flames rise up on all of them.

The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride
"GOTCHA!!! Trust me!"

- Scar in Simba's nightmare.

In the 1998 sequel, it is revealed that Scar has a pride of lionessess known as the Outsiders (led by his most loyal follower Zira, the main antagonist of the sequel) who were banished to the Outlands for their loyal towards Scar. Also, Zira believes that Simba is responsible for Scar's death (unaware that the hyenas, not Simba, are the ones responsible for Scar's death) and plots to engineer Simba's downfall so that she can have her son Kovu take over as the new King. It was also revealed by Nuka that Scar had took Kovu into his inner circle and chose the young cub to be his successor before he died. However when becoming a young adult, Kovu has a change of heart after falling in love with Simba's daughter Kiara, and soon learned about the truth about Scar's death from Simba. In the final battle between the Pridelanders and Outsiders, Kiara convinced the Outsiders to give up their grudge against the Pridelanders, except for Zira, who ends up falling to her death on the same gorge after her failed attempt to kill Simba. Despite Zira's death, both her and Scar's plan to have Kovu as their successor is most likely to succeed, but not in the way as they expected as Kovu wants to carry on Mufasa's legacy, inspiring a touched Simba to accept Kovu as his new son-in-law and future successor.

Other than that, Scar also made two cameo appearances in the sequel: the first is when Simba has a nightmare about Scar's betrayal and murder of Mufasa, and the second is when Kovu looks into a water hole at one point his reflection changes to that of an angry Scar following his exile.

The Lion King 1 1/2
In the 2004 midquel, Scar made a few non-speaking cameo appearances, as the story shows the view points of Timon and Pumbaa while Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed take on the role as the main antagonists. Scar's first appearance is when he cornered Simba at the cliff of Pride Rock before the battle began. He is later seen being chased by Simba across the peak of Pride Rock, and he is last seen tumbling over the edge of the cliff after being defeated by Simba before his death by the jaws of the hyenas. Upon seeing Scar fall, Pumbaa says, "I think Scar is down and out!"

In The Lion King: Six New Adventures
According to the novel series, The Lion King: Six New Adventures, Scar's real name is Taka, which is Swahili for "dirt", "trash", or "want".

In A Tale of Two Brothers, one of the books in the set, young adult Taka is angry that Mufasa is chosen to be the heir to the throne. He gets even angrier when his father, King Ahadi, breaks his promise to go hunting with him, choosing to solve the drought problems in the Pride Lands instead. Taka wanders off to talk to Shenzi, Banzai and Ed the hyenas, who tell him that if Mufasa were to be made to look like a failure to their father, Ahadi, and the rest of their pride, then he, Taka, will look good in comparison and 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 Pridelands are 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, 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, knocking him unconscious. Mufasa leaps in to save his brother and the buffaloes ready themselves to attack again. Before they can do so, however, Ahadi appears with a large herd of animals. The herd surrounds the buffaloes and ends the fight. Later on, Rafiki examines Taka and finds a deep cut on his left eye, which will never fully heal. Taka then requests that he be called "Scar" from now on, as a reminder of how he foolishly allowed his anger to rule him.

The Lion Guard
In The Lion Guard (which takes place in the middle of the second film), it is revealed that when Scar was younger, he led the Lion Guard that protected the Pride Lands and defended the Circle of Life. His place was a tradition to all second born children of The Lion King/Queen, and was given a power called the Roar of the Elders which when used, causes the lions of the Pride Lands past to roar with him. However, the power got to Scar's head and he believed that with this power, he should be king instead of Mufasa. But when the rest of the Lion Guard refused to help him overthrow Mufasa, Scar used the Roar of the Elders to kill them. Due to using the Roar of the Elders for evil, Scar lost his power completely and became shrivelled and horrible, becoming the power-hungry tyrant he is remembered as of currently.

Though Scar is long dead, his legacy had a big affect on his great-nephew, Simba's son, Kion. After gaining the power of The Roar and learning of Scar's past, Kion became more cautious about using the Roar for good instead of evil.

The Lion King Musical
Within the musical of the same name, Scar's actions are relatively the same as compared to the original film, with a few exceptions: one of them being that he had any of his followers who had questioned his leadership put to death for doing so. The other being that he at one point tries to rape Nala in order to make offsprings to carry on his legacy (an act of his that was cut from the original film). He also becomes more and more paranoid as he feels he's being haunted by his deceased older brother.

In Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom
In Adventure Land, Scar makes a deal with Hades, where as if Scar could obtain the crystal of the magic kingdom, he would be granted immortality and rule over the pride lands forever. He forces the hyenas to work for him again, lying to them that he's invincible. he tries to get them to start an elephant stampede to crush anyone who gets in his way, but they fail. When the Park guests injure Scar in front of the hyenas, Shenzi is the first to see through his lies, rallies up the pack, and leaves. After a conversation with Hades, Scar twice battles the park guests, the first time beating them, the next time, it's vice versa. Hades gives Scar one last chance and turns him into a devilish storm, and battles the park guests again. Scar is ultimately destroyed and the park guests win. Later, at the end, he is sucked into a snow globe with Hades and all the other villains he recruited.

In Kingdom Hearts
"How does it feel to be king, hmm?"

- Scar's Ghost taunting Simba.

His ghost was a boss in Kingdom Hearts II. He looks like the living Scar, but he is darker in color and he has a dark aura around him.

Now a ghost filled with hatred, he would haunt Simba, who was now king. This caused Simba to become extremely afraid. This made him the laughing stock of the hyenas, mainly Shenzi, Banzai and Ed. Simba seeked help, and went to the hyenas, asking if they knew of Scar's Ghost. They knew nothing, and said Scar's Ghost only hangs out around fraidy cats. Immediately, Scar's Ghost appeared. He taunted Simba, asking what it was like to be king. Simba retreated, causing the hyenas to laugh maniacally. Simba went to his paradise, where he met Timon and Pumbaa, but even there he was not safe from the ghost, and was still tormented. He was having doubts and Sora tried to snap him out of it but it didn't work. Then Donald used his powers to create a fake ghost, and it taunted Simba until he overcame his fear and pounced on it. Now facing his fears, he went back to the Pridelands. Scar's Ghost was already there, and it was now haunting Simba's wife Nala and Pumbaa. When Simba returned, the ghost confronted him, but Simba told it to get out, scaring it away. Soon after, all of the ghosts came and formed a giant Heartless beast called the Groundshaker. The beast attacked, and a large battle ensued. The Groundshaker took several hits, and it collapsed and disappeared. Simba claimed his place as king.

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

- Scar remarks on his poor genetics despite his high intelligence.

Scar is a lanky lion but stands eye to eye with Mufasa and Simba, making him tall - if not bulky - like they are. He has sharp features and is a gangly lion, thanks to poor genes, with reddish-brown fur and striking green eyes. He has a silky black mane, elbow tufts, and his claws are ever present on his paws. He also has a pink scar over his left eye, earning his name.

Personality
Scar was a cunning, manipulative, and somewhat narcissistic lion, with a cultured demeanor and a wry, cynical wit. However, even with his evil and deceiving ways, he was still very cowardly and preferred to run rather than fight, though if cornered Scar has shown the ability to hold his own as seen in his fight with Simba. Scar is filled with hate and disgust for his brother and nephew and most likely everybody against him. He does not care much about the hyenas and seems to view them more as tools and weapons to use for his own benefit, which ultimately resulted in his death when he tried to blame his plan on them.

Scar was intolerant of failure, berating the hyenas for their failure to kill Simba, and angrily throwing them out after they made the mistake of mentioning his brother, Mufasa, of whom Scar was extremely jealous. Nevertheless, Scar was very charismatic, able to rally the hyenas to his cause and inspire fanatical loyalty from Zira and her pride of lionesses. Scar was highly intelligent, able to manipulate conversations and situations to his advantage with relative ease. He also proved to be extremely sadistic, convincing his own nephew, Simba, that he was responsible for the death of his father, Mufasa and later going on to taunt him that in fact, he himself was responsible for Mufasa's demise, which also led to his demise.

Videogame appearance
Scar appears as both the main antagonist and final boss of the 1994 videogame adaption The Lion King on Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive.

Trivia

 * Scar is notable for being voiced by Jeremy Irons and animated by Andreas Deja (who also animated Jafar, Alameda Slim, Dr. Frankenollie, and Gaston.
 * Scar's character is loosely based on Claudius from the Shakespearean play Hamlet; both are the uncle of the main character, and both kill their brother, the main character's father, in order to rule over a land originally ruled over by said brother. This is part in due to the various parallels The Lion King shares with Hamlet. However, unlike Claudius, who seems to hold some regret over killing his brother, Scar holds no guilt over killing Mufasa. Also, unlike Hamlet (who kills Claudius to avenge his father's death), Simba refuses to kill Scar (as he doesn't want to be like him).
 * Scar is also similar to real-life dictator Adolf Hitler; the scene where Scar is over looking his hyena army mimics the scene where Hitler over looks his army and streches out his hand over them.
 * Interestingly enough though Scar is not present most of the time in the sequel and prequel films he still has an important part to play in their stories.
 * It is said that there is no blood relation between Scar and Kovu, who appeared in "The Lion King II: Simba's Pride", so there is no blood relation between Kovu and Kiara. However Nuka mentions that Scar took Kovu in before he died.
 * In an early script for The Lion King, Scar was a rogue lion who was never related to Mufasa.