Scar (Disney)

"Long live the king!"

- Scar showing his true nature to his brother Mufasa, mere moments before throwing him back into the stampede to his death - his most famous quote.Scar_kills_Mufasa.ogg

Scar (born as Taka) is the overall main antagonist of The Lion King franchise. He served as the main antagonist of Disney's 32nd full-length animated feature film The Lion King, a posthumous antagonist in the 1998 sequel The Lion King: Simba's Pride, the overarching antagonist of the 2004 prequel/parallel The Lion King 1 1/2, and the overarching antagonist The Lion Guard, appearing in the second season as the main antagonist. He is Mufasa's jealous younger brother and Simba's uncle and arch-nemesis. 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 as "true" ruler.

Voices

 * In the original film, he was voiced by the Academy Award winning actor Jeremy Irons, who also played Simon Gruber in Die Hard with a Vengeance and Profion in Dungeons & Dragons.
 * In the 1998 sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, he was voiced by Jim Cummings, who was his singing voice in the first film and also voiced Jacques from Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island released that same year.
 * In the Kingdom Hearts franchise, he was voiced by James Horan.
 * In The Lion Guard, he was voiced by David Oyelowo, who also played Steven Jacobs in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and Agent Kallus in Star Wars Rebels.
 * In the 2019 CGI live action remake, he was voiced by the Academy Award nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, who also portrayed Victor Sweet in Four Brothers, and Baron Mordo in Doctor Strange.

Appearance
"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..."

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

Scar is a slender lion, but stands eye to eye with Mufasa and Simba, making him tall - otherwise bulky - like they are. He has sharp features and is a gangly lion, thanks to poor genes, with orangish-brown fur and striking green eyes. He has a silky black mane, elbow tufts, a goatee beard and his claws are always extended. He also has a pink scar over his left eye, earning him his name. Despite his poor genetics, Scar is surprisingly strong, as he held his own very well against the much younger and more powerfully built Simba during their final battle.

Personality
Scar is a cunning, sarcastic and narcissistic lion with a cultured and chivalrous demeanor, and a wry and cynical wit. However, even with his evil and deceiving ways, he is still very cowardly and prefers to run rather than fight, though if cornered Scar has shown the ability to hold his own as seen in his final 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 only as tools and weapons to use for his own gain, which ultimately resulted in his death when he tried to blame his crimes on them.

Scar is also very antipathetic and intolerant of failure, berating the hyenas for their failure to kill Simba, even though it wasn't their fault, and angrily throwing them out after they made the mistake of mentioning his brother, Mufasa, of whom Scar was extremely jealous.

Nevertheless, Scar is also very sophisticated, charismatic, and persuasive, able to rally the hyenas to his cause and inspire fanatical loyalty from Zira and her pride of lionesses.

He is also highly intelligent and knowledgeable, able to manipulate conversations and situations to his advantage with relative ease. Scar also proved to be extremely sadistic and unmerciful, 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 own demise.

Upon his return in The Lion Guard, Scar became more chaotic in nature, as he was willing to break the Circle of Life and take over the entire Pride Lands by turning it into chaos as revenge for his defeat.

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
"Gotca! Trust me!"

- Scar stops Simba in saving Mufasa

Trivia

 * According to the French, Scar is the only character who is not from Swahili, but from English.
 * According to Andreas Deja, Scar is modelled after his voice actor Jeremy Irons.
 * Scar is notable for being voiced by Jeremy Irons and animated by Andreas Deja (who also animated Jafar, Alameda Slim, Dr. Frankenollie, and Gaston).
 * In Disney's Hercules, the Nemean Lion that Hades sends to fight Hercules bears an exact resemblance to Scar after it is killed and turned into a skin by the former. Given that Andreas Deja was the lead animator of the film, this cameo was likely a reference to his previous work; and may also be a reference to Zazu's joke that Scar could make "handsome throw rug" as well.
 * 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 lorded 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 based on real-life dictator Adolf Hitler; as the scene where Scar is over looking his hyena army mimics the scene where Hitler over looks his army and stretches out his hand over them.
 * 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 the early drafts of The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Scar was meant to be Kovu's father. However, this was changed as this would have made Kovu and Kiara's relationship incestuous as they would have been second cousins.
 * In an earlier draft for The Lion King, Scar was originally a baboon as the plot of the film would have been about a battle between lions and baboons. The only thing that was kept was the scar in the his left eye.
 * In an early script for The Lion King, Scar was a rogue lion who was never related to Mufasa and Simba. However, this was changed after the writers decided later in production that the threat should come from within the family for a bigger impact on the characters.
 * Scar was originally going to reveal his allegiance with the hyenas to the pride some years into his reign instead of straight after becoming king.
 * Before Jeremy Irons was cast, actors such as Malcolm McDowell and Tim Curry were considered for the role.

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