Honestly, Scar to me is like the lion equivalent of Irontail from Rankin/Bass' Here Comes Peter Cottontail. Think about it, like Scar, Irontail wished to be the ruler of his respective homeland for his own selfish purposes, was bitterly jealous that the main hero got the job instead, obtained the position unfairly, made everyone else miserable with his new rules, and did everything he could to prevent the aforementioned main hero from botching up his plans.
