Simba

Simba is a lion and the main protagonist of the 1994 Walt Disney animated feature The Lion King.

Personality
As a cub, Simba was playful and always ready for an adventure with his best friend Nala. He saw the good in everyone, even his evil uncle, Scar. At times he can be a show-off, and thinks he will be the best king ever. Therefore, he is occasionally overconfident and often got himself into danger. In spite of this, he comes to see the fault in his actions and acts upon the lessons he's learned.

As an adult, Simba was still fun-loving and optimistic, but ashamed of those actions he believed were his fault as a cub. After reuniting with Nala, Simba becomes even more courageous and is determined to protect his family and kingdom, regardless of the cost. Unfortunately, later in life, this defensiveness causes him to become occasionally overprotective and even arrogant to others, even his family. However, he eventually comes to see the light and is successful in saving his pride. Simba is marked by his strong sense of justice.

Nala
As cubs they were nearly inseparable. Unknown to them, they were betrothed at an early age, and both agreed that friends marrying each other was too weird once they discovered this fact. They got into many adventures, but when they were being chased by the hyenas, Shenzi was about to kill Nala, and Simba saved her. Nala was heartbroken when Scar claimed that Simba died with Mufasa in the wildebeest stampede. As adults, Nala was the lioness who brought Simba back to Pride Rock, to save them from Scar's tyranny. In the midst of all this, they finally realized there friendship had grown into love, and eventually married as originally intended. As Queen of Pride Rock, Nala often acts as a voice of reason for Simba, trying to get him to see the light when his overprotective judgment gets the best of him.



Mufasa
He had a loving relationship with his father. He looked up to him, and after being chased by the hyenas, he said he was just trying to be brave like his father. Mufasa tries to teach Simba the proper conduct in times of danger and as a king, and discourages him from taking foolish risks. Simba spent all the time he wasn't with Nala with his father, and Mufasa showed him how to be a good ruler. When his father was killed in the stampede, he was grief-stricken, believing it to be his own fault. It was Mufasa's spiritual guidance that eventually convinced Simba to reclaim the throne stolen from him.

Sarabi
Simba and his mother Sarabi loved each other very much. She was proud of her young son and like Mufasa, tried to teach him proper conduct and groomed him for his future as the king. She also was protective of him, ensuring that Simba didn't run off to where he could get himself into trouble. When Scar claimed that Simba died alongside Mufasa in the wildebeest stampede, she was heartbroken. Years later, when Simba arrived to save his home, he watched sadly as Scar berated his mother. When Scar struck her down in a fit of rage, Simba immediately came to her defense and comforted her. She was in disbelief to see him alive, but very relieved. After Scar was forced to confess that he killed Mufasa, Sarabi fought by Simba's side and they managed to save their home. She watched proudly as Simba assumed his throne as intended.

Sarabi was not present in the second film, so it is probable that she has since passed on.



Scar
At first Simba loved his uncle, and would always tell him of his adventures, but Scar was never interested. After telling Scar about his father showing him the kingdom, he deliberately told Simba of the Elephant Graveyard, hoping that he would get himself killed. He sent Shenzi, Banzai and Ed after him, but this first attempt failed. He led Simba into the stampede, intending to kill him and his father. He only succeeded in killing Mufasa, his brother. He led Simba to believe that it was his fault, and that he should run away. In the later confrontation when Simba had grown up, Scar sadistically told him that he killed Mufasa. Thus, Simba's love for his uncle turned to pure hatred, and he cornered Scar in an attempt to overthrow him. However, not wishing to become the monster Scar was, Simba spared him, telling him to run away, the same words Scar told him. Scar then turned on him, and the fight broke out. Simba pushed Scar into the path of the hyenas, who killed Scar. Simba has not forgotten how Scar destroyed his father's life, and swore to spare the Pride Lands from another such tragedy.



Kiara
Simba and his daughter Kiara love each other very much, though their relationship has always been under some strain. Simba tries his best to protect his daughter, but had become obsessed with this duty during her childhood. When Kiara met the Outsider Kovu, son of Simba's hated enemy Zira, he immediately disapproved of their friendship and became even more determined to defend Kiara.

When Kiara grew up, Simba promised to let her go on her first hunt alone at Nala's urging. However, he secretly sent Pumbaa and Timon to watch her like he did when she was a cub. Kiara discovered this and became furious with her father, and ran off to the outskirts of the Pride Lands. Simba forbade her to go on anymore hunts when Kiara nearly died in a brush fire st by Zira. When Kovu returned, he kept a close eye on the two friends, but eventually warmed up to Kovu when he proved himself trustworthy. Unfortunately, Zira ambushed Simba in a trap supposedly set by Kovu, when he in fact did it unknowingly and unwillingly. After this incident, Simba forbade Kiara from so much as leaving his sight, and banished Kovu. Heartbroken, Kiara said her father was nothing like the king Mufasa was, shocking Simba. Kiara then ran off to find Kovu.

When Simba fought the attacking Outsiders, Kiara stopped him, with Kovu's help. She finally made him realize that he and the Outsiders were one and the same, finally ending the feud. When Zira attacked Simba in rage, Kiara saved him, and Simba helped her after Zira fell to her death in the raging river below. Finally realizing Kovu was one of them, Simba was finally able to reconcile with his daughter.

The Lion King
Simba was born to Mufasa and Sarabi, and, at his birth, was presented to the kingdom as their future king. Rafiki, a mandrill, and an old friend of Mufasa, headed the ceremony, performing a ritual before presenting Simba. Simba grows up into a playful cub, with a rambunctious attitude. He grows excited about being king one day, after Mufasa shows him the kingdom. Mufasa explains that Simba will one day rule over everything they can see, but warns Simba not to go to a shadowy area beyond the borders of the Pride Lands. Though Simba, initially believes that being king is about getting to do whatever he wishes, Mufasa teaches him about the responsibilities a king has. Suddenly, Mufasa is called to handle an emergency, and Simba is sent home, much to his disappointment.

After Simba returns home, he tells Scar, his uncle, about the trip. Taking advantage of the cub's naive nature, he tells Simba what the forbidden place is in fact the elephant graveyard, where only the bravest lions travel. Simba wants to prove himself brave, and so he along with his best friend Nala travel to the graveyard. Unknown to them Scar had placed his hyena henchmen there to kill the cubs, in an attempt to remove Simba from the line of succession so that Scar could become king. Having been found by Zazu, Mufasa saves the two cubs, foiling Scar's plan. Mufasa takes Simba home, lecturing him on the danger he put himself in. Afterwards, Simba asks if they will always be together. Mufasa responds by telling Simba about the Great Kings of the Past, who look down from the stars.

The next day, Scar tells Simba that his father has a surprise for him. Scar leaves him in a deep gorge, telling Simba that Scar will return with his father soon. In fact the "surprise" was another plot of Scar's, with the goal of killing both Simba and Mufasa. Scar's hyenas drove a herd of wildebeest toward Simba. Though Mufasa was able to save Simba, Mufasa did not survive. Mufasa had attempted to climb a sheer cliff to safety after dropping Simba on a safe ledge. Near the top, Mufasa called to Scar for help. Instead, Scar threw him off after saying menacingly "Long live the king." However, this was unknown to Simba, who only saw his father fall to his death. Simba was later manipulated by Scar into believing that Mufasa's death was his own fault. Scar tells Simba to leave the kingdom, and secretly sends the hyenas to kill him. Simba is able to escape by leaping into a bed of thorns. Simba then runs far away from home.

After being stranded in a desert, he meets Timon, a meerkat, and Pumbaa, a warthog. The pair had saved him from death, and offered to let Simba stay with them, as Simba was an outcast like they were. They teach Simba about their life in the jungle, and about their motto "Hakuna Matata", which means "no responsibilities, no worries." Simba takes this to heart, and survives by eating bugs.

Years later, Simba has grown up fairly carefree, but he is reminded of his father's death while he, Pumbaa and Timon are stargazing. One day, Simba is called upon to saving Pumbaa from a mysterious lioness, he discovers that the lioness is his old friend Nala. Though Nala is happy, as Simba being alive means that Simba can become king, Simba is hesitant, as he still feels guilt about Mufasa. After Simba and Nala spend time alone, they discover their friendship has blossomed into love. However, Nala tries to get Simba to return with her to the Pride Lands. She tells him about Scar's tyrannical rule, but Simba still refuses. Only encounters with both Rafiki and the ghost of Mufasa are able to convince to return.

Simba returns to the Pride Lands, and discovers that all the heard animals have deserted the land, and that there is no food or water. Simba heads to Pride Rock, followed by Nala, Pumbaa, and Timon who had joined Simba. While Timon and Pumbaa distract they hyenas, Simba goes to find Scar, while Nala rallies the lionnesses. Simba reveals himself to his uncle after seeing Scar strike down Sarabi. Scar is fearful at first, but is able to force Simba to admit guilt in Mufasa's death. Scar traps Simba on the cliffs of Pride Rock, and reveals that he killed Mufasa, not Simba. Simba is angered, forces Scar to tell the truth. Alongside the lionesses and his friends, Simba leads a battle against Scar. After a fight with Scar at the top of Pride Rock, Simba is able to flip the villanous lion over the ledge. There, Scar is consumed by his hyena henchmen, who were angered after Scar attempted to place blame on them for Mufasa's death.

Simba takes his rightful place as king. He marries Nala, and the two have their own cub, who is presented to the kingdom in a similar manner to the beginning of the film.

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
In The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Simba has fathered a daughter named Kiara. One day Simba lets his daughter out to play with Timon and Pumbaa to watch her. Unknown to Simba, Timon and Pumbaa begin to argue about bugs and Kiara slips away from them unnoticed.

Kiara ends up crossing over into the Outlands where she meets Kovu, an Outsider cub whose pride was exiled by Simba because of their loyalty to Scar. The two play tag until Simba leaps in to confront Zira, Kovu’s mother, who was watching the two cubs play. After the confrontation, Simba talks with Kiara and explains to her that they "are one."

When Kiara is grown she heads out into the Pride Lands alone for her first hunt. Simba is worried for her safety and sends Timon and Pumbaa out to watch her again, against Nala's advice. After Kiara discovers Timon and Pumbaa spying on her, she runs away only to be trapped in a fire that the Outsiders have set. Vitani and Nuka, brother and sister of Kovu, make some fires. Kiara tries to run out, but chokes and loses senses. Kovu rescues her, and Simba at first tries to send him away, but Nala convinces him to accept Kovu into the pride.

Simba later has a nightmare of him trying to save his father Mufasa from death, but is prevented from doing so by Scar who morphs into Kovu. Unknown to Simba, Zira has secretly trained Kovu to infiltrate Simba's pride and kill Simba.

Simba gradually begins to trust Kovu, and Kiara and Kovu begin to fall in love. Soon Kovu begins to question his loyalty to the Outlanders.

After a few days Simba takes Kovu out for a walk and tells him the real story about Scar. Zira and the other Outsiders ambush Kovu and Simba while they are walking, reigniting Simba's distrust in Kovu. Kovu tries to convince Simba that he had nothing to do with the attack, and even tries to protect Simba, but is knocked down by Vitani. Simba is injured but leaps up a log dam to safety, causing a few logs to fall and crush Nuka, Zira's son and Kovu's brother. Kovu is blamed for the death and he flees to the Pride Lands in shame.

Simba, realizing Kovu had dark motives when he saved Kiara, exiles the lion, refusing to accept his apologies. Kiara is distraught at this, and after informing her father that he will never be Mufasa, runs away to find Kovu. The two reunite in the desert later that night. As Simba enters the cave to find his daughter gone, Zazu arrives and announces that the Outsiders have initiated a war. Simba heads out to fight with his lionesses and Timon and Pumbaa.

After a lengthy battle, Simba and Zira confront each other directly. Kiara and Kovu leap into the middle of this confrontation and end the war, convincing both sides that they "are one." The Outsiders, after learning of their leader's true nature, abandon Zira entirely and join Simba's pride. Zira, enraged, tries to leap at Simba only to be knocked aside by Kiara. The two lionesses tumble into the gorge, which is now full of raging water from the damaged log dam. Zira, despite Kiara's offers of aid, slips and falls to her death in the swollen river below.

After Simba and Kiara climb back up to safety, Simba realizes his mistake and accepts Kovu and the other Outsiders into his pride. The two united prides head back to Pride Rock where Kiara and Kovu are married. In celebration, Kovu, Kiara, Simba and Nala walk up to the promontory of Pride Rock and roar out across the kingdom.

The Lion King 1½
In the 2004 direct-to-video interquel The Lion King 1½, more is revealed about Simba's life in the jungle with Timon and Pumbaa after his exile.

Simba proves to be a handful, as he scales tall and dangerous trees and swims over waterfalls, not caring about the danger he's in and Timon's frantic efforts to discipline him. As a teenager, he has beaten Timon in every kind of bug eating contest, along with a snail slurping contest that is shown.

In one scene it's revealed that he had been having quite a lot of nightmares, presumably about Mufasa's death.

The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa
Simba makes occasional brief appearances in the Timon and Pumbaa TV animated series. This includes one episode in which Timon drags him out to try to revive Pumbaa's lost memory. The episode "Congo On Like This" Timon and Pumbaa suspect that Simba has reverted back to his carnivorous nature, The Episode "Shake Your Djibouti" features Simba again where Timon and Pumbaa are forced to train Simba to protect them from a laboratory monster. Another episode entitled Rome Alone sees Simba being captured by Romans, and forced into gladiatorial battle with another lion called Claudius. Simba also appears in a music video of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" starring Timon and Pumbaa, which was shown theatrically in front of the film Tom and Huck in 1995.

Disney's House of Mouse
Simba has made numerous appearances in the popular House of Mouse television series. He is sometimes seen as a cub or as an adult.

Kingdom Hearts
In Kingdom Hearts, adult Simba appears as a summon spirit whose world has been destroyed.

His world of Pride Lands was devoured into darkness, but his strong heart refused to be devoured so he was kept alive in spirit and turned into the summon gem, Earthshine. The gem was founded by Leon, who kept it as a "lucky charm" and didn't know what it is or what it does, before he eventually gave it to Sora after telling him about the Worlds. After bringing it to the Fairy Godmother, she recognized it as a Summon Gem and restored Simba's spiritual from which Sora can summon him into battle through his Keyblade. It's implied after the defeat of Xehanort's Heartless, aka Ansem, and the closing and locking of Kingdom Hearts, his world was restored and he returned in whole.

His primary summon attack in the game is Proud Roar which can destroy the weaker heartless and paralyze the more stronger heartless for a short time. If fully charged, the roar will be powerful to destroy almost all heartless and give bosses some major damage.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and it's PS2 re-make Kingdom Hearts: ReChain of Memories, he appears as a summon card, given to Sora by Leon after finishing Traverse Town. His attack is Pride Roar and it has the same abilities as in the first game, but he can deal more damage when more Simba cards added. His card can also be used for three sleights in the game, Shock Impact, Quake, and Terror outside Halloween Town.

Kingdom Hearts II
Simba plays a much more active role in Kingdom Hearts II as a full-fledged partner rather than a summon. When the main protagonists (Sora, Donald and Goofy) explore the jungle in the Pride Lands world, Simba is being attacked by Heartless (which he easily defeats), and then almost attacks them, not recognizing them at first as they were turned into jungle animals due to Sora's enchanted clothes; however, when he realizes who they are, he is overjoyed to see them, but surprised as to how their appearances had changed. Initially, Simba refuses to go back to the Pride Lands, stating he was "not who he used to be." His father, Mufasa, comes to him and tells him to go back; afterwards, he accompanies Sora, Donald, and Goofy to Pride Rock for a climactic battle with both the hyenas Shenzi, Banzai, Ed and Scar, who had been turned into a Heartless because of his anger and jealousy.

Sora left after the successful coronation of Simba. When Sora returned, Simba had been driven into doubt by rumors of Scar's ghost. He later gained confidence and stood up to Scar's ghost, which was a manifestation of Simba's uncertainty and fear, with help from Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Simba then has to prove himself as leader in a fight with a huge Heartless.

After the end of the game, the credits reveal Simba and Nala standing side by side on Pride Rock while Rafiki holds their newborn cub Kiara, presenting her over the Pride Lands to all the animals.

In contrast to the actual storyline of Simba's coronation in the first Kingdom Hearts (Jiminy's Journal in the first game actually states that he IS king of the Pride Lands), this journal entry is incorrect, because without the aid of Sora and co, Simba would not have reclaimed his throne, and so, in the first Kingdom Hearts, he could not have been king because he was a Summon for the trio.

Cam Clarke (Simba's speaking voice in Timon and Pumbaa and singing voice in The Lion King II) voices Simba in the above two appearances, with an archival recording of Jonathan Taylor Thomas used for Young Simba in a flashback sequence in Kingdom Hearts II.

The Legend of the Lion King
Simba was also the main character in Legend of the Lion King, a former Fantasyland attraction in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, which retold the story of the film using fully-articulated puppets.

It's A Small World
Simba along with Timon and Pumbaa has a small cameo in It's A Small World.

Mickey's Philharmagic
Simba sings I Just Can't Wait to be King.