Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed

Shenzi, Banzai and Ed are a trio of villainous spotted hyenas who first appeared in the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King as the loyal followers and minions of Scar, and would later re-appear in one sequel and one spin off series.

While not especially bright, the hyenas do display a degree of competance rarely associated with comic-relief lackeys, generally foiled by their adversaries' own luck. They corner Simba (foiled only by Mufasa's unexpected rescue), successfully drive the stampede into the gorge, and would have captured the young Simba had he not escaped through the thorn bushes through which they could not pass. Despite this, and their loyalty to Scar, he has an extremely low opinion of them, considering them to be stupid and incompetant. He also abuses them verbally and physically throughout the movie, several times.

Shenzi


Shenzi (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg) is the only female of the trio. According to Timon in The Lion King 1½, her full name is Shenzi Marie Predatora Vendetta Jacquelina Hyena. Her name means "savage", "pagan", "uncouth", or "barbarous" in Swahili. Her distinguishing features are five prominent bangs hanging over her face and a mane that reaches all the way to her bangs. She also lacks the dark grey 'stubble' snout of the males, and the dark patches around her eyes are shaped to resemble heavily applied eye-shadow.

She is assertive, collected and constantly schemeing. This makes her the de facto leader of the trio, and apparently the Matriarch of the clan of hyenas. Banzai and Ed consistently follow her orders - whether they are to stop fighting, remain where they are, or even to lie to Scar. She decides that it doesn't matter that they tell Scar that Simba is dead, confident in the belief that Simba will die out on his own in the desert anyway, and is also confident enough to tell Scar that there's no food or water left.

Shenzi was originally going to be male and played by Tommy Chong, reuniting him with his old comedy partner Cheech Marin, who was playing Banzai, but apparently the two had had a falling out. Many of her facial expressions were copied from her voice actress, Whoopi Goldberg.

Banzai
Banzai (voiced by Cheech Marin) is the most aggressive of the trio, usually speaking in a raised voice, and always ready to start a fight. But since he thinks with his muscles rather than his head, and isn't too bright, he still submits to the calmer, smarter Shenzi, consistently obeying her orders.

His name means "skulk" or "lurk" in Swahili. It can also mean "die with honor" or "ten thousand years" in Japanese, possibly a reference to his aggressive nature but more likely coincidental. His distinguishing feature is his unusually heavy eyebrows. Apart from these, he is the model for most generic hyenas. He is the greediest of the three, frequently making references to being hungry, and asking for food. He also usually speaks and acts without thinking, losing his temper with Ed twice, and complaining when the Pride Lands lacks food under Scar's rule ("It's dinnertime, and we ain't got no stinkin' entrees!"). He even quietly remarks to his friends that Mufasa ran the Pride Lands better than Scar.

He is wounded twice in the film, first taking the worst injuries during the fight with Mufasa, resulting in visible scratches on his read, and second when he is knocked into a thorn patch while chasing Simba out of the Pride Lands.



Ed
Ed (voiced by Jim Cummings) is one of the few characters not to have a Swahili name.

Ed is apparently the 'crazy guy' of the trio. His distinguishing features are two round cuts on each ear, and that he is constantly grinning, his tongue often lolls from his mouth, and his eyes rarely seem to focus on anything. He communicates through laughter, his only line of dialogue being the chorus of the song Be Prepared. When amused by anything, he cannot control his laughter.

In the Special Edition of The Lion King, character profiling reveals that Ed is neither stupid or completely insane; he "knows the score". However, he either cannot speak, or chooses not to. He often displays lucidity, being the first to notice Simba, Nala and Zazu escaping while his two peers are busy cracking jokes. When Shenzi comments that the hyenas would be running the show if the lions weren't around, he nods in agreement, listening to the conversation. And when Scar betrays the hyenas at the end, he understands that they have been betrayed just as well as Shenzi and Banzai, and is just as angry as they are. However when they were attacked by Mufasa and Shenzi and Banzai denied knowing that Simba was his son, Ed confirmed it, during a scuffle with Banzai, he chews on his own leg obliviously, has numerous 'episodes' during which he stares vacantly, and cannot control his laughter. Ed is probably a Manic Depressive (aka Bipolar Disorder).

Jim Cummings recorded over four hours of various laughter clips for any situation Ed might be in; excited, amused, angry, etc. These have proven useful for all the other appearances Ed has made - eg games, sequels, and cartoon spin-offs.

The Lion King
The hyenas first appear in the Elephant Graveyard that Simba and Nala venture into. The hyenas, under Scar's orders, chase the cubs in an attempt to kill them. While in pursuit, Shenzi catches up with Nala, and is about to savage her when she is struck by Simba, which results in three visible scratches on her face. The hyenas push Zazu into a 'birdie boiler', and corner Simba and Nala but are thwarted by Mufasa's arrival. They attack him but are quickly defeated and frightened off.

Later, Scar arrives in the Elephant Graveyard, revealing his plot to kill both Mufasa and Simba during the song "Be Prepared".

Afterwards, they help Scar carry out his plan to kill Mufasa by triggering the wildebeest stampede. Immediately after Scar tells Simba to run away and never return, he commands the hyenas to kill Simba too, but Simba falls into thorny bushes where the hyenas cannot follow him. Shenzi decides that Simba is as good as dead out alone in the desert, that if he survives he probably won't come back (not unreasonable assumptions), and that IF he comes back, they'll kill him then. The entire pack then enters

Years into Scar's reign, the hyenas' excessive presence in the Pride Lands has damaged the ecological balance. They come to Scar's cave to inform him that there's no food or water, and that the lionesses refuse to follow his orders. Banzai quietly remarks that things were better under Mufasa. Angry at being compared unfavourably to his brother, Scar throws them out without listening to their complaints.

When Simba returns to overthrow Scar, the hyenas demonstrate their continued loyalty to Scar by joining the fight on his side, but most are defeated, and Shenzi and Banzai are ruthlessly beaten up by Pumbaa for calling him a "pig" while Ed watches. When Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed overhear Scar trying to foist all blame for the plot on them to Simba, they furiously turn against their master. Alerting the other hyenas to his treachery, they corner Scar after he is defeated by Simba. Scar frantically tries to absolve himself, but the hyenas have had enough of his lies, derogatory treatment, and broken promises, and the flames rise up just as the pack leaps upon him, to conveniently conceal his violent death.

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
In the direct-to-video sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, the hyenas are only briefly mentioned by Nuka as he and his grown sister Vitani arrive at the Elephant Graveyard. Originally, Zira was going to be accompanied by the hyenas but it was changed to the outsiders.

The Lion King 1½
In the direct-to-video midquel The Lion King 1½, the hyenas have a fairly major role in setting the story rolling. Seeing as Scar has no lines and makes only very brief appearances, they could even be called the movie's antagonists.

In their first appearance, they attack a meerkat colony when Timon, who is the sentry on duty of the colony, is daydreaming. They fail to catch any meerkats, but this incident drives Timon to leave the colony to find where he truly belongs. The hyenas make an appearance again during the film's climax at Pride Rock. Some anonymous hyenas are seen chasing Timon and Pumbaa into a cave (after the Hula Song in the first film), and are driven away by Pumbaa's flatulence.

Timon and Pumbaa insult the hyenas to get them away from Simba so that he has a better chance against Scar - Ed as usual laughs at the joke, and Banzai hits him, while Shenzi loses her temper - "For your last meal, you're gonna eat those words." Eventually, Timon and Pumbaa are cornered by the hyenas.

Timon first balances plates, then performs the can-can, which stalls the hyenas briefly, then breakdances with Pumbaa, which Shenzi applauds to before simply agreeing with Banzai to eat them. Finally, he proposes to Shenzi as a desperate move to buy time for his mother and Uncle Max as they dig a tunnel, which she turns down, becoming more and more disgusted at his proposal. Banzai seems to realise Timon is trying to buy time for something, and says, "I say we skip the wedding and get straight to the buffet!" However, this has bought just enough time and the hyenas then fall into the tunnel, which transports them to base of Pride Rock, just in time for them to find Scar and kill him.

Backstory
The hyenas were also featured in two spin-off books of The Lion King, set before the events of the original film.

In A Tale of Two Brothers, the young hyenas appear at the beginning where they surround a helpless Rafiki who had just arrived in the Pride Lands. King Ahadi comes to the rescue just in time, with his sons Mufasa and Taka (Scar), and demands that the hyenas leave. The hyenas appear again later, where Shenzi advises Scar to make himself look good by making Mufasa look bad. Scar decided to incite a Cape Buffalo called Boma to fight Mufasa. The plan did not turn out well, and Scar's eye was wounded by the buffalo herd in the process, hence the nickname "Scar".

In Friends in Need, the teenage hyenas appear again at the beginning, where they are preparing to boil a teenage Zazu in the elephant graveyard like in the first film. A teenage Mufasa passes by, scares the hyenas away, and befriends Zazu.

The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa
The three hyenas made occasional appearances in the TV series The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa. While Jim Cummings reprised his role as Ed, Tress MacNeille and Rob Paulsen replaced Whoopi Goldberg (Shenzi) and Cheech Marin (Banzai) respectively. The hyenas were also more noticeably dimwitted in the series in comparison to the movies. In the series, they continuously bully Timon and Pumbaa.

It should also be pointed out that significant plot points involving the three hyenas and Timon and Pumbaa in this series (particularly, the episode, "Once Upon A Timon"), have since been reconnected by the events that took place in The Lion King 1½.

The Lion King (SNES)
While hyenas were a common enemy in the Lion King SNES release, none of the hyenas fought were Shenzi, Banzai or Ed. Even the end of level boss hyena was not one of them. Once defeated, each hyena performed Ed's drooling 'salute' briefly before collapsing. Banzai was seen leaping into thorn bushes, and had one line, "If you ever come back, we'll kill ya!"

Kingdom Hearts ll


The hyena trio also appeared in the Disney/Square Enix video game Kingdom Hearts II. In the game, they appeared in the Pride Lands world, and were also Scar's henchmen.The hyenas first encountered the game's main protagonists, Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy, when they first appeared in the Pride Lands and battled with them twice. Later on, Sora and company defeated the hyenas again when they were attempting to kill Timon and Pumbaa, just before helping Simba fight Scar. After Scar was destroyed, the hyenas went back to the Elephant Graveyard and started eating carcasses again, though Shenzi considered it a mixed blessing. The trio had one final part in the story, having some knowledge relating to Scar's "ghost" and forcing Sora and Simba to chase and attack them for answers. Once beaten, Shenzi 'remembers' that Scar's ghost only appears when there are 'fraidy cats' around.

In the English version of the game, Tress MacNeille replaced Whoopi Goldberg as Shenzi's voice whereas Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings reprised their respective roles.

It is interesting to note that, out of all of the villains (Disney, Final Fantasy, or otherwise) that Sora has faced in the series, Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed are the only ones that have (canonically speaking) come the closest to actually killing him; at the beginning of their first visit, Banzai is just about to bite into an incapacitated Sora (unused to his new lion form), and it is only Scar calling for the hyenas that Sora survives this encounter.

Disney's House of Mouse
The Hyenas were featured in several episodes of House of Mouse, and were part of the entourage of Disney villains featured in Mickey's House of Villains.

Disney Parks
Appearances by the hyenas at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts are extremely rare. In 2004, they were featured in Disneyland Resort Paris’s The Lion King Carnival, but since that time their most reliable presence has been as part of Walt Disney World Resort’s yearly Mickey’s Boo-To-You Halloween Parade.

Trivia

 * Shenzi's position as leader of the hyenas is very like that of real life - real spotted hyenas are matriarchal, and females dominate the males. For male hyenas to have any real power within a clan, they have usually performed long-time services for high-ranking females.
 * Shenzi is probably NOT Banzai's sister. Reasons include (but are not limited to):
 * 1) No canon material - whether movies, theatre, comics, books or games - EVER refers to the three hyenas as being siblings. If Disney intended them to be as such, they would have mentioned it at least ONCE, somewhere.
 * 2) In Disney's Broadway production of The Lion King, in the song "Chow Down", Shenzi says to Banzai, "Now wasn't it her [Nala's] mom, ate your dad?" By Disney's incest and adultery-free logic, this would mean Shenzi's parents are not Banzai's parents.
 * 3) Shenzi calls Banzai 'honey' and 'baby' on several occasions; terms which a sister would be unlikely to use with their brother.
 * 4) Male hyenas usually migrate from their birth clans to join another when they reach sexual maturity, while females often stay with their clan life-long, inheriting the status of their mother - meaning that Shenzi is probably also the daughter of a high-ranking female.