Scar

"As Mufasa's brother, Scar was next in line to take the throne until Simba came along. Scar's lack of physical prowess is more than made up for by his devius cunning as he plots to take back his birthright with his henchman hyenas by his side. He is seflish and greedy leader, nearly destroying the pride and the land in which they lived."

- Scar's official synopsis Scar, formerly known as Prince Taka, is the main antagonist of Disney's 1994 animated feature film the Lion King. He was the son of Ahadi, who was at one time King of the Pride Lands, and younger brother of Mufasa, who would also become King of the Pride Lands. Scar is also the uncle of Simba. He was voiced by Jeremy Irons in the first film, Jim Cummings in the second film (Jim also sang the last verse of "Be Prepared"), and by James Horan in Kingdom Hearts II and Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.

Background
As revealed in "Tale of Two Brothers", Scar was once named Taka, and had become upset when he learned that his older brother Mufasa was chosen to be king over himself. He wanders off to talk to three hyenas named Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, who tell him that if Mufasa is made to look like a failure, then he will look kingly in comparison and soon take the throne.

This leads to Taka tricking his brother into going down to the waterhole, where a Cape buffalo called Boma is refusing to share the water with the rest of The Pride Lands which, at the time, is having a terrible drought.

While there Mufasa starts to try to reason with Boma, and Taka roars and tells Boma that he must move by order of the Lion King, or fight Mufasa, Boma then charges out of the water at Mufasa. Mufasa escapes with the aid of a Mandrill called Rafiki, and Boma goes after Taka instead.

Mufasa runs back and finds Taka being attacked by Boma's herd. A large buffalo slashes Taka with his horns, causing him to be knocked unconscious. Mufasa leaps in to save his brother and the buffaloes prepare to attack again. Before they can do so, King Ahadi, father of Taka and Mufasa, appears with a large herd of animals that surrounds the Buffaloes. It was during this attack that Taka got a scar on his eye, and renamed himself Scar, as a reminder of his mistake.

Physical appearance
Scar is elegant and poised, but also unkempt and wild looking. He also speaks with an English accent. He is perhaps the most evidently feline lion in the film, lithe and melanistic in appearance with a sleek, black mane, dusty orange fur at daytime, dusty brown fur at night time and distinctive, almond-shaped green eyes. He has large, white paws with long, curving black claws that unlike those of other lions in the film are always bared and never retracted, perhaps alluding to his vicious nature.

Scar also sports a white goatee beard, characteristic of villains, particularly the evil twin archetype which is fitting given his relationship with Mufasa. Finally, Scar has a thin, red gash over his left eye, thus earning him his namesake. Some of his physical traits were also based in part on his (first) voice actor, Jeremy Irons.

Personality
Scar was known to be very resentful of Mufasa and Simba because Simba's birth ruined any chance of him becoming king. His resentment and anger towards Mufasa was strong enough that, after he usurped Mufasa's place on the throne by murdering him, he outlawed Mufasa's name being uttered, especially not in a favorable light. He seemed to possess somewhat of an inferiority complex, which presumably also acted as another reason for his resentment for Mufasa, as evidenced by his sad resignation to the fact that he was passed over in the gene pool regarding brute strength.

Scar is egotistical and prides himself on his intelligence, saying "As far as brains go, I got the lion share" and was somewhat of a narcissist, the latter trait being especially prevalent when plotting for the murder of Mufasa after the hyenas' failed attempt at murdering Simba at the Elephant Graveyard where he mentions that when he becomes king, they will see him "for the wonder I am." He has some odd quirks that he is aware of, as, when Simba affectionately states "You're so weird", Scar tells Simba "You have no idea".

Scar was heavily sardonic, frequently replying to attempts at conversation with sarcasm and subtle insults. After taking over Pride Rock, Scar's overall demeanor took a turn for the worse, becoming somewhat deluded, if not in self-denial, in believing that he is still an efficient ruler despite evidence to the contrary, apparently being unwilling to admit even to himself that Mufasa was a better king or finding fault in his own leadership.

He seemed to also develop serious paranoia after Simba returned regarding what Simba was going to do with him, as he attempted to attack Simba after Simba repeated the same words Scar told him when Simba planned to exile Scar for murdering Mufasa due to fear that Simba would pull a similar stunt that Scar himself pulled on Simba after he said those words. In addition, when Simba first revealed himself upon his return to Pride Rock before Scar realized it was Simba, Scar backed away while in disbelief that Mufasa survived, fearful that his role in Mufasa's death would be exposed. Scar was a coward at heart, preferring to run away from violence and manipulate others into fighting his own battles for him although when backed into a corner, he would fight back, although this could also be because he would lose everything if he lost. In the face of his cowardice, he was really strong-willed and determined, defending his throne to his last breath. Scar was highly intelligent as he himself liked to boast, easily able to manipulate situations and conversations to his advantage. However he was lazy, hedonistic and self-centered, causing him to be a desperate ruler. He liked to pretend to be physically weak stating "When it comes to brute strength, I'm at the shallow end of the gene pool" in order to get his opponents to underestimate him but he was actually a ferocious fighter who held his own against and almost defeated Simba. However,  Scar will not hesitate to cheat in a fight, as seen when he flings embers into Simba's eyes, temporarily blinding him, to gain the upper paw. Scar was a very charismatic individual, able to inspire the hyenas to follow his cause and gain fanatical loyalty from Zira and her pride of lionesses.

Regarding his treatment of Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, he was somewhat harsh with them, as evidenced by his berating them regarding their failure to kill Simba, and his angrily throwing them out after they made the mistake of mentioning Mufasa. Despite this, however, he seemed to value them as friends, as evidenced by his remark when he finds the hyenas waiting for him before he realized they intended to kill him for his remarks, as well as his attempts at apologizing to them falling on deaf ears when he realized it was too late to ask for forgiveness.

He was also a sadist convincing his own nephew he was responsible for Mufasa's death and then taunting him further. Despite his negative traits, he did attempt to encourage Zazu to sing a more "bouncy" song, other than "It's a Small world after all", which he apparently finds to be extremely annoying (like a lot of people in real life), because when Zazu starts to sing it, Scar snaps at him, telling him to stop ("NO, no! ANYTHING but that!").

The Lion King
Scar remained bitter and jealous of his brother but was allowed to live in the Pride Lands. He did not attend Simba's presentation, much to Mufasa's disgust. During this time, he also tried to eat a mouse, although he was ultimately forced to let the mouse escape when Zazu told him off for missing Simba's presentation, causing Scar to attempt to exact revenge on Zazu by eating him instead until Mufasa interfered, forcing him to spit Zazu out. Scar also implied when Mufasa warned him not to walk away that he might attack Mufasa should he be distracted. He also briefly lamented that he may be cast out of the gene pool anyways before leaving Pride Rock dejected.

As the months passed, Scar rapidly became jealous of his nephew Simba's position as the next king of Pride Rock, and started plotting to kill him in order to take out the competition for the throne himself. He started to recruit hyenas, primarily Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, to build an army. He used bribes of food to get them on his side.

The first attempt the hyenas made was to kill Simba after tricking the cub into entering their territory with his best friend, Nala. When Mufasa foiled that plan, Scar saw the whole scene with great unhappiness. Later, Scar admonishes the hyenas for failing to kill Simba, even when it was clear that Simba only survived due to Mufasa's interference. However, he ends up getting the idea to kill Mufasa in addition to Simba when, after feeding them a Zebra's leg to kill Mufasa when Banzai sardonically asked whether Scar should kill Mufasa to get the throne. He promises that under his rule, they need never go hungry again.

With their help, he engineers a wildebeest stampede meant to kill both Simba and Mufasa, tricking Simba into waiting in a gorge under the notion that Mufasa has a 'marvelous surprise' for him. Scar then sends Mufasa to save Simba.

Mufasa manages to save his son and ends up clinging to a cliff where he spots Scar and pleads with his brother to help him. However, Scar grips Mufasa's paws with his claws, and, grinning evily, flung his brother off the cliff to his death with the mocking words, "Long live the king".

Scar finds that Simba is still alive, and makes him believe that it is his fault Mufasa is dead. He then convinces Simba to run away, and never return. Scar then sends the hyenas to kill Simba. They fail this task, though Shenzi felt that allowing the cub to flee into the desert would kill him eventually. Scar then took over the Pride Lands, using the hyena clan as muscle to ensure his reign goes undisputed. Under his rule, the Pride Lands were over-hunted by the hyenas, and the excess of predators drove the herds away, while a drought deprived them of water. Likewise, he also enacts a law that says the subjects can not mention Mufasa, especially not in a more favorable light. Even with the hyena clan and the Pride on the brink of starvation, Scar refuses to allow anybody to leave, descending into madness and insisting that he is still a mighty king. He later questions Sarabi, Simba's mother and Mufasa's widowed queen, as to why she and the pride aren't hunting for food to which she replies there's nothing left and suggests they leave Pride Rock. However Scar rejects to the idea, in which she responds that he's sentencing everyone to death. Scar condones to the fact and declares that as king he can do whatever he wants. Just as Sarabi compares him to Mufasa, he slaps her to the ground stating he's "ten times the king Mufasa was." When Simba returns, Scar, at first anxious that Simba was Mufasa's ghost, realizes that it is his nephew and feigns joyous relief at his survival, while looking angrily at Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed for lying to him. He then forces Simba to admit that he is responsible for his father's death then forces him close to the edge of Pride Rock, Simba manages to cling for his life and Scar slams his claws into Simba's paws and quietly reveals to Simba that he had murdered Mufasa. Simba, now realizing Scar had deceived him all along, then forces Scar to admit this out loud. This leads to a battle in which the lionesses, Timon, and Pumbaa, work together to defeat the hyenas. Simba confronts Scar on the top of Pride Rock, but Scar, knowing he is not strong enough to defeat Simba, is hesitant to fight. He tries to blame everything on the hyenas, not knowing that Shenzi, Banzai and Ed had followed him (presumably to back him up) and heard him, resulting in them angrily backing away, and also requested that he allowed him to make it up to Simba. When Simba chooses to exile Scar rather than kill him, Scar appears to concede, but then blinds his nephew by brushing embers into his face (It's implied that Scar did this because he feared that Simba would pull something similar to what he himself pulled on Simba, due to the latter echoing what he said to Simba before siccing the Hyenas on them). Scar attacks his nephew, and they fight savagely until Scar knocks Simba onto his back. As Scar leaps to deliver the final blow, Simba uses his hind legs to throw Scar over the edge, sending him flying off Pride Rock and tumbling down the cliff. Scar survives the fall and slowly gets to his feet, then the hyenas arrive. At first, Scar is relieved to see his "friends," but to his horror, they reply that according to Scar, they were the enemy and they begin to surround Scar, who is backing against the stone. Scar pleads for his life and attempts to explain his earlier statements, but the hyenas have had enough of his treachery and broken promises. The hyenas close in and surround Scar with manic smiles, then they leap on Scar and viciously maul him to death, as flames rise around them.

We don't actually see the hyenas kill Scar; as they surround him the camera moves up, and we briefly see the shadows of the hyenas swarming over Scar, before the shadows are obscured by flames rising up.

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
Despite his ultimate demise, Scar maintained the loyalty of the Outsiders, a pride of lionesses led by a lioness named Zira, who were banished to the Outlands by Simba. Zira was fanatically loyal to Scar and intended to install her son Kovu as King of Pride Rock, as previously chosen by Scar to become his heir. They would continue to create trouble for Simba in the following years.

Scar also appeared in Simba's dream. Mufasa clings to the high cliff above the stampede and an adult Simba tries to save his father, however Scar grabs Simba's paw stopping from reaching him and Mufasa falls off the cliff, Scar morphs into Kovu and throws Simba into stampede. In addition, Scar was also mentioned by Simba when he explains the true history of the fight between Scar and him. He also implies during this time that, in addition to the Hyenas exacting revenge on Scar, Scar also ended up burned alive by the wildfire.

Scar makes another brief appearance when Kovu is exiled from the Pride Lands by Simba, he stops by a lake where he sees Scar's reflection instead of his own as Mufasa did to Simba.

In the end, Scar's dying wish would be fulfilled (Kovu becoming the king of the Pride Lands) since Simba would choose Kovu to become king. However, unlike Scar's plan, Kovu ruled for the benefit of all his subjects, and not for his own sake.

The Lion King 1½
In the direct-to-video "parallel film" The Lion King 1½ (2004), Scar makes a few brief, non-speaking appearances in the scenes for which he was present in the original Lion King film.

Scar's song, "Be Prepared" is heard briefly as Timon and Pumbaa tour Scar's lair as a possible new home, commenting on how it is quiet, secluded and with no uninvited visitors. The shadows of the goose-stepping hyena army are then seen marching in front of them, though they haven't started singing yet.

He is also mentioned by Nala when tells Timon and Pumbaa that Simba needs their help in order to defeat Scar. Later, he is shown making Simba fall over Pride Rock's peak and fleeing from Simba after admitting he murdered Mufasa, where the hyenas were protecting him. Finally, after Timon, Ma, Pumbaa, and Uncle Max defeat the hyenas, Simba kicks Scar over the side of Pride Rock's summit, into the hole the hyenas fell into, and to his death.

Cameos and other appearances
Despite the fact that this series takes place after The Lion King, Scar makes a few cameos meant for comedy purposes in the animated series Timon and Pumbaa. He is seen when Timon tries to revive Pumbaa's amnesia after being struck by lightning, and when Zazu cleans out his trash can. In Hercules, Scar makes a cameo as a lion skin briefly worn by Hercules at one point, which in itself was a reference to one of Hercules' twelve labors, which was killing the Nemean Lion. It may also be a reference to a wisecrack made by Zazu in the first film when Mufasa was wondering about what to do with Scar, this being a suggestion that he be made into a throw rug.

In House of Mouse, Scar made few minor cameos.
 * In the episode "Jiminy Cricket", Jiminy used Scar as an example of temptations. At the end of that same episode, Scar was seen aside some of the other guests when they were arguing over Jiminy.
 * In the episode "Ask Von Drake", Scar can be briefly seen being held by Rafiki just as Simba was in the film.

The Lion King
Scar appeared in this video game as the final boss in the Lion King.

The Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure
Scar appears as one of the two bosses in this video game (the other one being Zira). Scar battles Simba and would jump onto a platform and roar causing rocks to fall towards Simba which he has to dodge before he finally defeats Scar.

Kingdom Hearts II
Largely following the story of the film, Scar is the tyrannical ruler of the Pridelands, after earning his throne through regicide (the murder of King Mufasa and supposedly Prince Simba). At some point, Scar meets Pete, am invader on a quest to dominate the words using a legion of demons known as the Heartless. Together, they rule the pride with descipline until Sora, Donald, and Goofy arrives. With little food elsewhere, Scar attempts to devour to trio, only to be stopped by Nala, allowing them to escape. Once they do, they head out to find Simba, who was revealed to be alive by Sora. They group eventually finds him, and together, they return to Pride Rock to battle Scar. The tyrant is forced into revealing he killed Mufasa, and a battle breaks loose, resulting in Scar's demise. However, the darkness of anger and jealously corrupts the lion and revives him in the form of a Heartless, drenching the Pride Lands in darkness, as well. Sora and friends battle Scar, and he's eventually killed off for good.

During the second visit, it's revealed an army of Scar's ghost are haunting the Pridelands. According to Rafiki, the ghosts feed off of Simba's insecurity towards being king. As a manifestation, Scar constantly tortures and taunts the new ruler, until a turn of events prompts Simba to stand up to the demon, finally having the courage necessary to send him off for good.

Meteos: Disney Magic
Scar appeared in the puzzle video game with his minions, the hyenas.

Epic Mickey
Scar appears as a stained-glass portrait in the Mad Doctor's laboratory along with Maleficent and Captain Hook. There are also two lion statues in the courtyard of Dark Beauty Castle that bare resemblance to Scar.

Disney Universe
Scar appears as an unlockable costume character in the game. He is also the boss of the last level of The Lion King universe, where you ride on a train for transportation to battle him with a cannon.

Hades Challenge
Like the cameo in the Hercules animated series listed above, Scar also makes a cameo as a throw rug in a specific area of the game Hades Challenge. Like before, the cameo also references one of Hercules' twelve labors, specifically his defeating the Nemean Lion.

The Lion King (musical)
Scar is the main villain in the Lion King, the Broadway musical, Scar's role is expanded upon with the song "The Madness of King Scar". In it, Scar begins doubting his reign, fearing that he might be losing the respect of the lionesses and that he needs a queen to ensure that his family line continues for generations. He attempts to seduce Nala when he chooses her as his queen, promising to share the throne with her, but she rebukes him by scratching his face. The musical also implies that he might harbor some guilt for murdering Mufasa, as he mentions that Mufasa's ghost kept on haunting him. The musical also implies that his main motives for wanting to become king was due to neglect that he suffered while he was young, especially in comparison to Mufasa.

Disney Parks
In the Disney theme parks, Scar's likeness is commonly featured throughout, mostly in merchandise centering the Disney Villains franchise or The Lion King, itself. Other than that, he's actually fairly common in terms of live shows, and makes a limited amount of appearances in some parades.

On the Disney Cruise Line, Scar and the hyenas are featured in Villains Tonight. Scar is also featured on the villains' float in Disneyland Paris' Once Upon a Dream Parade.

Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom
In Adventureland, Scar returns from the dead via Hades and is given a proposition to live forever in exchange for the crystal of the Magic Kingdom. Scar tricks the hyenas into believing he is invincible and forces them to work for him again. However, the park guests prove that Scar lied by injuring him in front of the hyenas, prompting them to leave their former boss. Scar decides to battle the guests himself, but is soon defeated. Hades gives Scar a second chance and transforms him into a hellish storm. Scar battles the park guests yet again, but is once again defeated sending him back to the underworld.

World of Color
Scar can be briefly seen in the water projectors and heard vocally throughout a sequence based on the wildebeest stampede from the film.

Fantasmic!
Scar appears as one of the main villains in the live nighttime spectacular Fantasmic!. In the show Scar is called fourth by The Queen to destroy Mickey Mouse once and for all. In the end, Scar is killed by Mickey along with the other villains. His only line was "Yes, perfect."

Festival of The Lion King
Scar makes no appearance in the show, but his song Be Prepared is sung by Kiume, one of the human MCs of the show in Disney's Animal Kingdom park and Hong Kong Disneyland.

Film

 * "Life's not fair, is it? You see, I... Well, I shall never be king and you shall never see the light of another day. Adieu."


 * "Well, as far as brains go, I got the lion's share. But, when it comes to brute strength... I'm afraid at the shallow end of the gene pool."


 * "A monkey's uncle."
 * "I'm surrounded by idiots."


 * "Simba, it's to DIE for."


 * "Long live the king!"


 * "Run away, Simba... Run... Run away and never return."


 * "You won't get a sniff without me!!!" (during the song "Be Prepared")


 * "Mufasa's death was a terrible tragedy; but to lose Simba, who had barely begun to live... ..For me it is a deep personal loss. So it is with a heavy heart that I assume the throne. Yet, out of the ashes of this tragedy, we shall rise to greet the dawning of a new era... in which lion and hyena come together, in a great and glorious future!"


 * "Oh, Simba, you are in trouble again. But this time, Daddy isn't there to save you! And now EVERYONE... KNOWS... WHY!"

Musical

 * "Without a queen, what am I? A dead end; no line, no descendants, no future! With a queen, I'll have cubs. Immortality will be mine! Immortality will be mine!"
 * "I never thought hyenas essential. They're crude and unspeakably plain. But maybe they've a glimmer of potential if allied to my vision and brain."
 * "You and your petty complaints. You don't know what real hunger is. Day after day it gnaws at the very core of my being."
 * "Nobody loved me, not even as a cub. What did my brother have that I don't have?"
 * "Ah, Nala. Your timing couldn't be more perfect.

Trivia

 * Scar is based on Claudius from Hamlet who was a prince who murdered his brother the king for the sake of his throne. However unlike the completely evil Scar, Claudius had a kind side and genuinely believed that he could make the country a better place and was a highly competent king whereas Scar cared only for himself. Like Scar, Claudius was cunning, intelligent, manipulative, charismatic and cowardly. Unlike Scar, Claudius repented from his wrongdoings, but did not reveal the secret about his brother's murder to his nephew.
 * Scar's birth name Taka is the Swahili word for "want". Fitting considering his desire to rule the Pride Lands.
 * He is also similar to the Shakespearean villain Iago from Othello, being sadistic, charming, smooth-talking, bitter, envious and narcissistic.
 * While Jeremy Irons voices Scar for most of the movie, he blew out his voice recording "Be Prepared" (Specifically the line "You won't get a sniff without me!"), and the rest of the song is sung by Jim Cummings. Ironically, "Be Prepared" is also where Ed (also voiced by Jim Cummings) has his only line that is not laughter.
 * Scar is one of the most popular and favored Disney villains.
 * In an original draft for the ending of The Lion King, Scar was to be shown burned alive when Simba hurls him off the ledge, with Scar laughing as he did so (presumably due to completely losing his sanity over losing everything), which also results in Pride Rock's destruction. This ending was cut presumably because of the ending's dark nature for a Disney film. Although it was ultimately cut, Simba's Pride nonetheless implied that fire was partially involved in Scar's death. Ironically, the final version of his death (see below) was based on an alternate ending of Beauty and the Beast that was cut for the same reasons why the original ending was cut.
 * In the 1997 Disney film Hercules, Scar makes a brief cameo appearance in the scene where Hercules is posing for the painting wearing the skin of what's supposed to be the Nemean Lion, but is actually Scar.
 * During the song "Be Prepared", Scar leaps off a high cliff, and upon landing causes the ground to crack apart as well as the various pieces to rise with him and the Hyenas on it (and one of the hyenas falling through the cracks), hinting that he either possessed Terrakinetic abilities or had an uncanny ability to predict the precise moment portions of the ground (such as that at the Elephant Graveyard) would change drastically.
 * There is a t-shirt with Scar on it that has his famous quote, "I'm surrounded by idiots."
 * Originally, Scar was going to send adult Nala away from Pride Rock because she ignored his romantic approaches, after which she finds Simba alive and well with Timon and Pumbaa. This idea was ultimately abandoned, as sexual harassment (and sexual advances in particular) was considered improper in a family movie at the time. However, the stage musical adaptation includes this plot development as part of director Julie Taymor's efforts to expand the female characters' presence in the story. This deleted scene can be seen in the Blu-ray's special features.
 * The same scene, The Madness of King Scar, also gave further credence that he held remorse for murdering Mufasa, where he was often haunted by his ghost a'la Macbeth, something that was subtly implied in the final film itself when Scar initially mistook Simba for Mufasa and backed away in disbelief.
 * Originally, Scar would chase Simba out of the Pride Lands himself.
 * Originally, Scar would have been a rogue lion who was not related to Mufasa.
 * The final version of Scar's death (being killed by the Hyenas in revenge for pinning the blame of Mufasa's murder on them) was based on an original draft for Gaston's demise in Beauty and the Beast, in which the Wolves would have attacked him after surviving the fall from Beast's castle with a broken leg.
 * Scar's reflection is opposite to the Mufasa's reflection.
 * Scar's death is perhaps one of the most graphic Disney deaths ever, even with the flames obscuring the screen as the hyenas tear him apart.
 * Scar apparently hates the song It's a Small World After All, as he tells Zazu "No, no. Anything but that" when he tries to sing it.
 * Scar is also similar to Bagheera. Both are big cats and both are voiced by English actors but the roles are different as Scar is a villain and Bagheera is a protagonist. However Bagheera was only voiced by an English actor once and then by an American one after the death of his original voice artist Sebastian Cabot.




 * Scar is the first Disney villain to be biologically related to one of the main protagonists in the Disney canon. The previous villains such as the Queen and Lady Tremaine were related to the main protagonists only by marriage, and although Ursula was intended to be Ariel's aunt and Belle was originally supposed to have an antagonistic aunt named Marguerite, the concepts relating to them were cut, and in the case of Ursula, it is now only considered semi-canon due to the musical.
 * Scar is one of the few Disney villains in the Kingdom Hearts series, and the only Disney villain in Kingdom Hearts II, to not use the Heartless as his minions.
 * Despite his death Scar has become popular on YouTube and the most popular series featuring him was "The Scar Chronicles" where he served as the series protagonist-villain.
 * When he murdered Mufasa, he was originally supposed to say "Good night, sweet prince!" immediately before throwing him off, referring to the Shakespearian play Hamlet. However, it was changed to Scar sarcastically saying "Long live the king!" to Mufasa because the former line seemed too "self-aware" to be taken seriously. In the alternate ending, Scar also was supposed to say the former line when attempting to finish off Simba.
 * Scar didn't really need to kill Simba because Simba was too young to rule at the time of Mufasa's death, so he would've become king anyway. However, Simba would become king when he got older, surpassing Scar as ruler, it's possible Scar wanted him dead as soon as possible so he wouldn't have to worry when he got older.
 * Originally, Scar was going to have a python for a henchman rather than hyenas, but the idea was scrapped as the writers found that too similar to Shere Khan and Prince John, both feline villains that were paired with snake villains.
 * Malcolm McDowell and Tim Curry were once considered for the role of Scar.

Similarities with other Disney villains

 * Humbert: Both have green eyes and order the protagonist to run away and never return to their home (Scar told Simba never to return to Pride Rock and Humbert told Snow White to never come back to The Queen's Castle. Unlike Scar however Humbert is not completely evil and is reformed.
 * Ronno: Both are the main antagonist of one film (Scar; first film, Ronno; midquel) and the only darker fur in their group, same senses that fighting their enemy (for Ronno, Bambi, for Scar, Simba), then falls a great distance. Also both have a strong heart of jealousy; Scar is jealous that his nephew Simba can be king of pride rock but he can't, however Ronno is jealous that his rival Bambi falls in love with Faline but he fails. They both like fame. Both want to marry the deurtagonist/protagonist's love interest (Nala for Scar, Faline for Ronno). However, Scar only wanted to marry Nala in a deleted scene.
 * Shere Khan: Both are male big cats and the primary antagonist, both talk with an English accent, they have the same goal of killing the film's main protagonists (Mowgli in Shere Khan's case and Simba in Scar's case) and both of their defeats results in falling. The main differences are that Scar is a Lion and Khan is a Bengal Tiger, and when Scar falls, he is killed by the hyenas, and when Khan falls, he survives and is trapped in a giant statue in the shape of a tiger's head. Ironic, both were voiced by Carlos Petrel in the spanish dub.
 * Prince John from Robin Hood: Both are the primary antagonist and lions, they both have older brothers who are kings, (In John's case, King Richard; in Scar's case, Mufasa). They both take over geographical locations (In John's case, England; in Scar's case, Tanzania). During both of their reigns, they both get angry when their brothers' names are mentioned, and both of them suffer unfortunate defeats (John is arrested by King Richard and thrown into the royal rock pile, and Scar is both literally and rulership-wise overthrown by Simba, then killed by both the hyenas and the fire). In addition, both John and Scar's final battles with their respective foes also involve fire of unnatural causes (John had the Sheriff of Nottingham burn his castle in order to trap Robin Hood, while the Pride Lands experienced a wildfire caused by lightning just as Scar was preparing to "execute" Simba for indirectly killing Mufasa). One difference is how they were able to take over (Prince John tricked Richard into going on the crusades, whereas Scar kills Mufasa). They are also different from lions in mane; Prince John virtually has no mane making him more angular and evil but also immature and childish and Scar does have a mane but it is black to reflect Scar's evil nature.
 * Madame Medusa: Both are the main antagonist, impatient, have green eyes (Medusa's is sea green), and try to kill the protagonist (Scar: Simba, Madame Medusa: Bernard and Miss Bianca). Also they imprisoned a character same to their gender on the good side (Scar: Zazu, Medusa: Penny). Both succeed in their goal (Scar, to rule the Pride Lands; Medusa, to obtain the Devil's Eye). In the climax after that, they refuse to let the deuterangonist and secondary antagonist leave their home (Scar refuses to let Nala and Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed leave Pride Rock and Medusa wants to leave Penny and Mr. Snoops on Devil's Bayou) and cause their minions to turn on them (Scar pinned Mufasa's death on the hyenas and Madame Medusa refuses to let Mr. Snoops have the Devil's Eye and wanted to leave him on Devil's Bayou and whipped at Brutus and Nero).
 * Horned King: Both are the evil kings after killing the previous king (Mufasa in Scar's case, an unknown king in the Horned King's case) and serve as the primary antagonist. Their goal is to kill the protagonist and tritagonist (Simba and Mufasa in Scar's case, Taran and Fflewddur Fflam in the Horned King's case) and get killed by other villains (Scar by the hyenas, Horned King by Arawn). However, the hyenas were Scar's minions and Arawn was the Horned King's boss.
 * Jafar: Both first appear in scene two, seoncd time in scene four, third time in scene six, like fame, serve as the main antagonist, are males, hungry for power, impatient, both throw one of the main characters off a cliff (Scar: Mufasa who is a tritagonist and died, Jafar: Aladdin who is the protagonist and survived because of the Magic Carpet), banish the protagonist elsewhere (Scar banishes Simba out of the Pride Lands and Jafar banishes Aladdin, Abu and without knowing it Magic Carpet to the North Pole) and when the protagonist returns they have taken over. Both also end up meeting their death not in the hands of the protagonists, but ironically at the hands of their own (former) henchmen due to their abuses taking their toll (In Scar's case, the Hyena clan, having the last straw broken from Scar pinning the blame of Mufasa's death, proceeded to exact revenge on him by mauling him to death, and in Jafar's case, Iago turning against Jafar after one more reference to his bad deeds, and his then delivering the coup de grace by kicking Jafar's lamp into the magma). Both also end up reanimated by Hades but end up killed by a joint group (In Scar's case, becoming a storm only to be destroyed by various wizards, and in Jafar's case, being revived with his scepter being his lifeline, only to be killed by a team up between Aladdin and Hercules). Both wanted to marry a female main character/the film's deuteragonist (Nala for Scar and Jasmine for Jafar). But the idea of Scar wanting to marry Nala was scrapped.
 * Claude Frollo: They both appear a second time in scene four, third time in scene six, serve as the main antagonist, and are males. Also, they both kill one of the protagonist's parents but do not admit it until the climax of the film. Although Frollo kills Quasimodo's mother he can be found guilty of killing Quasimodo's father since he has him executed. Because they are dead they don't appear in the sequel but are mentioned by the main antagonist (Scar by Zira, Frollo by Sarousch). They also both have fire-related deaths. In Frollo's case he tries to kill Esmeralda but the gargoyle he is standing on breaks, he falls but hangs on, the gargoyle comes to life and breaks taking Frollo into the molten copper pit and as Scar was killed by the Hyenas the flames rose above him. They also both try to cover up their acts by telling the protagonist something else (Scar tricked Simba into thinking he killed Mufasa whilst Claude Frollo told Quasimodo that his "heartless mother" had abandoned him).
 * Hades: Both are the uncle of the protagonist (Scar, Simba and Hades Hercules), serve as the primary antagonist, try to take over their homeland (Hades, Mount Olympus and Scar, The Pride Lands (and succeed)) and also force away the protagonist from their home (Scar tells Simba to "run away and never return" and Hades has Pain and Panic turn Hercules mortal and once a god was mortal he could not go back) and by the time that the protagonist returns home they have taken over. Similarly, both even have a similar fate: Their nephew managed to triumph over them, and them unintentionally going off the ledge where they are then assaulted by their former allies who turned on them (In Scar's case, the Hyenas immediately turned on Scar due to pinning the blame of Mufasa's murder on them while he was unaware of their presence, and in Hades' case, the dead had evidentially seized their opportunity on Hades due to his frequent abuse of their souls (blasting one earlier when first arriving back at the Underworld earlier in the film) as well as Pain and Panic deciding to not help him from his fate due to his abuse of them throughout the movie.). Unlike Hades however Scar didn't abuse the hyenas. They are also in love with a female main character (Nala for Scar, Megara for Hades). However Scar only wanted to marry Nala in the musical version.
 * Kron: Both serve as the primary antagonist, are males, they have green eyes, nearly led their group into a disastrous demise, although they differed in practice (Scar refused to emigrate to other hunting grounds despite there not being any food or water in the Pride Lands, while Kron, albeit unknowingly, tried to lead his herd to a sharp drop down a cliff in an attempt to reach the valley). They both have minions who turn on them (Scar by the hyenas, Kron by Bruton). Both also had their pride as a motive for undergoing their actions (Scar believing himself to be "ten times the king Mufasa was", and Kron believing to prove himself and his herd via strength alone). They try to kill the film's protagonist (Simba for Scar, Aladar for Kron). Unlike Scar, however, Kron learned the error of his ways and paid the price in an attempt to stop the Carnotaur. Both get killed by other villains (Scar by the hyenas, Kron by Carnotaurs). However unlike the hyenas, the Carnotaurs were never Kron's minions. Also, however, the hyenas were less evil than Scar and the Carnotaurs were more evil than Kron.
 * Morgana: Both are the main antagonist and have a same-sex sibling who is "the best" and are jealous of them being the best (In Scar's case, Mufasa and in Morgana's case, Ursula). However, Ursula is a villain and Mufasa is a hero. Also, they succeed in ruling their brother's kingdoms (in Scar's case, Pride Lands which is Mufasa's home: in Morgana's case, Atlantica which is King Triton's home until they get defeated by the protagonist (Scar by Simba who threw him off a cliff and then gets killed by the hyenas, Morgana by Melody who give threw the trident to Triton who froze her).
 * Buster: They both are the main antagonist and in love with a female main character/the film's deurtagonist (Nala for Scar, Angel for Buster). However Scar was only in love with Nala in a deleted scene Also, both seek vengeance at the tritagonist/protagonist's father (Scar, Mufasa who is Simba's father: Buster, Tramp who is Scamp's father). In the end, they got betrayed by their minions (Scar by the hyenas who he pinned Mufasa's death on, Buster by the junkyard dogs who wanted to be house dogs).
 * Scroop: They serve as the main antagonist and are males. They both reveal their true nature to thier victims (Scar: Mufasa, Scroop: Mr. Arrow) and blame the death on the protagonists (Scar: Simba, Scroop: Jim Hawkins). Both also have a similar defeat at the hands of the protagonists (Scar: Being literally overthrown by Simba over the edge in self-defense when Scar attempts to finish Simba off, Scroop attempts to finish off Jim Hawkins via forcing him off the ship due to disabling the gravitational fields, only to end up being the one sucked into space on the pirate flag with Hawkins escaping onto the ship).
 * Doctor Facilier: They both are the main antagonist, males, act in order to take the control of a geographic place (Pride Lands for Scar, New Orleans for Facilier), both use simplicity's people to achieve their goals (Simba's in Scar's case, his customers for Facilier), both have a dedicated song in their respective movie where they praise their skills ("Be Prepared" for Scar, "Friends on the Other Side" for Facilier). Both kill a male character who's on the good side (Mufasa for Scar, Ray for Facilier), they are beaten (mauled in Scar's case, dragged to hell in Facillier's case) by an entity which they used as henchmen: the hyenas for Scar, the Voodoo spirits for Facilier (although it is implied with the latter that Facilier was their henchman), Similarly, both characters also had concepts that changed them for varying reasons regarding potential lineage to a major character in development (Scar was intended to simply be a rogue lion who killed Mufasa, but it was changed during development to be the brother of Mufasa. Likewise, Facilier was originally intended to be Mama Odie's son and intended to fight her during Mardi Gras, but he was relegated to simply being a dark voodoo sorcerer).
 * King Candy:They both are false rulers in their own respective kingdoms (The Pride Lands in Scar's case, and Sugar Rush in King Candy's case) and despise a character who is a true ruler of their kingdoms (Simba in Scar's case, and Vanellope von Schweetz in King Candy's case).
 * Hans: Both ended up having envy of their older brother(s) having power and desiring to rule a kingdom (Pride Rock for Scar, and Arendelle for Hans) as a motive for their actions, and both also tormented the protagonists by leading them to believe they had killed a significant other (Scar by inferring that Simba was responsible, however unintentionally, with Mufasa's death, and Hans by claiming that Elsa's magic killed Anna). Unlike Hans, however, Scar has proven himself willing to murder relatives to become king. Also, they were neglected by their families, therefore wanting to " prove" themselves as "wonders of kings".
 * Other Similarities
 * Other Similarities


 * Loki: Has a few similarities with him, both have black hair and green eyes but Loki does not have an scar over his left eye. Both of them are the younger brother of the protagonist, both being jealous with them as well as seeking vengeance at them, both wanting to overthrow & kill a family member, both are obsessed with power & both being defeated by falling (Loki being defeated by falling of the Rainbow Bridge & Scar falling down from Pride Rock). Both even were threatened by their minions when they were defeated (Scar was mauled by the Hyenas when he was defeated by Simba, and Loki, while not directly seen, was threatened by the Chitauri's official leader, the Other, about hunting Loki down if he failed their objective of conquering the Earth in The Avengers). However, unlike Loki, Scar is not an orphan. It is even notable that they are popularly compared in some Loki-related memes even including a parody of an Avengers poster featuring Scar as Loki. In some fanarts with Scar as Loki, Mufasa is Thor.
 * Sharptooth: Both are males, the primary antagonist of the first film, have a scar over their eye (Scar: left, Sharptooth: right), and have the same goal of killing the protagonist (Simba in Scar's case, Littlefoot in Sharptooth's case). In the middle of the film, they kill a parent (Scar: Mufasa, Sharptooth: Littlefoot's Mother) of the protagonist during their son's young age and ruining their lives. In the climax, they both get killed (The hyenas attack Scar and Sharptooth gets crushed by a rock).

Songs sung by Scar

 * Be Prepared
 * Be Prepared (reprise) (deleted song)
 * The Madness of King Scar (musical version only)

Scar