Scar

Scar, formerly known as Prince Taka, is the main antagonist of Disney's 1994 hit animated feature The Lion King, and its sequels. He was the son of Ahadi, who was at one time King of the Pride Lands, and brother of Mufasa, who would also become king of the Pride Lands. Scar is also the uncle of Simba and 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 James Horan in the Kingdom Hearts video game series.

Physical Appearance
Scar is elegant and poised, but 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 appearence with a sleek, black mane, dusty orangey brown fur 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, pink gash over his left eye, thus earning him his name.

The Lion King novels
As revealed in 'Tale of Two Brothers', Scar was once named Taka, and had became upset when he learned that his brother Mufasa was chosen to be king over himself (which would explain Scar's plot to kill both him and Simba in the film). 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 re-named himself Scar, as a reminder of his mistake.

The Lion King
Scar remained bitter at his brother but was allowed to live in the Pride Lands. He did not attend Simba's presentation, earning him Mufasa's disgust. Scar rapidly became jealous of his nephew, Simba's position as the next king of Pride Rock, and stated plotting to kill both his brother and nephew in order to take 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 when the young cub and his best friend, Nala entered their territory. When Mufasa foiled that plan, Scar was seen in the background, having been watching the whole thing.

Later, Scar admonishes Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, telling them that they should have killed Mufasa as well as Simba as well. While it is possible three hyenas could have taken down one lion, it is unlikely that all three would have survived; this demonstrates Scar sees them as expendable. He promises during the villain song Be Prepared 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 'marvellous surprise' for him. Scar then sends Mufasa to save Simba. Mufasa manages to save his son and ends up clinging to a cliff. He then spots Scar and pleads with Scar to help him. However, Scar grips Mufasa's paws with his claws, and 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 convinces him that it is his fault Mufasa is dead. He then tells 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 overhunted by both lions and hyenas, and the excess of predators drove away the herds, while a drought deprived them of water.

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. When Simba returns, Scar forces Simba to admit that he is responsible for his father's death. He is about to kill Simba, but in his gloating reveals to Simba that he had murdered Mufasa. Simba then forces Scar to admit this to the entire Pride.

This leads to a battle in which the lionesses, aided by Rafiki, 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 hear him. Realizing that to Scar they are completely expendable and have been used as tools, they back away angrily. Scar attacks his nephew, but ultimately loses when Simba kicks him off the edge of Pride Rock, literally overthrowing him. The hyenas then arrive. At first, Scar is relieved to see his "friends", but they reply that according to Scar, they were the enemy. Realizing his mistake, Scar pleads for his life, but the hyenas close in and eat their former King alive.

To edit violence, Scar's death is obscured by flames rising up.

Timon and Pumbaa
Despite the fact that this series takes place after The Lion King, Scar makes a few cameos.

Hercules
In Hercules, Scar makes a cameo as a lion skin briefly worn by Hercules at one point.

The Lion King II: Simba's Pride


Despite his ultimate demise, Scar maintained the loyalty of the Outsiders, a pride of lionesses led by his former mate Zira., who were banished 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 briefly in Simba's dream in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride where Jim Cummings voiced him.

The Lion King 1½
Scar play a small nonspeaking role in the third Lion King installment where he is seen only twice both in the climax area of the film.

First Visit
Kingdom Hearts II lays host to the story of Scar's rule over the Pride Lands. Scar teams up with Pete to control the Heartless as a way to rule the kingdom with discipline. Scar is the King of the Pride Lands, and when he first meets Sora, Donald, and Goofy at Pride Rock, he wishes to eat them, as there is little food in the Pride Land because of his rather shoddy treatment of them. The trio escape and convince Simba to return to Pride Rock.

When this occurs, an overconfident Scar reveals the truth about Mufasa's death, enraging Simba and prompting him to chase after his murderous uncle. While Sora, Donald, Goofy, Timon and Pumbaa hold off the Hyenas, Simba fights Scar at the top of Pride Rock. Sora and co. arrive in time to watch Simba throw the pretender to the throne off the cliff, but Pete arrives and tells them that because of the anger and jealousy within his heart, Scar has become a Heartless. A battle ensues as Scar climbs back up to the peak, with Sora and the gang victorious.

Second Visit
In the second visit to the Pride Lands, Scar appears as a dark ghost which haunts Simba, taunting him and saying he will never be a true king. The ghost lives as long as Simba has doubt in his heart. Eventually Simba retreats to the oasis in the jungle, but Scar's ghost confronts him there as well. With the help of Sora, Donald and Goofy. Simba stood up to the ghost and it disappeared. The victory was short-lived however when Timon arrived and told them that Scar's ghosts were all over the Pride Lands and everyone but Nala had escaped. The group returned to the Pride Lands and Simba saved Nala from the ghost.

Immediately afterward, all of the ghost's merged in the savannah and became the enormous Groundshaker Heartless. Sora and Simba fought the giant Heartless and emerged victorious, the ghost of Scar finally gone.

Disney Parks
In the Disney parks Scar is seen in parades and in shows usually based off The Lion King.

World of Color
Scar appears in the nighttime spectacular during The Lion King sequence. Scar appears in his famous scene in which he kills Mufasa.

Fantasmic!
Scar appears as one of the main villains in the live nightime 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.

Festival of The Lion King
Scar makes no appearance in the show, but his famous song Be Prepared is sung by the african members in Disney's Animal Kingdom park.

Trivia

 * 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.
 * 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, which also results in Pride Rock's destruction.
 * The Nostalgia Critic listed Scar as Number 9 on his "Top 11 Disney Villians" list while his song "Be Prepared" was listed as Number 3 on his "Top 11 Villain Songs" list. This song, along with another from the list, was brought up again when it was mentioned that Jim Cummings was singing the song though mentioned that Jeremy Irons sang most of the song. His female counterpart, The Nostalgia Chick, listed Scar as Number 8 on her "Top 10 Evil Nostalgia Characters" list.
 * During his reign, Scar becomes angered when his brother's name is mentioned, a trait similar to Prince John in Robin Hood.
 * Scar is one out of three of the most popular villians along with Jafar and Maleficent

Gallery
Scar