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The relationships of Simba with the other characters of The Lion King franchise.

Family

Mufasa

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Simba with his father Mufasa.

Mufasa is Simba's father, as well as the king of the Pride Lands. Simba and Mufasa had a strong father-son relationship, Simba looked up to Mufasa in every way, aspiring to become just like him. Mufasa has high expectations for his son to succeed him, so he taught Simba the proper conduct in times of danger and as a king, and discourages him from taking foolish risks as well as appreciating all lives. Simba spent all the time he wasn't with Nala with his father, and Mufasa showed him how to be a good ruler. Mufasa's love for his son is very deep, as shown when he saved him from the hyenas and has no hesitation to jump into the wildebeest stampede to save Simba despite knowing how dangerous it is. When his father was killed in the stampede, Simba was grief-stricken, believing it to be his own fault and went into self-exile. His father's death kept haunting him until Mufasa's spiritual guidance eventually convinced Simba years later to reclaim the throne stolen from him by his diabolical brother. Even after his father's death, Mufasa still plays a major role in Simba's life. After becoming the king, Simba desires to live up to his father's legacy. Several of Simba's actions are based on what he thinks his father would've approved of and done.

Sarabi

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Adult Simba with his mother Sarabi.

Sarabi is Simba's mother, as well as the queen of the Pride Lands. Sarabi and Simba have a loving mother-son relationship, she was proud of her son, and like Mufasa, tried to teach him proper conduct and groomed him for his future as the king. She was also 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 in horror as Scar berated his mother. When Scar struck her down in a fit of rage, Simba immediately came to her defence and comforted her. Sarabi is elated to see her son is still alive and fights by his side to overthrow Scar's tyranny.

Scar

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Simba with Scar.

Scar is Simba's uncle. As a cub, Simba loved his uncle and would always tell him of his adventures, treating him like a family should despite finding his uncle weird at times. However, unbeknownst to Simba, Scar harbours hatred for him and never seemed to be even remotely interested in his stories, due to his jealousy of his nephew's royalty status as next in line for the throne. His hatred and jealousy are so strong that Scar has no hesitation to kill his own nephew, tricking Simba into going to the Elephant Graveyard so Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed can kill him. After this attempt failed, Scar led Simba into a deep gorge, where, with help from the hyenas, caused a stampede of wildebeests in the gorge to kill both Simba and Mufasa. When Simba survived, Scar cruelly took advantage of his young nephew's grief over losing his father into believing that Mufasa's death was Simba's own fault and further enforced guilt trip on Simba to convince him to run away before ordering the hyenas to go and kill Simba again. Years later, after finding out Scar's tyranny and witnessed his uncle struck his mother, Simba lost all trace of his love for his uncle and challenged him. His hatred for his uncle intensified upon realizing that Scar was in fact the one who killed his father and deems his uncle undeserving to live after all of his deceit while ignoring his plea for mercy. Despite his hatred, Simba refuses to become like his uncle and still gave Scar a chance to surrender but exile him from Pride Lands forever, only fighting back when Scar refused to do so.

Years after Scar's death, Simba still hasn't forgotten how Scar ruined his life and swore to spare his family and the Pride Lands from another such tragedy. His hatred for Scar still persists that extended to the Outsiders, the group that consists of Scar's loyal followers. Simba was especially distrustful of Kovu, who not only bears striking resemblance to Scar but was also personally handpicked by the latter to become his successor. However, it is implied that maybe Simba is trying to forgive his uncle for his actions because when he takes a walk with Kovu, he simply says that Scar couldn't let go of his hate and in the end, it destroyed him. In the end, with help from his daughter Kiara, Simba is able to let go of his hatred for Scar’s followers and welcomes them back into the Pride Lands with open arms, including Kovu. While it is unknown if Simba has let go of his hatred for Scar himself, he is no longer controlled by his hatred for his uncle and has since put his tragic past behind him so that peace and a better life may come for him, his family, and his kingdom. It is also worth noting that by accepting Kovu, Scar’s heir and adopted son, as his son-in-law and future successor Simba, in the end, has knowingly fulfilled his uncle’s dying wish.

Kiara

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Simba and Kiara.

Kiara is Simba's daughter. They have a loving father-daughter relationship. Simba, like any father, tries his best to protect Kiara, but the headstrong lioness, like any daughter, doesn't always heed his orders, shown to stray from the path that her father marked for her and even entering the Outlands even after Simba warning her about it. As Kiara reminds him of when he was young, Simba became overprotective of Kiara, resulting in him sending Timon and Pumbaa to watch over her and immediately disapproved of her friendship with Kovu is an Outsider.

Simba's overprotectiveness still remains even after Kiara reached adolescence, still seeing her as a little girl that needs a constant watch that he secretly sent Pumbaa and Timon to watch her first hunt even though he had promised her he'll let her go alone. Simba even forbids her to go on anymore hunts when Kiara nearly died in a brush fire set by Vitani and Nuka, Kovu's siblings. He became more worried after Kiara starts spending more time with and fell for Kovu who has joined their pride as he is distrustful of Kovu due to his status as Scar's heir. When Simba nearly got killed due to a trap set by Zira that Kovu was unaware of, Simba forbade Kiara from so much as leaving his sight, insisting this is for the sake of protecting her from Kovu (who he believed only using Kiara to get to him) to the point he refused to even listen to her plea. Only after Kiara, together with Kovu, stopped the battle between them and the Outsiders and help Simba realized that the Outsiders are no different from them that Simba was finally able to fully reconcile with his daughter and accepts that she's old enough to become self-sufficient and make her own decisions.

In The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar, Simba and Kiara have a close father-daughter relationship with Simba lecturing Kiara about being future Queen.

Kion

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Simba and Kion.

Simba has a good and loving father-son relationship with his son, Kion. In The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar, Simba becomes annoyed with Kion when he and Bunga unintentionally disrupt his lecture with Kiara and end up having to separate his two children when they argue. When Rafiki declares that Kion is ready to lead the Lion Guard, Simba is at first worried about this, thinking that due to Kion being a cub, he is not ready. But changes his mind when Nala encourages him to listen to Rafiki.

After seeing that Kion has chosen Bunga, Beshte, Fuli and Ono to be part of The Lion Guard, Simba is not pleased. He tells his son that the Lion Guard has always been made up of lions and scolds Kion for treating his role of leader as a game and tells him to take his responsibilities seriously as Kiara does with hers, however in truth, he is taking his duties as the leader of the Lion Guard very seriously.

However after Kion and the Lion Guard save Kiara from a gazelle stampede and chase away Janja and his clan, Simba realizes that Kion was wise to have chosen who he chose and expresses pride in his son and accepts the new Lion Guard. Ever since then, Simba has helped Kion defend the Pride Lands, as seen when he helped Kion defeat Reirei and her jackal family, and, he even leads the guard temporarily while Kion was away.

Although Simba is protective of Kion, it is never to the point of being overprotective, like Simba is with Kiara. This is most likely because Kion is more sitckler to the rules.

Friends and Allies

Timon and Pumbaa

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Simba with Timon and Pumbaa.

Timon and Pumbaa have been Simba's best friends ever since he ran away after his father's death. As Timon and Pumbaa saved his life, Simba is understanding enough to refrain from eating other animals and properly follows the Hakuna Matata motto that they taught him. He enjoys his times with Timon and Pumbaa, participating in their various activities in which some of them were competitions where Simba, according to Timon, holds the record of the world's "longest bug belch", as well as beating both of them in various bug-eating contests (Slug Swallowing, Cricket Crunching, Grub Gulping, Maggot Munching, and the shown Snail Slurping). As a cub, Simba thought of Timon as a surrogate father figure and looked up to him a lot, while he saw Pumbaa as the uncle he never had in comparison to Scar. In return, Timon and Pumbaa also considered Simba when he was a cub as their son, worrying for him as a parent does to their child. In The Lion Guard episode "Bunga and the King", they affectionally refer Simba as their "baby".

As gratitude for saving him out in the desert, Simba also decided to repay them by protecting them from danger, protecting them from Nala when she tried to eat them. When Simba went back to Pride Rock to save the Pride Lands from Scar's Tyranny, Timon and Pumbaa also loyally fought alongside Simba and Simba was again grateful to them for helping him (in the third film, when they bowed respectfully to him, he hugged them, and claimed that he couldn't have done it without them). While Simba is King, Timon and Pumbaa are his bodyguards and are often tasked by him to look after Kiara.

Rafiki

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Simba with Rafiki.

When he first interacted with Rafiki, Simba found him to be mildly annoying, most likely not remembering that Rafiki was the same baboon that anointed him at birth. After he helped Simba with his identity crisis and helping him in the fight against the hyenas, Simba began to regard Rafiki as a friend and ally, playfully hugging him tight when the baboon bowed down to him as the new king. When Simba exiles Kovu, he sighs very sadly that Simba defied his father's paw prints.

Zazu

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Simba with Zazu

As a cub, Simba had the habit of teasing Zazu and ditching him whenever he was asked by Sarabi to accompany him and his best friend, Nala on their adventures, much to Zazu's dismay. As an adult and king after overthrowing Scar, Simba became more professional with Zazu, who like for Mufasa, serves as the majordomo of the Pride Lands with the exception of babysitting Kiara, which was the job of Timon and Pumbaa. As he did with Mufasa, Zazu respects Simba and takes the duty given by him seriously. He also feels responsible for the safety of Simba's son, Kion out of respect for Simba.

Bunga

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Simba and Bunga.

Simba initially had a rocky relationship with Bunga. He found Bunga annoying due to his tendency to act first without thinking through properly and Bunga's lack of respect for him because the honey badger sees him more as his best friend's father instead of his king, but still Simba looking out for him since Bunga is his subject and his son's best friend. However, Simba's relationship with Bunga became better after they found common ground in the Hakuna Matata philosophy since they're raised by Timon and Pumbaa, which makes them some sort of foster brothers. From then on, they consider each other as brothers, though in Simba's case, Bunga can be an annoying younger brother at times.

Kovu

Simba discovers that Kovu is good

Simba and Kovu.

Since Kovu was the son of Zira, his enemy in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride and Scar's chosen heir, at first he saw Kovu as untrustworthy and an enemy, yet, when an adolescent Kovu saved his daughter, Simba was forced to repay his debt by accepting him and reserving any judgment. Later, when Simba took Kovu out for a walk and talked to him Scar's story, it seems Simba has begun to accept him, but when the Outsiders attack him with Zira implying that Kovu was the one to lure him, all trust Simba had for him vanished, and now saw Kovu as a traitor all over again.

When Kovu tried to speak for himself in order to deny any connection with the ambush and asking for forgiveness, Simba banished him, in spite of Kiara's protests, while stating that Kovu is following in Scar's paw prints and that he himself must "follow" in his own father's paw prints. In the end, when he sees Kiara and Kovu together, he apologizes to Kovu for (arrogantly/wrongfully) banishing him and accepts him, along with the other Outsiders, to the Pride Lands. He also watches Kovu and Kiara as Rafiki blesses them. Roaring with him on the top of Pride Rock, alongside Nala and Kiara.

Beshte, Fuli And Ono

Simba becomes good friends with all of the members of the Lion Guard. In "The Trail to Udugu" when Kion goes with Kiara to find Udugu Simba takes his place and becomes the leader for one day. Simba finds out how Kion's team works. Simba is very proud and knows that they can take care of the Pride Lands.

Hadithi

Simba and Hadithi are good friends. Simba was happy to see Hadithi back in the Pride Lands. In "Battle for the Pride Lands" Hadithi helps Simba off of Pride Rock when it's on fire.

Ma Tembo

Simba and Ma Tembo are good friends. Simba attends her father Aminifu funeral. When Scar came back Ma Tembo wasn't happy that Simba didn't tell the Pridelanders. She understood why he didn't tell them and stayed in the Pride Lands.

Acquaintances

Makuu

When Makuu became the new leader of the crocodile Simba's son Kion didn't trust him. Simba invited Makuu to the Savannah Summit. The two become on good terms in the end.

Anga

Anga and Simba are on good terms. She joins the Lion Guard in battle against Scar's Army.

Jasiri

Simba and Jasiri are on good terms. She joins the Lion Guard in battle against Scar's Army.

Janja's Clan

Simba used to hate Janja's Clan since they were on Scar's side. When Scar betrays the hyenas they tell Kion and Simba how to defeat Scar. They even help out in the final battle against Scar.

Romance

Nala

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Simba and Nala.

Simba's best friend since they were cubs, the two 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. Simba and Nala nearly died when the hyenas were after them they were trapped. Simba let out a feeble roar, but then, Simba and Nala were saved by Mufasa. Nala was heartbroken when Scar claimed that Simba died with Mufasa in the wildebeest stampede. As young adults, Nala was the lioness who brought Simba back to Pride Rock to put an end to Scar's tyranny. In the midst of all this, they finally realized their friendship had grown into a romantic relationship, and eventually marriage as originally intended. As mature adults, Simba and Nala continue their loving relationship, ruling the Pride Lands as King and Queen and raising their two cubs Kiara and Kion. As the Queen of Pride Rock, Nala often acts as a voice of reason for Simba, trying to get him to see the light when his protective judgment get the best of him.

Enemies

Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed

Simba and the hyena trio are enemies. They have made several attempts on his life; however, all of them have ended in failure. After Scar is killed by the hyenas, even though then they have stopped being loyal to Scar, it is assumed that the hyenas remained enemies with Simba, as they are not shown together in the sequel, on account of the hyenas not appearing, and in The Lion Guard, their descendants are constantly driven out of the Pride Lands by the Lion Guard.

Zira

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Simba and Zira.

Zira is another one of Simba's greatest enemies. He banished her and her pride to the Outlands due to their worship for Scar, threatening a harsh punishment should they return. When the outsiders came to the Pride Lands for an attack, Simba gave Zira a final chance to surrender and return to the Outlands, however, Zira refused and attacked anyways. The two lions were about to engage in a potentially bloody battle when Kiara and Kovu intervened. While Simba was ready to call off the war and allow the outsiders to return to the Pride Lands, Zira still wanted to kill Simba to avenge Scar. Simba tried reasoning with her, but Zira refuses, which, like Scar, ultimately leads to her death.

Kiburi

Ushari tells Kiburi that if he can take down Simba he can rule the Pride Lands. Ono spotted their scheme and the guard stopped them. Simba banished Kiburi and his followers to the Outlands. Kiburi joins Scar's side and fights against the Pride Landers.

Reirei

During the Kupatana Celebration, Reirei and her pack tried to eat the animals. Simba roars at them and they run away.

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