Scar

Scar  is the main antagonist of Disney's 32nd animated feature film, The Lion King. He is Mufasa's envious younger brother and the uncle of Simba. Scar's desire to rule Pride Rock drives him to enact a plot to kill both his brother and nephew to leave himself the sole royal in line for the throne.

He was voiced by Jeremy Irons (who also portrays Randall Bragg and Simon Gruber) in the original film, Jim Cummings in the 1998 sequel, and was portrayed by John Vickery in the musical adaption.

Backstory
According to A Tale of Two Brothers, Scar was given the name "Taka" which is Swahili for "dirt" or "trash" as the younger son of Ahadi and Uru. His older brother Mufasa was chosen to be king over him, a decision which caused Taka much sadness and distanced him from his father and older brother. Over time, Taka came to resent Ahadi for favoring Mufasa and for choosing kingly duties over spending time with his sons.

One day, Taka went on a patrol with his father and older brother. While patrolling the Pride Lands, the three ran into Rafiki, a traveling baboon who was being plagued by the hyena trio until he was saved by Ahadi, alongside his two sons Mufasa and Taka. After the departure of the hyenas, Ahadi welcomed Rafiki into the Pride Lands and let him spend the night at Pride Rock. After Taka commented that they should have let the baboon die, when Mufasa stayed by his father's side throughout the ordeal, Taka wandered off, feeling unconcerned with his father's doings.

Later that night, Taka set a cobra on Mufasa, hoping to kill his brother in his sleep, but Rafiki thwarted the plan. The following day, after the attempted murder Ahadi had planned to take his sons out hunting, but a group of angry Pridelanders had stalled him, and he was forced to cut the hunting trip short a change of events which that does not settle well with Taka. Though Mufasa understood why his father had made that decision, Taka reacted with outrage and accused his father of always finding other things to do when they were supposed to spend time together. In answer to his son's protests, Ahadi attempted to explain that Mufasa understood the pressures of ruling a kingdom, but Taka's temper only flared, and he accused Ahadi for favoring Mufasa. Despite the young lion's animosity, Ahadi decided to pursue his kingly duties, by leaving Taka alone to hunt with Mufasa.

Before the hunt, Taka plotted with the hyenas to get his brother in trouble with Ahadi so that their father might have second thoughts about Mufasa becoming king. Once he agreed with the hyenas he lead Mufasa to a water hole, where an antagonist buffalo named Boma was hogging one of the only water sources left after the start of the drought, and when Mufasa attempted to reason with Boma, Taka roars with an ultimatum: and told Boma that, he's enforcing the Kings orders, telling him if he doesn't listen to him he will challenge Mufasa to a fight. Boma becomes enraged when he tricked Mufasa into angering him. When the buffalo began to chase Mufasa, Taka only laughed at his brother's fear until Boma's herd began to attack the young lion giving him his scar.

Just in time, Ahadi arrived to stop the attack and an unconscious Taka was taken back to Pride Rock, where Rafiki cared for him until he was patched up enough to speak. And Taka's eye was wounded from the buffalo herd and told him that it will never heal and he will carry a scar with him for the rest of his life. Once recovered, Taka was told by his father, that the scar he earned will serve as a reminder of his recklessness. When Mufasa asked his brother why he made Boma angry, Taka only admitted that he had wanted to embarrass Mufasa and get even with Ahadi for breaking his promise, and Ahadi warned his son, to keep his anger at bay. At first Taka was angry, but then Taka at last accepted his father's words, and asked to be called "Scar" from now on.

In his youth, Scar was tasked with leading the Lion Guard, and was gifted with a powerful roar called the Roar of the Elders by the Great Kings of the Past. Which when used he summoned the Great Kings of the Past, to roar along with him. However the power got to Scar's head, and he believed that with this power he should be the king instead of Mufasa. So planned to dethrone Mufasa, by using the Roar of the Elders. When the rest of the Lion Guard refused to help aid him in his plot, Scar destroyed them and thus lost his powers as the Roar of the Elders was not meant to be used for evil. In the years that followed the Lion Guard's downfall, Scar focused his life on striving for Mufasa's throne and continued to plot schemes with the hyenas to rule the Pride Lands.

The Lion King
In the original movie, Scar is first seen after the presentation of his nephew Simba, where he was confronted by Mufasa. After a brief argument between the two, Scar leaves. He later tricks Simba into going to the Elephant Graveyard so that Shenzi, Banzai and Ed will eat him, thus putting his plan into action; but before they can close in and kill them, Simba and his friend Nala are saved by Mufasa, who scares off the hyenas. It's then shown that Scar watched the whole thing on top, and he is angry that his plan had failed. He then sings his song "Be Prepared," revealing his intention to murder Mufasa and Simba and claim the throne to himself.

Scar then sets another trap for Simba by having him stay inside a canyon while Shenzi, Banzai and Ed chase wildebeests into the canyon, causing a stampede; but once again, Simba's saved by Mufasa. This time, however, Mufasa is injured and he winds up hanging onto the edge of a cliff. He looks up to see Scar and desperately begs for his help. Scar, seizing the opportunity presented by his brother's helplessness, grabs his brother with his claws and whispers, "Long live the King." Scar then hurls Mufasa off the cliff to his death. As Simba didn't see his uncle's action of throwing Mufasa, Scar manages to manipulate a devastated Simba into thinking Mufasa's death was his fault, and he tells him to run away and never return. The minute Simba is out of sight, Scar orders Shenzi, Banzai and Ed to kill him; but unknown to Scar, Simba escapes. Believing Simba to be dead, Scar takes over the throne to the Pride Lands and he lets the hyenas take over.

Though it would have seem that Scar has finally achieved his goal in becoming King of the Pride Lands and letting the hyenas hunt down whatever food they can, the Pride Lands start to grow barren due to over-hunting over the years, causing many herds of animals to wander off. A drought also has stricken the lands, and the animals (including the lions and hyenas) are complaining over the lack of food or water left for them to feed on. However, Scar completely ignores their pleas, as he still wishes to maintain his power of the lands.

However, Simba (who is now an adult) is talked into going back to Pride Rock to face Scar by his future mate Nala, Rafiki, and Mufasa's ghost. Simba arrives back at the Pride Lands to see Scar in the act of confronting Sarabi over the lack of food. Sarabi suggests that the entire pride must leave the Pride Lands to survive since there is nothing left, but Scar stubbornly refuses to leave his kingdom. After Sarabi unfavorably compares Scar to his late brother, Scar loses his temper and brutally strikes Sarabi. Furious, Simba confronts Scar, and Scar initially mistakes Simba for Mufasa himself before realizing his nephew survived. Simba confronts Scar and attempts to force him to resign the throne, but Scar manages to convince Simba into confessing about Mufasa's death. Scar backs Simba onto the edge of a cliff at the same time a rogue lightning bolt strikes the ground below and lights the surrounding area on fire. As Scar is about to throw Simba off, Scar reveals to him that he was the one who killed Mufasa. Hearing this, an angry Simba is motivated to jump up and pin Scar down, forcing him confess to Mufasa's murder. Scar has the hyenas attack Simba and a fierce battle ensues between the pride and the hyena clan. Scar uses the ensuing discord to attempt to escape, but Simba manages to corner him at the top of Pride Rock. Scar pleads for his life, blaming his evil plot on the hyenas (not knowing that Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed are overhearing, causing them to angrily back away).

However, not wanting to stoop to Scar's level, Simba refuses to kill Scar and instead tells him to leave the Pride Lands and never return (the same words that Scar said to Simba after Mufasa's death). Recoiling on this, Scar manages to ambush Simba by throwing burning embers into his face before attempting to kill him. The two engage in an intense fight, which ends with Simba managing to kick Scar off of Pride Rock to the ground below. Scar survives the fall and, as he struggles to his feet, the hyenas arrive. Scar greets his "friends" in a pleasant matter, but the hyenas are finally fed up with Scar's years of lies and treachery against them. Realizing that he is in danger, Scar desperately begs for his life to no avail as the hyenas close in on him and rip him apart before the flames rise up on all of them.

The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride
In the 1998 sequel, it is revealed that Scar has a pride of lionessess known as the Outsiders (led by his most loyal follower Zira, the main antagonist of the sequel) who were banished to the Outlands for their loyal towards Scar. Also, Zira believes that Simba is responsible for Scar's death (unaware that the hyenas, not Simba, are the ones responsible for Scar's death) and plots to engineer Simba's downfall so that she can have her son Kovutake over as the new King. It was also revealed by Nuka that Scar had took Kovu into his inner circle and chose the young cub to be his successor before he died. However when becoming a young adult, Kovu has a change of heart after falling in love with Simba's daughter Kiara, and soon learned about the truth about Scar's death from Simba. In the final battle between the Pridelanders and Outsiders, Kiara convinced the Outsiders to give up their grudge against the Pridelanders, except for Zira, who ends up falling to her death on the same gorge after her failed attempt to kill Simba. Despite Zira's death, both her and Scar's plan to have Kovu as their successor is most likely to succeed, but not in the way as they expected as Kovu wants to carry on Mufasa's legacy, inspiring a touched Simba to accept Kovu as his new son-in-law and future successor.

Other than that, Scar also made two cameo appearances in the sequel: the first is when Simba has a nightmare about Scar's betrayal and murder of Mufasa, and the second is when Kovu looks into a water hole at one point his reflection changes to that of an angry Scar following his exile.

The Lion King 1 1/2
In the 2004 midquel, Scar made a few non-speaking cameo appearances, as the story shows the view points of Timon and Pumbaa while Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed take on the role as the main antagonists. Scar's first appearance is when he cornered Simba at the cliff of Pride Rock before the battle began. He is later seen being chased by Simba across the peak of Pride Rock, and he is last seen tumbling over the edge of the cliff after being defeated by Simba before his death by the jaws of the hyenas. Upon seeing Scar fall, Pumbaa says, "I think Scar is down and out!"

The Lion Guard
In the pilot movie, The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar, Simba's second born cub, Kion, is told that Scar was once leader of the Lion Guard, himself, though this would meet a disastrous end. As such, Kion desperately makes an effort to refrain from misusing his gift and becoming a dark figure in the vain of his great-uncle.

In The Rise of Scar, a hyena named Janja tires of living under the harsh conditions of the Outlands, but refuses to accept the fact that he and the other hyenas only reside there because they selfishly refuse to adhere to the laws set by the Circle of Life. Instead, they want to eliminate Kion but each of their attempts have failed. A snake named Ushari claims that the secret to Kion's success is his ability to talk to the Great Kings of the Past, more specifically Mufasa. This gives them the idea to find a way to summon the only lion that's ever sided with the hyenas: Scar. Under Scar's authority, they hope to eliminate Kion and create a new order amongst the Pride Lands that gives them freedom to devour as much as they want. By using both the combined powers of Kion's roar and Makini's magical bakora staff, Janja and Ushari successfully manage to summon Scar's spirit, manifested in lava and fire. With him reinvigorated, Scar begins to get revenge against Simba and overthrow him as the king. Meanwhile, Scar plots to gather all the animals in the Outlands to create a new legion of followers. With an army of henchmen at his disposal once more, Scar seeks to ignite a hostile takeover of the Pride Lands and reclaim the kingdom as his own domain.

Trivia

 * Scar’s song in the original film, ‘Be Prepared’ is the 2nd best villain song of Disney.


 * According to the French, Scar is the only character who is not from Swahili, but from English.
 * Scar is amongst one of the darkest villains of Disney.
 * Scar is notable for being voiced by Jeremy Irons and animated by Andreas Deja (who also animated Jafar, Alameda Slim, Dr. Frankenollie, and Gaston).
 * In Disney's Hercules, the Nemean Lion that Hades sends to fight Hercules looked so noticeably similar to Scar, additionally, after Hercules kills the beast and turns it into a skin, it looks exactly like Scar. Considering that Andreas Deja was the lead animator of the film, this cameo was likely a reference to his previous work. However, it's also a reference to Zazu's joke that Scar could be a perfect throw rug.
 * Scar's character is loosely based on Claudius from the Shakespearean play Hamlet; both are the uncle of the main character, and both kill their brother, the main character's father, in order to rule over a land originally ruled over by said brother. This is part in due to the various parallels The Lion King shares with Hamlet. However, unlike Claudius, who seems to hold some regret over killing his brother, Scar holds no guilt over killing Mufasa. Also, unlike Hamlet (who kills Claudius to avenge his father's death), Simba refuses to kill Scar (as he doesn't want to be like him).
 * Scar is also based on real-life dictator Adolf Hitler; the scene where Scar is over looking his hyena army mimics the scene where Hitler over looks his army and stretches out his hand over them.
 * Interestingly enough though Scar is not present most of the time in the sequel and prequel films he still has an important part to play in their stories.
 * It is said that there is no blood relation between Scar and Kovu, who appeared in "The Lion King II: Simba's Pride", so there is no blood relation between Kovu and Kiara. However Nuka mentions that Scar took Kovu in before he died.
 * In an earlier draft for The Lion King, Scar was originally a baboon as the plot of the film would have been about a battle between lions and baboons.
 * In an early script for The Lion King, Scar was a rogue lion who was never related to Mufasa and Simba. However, this was changed after the writers decided later in production that the threat should come from within the family for a bigger impact on the characters.
 * Scar was originally going to reveal his alligence with the hyenas to the pride some years into his reign instead of straight after becoming king.
 * In the early drafts of The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Scar "was" meant to be Kovu's father. However, this was changed as this would have made Kovu and Kiara's relationship incestuous as they would have been second cousins.
 * Before Jeremy Irons was cast, actors such as Malcolm McDowell and Tim Curry were considered for the role.