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Long... live... THE KING! - Scar once saved his brother. Now, Scar decides to do what he clearly wishes he should've done.
| “ | Long... live... the KING!!! | „ |
| ~ Scar revealing his true nature to Mufasa before murdering him, and his most famous quote. |
From ZorLink21: Welcome to my fourth NPE Discussion, which has been on my mind for a good while now, but if it doesn't work out, then he stays on the VB wiki. This is a collaboration between me and JayAnimeLover201011, so big thanks to him. Permission for this proposal was granted by Snake Man 12.0 (who reserved this work previously) via Discord.
What's the work?[]
The Lion King is the 2019 live action adaptation of Disney's The Lion King franchise, directed by Jon Favreau and starring an ensemble cast, including Donald Glover, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, John Kani, John Oliver, Beyoncé, Alfre Woodard, and the late James Earl Jones (who returned as the voice of Mufasa for the final time).
Similar to the 1994 animated adaptation of the same name, The Lion King follows the tale of Simba, the son of King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi, and the next-in-line to become king of the Pride Lands. However, his chance to become king is taken when his uncle Scar decides to plot a scheme to murder Mufasa and Simba and become king himself, with Mufasa being successfully killed and Simba going into self-exile. However, the young lion eventually must embrace his role as the rightful king of the Pride Lands and take back his throne.
The film eventually received a prequel in 2024 known as Mufasa: The Lion King, which follows Rafiki telling the origin tale of Mufasa to Simba's daughter, Kiara. While the film focuses on Mufasa's journey to becoming the king of the Pride Lands, we also follow the journey of Taka, from his brotherly relationship with Mufasa to his inevitable transformation as the villainous Scar.
Who is Scar? What has he done?[]
Scar, formerly known as Taka in his youth, is the main antagonist of the live-action duology, being the deuteragonist of Mufasa and the main antagonist of The Lion King.
He was the son of the late Obasai and the late Eshe, the best friend and adopted younger brother of Mufasa, before becoming his arch-nemesis. He is also the uncle and arch-nemesis of Simba.
In contrast to his original counterpart, Scar is presented as a dark and serious character who doesn't possess the same humorous or endearing qualities as his animated counterpart did. In fact, his sarcasm and dry sense of humor are presented as bitter and malicious. However, he is also shown to be depicted in a somewhat sympathetic and tragic manner, as Mufasa: The Lion King goes to show him to be a rather decent fellow in the past, before he inevitably became a ruthless and remorseless villain.
Mufasa: The Lion King[]
Taka first appears in the scene where he meets Mufasa and casually warns him about a crocodile, and rushes to save him. When he succeeds, Mufasa meets Eshe, and reveals he is lost. They meet Obasi, who threatens to kill Mufasa unless he beats Taka in a race, as he is a stray. Taka lets him win, and the two go out. Taka then goes on to sing "I've Always Wanted a Brother", where he goes on to welcome Mufasa as family, defending him from any harassment and being proud to become king with Mufasa by his side.
In his next scene, he and Mufasa go on to do a prank on their pack, much to Obasi's anger. One day, he tails Mufasa and Eshe on a hunt, only to be ambushed by two white lions. Taka flees in fear, and is reprimanded by Obasi.
When their pride realizes that the outsiders are stronger than them, Taka and Mufasa are sent away for their own safety and to begin a new life. Before long, they reach a ravine and are ambushed by Kiros, who demands information on them regarding his son Shaju's death. Taka knocks them into the river below, and they are temporarily saved.
As they continue their journey, they encounter Sarabi, who had been following them for help, due to Kiros' pride having slaughtered hers earlier. Taka invites her to join them, remarking that he understood what losing everything is like, only for her to reveal Zazu as her scout and ask them not to eat him.
They later encounter Rafiki, who is also searching for Milele. He attempts to eat him, but Mufasa tells him not to and recruits Rafiki to lure them to Milele. On the way, Taka takes a liking to Sarabi and attempts to woo her, mentioning her valley's flowers.
They eventually reach a ravine, where the outsiders find them, and Sarabi knocks a beehive down to initiate a stampede, thus saving them. After which, they find themselves in some snowy mountains, where they have Zazu cover their tracks. Taka notices Mufasa and Sarabi bonding, and late, after singing "Brother Betrayed," he goes to Kiros, explaining how they covered their tracks and agrees to join him and lead him to Milele, claiming that because of Mufasa, he lacked a father, despite his previous hesitance to abandon him.
Eventually Taka rejoins our protagonists, stating he won't forget Mufasa's actions, and leaves a trail of claw marks for the Outsiders until they reach Milele. Kiros reveals Taka's treachery, leaving Mufasa heartbroken. Taka claims it was because Mufasa "stole" Obasi, Sarabi, and Eshe from him. However, seeing his brother in danger and remembering his mother's words, he later saves him from Kiros, gaining a scar in the process. The two brothers then confront Kiros together. When Mufasa confronts him, he states that while he is still allowed in the Pride Lands, Mufasa refuses to address him by his real name. This leads to Taka renaming himself to Scar so he would never forget his actions. Scar is then last seen in the movie with a glare towards Mufasa, before leaving in the darkness.
The Lion King (2019)[]
Scar's role in this movie is similar to his original incarnation. He is first seen toying with a mouse and attempting to eat it before Zazu arrives. He attempts to eat Zazu for interrupting his lunch, but Mufasa intervenes, informing him that he and Sarabi had noticed his absence at Simba's presentation. Scar makes a faux apology about it, claiming it slipped his mind but he (fakely) meant no disrespect towards him or Sarabi, claiming he has tremendous respect for the queen. Zazu states that Scar should have been first in line due to his familial relationship with Mufasa, to which he replies that he was until Simba was born, he attempts to leave, and reassures Mufasa that he would never dream of re-challenging him.
He is next seen telling Simba to return to his den as he doesn't babysit, though tells him about the Elephant Graveyard and what is it like, inciting the cub to go. When he and Nala survive, he teams up with the hyenas to form a scheme to kill Mufasa. He lures Simba to a gorge under the pretext that the cub must practice his roar, claiming Mufasa did the same thing when he was his age. He signals the hyenas and a stampede breaks out. He informs Mufasa of the stampede and orders Zazu to get the pride. When Mufasa saves Simba, he kills him by knocking him back into the gorge, where he is trampled to death by the wildebeests.
He notices Simba mourning and tries to "comfort" him before pinning the blame on him and telling him he must leave the Pride Lands permanently, before unleashing the Hyenas against him, an event which the cub barely survives. He returns to Pride Rock and announces his brother and nephew's deaths, claiming he hadn't reached the gorge in time, and takes over, allowing the hyenas in.
In his next scene, he offers to let Sarabi be his queen, hoping her acceptance will cause him to gain respect. When she refuses, he condemns the lionesses to starve by allowing the hyenas to eat before them, knowing they leave little behind. This causes Nala to attempt to escape Pride Rock, when Scar almost spots her. Luckily, she escapes with the help of Zazu. In his final scene, Scar continues to pressure Sarabi into being his queen, but she consistently refuses. He states he is 10x the king Mufasa was, and attacks her. When Simba intervenes and threatens to attack him, he states that he shouldn't as the hyenas support his kingship, but Nala and the other lionesses show that they would rather have Simba as king. Scar later tries to blame Simba for Mufasa's death, backing him to the edge of Pride Rock, and points out the similarity between this instance and Mufasa's final moments. When he confesses his crime to Simba, he is outed as the murderer when Sarabi points out that his statement of having seen the look in Mufasa's eyes contradicts his previous claim that he failed to reach the gorge in time.
A fight ensues, and after seeing his army be defeated, Scar attempts to escape, but is spotted by Simba, who chases him up to the summit. He begs Simba for mercy, and he attempts to blame the hyenas for his crimes, claiming he intended to kill them. Simba, obviously, doesn't buy this and sends Scar into exile, though Scar throws burning embers into Simba's eyes and attacks him, declaring that the Pride Lands are his kingdom. He is defeated and sent down, where his minions corner him, and reveal they overheard what he had said about them. Shenzi states that he was right about the fact that a hyena's belly is never full and sics her clan against Scar, leading to his death.
Mitigating Factors[]
Does He Have Redeeming Qualities?/Are They Too Severe?[]
Scar did start out with redeeming qualities in the prequel of the duology, such as saving Mufasa, caring for his mother, and loving Sarabi. He does subvert all but one of his redeeming qualities by the time of the 2019 film, as he kills Mufasa, thus subverting any and all care he had for him, and his inviting Sarabi to be his queen was purely so he could earn respect. Even if he did love her then (although that love was possibly twisted), he definitely subverts it by attacking her when she refuses to be his queen, fully intending to kill her, before Simba intervenes.
Overall, while he does subvert these redeeming qualities, it's still unconfirmed whether or not he still cares for his mother, but we'll get to that.
Does He Cross The Moral Event Horizon?[]
Yes. Without a doubt. Scar crosses the MEH four times.
- Firstly, he betrays Mufasa, agreeing to help Kiros find Milele, out of spite for Sarabi falling in love with his brother. While he does save Mufasa later on, the movie goes out of its way to show that Scar was of big assistance to Kiros and his pride, so we can't just let this slide.
- Secondly, he brutally murders Mufasa in a wildebeest stampede, scratching him in the face to make him lose his grip, and blames Simba for it, unleashing the hyenas against him afterwards.
- Thirdly, when Sarabi initially refuses to be his queen, he condemns the other lionesses to starve by spitefully allowing the hyenas to eat before the lionesses, knowing they don't leave much behind, all simply to spite Sarabi for her refusal.
- And finally, after Sarabi refuses to be his queen, he spitefully attacks her, intending to kill her, before Simba intervenes.
Does His Freudian Excuse Hold Up?[]
Absolutely not. His "excuse" for betraying Mufasa was merely because his brother "stole Sarabi from him", while the movie goes out of its way to show Sarabi chose to be with Mufasa of her own free will. And while he did have a neglectful father who was partially responsible for the bad qualities Scar possesses (mainly arrogance and deceit), this is rendered rather mute because Scar was shown to be capable of doing good, and yet, he chose the path of villainy, simply because of his resentment towards Mufasa and Simba, and failing to gain Sarabi's affections.
Is He Taken Seriously?[]
Initially, he was proven to be a comedic and sarcastic character in the prequel film. However, after the events of Mufasa: The Lion King, he is portrayed dead seriously, subverting any and all comedy. If anything, he is taken more seriously than his animated counterpart, who at least had some charm and humor (even though he began losing them in The Lion Guard).
Does He Pass the Heinous Standards?[]
Yes, big time. Although the heinous standards are quite high, especially in a remake of a classic original film, Scar still easily passes the heinous standards chart here.
Firstly, in order to secure his chance to become king, he tries to assassinate his nephew and murders his brother in cold blood, and during his reign, he brings the Pride Lands to ruin and abandons the lionesses to starve when Sarabi refuses to marry him. We even get to see the damage he has been doing to the Pride Lands and unlike his animated counterpart, he actually takes part in leading the hunts, and we even see him eating a deer, which he later allows the hyenas to finish. Speaking of which, there's also Scar's harassment towards Sarabi as it's clear that he wants to make Sarabi his by any means necessary and when refused, he'll punish her and the lionesses for her defiance. Eventually, he begins attacking Sarabi when she states that he is nothing compared to Mufasa. Afterwards, when Simba returns to reclaim his throne, Scar begins manipulating him and the lionesses, lying about him causing Mufasa's death and tormenting the poor lion. After being exposed as Mufasa's killer, he orders the hyena clan to kill off the lions. And in his last moments, he tries to kill Simba in order to ensure his control of the Pride Lands.
Speaking of heinousness, he (debatably) fails to Kiros, although we don't see this as the case due to Kiros leading a pride of lions while Scar only temporarily leads a pack of hyenas. The thing is, the live-action movie goes out of its way to show that lions can easily overpower hyenas, which is shown during the final fight, and even before this, Mufasa is shown to be capable of fighting an entire pack to save two cubs, while Kiros was able to slaughter Obasi's pride with his own, so we wouldn't say Kiros has similar resources to Scar.
What Prevents Him From Being Pure Evil?[]
While Scar has proven himself to be just as bad as his original counterpart (and in this case, possibly worse), there are some problems with Scar being completely pure evil, which is why he was removed from the pure evil territory in the first place.
Care for his mother[]
First off, there's no indication that he fully subverted his care for his mother, which is why he was cut from PE to begin with. Another thing is that in contrast to his animated counterpart, his backstory is portrayed sympathetically, as he genuinely loved Sarabi before attacking her, and was genuinely hurt when she chose Mufasa over him, even if he did subvert her love for her.
Heinousness[]
From ZorLink21: While we already brought up why he passes the heinous standards, whether or not he fails to Kiros is debatable given the resource difference, though I (personally) don't think he fails to Kiros at all given how much stronger than hyenas lions are shown to be in the duology, so I don't think comparing Scar to Kiros is fair in the slightest (In other words, I believe Scar's overall resources are inferior to Kiros'), but it's 100% alright if you disagree.
Severity[]
Of course, simply caring for someone is not too severe of a prevention, nor is his backstory. In fact, the 2019 movie goes out of its way to show that his backstory doesn't justify him destroying the Pride Lands or attacking Sarabi, so he definitely isn't too sympathetic. However, what remains unconfirmed is whether or not he still cares for his mother. Even if he does fail to Kiros, his actions regarding the Pride Lands do allow him to stand out given he would have left his whole pride to starve, and that the Pride Lands would have remained as a barren wasteland if Simba had not returned.
Conclusion[]
Not entirely sure ourselves, but as always, the decision is entirely up to y'all. Happy voting!