Whatever Happen to Scar?

Arguably one of the most compelling villains Disney came up with over the last twenty or so years has to be Scar from “The Lion King”.  Voiced by Jeremy Irons and Jim Cummings in the film, the character was the epitome of underhanded evil and deceit.  But just where did all this come from, what is this character’s history?

Scar was born Taka, the second son of King Ahadi, it was pretty much accepted that since Mufasa was stronger, braver, and wiser, that Taka would never be king.  Plus, Mufasa was older and the first born is always next in succession for the throne.  Taka was not out of the loop entirely though, being the second born he had access to the Roar of Elders and lead the Lion Guard, which were essentially the Delta Force for the lion pride.  They were the bravest, the strongest, the fastest, the keenest of sight, and were traditionally led by the second born lion prince.

Using his incredible power and his fighting force, Taka battled in the name of the Pride Lands, however he saw this as an opportunity to usurp Mufasa’s power.  The rest of the Lion Guard disagreed and stood against Taka in battle, resulting in Taka eliminating them with the Roar of Elders.  This abuse of his power cost him the Roar of Elders and the ability would pass into legend until Simba’s second cub was born.

The battle left Taka with a scar, which he now used to identify himself, presenting it as a badge of honor and re-naming himself “Scar”.

This leads us into “The Lion King” proper, where the story picks up with Simba being presented to the Pride Lands.  Simba’s birth took Scar completely out of the running for kingship, which he did not take lightly.  He assembled an army of hyenas and orchestrated Mufasa’s death.

This is where Scar stands out against other Disney villains, as Scar actively kills Mufasa on screen, where others previously arranged circumstances and situations that would lead to someone’s death.  Scar throws Mufasa off a cliff into a stamped.  The event devastates young Simba and Scar convinces him to flee into exile, citing him as the cause of Mufasa’s death.  He then dispatches three hyenas after him, but they fail to kill him, content with him in exile.

Scar takes over the Pride Lands, but his rule sends the land into ruin and desolation because he forces the lionesses to over hunt.  This is actually a scientifically valid situation, as when you have a predatory force that is over taxing a population, it can lead to ruin in the landscape itself.  As things come to a head for Scar and the situation is dire, Simba returns and confronts his uncle.

During the battle, Scar reveals that he caused Mufasa’s death, not Simba, and the pride turns against him.  He falls from a cliff and into the clutches of the hyenas.

Here is where things get, theoretical, because that’s not the last we see of old Scar.

                It’s at this point we have to use a little bit of deductive reasoning to determine what happened to him, but its sufficient to say he probably didn’t stick around Africa, either in the Pride Lands or the Outlands, because he simply wasn’t welcomed.  The next time we see anything that remotely looks like Scar in Disney cannon is in “Hercules” where it’s heavily implied that he is the Nemean Lion, but then the movie doesn’t make that 100% clear.  When we see Hercules battling a lion, it’s a massive beast as seen below.

 

Note that this creature lacks a facial scar, which is pretty definitive for Scar.  But later we are treated to this little Easter Egg:

 

 

Now that is certainly Scar.  But does that mean that Scar is the Nemean Lion? Not necessarily, but it could mean that Scar is a lion of mythic proportions.

 

The story of the Nemean Lion is as follows: There was a vicious lion that was kidnapping women and holding them hostage in a cave.  When heroes could come to rescue said women they were lured into the cave by a woman lying on her side apparently injured.  When they got too close, the woman “turned into a lion” and killed them, offering their bones to Hades as tribute.

We actually don’t need to get into a lot of magic to make this make sense, we just need to understand that this creature:

 

Probably isn’t the creature from the story.  It’s way too big and doesn’t look at all like it would need to lure anyone into a trap for anything.  This looks more like the lion of Cithaeron, a far less famous tale, but one about a lion that was devastating herds and flocks and met its end against Hercules’ brute strength.  That story matches much better with what we see in that image.

The Nemean Lion relied on trickery to accomplish its goals, and feared death so much that it needed to make a deal with him to stay alive.  That’s sounds more like Scar’s methodology.  Plus, with almost mocha fur and a very dark, almost black mane, Scar laying on his side in the dark would certainly fit the silhouette of a woman lying on her side.

But there’s a few things wrong with this.  1) The Nemean Lion is said to have impenetrable skin, able to be cut only by his own claws.  And 2) if you take into consideration that Disney suggests that the Pride Lands are in Tanzania, then Scar would have to travel almost the length of Africa, and cross the Mediterranean to get to Nemea.  Take a look at the map below.

 

That’s quite a jaunt for a lone lion, unless that lion was more than just a lion.  Going back to Scar’s family line and what we know they can do, the male lions of Pride Rock seem to have almost supernatural abilities.  Yes, we said that overhunting can cause landscape changes, but the speed at which we see the Pride Lands change back is beyond natural.  Further, there’s that Roar of Elder’s thing.  That’s certainly otherworldly.  But finally let’s look at what we don’t see.  We don’t see any male lions of Pride Rock hurt by anything other than blunt force trauma, as in Mufasa falling and being trampled, and another male lion’s claws.  Even Simba defies all expectations by surviving the trek across the outlands into a lush green jungle, a trip that probably would have killed any conventional cub.

Suddenly a supernatural lion traveling a distance of 9,631.5 kilometers or 5,984 miles doesn’t seem so farfetched.  This averages out to a trip of about 80 days or about 2 ½ months.  Completely do able.

Getting across the Mediterranean would simply be a matter of stowing away on a ship, since this is ancient Greece were talking and the shipping business was in full swing.

So there you have it, Scar was born in Tanzania, migrated north, and was killed by Hercules.