History

Scar is the younger of two sons of Ahadi, king of the Pride Lands. Scar was originally named Taka, but was renamed after he had received a scar. However, I’ll start at the beginning.

Even though Ahadi loved both of his sons, he chose the older and wiser Mufasa to be heir to the Pride Lands, and spent hours teaching Mufasa what he needed to know. Taka, in turn, most likely grew jealous of his older brother. Naturally, Ahadi would have spent more time with Mufasa while teaching him what he had to know. I can see Taka growing jealous and bitter while Mufasa received more attention than he did, while Taka thought he certainly wasn’t any less than his older brother was. The teenage lion only grew angrier after Ahadi broke his promise to go hunting with him to solve the drought problems within the savannah instead. Taka wandered off and talked to Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, who told him that if Mufasa looked like a fool, Taka would look good compared to his brother and would be able to take the throne. If Taka would be king, people would see him for what he truly was (Taka already had an overblown ego when he was merely a teenager XD).

Taka tricked Mufasa in trying to negotiate with a selfish cape buffalo named Boma, who refused to share the water (the Pride Lands were in drought, after all, so this was a problem). Boma became angry and began attacking Mufasa, but the older lion managed to escape. Taka’s plan backfired as he was attacked by Boma’s raging herd, resulting in a deep wound across his eye that left a permanent scar. Eventually, Taka was saved by none other than his father, and was renamed Scar as a reminder of his own foolishness.

Mufasa eventually took the throne of the Pride Lands and gave birth to his son, Simba. Still jealous and having the desire to be king, Scar realized he would never assume the throne he believed was rightfully his as long Simba was alive. It was then he plotted to assassinate his nephew, as it was only when his nephew perished that he could successfully claim the throne as his. To carry out his plans, Scar recruited Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, promising food in return. The hyenas, desperate at that time for something to eat, gladly did Scar’s bidding.

Scar had tricked the young Simba into going to the elephant graveyard where the hyenas lurked, but the plan had failed because of Mufasa interfering. After the failure, Scar realized both his brother and his nephew would need to be killed. In order to succeed in the assassination, he collected a full army of hyenas, promising they would never go hungry in the new era in which he would rule as a king.

After Scar had lured Simba into a gorge, he triggered a wildebeest stampede with the help of the hyenas. He proceeded to get Mufasa, alerting him of the situation in the gorge. Though the King managed to successfully save his son, Mufasa still wasn’t out of trouble. As he tried climbing out of the gorge in order to save himself, it was Scar who tossed his brother back within the stampede which resulted in the King’s death. If that wasn’t enough, Scar managed to convince Simba that everything was his fault and that he needed to flee. After Simba had ran, he ordered the hyenas to kill him, but unbeknownst to him the trio had failed as the cub escaped into the dessert.

With both his brother and nephew disposed of, Scar proceeded to take the throne of the Pride Lands, announcing a new era of hyenas and lions together. However, under Scar’s rule the lands became barren, void of both food and water. Both the lions and the hyenas began to doubt Scar, yet he wouldn’t hear any of it.

One day, an adult Simba returned to the Pride Lands, challenging Scar for the throne that rightfully belonged to him. However, Scar wasn’t very keen on giving up the throne for which he had worked so hard. He tricked Simba into telling the other lions that Mufasa was murdered by none other than his own son. Scar almost succeeded in disposing of Simba, but he made the mistake of telling his nephew who had really murdered Mufasa. In a fit of rage, Simba makes Scar admit it in front of the other lions. After that, a battle ensued with Scar escaping the scene. However, Simba followed him. Trapped on a cliff, Scar made another mistake; he attempted to put the blame on the hyenas, pleading for mercy. But the hyenas had followed as well, heard everything and left angrily. Simba didn’t believe Scar, but instead of killing him he banished him from the Pride Lands.

However, Scar made another mistake. He didn’t leave, as he managed to catch his nephew off guard. What followed was a battle, ending when Scar fell off the cliff they were on. Below awaited the hyenas, angry with Scar for trying to put the blame on them. Again, the lion tried to talk his way out of it, but failed as the hyenas proceeded to devour him entirely.

Even after his death, Scar had managed to leave a permanent scar (no pun intended) on the Pride Lands. There were still lionesses (like Zira) who were loyal to Scar’s cause, yet were banished to the Outlands, but also because Simba had a hard time putting his hatred for his uncle aside. Before his death, it’s strongly hinted that he’s the father of both Nuka and Vitani, so I’ll be going with that as well.

Taken from:
A day before Simba’s return to the Pride Lands, meaning he’ll be under the impression his nephew is dead and that he still has the throne in the Pride Lands.


Personality

Scar has an ego of tremendous proportions. He’s narcissistic with a capital N. However, I’m fairly sure others considered Mufasa much more important than Scar was, their father included. Mufasa received more attention than Scar did, because his older brother happened to be the heir. It’s only natural for Scar to grow jealous of his brother, thinking that he wasn’t any less than Mufasa. He became bitter and cynical, but also greedy. Perhaps Scar figured people that if he would be King, that’d he finally get the sort of attention and respect he rightfully deserved. However, his father saw it differently, and the younger lion had no choice but to live in his brother’s shadows.

And then Simba was born, meaning that any chance Scar would have of becoming King had gone right out of the window. I believe Scar was merely sick of living in his brother’s shadows. Scar wanted to be King, and he would make sure that he was going to take the throne. What can I conclude from these paragraphs? That he’s incredibly ambitious, and is quite willing to do everything only to get what he wants. He’s also willing to sit out his time, waiting for an opportunity to strike. He’s ambitious, but patient and an opportunist.

Also, Scar knows his strong and weak points. He knows quite well he lacks in physical strength, but he also knows his brains make up for it. He has a remarkably sharp brain in that skull of his, capable of devious cunning and manipulation to get others to do exactly what he wants. He is skilled with words, capable of earning someone’s trust easily; able to act nice when the need arises. He can act to be concerned for your well-being, while he really wants to have you killed. This makes him incredibly two-faced and unreliable. He can’t be trusted, though he’ll make sure to hide that little side of him. He can’t use people if they know of his nature, of course. I can see him holding up the facade during his stay in Landels Institute.

Needless to say, he’s pretty selfish. He considers himself the most important thing of all; he will do everything to make sure his own hide remains unharmed. Even if that means that others will get harmed in the process. He hardly takes others into consideration. I say hardly, because he knows he can’t use people when they’re dead. Not to say he’d risk his own neck for someone.

Scar also has a responsibility issue, as he doesn’t want to face any consequences of what he has done. He doesn’t like to take the blame for his actions. Why do that when putting the blame on someone else is so much easier? Another proof I have is the fact he had led the Pride Lands to ruin, but refused to hear any of it. Neither did he want to hear that his brother was a better King than he was. Of course Scar knew it, but knowing and acknowledging are two different terms. It is a foolish way of denial. Proof # 2 is that he tries to talk his way out of things when he’s cornered, trying to play on other people’s guilt. However, he learnt the hard way that it doesn’t always work. And then I have the most interesting proof of all; he seriously had an incredibly panicked reaction when he mistook Simba for Mufasa. I think Mufasa somehow symbolizes the ‘having to face the consequences of his actions’ thing, which Scar is trying to avoid.

Even though I went ahead and dug into some deeper sides of his personality, there’s always a surface. Though he’s two-faced, people that pay attention enough will be able to pick up the hints of sarcasm. After all, he is incredibly cynical. And as he’s the type to play with his food (both literally and figuratively), he won’t mind to try and entertain himself with certain types of people.

And as a foot note, he’s quickly angered and tends to hold-on to grudges. Also, Scar is capable of panicking and fear if he doesn’t know how to deal with the situation. His composure would shatter completely as he’ll reduce himself to pleading and begging. He has done that on a few occasions in the movie, and depending on the situations he’ll find himself in it will probably happen in Landels once in a while as well.

Physical Description

Scar, compared to other lions (especially compared to say, Mufasa), looks rather slender and lean. Even to the point one would find him skinny (at least I think he’s skinny). His face is also quite narrow compared to other lions. He has bright, green eyes with dark outlines, large whiskers and a mouth that seems to look best in either a sneer or a scowl. Also, his fur is much darker than that of the other lions. While his brother is of a much lighter, more golden color, Scar’s fur is brown, even though his muzzle (which also sports an extra tuft of hair which other lions don’t posses), his chest and his toes are of a lighter shade. As all male lions, he has manes, which are solid black. To match the manes, there’s a tuft of black hair on each elbow and on the end of his tail. Last but not least, he has a small scar over his left eye.

For his human form, I’d like to have as much the same as possible. He’ll have a lean, nearly skinny built compared to other men and a narrow face. A darker skin would be suitable to make up for his fur, and along with that he’ll have long black hair somewhat shaped like his manes were and a goatee (to match the tuft of hair on his chin XD). He’ll also have bright green, slightly cat-like eyes and a small scar over his left eye.

What I’d like to add to his new “human” form would be the way he’d carry himself. He is a feline, predator. I think it would be interesting if he were to retain some of his habits. It might look a bit odd on a human, but Scar’s not used to walking on two legs, after all. His voice would still sound the same. As I’m going with the English VA, he’ll have a slight British accent (don’t ask why a lion from Africa would have a British accent, I don’t know either |D).

Other

He is very intelligent. Though his senses are dampened they are still better than that of a human, and he still retains some of his animal instincts.