| “ | Long live the king! | „ |
| ~ Scar showing his true nature to Mufasa before throwing him off the side of the gorge to the stampede below to his death - his most famous quote. |
Askari, better known as Scar is the main antagonist of Disney's The Lion King franchise. He is Simba's uncle and arch-nemesis, Kion and Kiara's grand-uncle, Mufasa's younger brother and arch-rival, Shenzi, Banzai and Ed's former leader and boss and also of his army, he’s also the leader of Ushari and Zira's idol.
He was voiced by Jeremy Irons, while his singing voice at the end of "Be Prepared" was done by Jim Cummings (who also voiced Dr. Robotnik in Sonic SatAM, Gillecomgain in Gargoyles, Steele in Balto, Rasputin's singing voice in Anastasia, Jacques in Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, Fusilli in Courage the Cowardly Dog, Budzo in Zambezia and Hadrian in Minecraft: Story Mode), and by David Oyelowo in The Lion Guard. In the stage play, he was portrayed by John Vickery.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?
Past
- In The Lion Guard, it was mentioned by Scar that he was once the Lion Guard's most fiercest and did usual patrols on his own, meaning there was a time he was on the side of good and is even implied that he was once a respected member of the guard. However, this is no longer the case as he eventually became more villainous. Even as the leader, he was quite arrogant, preferring to go out on patrols all alone instead of with them and always expecting to be praised for his actions, showing little to no respect for his teammates. This contrasts him with his great-nephew and successor, Kion, who was humble with his duty, worked with his teammates, and treated them as equals.
- Though the venom in his scar may have influenced his evil nature, Scar was already proven to be envious and power-hungry before being infected as he was willing to work with another lion to overthrow Mufasa as king due to his jealousy. There's also the fact that unlike Kion, Scar didn't seek any treatment for the venom that was infecting him and allowed himself to fall into depravity. Furthermore, while Kion became prone to anger, he didn’t turn toward what Scar did and showed remorse each time his temper flared, showing that he became that way by choice.
- Grew to completely despise his brother for seemingly mocking him by nicknaming him what he would be famously called. While his anger towards Mufasa’s remark is reasonable, it doesn't excuse his desire to kill him regardless.
- Used the Roar of the Elders to kill the other Lion Guard members for not wanting to join him against Mufasa, which led to his loss of the roar, and subsequently somehow covered up the act. Afterwards, he continued to plot against his brother to take the throne.
The Lion King
- He hated his nephew Simba because he was Mufasa's son and therefore the heir to the throne. Because of this, he refused to join the ceremony for his birth.
- He was very abusive and potentially menacing towards Mufasa's majordomo, Zazu.
- Nearly swallowed him whole out of spite.
- Knocked him out either simply out of annoyance or pragmatically to prevent him from helping Simba and Mufasa during the wildebeest stampede.
- Imprisoned Zazu in a rib cage and forced him to sing songs.
- When the hyenas complained about the lack of food, Scar jokingly tells them to eat Zazu.
- Although Simba as a cub loved Scar and would tell him stories, he didn’t bother to listen and only pretended to be kind to manipulate the child for his needs or just to get him off his back.
- He tricked Simba into going to the Elephant Graveyard so that his hyena minions would try to eat him and didn't care once Nala was in danger as well, despite the fact that she wasn’t a threat to his plans of becoming king. Nala's involvement showed he generally despised all cubs and doesn't care if they end up as collaterals in his schemes.
- He abuses the hyenas throughout him singing “Be Prepared” and seemingly kills one of them by forcing him through a crack of lava to set a point.
- He tricked Simba again into staying in a gorge where he created a stampede of wildebeests and told Mufasa about it so that they both would get trampled to death. Even as Mufasa pleaded for Scar to help him up, he sends him to his death by tossing him back into the stampede. Afterwards, he gaslighted Simba into believing he was responsible for Mufasa's death and telling him to run away and never come back before ordering the hyenas to kill him. Unknown to him, Simba had escaped and he didn’t find out until after he grew up and returned.
- After becoming king, he nearly destroyed the Pride Lands by breaking the Circle of Life, causing damage and death to spread beyond the horizon, including the whole ecosystem. He showed no concern for his pride's well-being and didn't even care that the hyenas were starving, despite promising them earlier an endless supply of food, further showing that he doesn't care for them. He threatened anyone who mentioned Mufasa's name in his presence, especially those who compared his older brother unfavorably to him.
- In a deleted scene, which was later adapted into the stage play, he tried to rape Nala so he could create a legacy with his own children. He also had anyone who questioned his leadership sentenced to death.
- When Sarabi tried to convince Scar that their pride will have to leave Pride Rock in order to survive, he refuses despite knowing they (and himself) would eventually starve to death and assaults Sarabi for comparing him to Mufasa. Upon learning that Simba is still alive and wanting to claim the throne, he kept him from fighting back by continuing to put blame on him for Mufasa's death and attempts to kill him the same way he did his brother but not before bragging to Simba about having done it, which led to him exposing him in retaliation.
- He is also a coward:
- He attempted to shift the blame onto the hyenas when cornered by Simba, effectively selling them out. He even hypocritically used the excuse that he is family to convince Simba to spare his life.
- After Simba chose not to kill Scar and instead send him into exile, he attacked him by pretending to walk away before throwing burning embers into his eyes so he would have the advantage.
- When cornered by the hyenas, who overheard his words, he attempted to talk his way out of it, once again begging for his life as he was about to get eaten alive in a very gruesome manner.
- Though he does have some comedic moments, his actions are still played completely seriously in-universe.
- While he can act nice and polite, its invariably completely phony and passive-aggressive and/or a trick to get what he wants.
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
- Has gained a legacy so bad that all the Pridelanders, including new generations, hate and despise him for his deeds. This caused Kovu, who had nothing to do with Scar's actions, to be despised for simply being chosen as his heir. The song "Not One of Us" would be used to describe Kovu as another version of Scar with all the Pridelanders, saying Scar will never be forgiven for everything he did.
- He is responsible for Zira becoming the evil and abusive mother that she was towards her cubs as her whole point in life was avenging his death. Furthermore, his actions of corrupting Zira make him indirectly responsible for Nuka's death.
- His actions are implied to have caused Simba to be afflicted with post-traumatic stress disorder and make him overprotective of his daughter Kiara and almost turned him bad as well.
- Kovu's childhood was a result of Zira raising him to be like him, meaning Scar's actions affected Kovu as well. They also lead to Simba treating Kovu harshly as an outcast and banishing him after Zira lied that he was in on her plan and caused the Outsiders to want to take back Pride Rock due to the fact they would have starved in the Outlands.
The Lion Guard
- After he is successfully revived from the grave, he sends his army to turn the Pride Lands into chaos and unrest to reclaim it, announcing his plan to turn the Pride Lands into a wasteland as revenge for his defeat.
- He tried to have the Lion Guard killed many times, not caring that they are young children.
- He has become less forgiving of failure to the point where his whole army (except Ushari) fears him.
- He tricked Kiburi into trying to kill Simba by having him think he can rule the Pride Lands instead.
- He ordered Janja's clan to crush Beshte to death using boulders to eliminate the Lion Guard's Strongest and remove the melons from the Pride Lands as this will cause the elephants to become dehydrated as a result.
- He had Janja interrogate Zazu on Simba's weakness so that taking over Pride Rock would be easier for him.
- He ordered Janja and Reirei to kill Rafiki so the Pridelanders will not know that he returned, though they failed.
- He ordered Sumu to kill Simba and later tried to kill the Lion Guard at the volcano to let Simba die.
- He had Kilio Valley burned to the ground.
- Attempted to dry up the Pride Lands' water supply by sending his minions to block the river above Hakuna Matata Falls.
- Ordered his army to eliminate the Hyena Resistance led by Jasiri.
- Had Mizingo light up mud pots so that Kion, Bunga, Kiara, Tiifu, and Zuri will burn to death. It is noticeable that he tried to kill Tiifu and Zuri despite the two posing no threat to his plans.
- He tried to have his army trick a gorilla into causing chaos in the Pride Lands.
- He ordered the jackals to kill Dhahabu.
- When he met Simba again, he insulted him by calling him "naïve", reminding him how easily he fooled him in the past. He listed all the places in the Pride Lands that he took over before saying that all of the kingdom will belong to him once again. He almost caused the Pridelanders to run away in panic once he revealed himself to them.
- He attempted to kill Janja's Clan by burning them alive when the hyena thought of leaving him and joining Jasiri.
- He tried to trick Kion into using the Roar of the Elders on the volcano so it will cause an eruption that will devastate the Pride Lands and wipe out many animals in the process, including his own followers.
- He had Ushari scar Kion at his left eye, which is the same area Scar was given his scar, so that he could drive Kion into a path of evil as it happened to him. He even gloats to him that they are now the same people.
- Even when forgiven by Kion and being destroyed by the Great Kings of the Past, he tries to break his spirit by calling the Roar a "curse".
- Despite his death, Kion's scar would cause him to have a personality change and become more rude, meaning he and Ushari were indirectly responsible for the bad change in Kion's character, the formation of Makucha's Army and most of the events of the third season, and the Guard not being around to help stop Zira which in the long run ends with her and Nuka’s deaths.
External Links
- Scar on the Villains Wiki
- Scar on the Disney Wiki
- Scar on the The Lion King Wiki
- Scar on the The Lion Guard Wiki
- Scar on the Unpublished Villains Wiki
- Scar on the Wikipedia
 Pure Evils
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Animated Features See Also | ||
