Simba

Simba is an adult male lion, the king of Pride Rock, and the only son of Mufasa and Sarabi. He is the mate of Nala, with whom he has two cubs: a daughter, Kiara, and a son, Kion.

Shortly after his birth, he was anointed future king and presented to the animals of the Pride Lands in a royal presentation ceremony. As the crown prince, he was raised to respect the Circle of Life by his father, Mufasa, and trained in the ways of an upright monarch. During this time, Simba's uncle, Scar, lured him into a wildebeest stampede and used the opportunity to kill Mufasa. Simba blamed himself for the death and exiled himself to the jungle, where he adopted a "Hakuna Matata" lifestyle with Timon and Pumbaa.

As an adult, Simba encountered his childhood friend, Nala, who begged him to return to the Pride Lands and reestablish his birthright as king. Retaining guilt over the death of his father, Simba refused. However, an encounter with his father's ghost prompted him to return home, where he found the Pride Lands in disarray under Scar's tyrannical rule. Along with the lionesses, Simba confronted Scar and engaged in a battle against his hyena minions. After defeating Scar, Simba ascended Pride Rock and established his place as king of the Pride Lands.

In the wake of Scar's death, Simba exiled those who were still loyal to Scar to the Outlands, where they fostered a grudge against the Pride Landers and the royal family. Despite the enmity between the two prides, Simba's daughter Kiara befriended an Outsider named Kovu, who had been Scar's heir before his untimely death. Simba begrudgingly allowed Kovu to stay with the pride, but after the leader of the Outsiders, Zira, framed Kovu for an Outsider ambush, Simba ended their agreement. With tensions high between the prides, the Outsiders and the Pride Landers met in battle on an open field until Kovu and Kiara arrived and implored their leaders to end the bloodshed. The Outsiders assented and switched sides, and Simba welcomed them back into the pride.

Biography
In 1994, a newborn Simba lies curled in his mother's paws. For the ceremony, Rafiki cracks open a gourd and makes a red mark on Simba's forehead, naming him the future king. He sprinkles sand on the newborn's head, making Simba sneeze, and then picks him up, presenting the cub to all the animals in the Pride Lands who are gathered to see him.

Simba soon grows into a lively, playful cub. He is the first to wake up one morning, coming to the edge of Pride Rock to see whether it is dawn yet. When he sees that the morning is approaching, Simba runs into the royal den, where all the lions are fast asleep. When he finds his parents asleep at the back, he starts to wake them up. He recalls that Mufasa had promised to show him the kingdom. Finally, Mufasa gets up. Simba happily scampers ahead of his parents, rubbing affectionately against his mother's leg before following his father to the summit. Simba and his father climb to the top of Pride Rock, where Mufasa explains to his son that everything the light touches is their kingdom. He goes on to say that after his passing, Simba will become the new king. The cub questions the "shadowy place," and Mufasa explains that it is beyond their borders, so he must never go there. As they go on a walk through the Pride Lands, Mufasa tells Simba about the Circle of Life, explaining that every living thing "from the crawling ant to the leaping antelope" is connected and exists together in a delicate balance. While they are walking, Zazu, Mufasa's majordomo, gives the king a morning report. Simba, bored, tries to practice pouncing. After some instruction from his father, Simba succeeds in pinning down Zazu. As Zazu is on his back, a mole pops up beneath him and informs Zazu and Mufasa that there are dangerous hyenas in the Pride Lands. Mufasa leaves to deal with the threat, forbidding Simba to come with him. Disappointed, Simba returns to Pride Rock to find his uncle Scar moping in the shadows. He gleefully informs Scar that he will one day be the king of Pride Rock, irritating Scar, who unenthusiastically tells Simba to forgive him for not leaping for joy, since he has a "bad back." He then flops down in depression, but Simba, unaware of why his uncle is in a bad mood, asks Scar what he will be once Simba is king. Scar replies, "A monkey's uncle," making Simba laugh. The cub tells his uncle that he is so weird, and Scar tells him that he has "no idea." Scar then asks Simba whether his father had showed him what lies beyond the northern border. Simba admits that he has been forbidden to go there, and Scar acts relieved, claiming that only the bravest lions go there. Objecting, Simba says that he's brave and demands to know what's out there. "Accidentally," Scar lets it slip that there is an elephant graveyard in the shadows, aware that Simba's curiosity will lead him there. Simba is excited at the prospect of an adventure but promises his uncle that he won't visit the graveyard. Leaving Scar, Simba goes to his best friend Nala, who is being bathed by her mother Sarafina, opposite Simba's own mother Sarabi. Simba tries to get Nala to accompany him somewhere without giving away the location of their adventure. When asked where they are headed by his mother, he lies, saying, "Around the Water Hole." Sarabi sends Zazu to accompany the cubs, much to their dismay.

On the way to the Water Hole, Zazu makes a nostalgic comment about how the two are "betrothed, intended, affianced," meaning that they are set to be mates and rule the Pride Lands together. Since they are just children, they find it weird. The duo then sing the song "I Just Can't Wait to be King", during which they lose Zazu. After losing track of Zazu, Simba brags to Nala, claiming that he is a genius for getting rid of Zazu. Nala opposes him, arguing that she deserves credit since she came up with the plan. Simba jumps on her to make her admit that he is the best, but she flips him onto his back, teasing him for getting pinned.

Simba tells her to let him go but then jumps on her again, and the cubs roll down a cliff. Nala again flips Simba, but then a geyser beside them shoots skyward, and they realize that they are in the Elephant Graveyard.

After the cubs make a quick exploration, Zazu catches up with them, though Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed soon show up. Simba tries to be brave in front of the hyenas, but, realizing the danger, he makes a frantic effort to escape, with the hyenas in hot pursuit. The cubs manage to get away from the hyenas, but Zazu is caught and thrown into a geyser. Simba and Nala come back to defend Zazu from the hyenas, and Simba tells the hyenas to fight someone their own size. Shenzi suggests that Simba is just the right size, and Simba realizes that he has overstepped his authority. It proves to be too late for the cubs, because the hyenas come for another attack. The cubs flee again and use the backbone of an elephant like a roller coaster that sends them flying from the hyenas. While climbing a mountain of bones, Nala slips, and Simba runs back to save her, swiping Shenzi in the face and helping Nala climb back to the top of the hill. The chase leads to Simba and Nala being cornered in a cave. Simba tries to protect Nala by making a roar to scare the hyenas away, but he is unsuccessful. Just then, Mufasa arrives and pins down the hyenas, who flee in fear. Simba approaches his father and tries to speak, but Mufasa interrupts, accusing Simba of deliberately disobeying him. Simba quietly apologizes, but Mufasa just says, "Let's go home." Simba follows him, bowing his head, as Nala whispers to him that she'd thought he'd been very brave.

En route to Pride Rock, Mufasa stops on their way through the savanna. Simba bows his head in the grass when he hears that Mufasa wants to speak with him. Zazu then comes to the cubs and says that he will take Nala home. Putting his wings on Simba's shoulders, he wishes him good luck. A little scared, Simba sends one last look at Nala, who leaves. Mufasa then calls Simba to come to him. Going to his father, Simba accidentally steps into his father's pawprint, realizing just how much bigger and wiser Mufasa is. Once by the king's side, Simba is admonished by his father, who expresses disappointment in him and anger that he'd disobeyed. Simba says that he had been trying to be brave like him, but Mufasa explains that even kings get scared, just as he had been that day because he'd almost lost Simba. No longer so scared, Simba jokes that the hyenas had been even more scared.

In response, Mufasa playfully says, "Because no one messes with your dad!" He then picks Simba up and gives him a playful noogie. After playing together under the sky, Mufasa tells Simba about the Great Kings of the Past, who are looking down on them from the stars. He reminds Simba that whenever he feels alone, the stars will always be there to guide him, as will Mufasa.

The next day, Scar, who had been planning to kill Mufasa and Simba in order to become king, takes Simba with him to the Gorge, saying that Mufasa has a "surprise" for him. Simba begs his uncle to tell him what it is, but Scar walks away after teasing him about practicing his "little roar." Unknown to Simba, Scar signals Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed to start a stampede of frightened wildebeests into the gorge below. While Simba practices his roar a little louder than usual, the wildebeests charge down the cliff face in the direction of Simba. Terrified, the young cub runs for his life. Meanwhile, Scar, pretending to be terrified and nervous, runs to Mufasa, panting that Simba is in the Gorge. Immediately, Mufasa rushes to the Gorge to save his son, who desperately manages to jump and cling on to a branch while the wildebeests thunder below him. While Mufasa fights through the stampede, one of the wildebeests collides with the branch and breaks it, sending Simba flying into the air. Mufasa leaps up to catch his son, but he drops him upon impact with one of the wildebeests. Becoming stuck in the stampede again, Simba dodges a few wildebeests before again being picked up by Mufasa, who then gets him to safety. Pulled back into the herd, Mufasa fights until he can throw himself onto a ledge, where he clings for dear life. Seeing this, Simba runs to the top of the cliff. As he reaches the top, he sees his father plummet into the stampede below, not knowing that he'd been thrown by Scar. He cries out and races down to the bottom of the Gorge to find his father's body under the branch that he had been clinging to. Hoping that his father isn't dead, he tries to revive him. Realizing that Mufasa is neither moving nor breathing, he calls for help but starts to cry and crawls underneath his father's forepaw when he realizes that there is no hope.

Scar approaches and manipulates Simba into believing that he is responsible for his father's death, claiming that Simba's roar had caused the stampede and that if it hadn't been for Simba, Mufasa would still be alive. When asked what his mother will think, Simba doesn't know what to do, so Scar tells him to run away and never return. After Simba scampers away, Scar sends Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed to kill the cub. Panicked, scared, and now chased by the hyenas, Simba runs out of the Gorge and comes out at the top of a steep cliff. With a patch of sharp thorns below, Simba has no choice but to jump down the cliff to escape the predators. He tumbles down and forces himself through, but the hyenas don't follow, thinking that Simba is as good as dead out in the barren desert anyway.

Tired and dehydrated, Simba wanders into the desert. In the burning heat, he eventually faints. Waiting for him to die, vultures circle overhead, but a meerkat named Timon and a warthog named Pumbaa scare away the vultures and save the unconscious cub. They revive him and ask him if he is okay. He shakily replies and starts to wander off. Timon and Pumbaa ask what he'd done to be so sad, but Simba doesn't want to talk about it. Timon and Pumbaa then take the cub into a jungle to teach him to forget the past and live by "Hakuna Matata." During the song "Hakuna Matata", the duo have Simba eat bugs, explore his new home, and live without worry. The trio walk across a log, which represents a few years, during which Simba transitions from a cub to an adolescent to an adult.

In 1996, all the animals return to Pride Rock to welcome the birth of Kiara, the daughter of Simba and Nala. While the king and queen look on proudly, Rafiki holds their cub up for all the kingdom to see.

As Kiara grows up, Simba turns out to be extremely overprotective of her. One time, when Kiara goes off to play, he warns her to stay away from the Outlands and to stay on the path that he has marked for her. Nala teases Simba about Kiara's likeness to Simba when he was a cub. Simba confesses his feelings to Nala about how much trouble they'd get themselves into, to which Nala pins him and teases him, telling him that he means the trouble that he'd gotten them into. She and Simba then chuckle as they nuzzle each other in a loving manner, and Simba smiles warmly at her. Nala assures him that Kiara will be fine and goes back into the cave, with Simba watching with an unsure expression. However, as soon as Nala is out of earshot, he sends Timon and Pumbaa after Kiara to watch her anyway. After he realizes that Kiara has sneaked away from her babysitters, he, along with Nala, Pumbaa, Timon, and two Pride Landers, goes out for her, finding her near the outskirts of the Outlands with an Outsider cub named Kovu. Immediately, Simba jumps in front of Kiara, protecting her. At the same time, Kovu's mother Zira launches herself in front of her son to protect him. Simba snarls at her, and Zira mockingly gives a cover-up for straying into the Pride Lands. Simba orders Zira to take Kovu and get out since they are now finished with their conversation. Zira laughs menacingly and tells Simba that they have barely begun. Simba then takes Kiara and walks away, sending Nala and the rest of the pride ahead so he can have a word with Kiara. Simba reminds her that she has to be queen someday, even though she may not want to be. He reminds her of the great Circle of Life. Simba then tells his daughter that they are a part of each other, with Kiara responding, "Hmph!" This makes Simba playfully smile and nudge her. After embracing her, he sings to her that they are one.

Two years later, Kiara pleads with Simba to let her hunt on her own. He promises this to her, but he once again sends Timon and Pumbaa to watch her anyway, thus deliberately breaking his promise. A few hours later, Simba paces nervously on Pride Rock, where Zazu reassures him that Kiara will be fine. Suddenly, Simba notices smoke on the horizon as Zira's plan goes into action. He and Nala race to Kiara, only to find her talking to Kovu. Simba roars menacingly at Kovu as Kiara reminds him that he has broken his promise, to which Simba, out of fear of losing her again, forbids any more hunting trips for her.

Just then, Rafiki appears and brings up the fact that Kovu has saved Kiara's life. When Simba asks him why, Kovu asks to join his pride. Simba initially refuses, but Zazu tells him that his father's law demands all debts be paid. In repayment for his daughter's life, an agitated Simba reluctantly lets Kovu join the pride, but he doesn't allow him to sleep with the pride. That night, Simba has a nightmare about the stampede. In the nightmare, Simba tries to save his father, who is hanging on to a cliff face. As Simba reaches down, he realizes that Scar is looking over him. Mufasa slips away from Simba and falls to his death, which makes Simba cry out for a brief moment. He then turns on Scar, who morphs into Kovu, shocking Simba. Then Kovu lets Simba fall to his death, and the king snaps out of his dream. Simba is frightened at first but starts to calm down once he looks outside the den, realizing that it's still night. He then looks at Nala, who is happily asleep. So Simba goes back to sleep, still uneasy but more relaxed.

The next morning, Simba has a drink at a water hole. Unknown to him, Kovu is behind him, ready to kill. Luckily, Kiara turns up, wanting her hunting lesson, so Kovu is drawn away. That night, Simba looks down on Kiara and Kovu stargazing together and asks Mufasa for guidance. Nala walks up beside him and tells him to trust Kovu more. That evening, Simba lets Kovu sleep with the rest of the pride in the cave, as it is a fairly cold night. The next morning, Simba walks in on Kovu about to tell Kiara about Zira's plan, telling his daughter that he doesn't want her talking with him, only to say in a much calmer tone that he wants to talk with him. This makes Kiara brighten up, and Simba smiles and winks at her before walking off with Kovu, with Kiara watching from a distance. During the long walk, Simba explains to Kovu his side of the story about Scar. As they are walking, Zira, Nuka, Vitani, and the other Outsiders surround them. Zira teasingly asks Simba what he is doing outside "so alone." Zira then congratulates Kovu for bringing Simba with him and adds, "Just like we've always planned." Feeling betrayed, Simba angrily snarls at Kovu, now believing him to be behind the plan. In response, a scared Kovu denies this and tries to reason with Simba that he really didn't have anything to do with Zira's plan. Simba is then attacked by the Outsiders on Zira's orders. Simba slides down a cliff, and the Outsiders attack. He runs into a gorge and climbs up a dam. Just as he's climbing, Nuka grabs his ankle, pulling him down. Simba pushes himself up, dislodging logs, which tumble down and crush Nuka to death. This greatly shocks Zira and Vitani. The entire pride mourns the death of their family member. Simba escapes and weakly makes his way back to the Pride Lands, where he manages to whisper to Kiara, Timon, and Pumbaa about what has happened before he collapses due to extreme exhaustion. They help him back to Pride Rock, where he recovers. When Kovu returns, Simba confronts him, asking why he's come back. Kovu asks for forgiveness, but Simba doesn't believe Kovu. Kiara tries to persuade Simba to listen to Kovu, but he tells her to be silent and then exiles Kovu, to Kiara's dismay. Kiara then quarrels with her father, pleading with him to reconsider, but Simba replies by forbidding her to leave Pride Rock unescorted, saying that Kovu used her to get to him and that he knows Kovu is following in Scar's pawprints and that he must follow in his father's. Kiara angrily yells at him that he will never be Mufasa. This comment hurts and shocks Simba immensely, as he looks away sadly while Kiara runs into Pride Rock before sneaking away to find Kovu. That night, rain descends on the Pride Lands, and Simba asks Timon and Pumbaa where Kiara is. Just as he finds out she is missing, Zazu informs him that the Outsiders are on the attack. Simba commands Zazu to find Kiara and assembles the lionesses, ready for battle. When they approach the Outsiders, Simba gives Zira a final chance to go home. Zira tells Simba that she is home and commands her troops to attack.

After a bitter battle, Zira jumps down off her rock, ready to attack Simba herself. Just as they are about to go into a one-on-one duel, Kiara jumps in front of her father, and Kovu jumps in front of Zira. Simba tells his daughter to stay out of the fight, but Kiara tells him that the fight has to stop. Concurrently, Zira tells Kovu to move, and Kovu tells Zira that he won't let her hurt Kiara or Simba. Kiara reminds Simba that they are "one" and asks if he sees any differences between his pride and the Outsiders. As Simba realizes his daughter's words, the rain stops, and sun shines down from the clouds. Simba then nuzzles his daughter as they reconcile. Zira orders Vitani to attack Simba, but she refuses to do so and crosses onto his side, as do the rest of the Outsiders. Zira, realizing that she is losing, tries one more time to attack Simba, but as she jumps for him, Kiara leaps in her way and fights her off.

Shocked, Simba jumps down after them just as Zira slips away into the water below. Simba reaches his daughter and helps her back up the cliff, where she is hugged by a relieved Nala. When Kiara is reunited with Kovu, Simba studies him and apologizes to him, finally admitting that he was wrong. He accepts Kovu and the Outsiders into his pride, and they all go home together. Back at Pride Rock, Simba, Nala, and all the other lionesses watch as Rafiki blesses the union of Kiara and Kovu. Simba, Nala, and the new couple make their way to the top of Pride Rock and roar over their kingdom, with the rest of the pride roaring back in reply. As Simba looks down proudly at the rejoicing animals who have gathered around Pride Rock, the sky opens up and Simba hears his father say, "Well done, my son. We are one."

During Timon and Pumbaa's first attempt at a new home, they witness Simba's birth ceremony. The two later find a small cave in the Pride Lands, which they live in until Simba and Nala sing "I Just Can't Wait to be King," driving them out. Although not seen, we can hear Simba say, "I'm okay," after the animal pyramid falls down. Later, after Mufasa is murdered by Scar and Simba runs away from the Pride Lands, he wanders into the desert, ridden with guilt and thinking that he killed his own father. Simba collapses out of fatigue and exhaustion, lying under the sun with buzzards circling overhead. Simba is found by Timon and Pumbaa, who carry him to shade and water and eventually let him live in the jungle with them. Growing up without worries, Simba soon proves to be a difficult cub to handle, and Timon and Pumbaa find it hard to be adoptive parents. Living carefree in the jungle, Simba gets into all kinds of mischief that Mufasa and Sarabi would have never allowed, such as jumping down from dangerously tall trees, swimming down steep and deadly waterfalls backwards, and spinning Timon around like a play toy. He also keeps Timon up all night having to go to the bathroom, wanting a drink of water, etc. One night, Simba is awakened by a nightmare and begs to sleep with Timon, who begrudgingly agrees.

Months pass, and Simba grows into an adolescent, with half a mane on his head, who seems to beat Timon and Pumbaa at all kinds of alliterative bug-eating contests, including the longest bug belch, slug swallowing, cricket crunching, grub gulping, maggot munching, and the snail slurping contest shown in the film. He has grown a small mane on his head and looks even more hot-headed than as a cub.

After two years pass, Simba grows into a young adult lion who enjoys his life with Timon and Pumbaa in the jungle. Simba has an interesting conversation with Pumbaa about dung beetles before Nala appears and chases Pumbaa, making Simba attack her. He later realizes that it's his old childhood friend. In the "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" sequence, we see that Simba takes Nala on a romantic evening walk around the jungle, unknowingly hurting Timon while the meerkat attempts to split the two lovers apart. After the familiar scene of Simba arguing with Nala about whether or not he should return to the Pride Lands commences, Simba runs off to encounter his father's ghost.

Later in 1998, when Simba challenges Scar, he is seen several times echoing him for five years. For example, he is seen slipping off the cliff when Scar corners him and later leaping up to force the truth out of Scar about Mufasa's death. Simba is also seen when he chases Scar up Pride Rock and flips him to the ground below. Once the violence is over, Simba thanks Timon and Pumbaa for their help against the hyenas before he climbs Pride Rock, roaring for all of the Pride Lands to know that they have won. At the end of the film, Simba is lying down in the jungle water with Pumbaa, Timon, and Ma. A silhouette of Simba also appears in the theater while Ma rewinds the year.

Simba can be seen teaching his daughter Kiara about life as a future monarch atop Pride Rock. Not long after this, he and Rafiki overhear Kion's roar, and the two come to realize that it is time for him to lead the Lion Guard. When Kion and his best friend Bunga return to Pride Rock, Rafiki leads them and Simba to the Lair of the Lion Guard, where he explains that Scar used to lead the Lion Guard until he lost his powers. Simba then tasks Kion with gathering a new Lion Guard to protect the Pride Lands.



When Simba arrives to meet Kion's team, he reacts in horror to Kion's choice of teammates. He insists that the Guard must be made of lions only and then berates Kion for treating his role as leader like a game. However, after watching Kion and his Guard defeat Janja's clan, Simba realizes that his son was wise to have chosen who he chose, and he congratulates his son on the victory, accepting this new, brilliant assembling of loyal animals. During the musical sequence "Fujo", Simba can be seen atop Pride Rock with Nala, surveying the Pride Lands.

Later, Kion talks to Simba about his concerns on Ma Tembo, who has been unsuccessful in her search for water, but Simba assures his son that life is full of responsibilities and that one must face them head-on. Simba and Kion then sing "Path of Honor", during which they discuss the joys and burdens of being leaders.

Some time later, Simba is present for Makini's official introduction to the royal family. He then looks on as Kiara and Makini head off together to help Ma Tembo look for water.

Simba also appears amidst the crowd of animals following Ma Tembo as she searches for a water source.