Simba
is a fictional character in Disney’s The Lion King franchise. He first appears as the main protagonist in The Lion King, starting as a cub where he flees the Pride Lands after his father, Mufasa, is murdered by his uncle, Scar, who deceives Simba into believing he is responsible for the death. Years later, Simba returns as an adult to confront Scar and reclaim his rightful place as king of the Pride Lands. He subsequently appears in the sequels The Lion King II: Simba's Pride and The Lion King 1½.
Created by The Lion King
Simba has received a mixed reception from film critics, some of whom praised his design but found him uninteresting as a main character. However, several publications have ranked Simba among Disney's most iconic characters, and consider him to be one of the most famous lions in popular culture. The character's likeness has been used in several tie-in products, including merchandise, television series, and video games. In 1997, The Lion King actors Scott Irby-Ranniar and Jason Raize originated the role on Broadway. In 2019, Donald Glover and JD McCrary voiced the character in a photorealistic remake of the film.
Role
Simba first appears in The Lion King as a cub, the son of King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi. As Mufasa's heir, Simba is destined to become the next King of the Pride Lands. However, Simba's jealous uncle Scar plots against him in order to seize the throne for himself, betraying and killing Mufasa after he rescues Simba from a wildebeest stampede, and then deceiving Simba into believing he is responsible for Mufasa's death. Crippled with guilt, Simba flees to the jungle where he befriends Timon and Pumbaa, a meerkat and warthog who raise him and teach him to live the carefree lifestyle, but, for some reason, Simba hadn't noticed that he continuously struggles to ignore his past just for close attention. Years later, Simba's childhood friend Nala finds him and convinces him to return to the Pride Lands which has grown barren and starving under Scar's rule. After being visited by Rafiki and Mufasa's spirit who reminds him of his responsibilities, Simba confronts Scar who finally admits to killing Mufasa and defeats him, reclaiming his rightful place as king. With order restored and Scar killed by the hyenas, Simba and Nala have a child, thus ushering in hope for the future of the Pride Lands.In The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Simba and Nala commemorate the birth of their daughter, Kiara, who Simba is overprotective of since she grows up to be adventurous and rebellious like he was as a cub. Simba discovers that Kiara has visited the forbidden Outlands – home to an enemy pride of Scar's exiled followers known as the Outsiders – and befriended Kovu, the younger son of the pride's leader, Zira. Unbeknownst to them, Zira is grooming Kovu to avenge Scar by usurping Simba. Several years later, Kovu rescues Kiara from a wildfire started by Kovu's siblings, Nuka and Vitani. Simba reluctantly lets Kovu, who claims to have left the Outsiders, live with them, but continues to act coldly towards him. Witnessing Kiara and Kovu's growing friendship, Simba decides to spend a day getting to know Kovu. Realizing that Kovu is beginning to side with Simba due to his feelings for Kiara, Zira ambushes Simba and convinces him that Kovu orchestrated the attack. After narrowly escaping with his life, Simba exiles Kovu and warns Kiara against seeing him, prompting her to leave. When a battle ensues between the Pride Landers and Outsiders, Kiara and Kovu return to stop them, with Kiara helping Simba and the prides reconcile their differences peacefully. Zira attacks Simba as he is about to accept the Outsiders back into his pride, but he she is intercepted by Kiara, causing the pair of lionesses to tumble over the edge of a cliff. Having landed safely on a ledge, Kiara offers to help Zira, who is struggling to hang on. However, Zira, consumed by resentment, refuses help and falls to her death. Simba finally accepts Kovu into the pride and reconciles with his daughter.
In The Lion King 1½, Simba appears as a less prominent character because the film's primary focus is on Timon and Pumbaa's behind-the-scenes role and involvement in the events of The Lion King. Although the two films technically share the same story and timeline, the plot of The Lion King 1½ focuses more on Timon and Pumbaa. The meerkat and warthog unknowingly coexist alongside Simba, and the story fills in the two characters' backstories and events that led up to their long-lasting friendship, coinciding with and often initiating the events that affect Simba's life during the first film. These events include the commemorative bow that occurs during the opening "Circle of Life" musical number and the collapsing of the animal tower that takes place during "I Just Can't Wait to Be King". The film also explores, in further detail, the relationship among the three characters as Timon and Pumbaa struggle to raise Simba as adoptive "parents" and disapprove of his relationship with Nala, portraying Simba as he grows from an energetic young lion cub, into an incorrigible teenager and, finally, an independent young lion.
Development
Creation
The Lion King was conceived in 1988. Although considered an original story that follows a young lion, Simba, becoming an adult and learning to take responsibility for his actions, the film's creators drew inspiration for the character from various sources, namely several coming-of-age stories and the biblical figures Moses and Joseph. The film underwent several title changes, one of the earliest of which was King of the Jungle. According to producer Don Hahn, this title was intended to serve as an allegory about Simba needing to survive and grow up in both a literal and metaphorical jungle. However, they renamed it The Lion King upon realizing lions don't live in jungles, and wanting to shift focus to a simpler story about a lion becoming king. Some filmmakers nicknamed the film "Bambi in Africa" due to similarities between The Lion King and Disney's own Bambi. The name "Simba" is the Swahili word for "lion". Unlike Disney's three previous romantic films The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin, The Lion King focuses on Simba's relationship with his father.In April 1992, the filmmakers hosted a "brainstorming session" in which much of the film, including Simba's personality, was re-written. Story supervisor Brenda Chapman realized they had written a proud, unlikeable character. Originally, Simba was intended to remain with his pride after Mufasa's death until this was revised to make him a more sympathetic character. Additionally, one of the earliest iterations of Scar was a rogue lion unrelated to Simba, whereas Simba was meant to be raised by Scar in another version. According to Disney Theatrical Group president Tom Schumacher, Scar was planned to kill Simba and Mufasa at the same time, only for other characters to mistake him for saving Simba from the stampede. Instead of meeting Timon and Pumbaa, this version of Simba would have grown up a slacker under Scar's reign, making him easier to overthrow. A short scene depicting a young Simba wandering the desert before meeting Timon and Pumbaa was also cut.
Screenwriter Linda Woolverton, one of the writers credited with creating the character, joined the film to revise its screenplay, which included providing Simba with a stronger adversary by changing the rogue lion into Simba's uncle. She felt the change contributed more Shakespearean elements to the story. The character has often been compared to Prince Hamlet from William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. In an earlier version of the script, Simba was meant to lose his final fight to Scar, being thrown from Pride Rock before his uncle ultimately dies in a fire. Nala's younger brother Mheetu, who Simba was to have rescued from a stampede, was also written out of the film, as well as a trio of Simba's childhood friends. For a while, the story team struggled to come up with a convincing reason as to why Simba would believe he was responsible for Mufasa's death, without killing him. Story artist Chris Sanders explained that the key to this was eventually accepting that a child in an extremely emotional state would simply believe what their uncle told them.
Addressing online speculation that Simba and Nala could potentially be related since Mufasa and Scar are the only adult male lions identified in the film, Woolverton acknowledged that although it is possible, she had never written Simba and Nala as cousins or siblings. Although Woolverton admitted that songs such as "Hakuna Matata" were non-essential to the plot and arrived later during the writing process, she confirmed that it helps demonstrate Simba during his "lost boy" phase. Some of Disney's marketing team doubted Simba's marketability, since most of Disney's lead characters at the time were female or princesses.