Disney's The Lion King is a surefire staple in anyone's childhood after
coming out in 1994 it became a quick hit spurring sequels television series video
games merchandise books and of course the recent live-action remake it's a
tale of tragedy morality and ultimately life and is managed to stay with all of
us we've discussed theories about the Lion King on this channel before both
dark and downright crazy but this video will be a bit different although it's
common knowledge that the Lion King deals with heavy issues of morality
personal responsibility and a dichotomy of good versus evil the divide isn't
always as simple as it looks time out let me get this straight while
some characters are obviously evil to the core and others are as pure as can
be there are a lot of cases of characters falling somewhere in the gray
area after all a character's flaws are what make them human or you know animals
so today we'll be taking the characters of The Lion King and deciding where they
belong on a scale from good to evil and let us know in the comments section
which cartoon or animated film we should analyze next I'm Kyle with wicked binge
and this is good to evil The Lion King
first up we'll start with the character with the most gold in his heart Pumbaa
some of you may be wondering why we'd split them up from Timon but for the
purpose of this video we're going to rank them as separate characters instead
of as an iconic duo Pumbaa in Swahili means to be foolish silly weak-minded
careless and negligent though we assure you that Pumbaa is not any of these
traits in any sort of negative manner he's first introduced alongside Timon
when they save the lost Simba from a pack of vultures where they then take
him under their wings I think it's still alive
both are outcasts Pumbaa notably due to a foul odor he gives off that drives
everyone away from him really kinda tugs at your heartstrings
especially since he remains so caring and optimistic his bravery goes above
and beyond also and he proves himself by not only offering himself up as a juicy
warthog to the hyenas when Simba is in need of a distraction but also when he
single-handedly drives away the hyenas Shenzi benz i and IDI in the final
battle what a guy but above all else Pumbaa is a character
who's caring positive and loyal next up is Rafiki obviously one of the most
iconic supporting characters from The Lion King
Rafiki is the sagely old mandrill who serves as royalty for the pride lands
during skaars first attempt to overthrow Mufasa
Rafiki stopped him and then went on to forgivingly tend to his wounds and
healin will get two scars morality soon enough but we all know enough about him
to know that finding it in your heart to heal this guy would make you a better
person or monkey than most of us now one could argue that Rafiki is incessantly
cryptic his way of imparting wisdom onto characters such as Simba is to simply
bombard them with clues and metaphors in a way that would irritate the most
patient of people when I know who you are
yeah it's a secret however we can't be too harsh on his teaching methods as
they've ultimately been successful time and time again next on the list close
enough to his counterpart is Timon you may be wondering why we put Simone
further down the list than Pumbaa and while it was a hard decision to make we
definitely have our reasons look bad things happen and you can't do anything
about it right right wrong Timon is also fundamentally a good character he too
saves Simba from the vultures and helps distract the hyenas with his rather
hilarious hula dance he and Pumbaa both represents the found
family that Simba needs away from Pride Rock and away from scars manipulations
all around danger there are only a few minor reasons why Timon ranks lower than
Pumbaa on this list one he does have a tendency to be a little self-centered
during can you feel the love tonight he's more concerned with Simba
potentially leaving their gang than his chance of newfound love and happiness
he's also known for stealing some of Pumas plans and claiming them as his own
proving he's not quite as smart as he thinks he is what if he's on awesome but
ultimately he's still loyal to Simba and Pumbaa and has a good heart all the way
through next up is gopher despite having a rather prominent role in the later
television series Timon and Pumbaa from 1995 to 1999 his role in the film
is quite miniscule to be fair he doesn't have much of a chance to be either good
or evil so we're actually gonna give him the benefit of the doubt his role is
that of an informant for Zazu and he alerts the hornbill to the hyenas
invading the pride lands in a special release of the film in 2003 he's chased
as Simba tries to pounce on him I mean you have to feel for the little
guy I mean he's just trying to do his job with this unruly lion cub trying to
catch him next up is Nala Nala is next in line here and from here on out our
ratings get a little sticky the Lions as a class are decidedly morally gray
though we as the audience root for Simba and the good liens against scar the good
lions aren't necessarily so good themselves after all they are
technically dictators of the pride lands though we'll discuss this more when we
come to Mufasa in our opinion out of all the lions Nala
has the most good in her she's brave stands up for herself and for Simba and
as a loyal friend even after Simba's supposed death it's
like you're back from in encouraging Simba to come back and
claim the throne that is rightfully his she is in theory planting the seeds that
lead to Skaar being overthrown of course he's immediately replaced with another
line dictator but Simba at the very least doesn't allow the other lions in
the pride to starve on that note we'll move on to Simba himself as a cub Simba
is undoubtedly arrogant and cocky boasting to anyone who will listen about
how someday he will be the ruler of the pride lands Simba is kind of the perfect
example of nepotism in action he gets this from looking up to his father and
being told at an early age that all the land will someday be his to rule I was
just trying to be brave like you and truthfully that would cause any kid to
become a little power-hungry he's rude to characters such as Zazu refusing to
listen to him and threatening to fire him once he's in charge
he's boastful too Nala bothers him to scar even when he has no idea that he's
evil not to mention he probably understands that scar might be resentful
for being passed over so to speak but still chooses to gloat about being next
in line to be king and he puts both himself and Nala in danger with the
hyenas however it's important to remember that he is a child at this
point the death of Mufasa does a number on Simba's personality leaving a fearful
if at times dramatic lion in its wake he has low self-esteem blames himself for
his father's death and thinks of himself as unworthy of the throne because of it
Simba has a tendency to run away from his problems at this point which is not
exactly good either though bravery triumphs in the end and he saves the
pride lands from scars tyrannical rule one still has to consider the avoidance
that came before it we also still have to consider the nature of a Lions rule
in the film is overthrowing scar enough of a reason to grant somebody full
uncontested rule of an entire kingdom Mufasa is next up on our list and I can
hear the criticism all ready I understand that Mufasa is a
beloved Disney character and considering his pivotal stance as role model and
caring father for Simba it probably surprises some of you that
we'd have him so far down on this list but there's more sinister sides to
Mufasa than his fatherly wisdom so Robbie and I didn't see you at the
presentation of Simba for starters we still have to
acknowledge that the Lions are running a dictatorship in mufasa's reign is
concerning Lee dark for a supposedly quote/unquote good lion since the film
focuses primarily on the Lions we don't get to see much of the cruelty upfront
however it's clear that at least the hyenas are starving considering its
mentioned almost constantly are the rest of the animals going hungry too while
the Lions take if you pardon the pun the lion's share it's also important to know
that lions are carnivores also Mufasa is quite literally eating his subjects who
he prior to eating them expects to come bow down to the newly born heir to his
regime at the beginning of the film we are all connected in the great circle of
life now we can't fault them for eating animals given the fact that they need to
survive obviously but it seems very cruel to demand that they be your loyal
subjects as well another point to make about this regime follows from one of
Mufasa 'he's most iconic lines look Simba everything the light touches is
our kingdom everything the light touches is our kingdom but you may notice that
everything the light touches is actually quite barren right up to the shadow
lands is desert wasteland supporting the idea that the other
herbivore animals are probably going hungry however past the Lions Kingdom
and into the jungle where Timon and Pumbaa live is thriving
there's foliage food and a functioning ecosystem far out of the reach of the
Lions reign this supports the idea that Mufasa is regime is not as benevolent as
you may have assumed as a child there's something dark brewing throughout the
kingdom and Mufasa shows very little concern for it
he's a good father he loves his homeland and he's a good speaker but let's be
real that describes a lot of dictators moving on we have Zazu Mufasa as loyal
informants or Izzy we've put Zazu this far down our list due to a very
interesting theory presented by reddit user combustible compost we've discussed
this in our dark theory video but let's dig into it in a bit more detail in this
theory they hypothesized that Zazu is in fact an informant working for Skaar on
the sly and there definitely seems to be some evidence supporting this
Zazu does not support Simba inheriting the throne for a multitude of reasons as
the King's brother you should have been first in line he feels that Simba is too
spoiled and doesn't have what it takes to be a leader a sentiment that he
echoes repeatedly his lyrics in the song I just can't wait to be king include
you're shaping up to be a pretty pathetic King with an attitude like that
and then also if this is where the monarchy is headed count me out out of
service out of Africa I wouldn't hang about this child is getting wildly out
of wing however Mufasa doesn't share his concerns and instead allow Simba to
terrorize him even using pores as you as a prop for Simba to practice pouncing on
pouncing listen when a cocky Simba threatens to fire him once he becomes
king it must have all become too much for the hornbill to handle that case
you're fine those cower and Zazu are only ever seen in conflict scars plot to
become King may have been tempting as an alternative to Simba as for proof
well the hyena is only ever tormenting tease Zazu even as they attempt to kill
Simba and have ample opportunity to attack the hornbill - and when Simba is
lured into the gorge below the wildebeest
Zazu is not minding him like he's supposed to instead he is with Mufasa
could he be serving as a distraction from scars plot notably also in the
Norwegian version of be prepared scar mentions having undercover agents since
the hyenas are held in contempt by the Lions who could he possibly
talking about who is in league with both him and mu fauces inner circle surely he
can only be talking about Zazu there's no one else who could feasibly qualify
yes still not convinced well it's a well-known fact that The
Lion King is loosely based on Shakespeare's Hamlet and which character
does Zazu represent in this play Polonius
the chief counselor to the king and what's important to know about that is
that Polonius conspires with Claudius who Skaar represents to spy on the
Prince after he has his doubts about his capabilities as King need we say more
now ska don't look at me that way this kind of betrayal on Zazu sparc puts him
deservedly near the evil end of our list there is actually more evidence for the
theory that Zazu is in fact a traitor check out our dark theories about the
Lion King video for the full breakdown alright next up are the hyenas edy
then Banzai then Shenzi the trio makes up a good chunk of the evil end of our
list it's pretty obvious why they rank so low they're practically sadists if
we're to take the film at face value they've been excommunicated from the
pride lands due to their greed and insatiable hunger therefore having their
hunting rights taken away from them obviously if we dig a little deeper into
this leaving the hyenas to starve in the elephant graveyard is a cruel and
sadistic thing to do as well but the hyenas are no picnic either
they brutally attacked Simba and are willing to kill and eat him despite the
fact that Simba is a child they're also cowardly and untrustworthy
hiding the fact that they never hunted Simba down from scar he's as good as
dead out there anyway and the hyenas eventually eat scar so it seems as
though they don't really care who they eat
to be fair we'd argue that edy is the least evil but likely because he clearly
doesn't have the mental capacity for it what do you think and for an obvious end
to our list comes scar ranking him as the most evil out of the cast hardly
comes as a surprise to anyone as bad as mufasa's rain may be scars is 10 times
worse he allows not only the other animals in the kingdom to starve but his
fellow lions - ruling with sheer fear as he allows the hyenas to run wild
precisely he's completely heartless and cruel sending his own brother toppling
to his death and repeatedly attempting to kill his nephew in his thirst for
power kill him if there's any good in scar as a character it's hard to see
under all the evil in be prepared his rule is even compared to that of Nazi
Germany as the Heian is marching reference fascist propaganda however
speaking of propaganda can we even take scars evilness at face value the
dichotomy of good and evil and the Lion King has already been shown to be
skewered we as the audience are encouraged to root for Mufasa and the
good lions despite them being dictators as James Clark Ross discusses on
deriving morality scars takeover could also be read as anti socialist
propaganda I'm surround
by India he overthrows an undemocratic ruler in states incompetent hyenas a
parody of the working class as higher powers in society and ultimately creates
a shortage of resources and a different unequal Society of course the balance of
power is restored by Simba regaining his crown at the end it's subtle and
sinister yet all too possible that Disney slipped these undertones into the
film intentionally I don't think you really deserve this now despite all that
scar is still undoubtedly the villain of the Lion King but it's always important
to ask the question why but what do you think do you agree with our rankings who
do you think is the most and least moral of the Lion King characters let us know
in the comments section below don't forget to like this video
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