The Lion King/WMG

Zira wasn't mad that Kovu killed Nuka as much as she was mad that he did so with everyone watching.
If she was bringing him up to be like Scar, he did a very good job of "taking care" of Nuka and she should have rewarded him.

Simba and Nala have an incestuous relationship.
Riddle me this: Simba and Nala are from the same pride. How many adult males are there? Just two- Scar and Mufasa, who are brothers. Nala is either Simba's cousin born from Scar or his half-sister born from Mufasa (but from another lioness, rather than Sarabi). The latter might seem like Mufasa's cheating on his mate, but male lions mate with every single lioness in their pride (very often), so it's not too far-fetched. Lion incest is perfectly normal, but it's not the sort of thing Disney wants you to think about.
 * This also means that the original intention of the writers to make Kovu Scar's son (instead of just his protege and heir) is true; he and Kiara are indeed having an incestuous relationship of their own.
 * Every lioness in the new generation would have to be sired by Simba, and later Kovu. This is what happens when you try to superimpose a monogamous marriage-based relationship onto a traditional pride structure.
 * Unless Nala's Mom left her pack and was taken in by Mufasa while she was pregnant with Nala.
 * There's also the possibility that Scar is Nala's father. Which would make his attempt to rape her in the musical even more dastardly.
 * You can take this even farther. Lion prides are typically made up of a group of lionesses who are all sisters or otherwise closely related, plus a single male who mates with all of them. Female cubs stay in the same pride while juvenile males are kicked out to find another pride to call their own. Based on this information we can reasonably assume that Simba and Nala are at least cousins (as children of sisters Sarabi and Sarafina, respetively). Now if Mufasa is expected to have sired all of the cubs in the pride, this would make Simba and Nala somewhere between half-siblings and full brother-sister in relatedness. Even if Mufasa isn't Nala's father, the only other reasonable alternative is for Scar to be her father - making Simba and Nala close to half-siblings.

Mufasa's death was deliberately planned by Mufasa, so Simba could develop as a leader on his own without being able to constantly rely on Mufasa.
When Mufasa confronts Scar about not being at Simba's presentation at the beginning of the film and Scar calls Simba "the little hairball," Mufasa replies "That 'hairball' is my son--and your future king." Whoa, whoa whoa. At that point, the only way Simba would be Scar's future king is if Scar outlived Mufasa--which did come to pass, but how would Mufasa know that at the time, unless he were planning exactly that? While it's reasonable to assume that Mufasa is the older brother, presumably Mufasa and Scar aren't widely different in age, so the only reason Mufasa could be so certain that Scar would outlive him is if he were arranging it.
 * Is it ever actually stated that the king has to die to pass on the throne? Maybe Mufasa had retirement plans.
 * While that is a strange thing to say, now that you mention it, Mufasa would have needed a much stronger motivation than that. Even if he was willing to sacrifice himself for such a nebulous goal, he couldn't have expected Simba to survive a royal coup.
 * Except Mufasa survived and knew he would. Maybe he and Scar planned the events together for some reason we don't know...
 * Apart from that being fantastically unlikely beyond all traditional forms of reason, Mufasa's survival would invalidate the premise, such as it was, of the original theory. So no.
 * Why couldn't he have expected Simba to survive a royal coup? He figures Simba is strong enough to do it, and tenacious enough to kill Scar. Neither does Mufasa necessarily endorse this plan; it is sufficient that he suspects Scar will kill him.
 * It doesn't mean that Mufasa expects to die before Scar (though as Scar is the younger brother, Mufasa might think that he will), but... well, if he was to get pedantic about it, he'd just end up sounding like a colossal jerk. "That hairball is my son, and your future king. Well, that is, unless you die before I do. Come to think of it, with how frail and weak you are you are, you're very likely to snuff it long before me, so I guess there's no actual chance you'll ever live to see him on the throne." Doesn't seem much like something Mufasa would say, does it?

Scar didn't fail as a king because he was an evil tyrant, but because he had no idea of the responsibilities of being a king, only the perks.
While we don't necessarily see how Scar handles his failings as King of the Pridelands in the movie, the musical shows that he has absolutely no idea how to rule a kingdom; he's completely baffled why things have turned out so poorly, starts to doubt his own ability to lead and gain the adoration of his subjects, and even asks for Zazu's advice on how to solve the problem. Clearly, he - like Simba as a kid - only knew of the major perks to being king, not the massive responsibilities that come with those perks. Don't get it wrong, Scar's ambition and jealousy are what lead him to a fall, but if he was halfway-competent enough in the affairs of state, it's likely he could've become a Villain with Good Publicity instead of someone with a Zero-Percent Approval Rating, making his continued reign - and Simba's defeat - iron-clad.
 * The musical did a good job fleshing out his madness, but the movie still had his scene with Sarabi to paint a clear picture of how bad a job he was doing. In particular, as noted above, his declaration that "I am the king! I can do whatever I want!" can be seen as a callback to Simba's juvenile "just can't wait to be king" philosophy. Then the grown-up, sane (not to mention alive and legitimate heir to the throne) Simba showed up... either way, is this even a WMG?

The Outlanders are Amazons.
During Scar's reign, a small Pride of Lioness' come to the Pridelands from the desert, they have no male, no king. Hense the name really. They came because while the worsening situation in the Pridelands were bad, things were worse in the desert. Scar let them stay supposedly to help the Pridelanders to adapt to the growing leaniency of game. Eventually Scar and their leader became smitten.

The second film is Scar's Dying Dream.
It started as him wondering how things could have been different if he had wisely decided to take a mate and continue his line at Pride Rock, his bitterness against the system contributing to why he imagined choosing someone other than his oldest son to be his heir. He started having regrets about his actions and wishing to reconcile, hence the cubs from both sides coming together. Also, with him dying before the presentation of Kopa, it would explain why he was unaware of that cub and imagined a female named Kiara instead.

Zira is insane, and the Outlanders only follow her out of fear.
...Okay, so not really "wild" mass guessing, but still counts. It would certainly explain the mass Heel Face Turn after Kiara's little speech, they felt that her deciding to off her only daughter was the last straw.

Zira was the only Scar loyalist among the adult lionesses.
Most of the lionesses disliked Scar at best. Zira, Scar's mate, was his only non-hyena supporter. After Nala left to get help, Scar decided to get an heir to solidify his reign in case she returned with a few males in tow (or, you know, Simba). Even though Kovu wasn't Scar's son (that was a random wandering male), he was the youngest, which would give Scar the best chance of molding him in his image.

Kovu was born only a few days before Simba returned. Zira didn't take part in the battle because she was still recovering from birth. Simba, a fairly merciful guy, chose to exile her instead of killing her, along with Nuka, Vitani and the infant Kovu. He continued this policy with other lions who disobeyed his rule, perhaps not realizing he was providing Zira with a steady stream of potential recruits. Most of the Outlanders were probably exiled for trying to eat Pumbaa.

The alliance between the hyenas and the lions actually was successful and beneficial to both parties...at first.
Hence why Scar still had diehard loyalists among the lionesses, who would rather allow themselves to be exiled than have Simba replace Scar. Hyenas are powerful predators in their own right, and the mutual hatred between the hyenas and lions mostly stems from the way they're constantly in competition with each other - when the two stongest carnivores in the savannah joined forces and began to help instead of hinder each other, the number of kills made skyrocketed and allowed the pride to enjoy a brief golden age before the drought hit and everything went downhill.
 * Actually 'driver ants' are the strongest predator in Africa. So blame the ants.

Scar was not a bad leader, BUT he was hated by the lionesses- because he did what male lions still do in real life.

 * Remember when we saw all of those cubs being licked at the beginning of the movie? Where were they at the end of this movie? There were no cubs at all when Simba returned. It's very probable that Scar had killed all of those cubs fathered by Mufasa- This would not make him popular with the other lionesses.
 * That does make a lot of sense now!

Lion King 1 1/2 is Timon and Pumbaa embellishing their story.
Really, it's the only way half of the movie could make sense. The other half just being Rule of Funny. Obviously Timon is pulling stuff out of his hind end, and Pumbaa is either playing along, or just not in one of his more lucid moments.

For example, Timon and Pumbaa could have been present at Simba's presentation, but it's highly doubtful that even one of Pumbaa's legendary farts could start off that kind of chain reaction. And Timon and Pumbaa could've spent the night at the watering hole and left the next day due to the crowds, but there's no way Simba could've grown into a juvenile cub overnight. And being present at the Graveyard, during Be Prepared and the Stampede? Typical Timon making up BS.
 * What if they stayed there for Simba's whole early childhood?
 * DUH!!!!! This isn't Wild Mass Guessing. This is stating fact!

The real reason Zira was exiled was because Sarabi and Scar were involved.
If you see the story as a parallel to Hamlet, obviously Sarabi is Gertrude. She was behind her mate's death, or was willing to be with Scar once the murder happened, and Scar used her to legitimize his claim to the throne a la Claudius. Simba isn't upset about this because he wasn't around for it, but Zira was present through the whole thing. She was probably popular with the other lionesses, hence why she has such a large pride in the sequel - her friends left with her. She was banished because there were many pride members who didn't know that Sarabi and Scar were together.

Simba and Nala's first cub died.
The cub we see at the end of the first movie is obviously not Kiara--instead it's their son who was killed sometime before she was born (an illness, accident, or Zira it did). That’s why Simba's so protective of Kiara.

The Hyenas are naturally a democratic power and their involvement with Scar is just the result of his political seduction.
To be more precise, they're intuitively Jacobins, and the only reason they fall for the "fascist leader" Scar is their own political inexperience. However, their first intuition after Scar proposed to kill the king was to kill him without replacing him - which clearly shows that they intuitively not only oppose the present king, but monarchy itself, and see the death of the king as a means to get rid of monarchy as such. But they're inexperienced and unorganized, and Scar promises to teach them how to organize, so they get behind him without really realizing what they're supporting.
 * Which makes it a clear case of The Good, the Bad, and The Evil. Also seconded.
 * This actually makes a lot of sense, given that they have no clear matriarch (If Shenzi was actually the matriarch, "Be Prepared" would likely have included Scar pretending to share power with her. Also, you'd think she would be able to get other high-ranking females to join her when confronting Scar about the drought, instead of two males, one of which can't speak properly). Thirded.
 * Another thing to notice here is that in the last image of "Be Prepared", the placement of the moon sickle in the background reminds a bit of the communist Sickle and Hammer.

In the Elephant Graveyard, some of the "elephant" skeletons are actually the bones of mammoths and mastodons.
The skull that the hyenas climb out of is far too large to be that of a modern elephant. Would an elephant's head really be that big compared to Simba? Big enough for hyenas to climb through the eye sockets and nose?
 * The graveyard is obviously very old. Many of the bones break easily, suggesting that they've been decaying away for a while. Also, elephants often cover their dead in sticks and leaves. In the case of the Elephant Graveyard, any sticks and leaves have clearly all disintigrated long ago.
 * If Africa is the wrong location for mammoths and mastadons, we can say that humans draged the bones down there for cultural reasons, and then wound up abandoning them.

== As mentioned on Poison Oak Epileptic Trees, the way male lions co-rule with their brothers raises several alternative character interpretations: namely, the entire story is just a tragically overblown lovers tiff. Pass the Brain Bleach please. ==

The ruling family of lions in Lion King are the descendents of the Nemean Lion.
This is where their legitimacy comes from. The lion hide in the Hercules movies wasn't actually Scar, he just bares an uncanny resemblance to his ancestor. This is also why Scar needed such an elaborate set-up to kill Mufasa as well as the lack of marks on Mufasa from Scar's claws or the wildebeest's hooves. Also why Simba wasn't particularly bothered by the thorn bushes. Scar figured the hyenas would be able to end Simba's life with a bite though thanks to the spectacular crushing force found in a hyena's jaws. It would also explain the lack of human presence in the setting. Why bother with the area surrounded by wastelands and inhabited by nearly unkillable super lions? Regular lions are bad enough.

Scar was physically unable to sire cubs.
This is the only way to explain why, although his wish from the musical to have a mate (or at least a psychotically loyal fangirl) was apparently granted, he had to choose an heir from among her offspring that weren't his.
 * "Shallow end of the gene pool" and all.

Simba was actually being merciful by exiling Zira and her supporters.
He could have killed her children, including the one Scar chose to be his successor and would only grow up with a contested claim to the throne if allowed to live, and added all the lionesses to his harem (as male lions do in the real world when they take over a pride), but he didn't. Like Macbeth in "City of Stone," he chose to exile his now-dead rival's son to eliminate any threat he and his supporters may pose rather than kill him. (In both cases, of course, this backfired.)

Kopa and Kiara actually exist in different timelines.
The reason why Kopa is never referenced at all in the sequel, the reason why Simba and Nala never make any mention of him even when they're alone and all that is because in their universe, they never had a male cub. Simba's paranoidness and nervousness is due to his first time as being a father and his reasons for exiling Zira are because under suspicion for loyalty to Scar, not because for the alleged reason that she killed his son. Simba's Pride is basically a story as to what if the cub was a girl and can be classified as the primary canon timeline.

Kopa's timeline is the same except for a few differences. While his counterpart is shown to be dismissive of her parents, Kopa exhibits a stark personality contrast of being curious and enjoying a good tale every now and then. He seems to be more close to his parents and Simba in turn shows a more casual and relaxed side to fatherhood. The reason we see nothing further on from his timeline is because it wasn't meant to be. Or someone tampered with the space time continuum and collapsed it, I don't know. This is called the secondary canon timeline (because it was planned in the start but discarded for the events proceeding Kopa's life would not fit in under the circumstances).

Nala was the equivalent of the pride's throne princess.
She wasn't betrothed to Simba per se but to the next king, hence Scar's desire to make her his mate in the musical.

Ni is Kopa from the future.
Kopa was sent back in time but raised and adopted by a pride which he left when he was of mature age. He decided to return to his 'home' but upon saving Nala who he immediately realised was his mother as a cub, complications arose. Being Genre Savvy about time travel and remembering his mother's story he quickly fabricated some lies about his name and past, per accordingly, and stole the quick chance to return to his home.

The reason why he left was because if he stuck around he would either:
 * 1) Get killed or driven out anyway
 * 2) Create an alternate timeline
 * 3) Invoke a temporal paradox

His last words "Lions who listen to the chattering of monkeys will never learn to roar. A wise old baboon told once me that - and he was right." parallel his past (future?) experiences as a cub. The reason why he seems so serious and hides his emotions (most of the time) is because he's just coming to terms with the situation but doesn't want to seem unusual. Assuming that he lives during the time where his cub self is born the universe goes through a period of instability due to the two identical presences living in the same timeline (which is why Kopa disappears and Kiara comes along as a suitable replacement).

The "Lion King" story we know was heavily Bowdlerised; the original was an epic about hyenas.
In certain respects, the "traditional" roles that lions and hyenas play in fiction are switched: hyenas actually hunt more than lions, and lions are more than happy to scavenge or steal their food. If one were to inverse the cast of the story as it stands, it'd be much closer to fact.

The real story follows a pack of hyenas, who rule the "Packlands" under the head of their empress, Sarabi. She and her mate, Mufasa, have just produced a baby girl, Shenzi, who has been chosen to be heir to the throne. However, there is a schemer amongst the hyenas: Scar, king of a small pride of bedraggled, depraved lions. The pride had been exiled to the Outlands long ago, but Scar had managed to keep hyenas and lions on friendly terms otherwise. With the arrival of Shenzi signaling a new dynasty, Scar seizes the opportunity and kills the queen, leaving the Packlands to be taken over by his legions of lionesses. Shenzi runs away, only to be adopted by 2 exiled hyenas, known only as "Banzai" and "Ed" (Timon and Pumbaa were added to the story for comedic purposes). Shenzi grows up, returns to the Packlands, and you know the rest.

Disney decided, for the sake of the audience, to drastically alter the story. The hyena protagonists were switched in favor of lions, and Scar was made a brother to the king instead of a 3rd-party warlord. Shenzi was demoted to an extra minion, along with her mentors whose traditional names are not known. The pride of evil lions appearing in the sequel are thus a leftover from the original tale, or possibly a simple nod to the story's previous villains.
 * You know, I think I'd actually watch this version.
 * Agreed. Someone oughta write this...

The hyena's were forced into a ghetto like wasteland because otherwise, being better predators, they would out-compete the lions.
Hyena's and lions are competing predators in real-life. Hyena's are achually more likley to succesfully kill prey more often in real life than lions. The lion's used their brute strength to drive the hyena's to the elephant graveyards were there was so little to eat the lions hoped the hyena's would soon all die of starvation and not eat everything in the pridelands.
 * Other, superior hunters are bad royal PR.

The Lion King is a racist story.
Exactly What It Says on the Tin- The Pride falls into disrepair under the black mane and his lower class cronies and it takes a tannish mane, his British advisor, a Magical Negro and his suddenly white girlfriend to set things right. The only snag in this theory is Mufasa, whom I have no explanation for. Also, just so we're clear, I don't ascribe to any of these beliefs- just taking a Wild Mass Guess here.

The Lion King is all capitalist propaganda.
This is clearly an attempt to show the Russian revolution as evil and damaging to “the circle of (capitalism)”. The lions form an absolute monarchy and a dictatorship in which they rule the pride lands in immense decadence and luxury. The Hyenas, on the other hand, live in filth and starve. It is generally taken from the theme of the film that this is acceptable. Just as the Russian aristocracy believed it was the way of things for them to live the high life whilst the workers starve.

Scar offers the Hyenas a revolution of the common man. He leads them to revolt against their oppressors and take power for themselves. In the film, this is portrayed as leading to famine, starvation and a complete destruction of the eco-system. Clearly capitalist scare-tactics in order to warn against a workers uprising.

Mufasa is the Tsar, Simba -- Anastasia, Rafiki -- the Orthodox Church, and the Hyenas are the workers.

Cracked ads further to this allegory, stating:

''That's the only way to explain how Scar got an entire army of these animals behind him with such dissident slogans as "Stick with me, and you will never go hungry again!" Scar wasn't promising them unlimited power, just the ability to eat and function as members of society. The hyenas were pissed because the oppressive lion regime had reduced them to second-class citizens, hoarding all the pie for themselves.

No wonder they followed Mufasa's brother. What Scar offered the hyenas was a revolution of the common man. He was more or less their four-legged Lenin.''

Mufasa's rule may symbolise the Communist dictatorship of the Soviet Union. Scar could be an obvious hint on Gorbachev (remember that Gorbachev has some red spot on his head and Scar has on his eye ... well ...) The death of Mufasa and rise of Scar to power symbolises Perestroika and the later years, including what had happened after the 1991 - the hyenas may symbolise the capitalists, who came to power in the former USSR, who opress the lions (workers) and make them work for them day and night. Exiled Simba may represent oany of the current Russian politicians - for example Putin or Zyuganov. Mufasa's ghost may symbolise the Neo-Stalinist tendencies in the present-day Russian society, especcialy in the CPRF. After Scar was overthrowned, he was killed by his former allies, just like Gorbachev is now forgotten by the capitalists who came to power with his help.
 * An alternative theory is absolutely opposite.

The whole thing was an Evil Plan on the part of Rafiki.
As shaman, omnivore, and Savannah primate, Rafiki was the equivalent of the Pope to the many animals that inhabited the Pridelands. However, that alone could not quench his thirst for power. After all, he was of the same order as humankind: the desire to control and destroy were in his blood. But, Rafiki knew that to go about destroying others to get what he wanted would accomplish nothing. So, he took a diplomatic approach, and sided with the lions, the kinds of the Pridelands.

For a long time, Rafiki and the lions more or less ruled side by side, until the arrival of a new king: Mufasa. Mufasa had it all; he was charismatic, kind, selfless, and a very efficient hunter. Rafiki just couldn't compete, and he began to fall in influence. He and Mufasa were still as close as he had been with every king, but Rafiki knew something had to be done. He needed a pawn, someone who could be easily controlled. With the birth of Simba, the newcoming king, and the lingering memory of Scar's humiliation, the gears started turning, and Rafiki concocted a plan.

First, Rafiki convinced Scar through a few vague words that he was the rightful king, not Mufasa. The monkey was there to hear all of Scar's plans, and with a few choice words, he pushed the maniacal lion along a certain path. At the same time, Rafiki would suggest that Zazu try and keep Simba in line, so Simba would thus act out and go against the stuffy hornbill's wishes. This was all in preparation for the final stroke, when Scar would kill Mufasa, leaving Simba to pick up the pieces.

Unfortunately, Scar went against Rafiki's wishes and ordered his hyenas to kill Simba. While said hyenas weren't successful, Rafiki was furious at Scar and distraught that his plan had fallen through so easily. As Scar took over the Pridelands with his legions of giggling carnivores, Rafiki wept for the apparent death of his ticket to the throne.

Rafiki returned to his old tree-palace, with influence as a shaman but not as the king's friend. Of course, he was elated when word of Simba being alive was carried in on the wind. It was time to put the plan back into motion all over again.

With a little smoke-and-mirror magic, Rafiki was able to convince the exiled prince he was destined to return to the Pridelands and reclaim the throne. In the epic battle that followed, the old monkey made sure he played a significant enough part as to factor into the new king's crowning.

So, Rafiki, the jolly and wise babboon/mandrill shaman, took hold of the throne as Simba's head advisor. Finally, he could manipulate events and make decisions through the king just as he always did. He had to share that privilege alongside Timon and Pumbaa, but they didn't use their power at all, and they could be easily controlled.
 * In Lion King 2, Rafiki then worked to bring Kiara and Kovu together so he could increase the number of lions he had influence over.

The Lion King takes place after humans have gone extinct.
We see no evidence of humans in the film, which is a bit odd even for a secluded area like the Pridelands. At some point in time, humans were wiped out in a cataclymic WWIII that failed to go nuclear, at least not to the point that it could collapse Earth's biosphere entierly. The Outlands are actually the edge of the bombed out wasteland that covers most of the planet, with the Prideland being one of the few areas so devoid of human life that it saw no fighting.

Zira blames others for everything because she was exiled for something she didn't do.
Scar's death drove her mad already, but she originally laid blame on the Hyenas who really killed him, then someone else framed her for something she didn't do (being Scar's mate clearly makes her easy to blame) and got her banished by Simba. Thus she snapped and blamed Simba for Scar's death, her banishment, and everything else wrong in her life. By the time Nuka died, she was no longer capable of accepting any blame for anything and imdiately shifted the blame from herself to Kovu.

Zira is just a fangirl.
We never hear about the Outsiders or see Scar with anyone other than hyenas in the first film because they were not established yet. Zira was a member of the pride who simply became dissatisfied with Simba's leadership and became so nostalgic for the time before that she went crazy convinced herself that her cubs were Scar's and she had been his mate.

Nuka's death pushed Zira completely over the edge.
Zira occasionally showed compassion to her children (at least Kovu and Vitani) before hand but after Nuka's death, she banishes Kovu and threatens to kill Vitani. Rather than showing she was a Complete Monster from the start, this shows a change in character. Her original evil actions resulted from Scar's death driving her insane, but Nuka's death finished the job and drove the last ounce of compassion and sanity from her mind. In other words, the death of her first born son (at least I'm pretty sure he is) drove shattered what was left of her mind.

Nuka was the only cub Zira had with Scar.
Nuka is the oldest, and if this was the case, it'd definantly make sense why he thinks he should be King instead of Kovu. Vitani may or may not be Scar's, but she's a female and thus not in line for an heir. Zira treated Nuka poorly because 1) Scar rejected him as successor, and 2) he reminded her of Scar and her grief over Scar's death made her dispise him for reminding her of Scar.

Lion King 2 is a Zutarain movie.
Think about it. The girl's name is Kiara, which sounds like Katara. She has an older brother, though he is absent from the film for whatever reason, is a princess (If Hakoda is the chief of the Southern Water Tribe, that makes Sokka and Katara the Crown Prince and Princess, yes?), and is anything but docile and girly. She is also brave, friendly, and just a little bit naive. Though as far as death goes, however, it would appear that her brother toke the bullet foe their mother, as where Kopa (Sokka's counterpart) is no where to be seen, but Nala, their mother, is fine.

Now, the boy. Seriously, take the 'V' from Kovu and replace it with a 'Z', then switch the syllables. What name do you get? Also, he has only one parent, though in this case it's the mother, who is cruel and abusive to him and his siblings. He is expected to follow in someone's footsteps and become ruler of a new dark kingdom. They were both raised to be evil, but both have good and gentle hearts that lead them to the right path. Most obvious, however, they are both banished princes with scars over their eyes. Scars, by the way, that were maliciously afflicted by their said only parents for doing essentially nothing wrong.

By the way, Vitani is really no angel, but she is the first one to make the switch and it is suspected that she is not truly evil. Cut to Azula, who is mentally sick and one of the more sympathetic villains out there. It can be safely assumed that neither of these girls were bad from the start and both had the same potential as their brothers to be good, but their parents conditioned and brainwashed sadistic and evil tendencies into them. Also, Vitani, at least as a cub, speaks in the same creepy tone as Azula and both showed sadistic tendencies from early ages.

As well as their respective homes. Kiara lives in benevolent kingdom of which she is an important figure. Kovu hails as the heir of an 'evil' kingdom, though he is banished from it. Also, mostly from the first movie, it seems to rain quite a bit in the Pridelands, and the Outlands seem to be in a never-ending drought, despite how they boarder right on one another.
 * First, it's not true. Second, Simba's Pride was long before ATLA. Third, Kovu's name is pudhing it. Forth, spelling.
 * A Time Lord Did It.

Ed is Ed.
Mostly since they're both spotted hyenas (though the former is a weird, dark-gray variety) with the same name. They obviously do not possess the same intelligence, so either Digger's Ed,, was reincarnated by   She-Is-Fiercer and cursed with serious mental retardation, or the Lion King's Ed became Digger's Ed, either over time or through reincarnation.
 * Alternately...

Ed is Ed.
...and the other hyenas are the other Eds. Shenzi is most likely Double D. (most feminine of the trio), elevated to the rightful role of leader due to her being comparatively more competent, while Eddy became a bitter Butt Monkey as Banzai.
 * Hmm.... I'd say Shenzi fits Eddy much better in personality, and Banzai as a Double D gone slightly off his rocker after having been somehow transformed into a hyena.

The Hyena's were banished due to their numbers
This occured to me watching Be Prepared. Look at how massive in numbers the Hyenas are. Now, Hyenas are good predators in real life, there being so many was a major problem of overpopulation. There's no way the Pridelands could've supported them and the lions (as seen in Scar's reign). There are far fewer lions than there are Hyenas, the Lions are actually pretty reasonible in number. Mufasa had two options, get rid of the hyenas or get rid of the lions. If the lions had left, the Hyenas were still too numorious for them to be supported and too dim-whitted to realize this (as shown, the Hyenas aren't very clever). Thus, from that view, it's possible he told them to leave for the sake of everyone. However, it's possible they weren't even banished, just told to leave and thought they were banished or possibly Scar made them think that. It fits into the movie well because Scar's reign shows the Pridelands can't support both groups, so there's good reason to get the Hyenas out as they're the bigger problem than the lions are.

Kira is the cub at the end of the first film
not all of the animals came back, so Simba held two ceramonies for the same cub: The one at the end of the first film and the one at the begining of the second film, which was held after most of the animals had returned. Also, notice how the ceramony at the end of the first film seems smaller than the one in the begining of the first film.

Zira killed Kopa and was banished for it
Had to be put here, seeing its one of the most wide spread Lion King fanon guesses in existence. Pretty much, Zira murdered Kopa to avenge Scar and Simba banished her out of pity for the children (he would've killed Zira, but he didn't want to orphan her children).

Scar choosing Kovu as heir was all in Zira's head
Ok, we know for a fact Zira was completely insane. So it's not much of a stretch to assume this insanity might have caused her to believe Scar told her Kovu was his heir, when Scar died before it ever happened. In fact, while Nuka may have been Scar's child, possibly Vitani too, as with real lions in real life, Scar may have mated with several lionesses but Zira only believed she was his prefered mate and queen, because she truely loved him and may have been the only one to actually sire cubs. Knowing Scar, he might have even cultivated such an idea because she clearly had a large sway with the lionesses and they'd obey her. Thus most of Zira's 'motive' was the result of her rampent insanity.
 * Besides, Scar doesn't seem to have had the foresight to actually pick an heir. He must have been banking on being king forever.

Scar was gay
Because he's just so fabulous. This would explain why he (possibly) had no direct male heirs, and might even be why he didn't get to be king when his heterosexual male brother was around. There's a link elsewhere on the page that says that two ruling male lions will often "strengthen their bond" by feelin' the love. This doesn't apply to Mufasa and Scar, as Mufasa is clearly leading on his own; but maybe Scar wasn't opposed to the idea?
 * My mother agrees with you. The fact that in the Latin American dub the Surrounded by Idiots line was said in feminine form doesn't help at all.

The hyenas weren't evil
Not really a WMG, but there you are. The hyenas were Punch Clock Villains at worst.
 * The hyenas never did anything malicious: they were ordered to kill Simba, and though they had the chance, did not kill Zazu.
 * They were confined to the Graveyard, which didn't look terribly fertile- no wonder they took orders from the only guy who bothered to feed them. Note that in "Be Prepared", they sing that "We'll have food, lots of food, we'll repeat".
 * Speaking of "Be Prepared", one of Scar's lines is "I know it sounds sordid, but you'll be rewarded"- if the hyenas were truly evil, they would not have to be persuaded.
 * When they fought against the lionesses, they were well aware that they wouldn't be very popular if there was a revolution.
 * Seconded. Also, this theory fits together very well with my "Hyenas are democrats" guess above.

The story is not told from Simba's point of view, but Scar's
Bear with me.

Scar never controlled the hyenas. What happened was this: Some hyenas had decided to go hunt some wildebeest. Unfortunately, they ran into a cliff, where they screeched to a halt. The wildebeest, however, kept going. Unfortunately, Simba had been chasing a butterfly into that same ravine. Scar saw this, and alerted Mufasa. Skip to the part where Mufasa is dangling off a small ledge. Scar tried to help, but he was too weak (it's strongly implied he's a runt, and Mufasa is a really buff and presumably heavy loin). Mufasa realized so, and told Scar there is no way he (Mufasa) would survive, just before falling. Scar inherited the throne because Simba was a kid at the time, and suffered a severe case of survivor's guilt, driving his bonkers. He spent most of his time crying and just getting more and more insane, shirking his responsibilities. Soon, the Hyenas took over. What happened to Simba? The Hyenas convinced him it was all his fault. Soon, Scar believed the events happened the way the movie presented it. When Simba came back, the Lionesses filled him in, and he exiled Scar. The Hyenas then killed him.

Yes, I just made a Disney movie Lighter and Softer.

Simba's Firstborn Died
This actually makes a lot of sense, if you consider that in the second movie you all seem to insist exists, Simba is a very overprotective father of his young daughter. This troper has always been of the firm opinion that the cub at the end of the only movie was male, since it would really complete the "Circle of Life" theme that started at the beginning with Mufasa's son being born. However, there must have been a tragic accident, during which this firstborn was brutally killed. This makes the actions of Simba in the imaginary second movie make more sense, especially if you think about why the banished lions were banished, perhaps they were somehow responsible for the death of Simba's son, which would explain why he is so reluctant to forgive them.

After Scar took over, the whole wildebeest herd was executed under charges of Regicide
Thus why the stock of ungulates was depleted so dramatically during his reign.

The Outlander Lionesses (apart from Zira) are Scar's daughters.
Think about it. This explains both why they were still devoted to Scar long after his death, and why they couldn't help him at the end of the first film: they were still cubs/ very young at the time.

The movies all exist in alternate universes
No, 1 1/2 was not just an embellishment, it actually happened...in an alternate universe. There is no evidence of Scar having a mate, cubs, or any lion allies in the first film (especially if you take the stage show into account, where Zazu points this out), and yet he apparently did when you consider the sequel. No, this was not Disney failing to take continuity into account in a quick cash grab; IT'S AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE.

The cub in the first movie was Kiara's twin brother
Kopa never existed in the TLK 2 verse, the timing isn't right, as Kovu has to have been alive when Scar was around and yet still be pretty young. However, drafts for the TLK 2 script gave Kiara a twin brother, Chaka, who even had a betrothed, Timira/Kirajah. At at the end of the first movie you see a golden newborn cub being presented. This is Chaka being presented as heir, either because he is older or male. Kiara is neither, and thus just stays in the den, meaning most of the pride don't even know about her. Now, Zira is still in the Pridelands at this point because she has very young cubs, only living on the fringes and thus isn't one of the few who knows about Kiara. She manages to kill Chaka, Simba's 'only heir' before getting herself and her followers exiled. Kiara, clearly older than the cub at the end of the first movie, is then presented as the new heir. Zira, in the deleted scene, is so freakin' delighted because Simba's only SURVIVING cub is female. Timira/Kirajah and her mother were expelled from the pride due to being unwelcome reminders of Chaka. Simba is now super-protective of the one child he has left. Kiara never knew about her brother, because no one wanted her scarred for life.

Zazu is a reincarnation of C-3PO as a hornbill.
Even droids may take part in the process, and C-3PO was one of them. Unfortunately, while R2-D2 too was reincarnated, in his previous life he had been small, compact, hard-shelled, and hiding a large assortment of tools, thus he was reincarnated as a beetle. R2-Beetle was forced to leave and live elsewhere thanks this new constant danger of Zazu/C-3PO's diet. Despite the loss of his friend, C-3PO learned to enjoy his new life as a hornbill, still faithfully serving his masters, "finally getting the hang of this flying", and still keeping his position as the universe's Butt Monkey.

Years later, R2-D2 turned up again while being hunted by a ravenous warthog, but before he could open his shell and unleash an oil slick/jetpack combo on him, a bigger fish/lion completed the job for him.

The Hyenas go on an epic Exodus
I'm rewatching the original at the moment, and I vaguely remember that by the second movie the Hyenas have all fled the Pridelands. Where did they go? Judging by some other entries on this page, the Hyenas weren't as evil as the movie suggests when you look at their motives, and what I'm basically saying is that it would be interesting to see a story of some kind of the Hyena's journey from the Pridelands to wherever they end up. Not really WMG I know, but just a thought.

Ed is the smartest of the Hyenas
After rewatching it in 3D, I came to realize that Ed may be smarter than he looks and acts, because towards the end he drops his stupid hyena act and lets out some scary laughs before attacking scar, my theory he just can't transfer his thoughts into words, so he laughs them in hyena language instead, which is why the others can understand him well.

The 'circle of life' was propaganda to justify an oppressive caste system based on species.
Every animal is bound to their social station based at birth. Lions of a certain bloodline were meant to rule. Hyenas were born to struggle in poverty on the brink of starvation. Herbivores were destined to sacrifice their lives for carnivores (even though lions in this universe were just as healthy eating insects which lack human-equivalent intelligence). When Scar failed as a king, the lionesses claimed it was because he didn't keep the hyenas in their place, not because he was corrupt and power hungry. Either way, they still wouldn't overthrow Scar because it would go against the 'circle of life' for anyone but the rightful heir to take the throne.

Sarabi hired Scar as a hit man to kill Mufasa.
Mufasa was just doing what normal lions do, aka sleeping with every female in the pride. It wasn't until Sarafins gave birth to Nala that Sarabi realized what was going on. She confronted Mufasa about it, but he refused to listen. Then she came up with a plan. She went to Scar, unaware that he had just tried to off her kid, and made a deal with him; if he killed Mufasa, she would give him the throne and become his queen. Scar agreed, but things went badly when he killed Simba as well, securing his place as king. Sarabi was heartbroken at the loss of her cub, but rejoiced at the death of her mate and became Scar's queen, although she was always wary of him. Simba's death always stood between them. A little while after, however, Scar met the younger and prettier(in his head at least) Zira. He took Zira as his mate and demoted Sarabi to pride member. Now furious beyond belief and wondering why she can't keep her mates loyal, Sarabi sends Nala to find someone to kill Scar. When she returned with Simba, her long lost son, Sarabi couldn't have been happier. However, by this point her mind was cracked beyond all repair. She began hallucinating, thinking her son was actually Mufasa come back to punish her. When the Outsiders were banished, Sarabi went with them, which is why we never see her in the sequel. She dies sometime before the final battle, alone and crazy.

Sarafina was killed by the hyenas.
In the musical, it is mentioned that Sarafina killed Banzai's father. Since he and Ed appear to be brothers, and Shenzi is either their sister or in love with Banzai, It's Personal for all three. The result: My Name Is Inigo Montoya and Make It Look Like an Accident at some point during Scar's reign.

The title card has a black background because of a deleted scene.
According to Heihachi Mishima in Tekken the Motion Picture, lions throw their cubs off cliffs and only raise the ones that climb back up. During the presentation of Simba, right when the title card cuts the scene off, is Rafiki promptly dropping the cub off Pride Rock, followed by Mufasa calling down "Now climb back up, son; you're not prince until you do! Now, uh, that's probably going to take a while, so in the meantime, I'm going to chide your uncle for not attending." After Mufasa and Zazu confront Scar, there is another deleted scene with Mufasa joyfully finding that his son has successfully scaled Pride Rock. Simba does not remember the incident because of his extremely young age, hence why doesn't resent his father for the incident.
 * Um... I don't think lions actually do that sort of thing...

Scar and Mufasa were only half-brothers.
This one seems obvious when one reads "A Tale of Two Brothers", one of the children's books. Putting aside the fact Scar looks different from his relatives, there is the matter of his birthname; Taka. Which means Dirt. This troper is forced to conclude Mufasa's father is not Scar's father, and the aforementioned lion knew this and named him accordingly. Taking it further, Scar complains to Zazu in the musical that "Nobody loved me! ...Not even as a cub!", implying that his parents weren't that great at showing him affection. Perhaps for good reason.

The Lion King and Disney/Tarzan take place in the same universe.
And Rafiki and the baboons in Tarzan are the same species, non-existent in our universe, with mandrill-like faces but baboon-like tails.

Ed is the only character aware of the concept of the fourth wall.
I don't know how he could know, but perhaps Ed knows that everything going on around him is a work of fiction in a movie. He knows everything's going to be okay since it's all not real, that's why all he seems to do is laugh - he's laughing at the absurdity of everything in his eyes. He's just having fun cause he knows it's a movie.
 * So Ed is the hyena version of the Joker?
 * Timon and Pumbaa seem aware of it as well, what with the "not in front of the kids" line and Aside Glances. They seem to handle it a lot better, though.

Scar wasn't the first lion to ever murder his brother

 * Not OP but this seems.. Obvious. Do you mean in the pride or lions in total?
 * I meant in the pride.

Mheetu was Scar's son
He has the same "Outsider" ears as Scar.

The Lion King was originally going to be a straight-up R Emake of Kimba, but...

 * Disney then realized how incredibly difficult it would be to get the rights to the anime - it had been in the hands of various animation studios in japan, numerous dubbers, and everything - but it was too far along in pre-production to change most of the story, so they changed Kimba to Simba, Claw to Scar, and added elements of Hamlet. Unfortunately, this still wasn't enough to keep Fan Dumb from attacking it as a rip-off when it's more like how The Magnificent Seven was a re-telling of The Seven Samurai, only this time, instead of it being the Seven Samurai replaced by cowboys, it was Kimba's characters with the plot of Hamlet, making it a very strange - and ultimately, very great - variation of Recycled in Space.

Timon and Pumbaa are an odd example of Heterosexual Life Partners.
== Scar is faking that accent (or rather, the lion equivalent of a posh accent, which we hear through Translation Convention) because he is so full of himself and wants to sound clever and classy. That's why none of the other lions sound that way. ==
 * Although their actors have come out and said they thought of them as a gay couple, it seems to be that both of them are sexual minorities. Timon is gay, mainly due to Nathan Lane being openly gay, while Pumbaa seems far more like an Asexual.

Simba wasn't the only cub Mufasa and Sarabi had.
Cats generally have multiple cubs in a litter. The fact that Simba was named heir out of all of his unknown amount of siblings means he was just the first born of the litter.

The hyena attack on the meerkat colony in The Lion King 1 1/2 was not actually serious.
Look at that scene again. The hyenas aren't even trying to eat the meerkats. They just bat them around for a bit and talk about eating them, but even when they have the perfect opportunity to kill one, they don't -- they get the drop on Timon, and just bat him over towards the other meerkats so that there'll be a panic -- and then when he stops and cowers they run right past him to chase the rest of the meerkats. When they've got Uncle Max, they do no worse to him than eat the fur off his tail and then apparently let him escape, while they walk away and laugh about the entire thing. Because their goal here wasn't to eat, it was just to scare the meerkats and get in a few good puns while they were at it. Lucky for Uncle Max that the hyenas weren't hungry that day!

Scar is a low tier Reality Warper.
In the novels, Scar's name was said to be "Taka" which loosely means "trash" or "want" in Swahili. Not only are his actions deplorable, but anything he gets near seems to become utterly corrupted, destroyed or morally "unclean" in some fasion due to his desires. His father, brother and nephew seem to keep this in line with their presence, and he seems to have little effect on Pride Rock until he actively starts taking control of the pride. When he takes command of Pride Rock, things go downhill due to his rule. While he's briefing the Hyenas in "Be Prepared", the area begins to shift under his full, unchecked presence. In short, Scar seems to project an aura of pure unadulterated wrong that warps the area around him if he stays around long enough, and his brother's bloodline acts as a counterbalance.

Mufasa is the REAL Complete Monster in the story.
When he was told that he would be king, he bullied and tormented his little brother about it. Also, he's racist against hyenas, banishing them to the elephant graveyard and leaving them to starve to death for no good reason, just because he thinks he's better than them. Hey, it's not their fault that they have to scavenge, Trollfasa! What happened to "Circle of Life"?! I know what you're thinking: If he's a Complete Monster, why does he love his son and wife so much? Answer: He doesn't really. He's only pretending to so that he looks like a better king. The reason he's so protective of his son is because he knows that he'll look like a bad king if his son dies. If was able to, he would let his son get killed.
 * Lions and hyenas are completely different species and competitors in the wild. Charges of racism make no sense when you're dealing with a direct challenge to your very survival. As for the graveyard, that's just the hyenas being incredibly stupid. Nowhere in the film is it suggested they are confined there. They just can't go into the pridelands, which, as reality would dictate, does not consist of the entire savannah. Even if getting to a good part of the savannah involved crossing into the pridelands, I doubt Mufasa is going to bother an army of hyenas. On another note, why would Mufasa care about PR? He's in charge, period. There is no pride without a lion to lead it. Check reality for details. I hate to be so unfeeling towards Simba, but he is more than expendible. If he dies, it shouldn't be too much trouble to sire more cubs. If Sarabi becomes too problematic, replace her. There's plenty of other lionesses that would probably be happy to take the position if the situation was even remotely like you are suggesting.

The hyenas were Chaotic Neutral mercenaries with no true loyalty to Scar, and that became his undoing.
(And by extension, one of the more mature themes of the story is of the dangers of securing followers by way of fear and the promise of resources as opposed to the loyalty of true friends.) Think about it. Lions and hyenas were natural enemies - or at least competitors for food. Hyenas are scavengers - they're going to go where the food is. Scar promised them food, so they followed him. By the time the end of the movie had rolled around, Pride Rock was a wasteland - likely because Scar was forced to allow the Hyenas to eat up all the resources in order to keep his mercenary army well-fed and happy, which took priority over the lionesses and perhaps even Scar's own health (he doesn't seem much healthier during his rule, although that could be chalked up to aging as well). Thus, when Scar was defeated and attempted to throw the hyenas under the bus, he was no longer of any value to the hyenas...except for food, which they hadn't had in a while. Scar's last mistake was the assumption that he had earned the hyena's loyalty to him. Mufasa didn't have any dealings with the hyenas during his rule because he knew that tendency. As soon as resources between them became scarce, the hyenas would have turned on him in a heartbeat.

Additionally, in Lion King II, Zira's mistake was the assumption that everyone on her side was fanatically devoted to her cause as she was. Vitani's case was obviously familial loyalty...which went out the window once Zira threatened to kill her. Nuka cared less about his mother's power base and really only wanted her approval. And the lionesses that were with her were looking at their situation and realizing that it was in fact not better than what they'd had at Pride Rock.

Zira and the Outlanders were banished for hoarding more than loyalty to Scar.
If they were loyal enough to Scar for Simba to banish him, they sure as hell didn't show up to save Scar's butt in any sense during the final battle. The kingdom probably went through a rough stretch between the two movies as it attempted to rebuild from Scar's rule, and it's not far-fetched to imagine that food was scarce for a while. If there was a segment of the population hoarding food for themselves, it would have made sense to banish them because they were straining the kingdom's already scarce resources.

Zira and the Outlanders were a scouting team Scar sent forth for an expedition. Simba beat them to Pride Rock and they were stuck.
Yes, Scar was insane, but he was also very ambitious. Zira, who was - at least at the jump - probably slightly less insane, may have suggested that they try to expand their sphere of influence beyond Pride Rock in an attempt to find more food. Except when Zira's group was out on its raid, Simba and co. came back and re-took Pride Rock. Zira's party suddenly found themselves stuck in the Outlands and unable to return home. Zira probably didn't mind this, as she could plot her revenge. The other lionesses probably weren't as thrilled, and were probably even less thrilled when they realized that the situation in Zira's domain was almost as bad as Scar's rule at Pride Rock. That may explain their quickness to turn on Zira after they realized that she was certifiable and cared more about revenge than she did about them.